tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91340609165695117612024-03-13T08:32:46.023-05:00One Imaginary GirlAshley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-37674030912046989762010-02-07T10:24:00.002-06:002010-02-07T11:07:09.392-06:00Daring Bakers: Nanaimo BarsSo... apparently when your job is short a few people and you are the assistant manager you wind up working over forty hours each week and then all you do is sleep and go to work. And then you remember days past the due date of the Daring Bakers Challenge Reveal that you never put it up.<br /><br />I'm bad at this thing. Ugh.<br /><br />However.... guess what?<br /><br />I actually liked the resulting bars from this challenge. Weird, right? I never like the results. Except for the pizza... that was good. Anyway.<br /><br />I had heard of Nanaimo Bars before the challenge, I had just never made them or had them. I'd seen recipes.. they just didn't sound appealing to me. I'm not sure why since I love coconut and I think anything can be made better with a graham cracker crust. Oh, well. I'm a believer now.<br /><br />What are these bars? And why are they so difficult to pronounce? (I shouldn't complain... I lived in Hueneme, after all. Yeah. Try pronouncing that.) Nanaimo. Nuh-Nigh-Moe.<br /><br />They are bars consisting of a chocolate-y, cooconut, almond, graham cracker crust, a "custard" middle (it's frosting... just call it that), and chocolate topping.<br /><br />They were mouthgasmic. I could not stop eating them. Neither could my co-worker. Or my mom.<br /><br />The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of <a href="http://www.celiacteen.com/">Celiac Teen</a>. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and <a href="http://www.nanaimo.ca/" title="www.nanaimo.ca">www.nanaimo.ca</a>.<br /><br /><p>Nanaimo Bars<br />Ingredients:</p> <p>For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer<br />1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter<br />1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar<br />5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa<br />1 Large Egg, Beaten<br />1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)<br />1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)<br />1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)</p> <p>For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer<br />1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter<br />2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream<br />2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)<br />2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar </p> <p>For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer<br />4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate<br />2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter </p> <p>Directions:<br />1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.<br />2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.<br />3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.</p><p><br /></p><p>I did not make gluten free graham crackers. Just regular ones.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-54562240845387344272010-01-03T22:15:00.005-06:002010-01-04T01:20:54.571-06:00Little House on the Big Blue Mat, Or: I Make Gingerbread Houses Cry.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWXFxZn_I/AAAAAAAAAUg/IRS6xN2mYgA/s1600-h/100_4083.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWXFxZn_I/AAAAAAAAAUg/IRS6xN2mYgA/s400/100_4083.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422780749761322994" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWWzD64oI/AAAAAAAAAUY/tKJcxi77-OY/s1600-h/100_4082.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWWzD64oI/AAAAAAAAAUY/tKJcxi77-OY/s400/100_4082.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422780744738726530" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWWbK4S2I/AAAAAAAAAUQ/PiqMxAYLkvI/s1600-h/100_4081.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWWbK4S2I/AAAAAAAAAUQ/PiqMxAYLkvI/s400/100_4081.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422780738325465954" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWWIwtq6I/AAAAAAAAAUI/r_TuYARimhc/s1600-h/100_4080.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWWIwtq6I/AAAAAAAAAUI/r_TuYARimhc/s400/100_4080.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422780733383879586" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWV9vt0CI/AAAAAAAAAUA/Sn7vj4FyeeY/s1600-h/100_4079.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GWV9vt0CI/AAAAAAAAAUA/Sn7vj4FyeeY/s400/100_4079.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422780730426904610" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVrtA251I/AAAAAAAAAT4/LAZLc6o5NOE/s1600-h/100_4078.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVrtA251I/AAAAAAAAAT4/LAZLc6o5NOE/s400/100_4078.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422780004380895058" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVrSMarXI/AAAAAAAAATw/MuJw5lcaRwI/s1600-h/100_4077.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVrSMarXI/AAAAAAAAATw/MuJw5lcaRwI/s400/100_4077.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422779997181619570" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVrH5yp1I/AAAAAAAAATo/TnF2kx6Ii3w/s1600-h/100_4076.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVrH5yp1I/AAAAAAAAATo/TnF2kx6Ii3w/s400/100_4076.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422779994419144530" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVq6BTv2I/AAAAAAAAATg/eE_Hp_w79yM/s1600-h/100_4075.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVq6BTv2I/AAAAAAAAATg/eE_Hp_w79yM/s400/100_4075.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422779990692577122" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVqQ29ByI/AAAAAAAAATY/rrONJawGzxY/s1600-h/100_4074.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/S0GVqQ29ByI/AAAAAAAAATY/rrONJawGzxY/s400/100_4074.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422779979643291426" border="0" /></a><br />Christmastime brings about gingerbread houses galore. There are kits in grocery stores, there are competitions, there are days at home spent constructing the houses only to be devoured shortly after.<br /><br />And then there's me.<br /><br />I never was one for gingerbread houses. Or gingerbread men, for that matter. I never liked the icing. I never liked ginger. Sure, I might have had fun decorating them as a kid (the men, not the houses; the houses frustrated me) but I never did eat them. I was also a kid who did not like the marshmallows in Lucky Charms. I would pick out the marshmallows and eat only the cereal.<br /><br />So you can understand why I was less than enthusiastic about this month's Daring Baker's challenge. Gingerbread houses? Are you kidding me? Gross. But I carried on and figured I'd do it later. Ha. I didn't remember about it until Friday. Yeah. So Saturday, I scaled down the recipe. Replaced the ginger with cinnamon. Made the dough. And then forgot about it until eight o' clock tonight. Only because I saw the dough in the fridge when I was putting my salsa away.<br /><br />I rolled out my dough. Cut some shapes. Enough shapes for two houses. Chilled them. Baked them. Cut them. Quickly threw together the given royal icing recipe. And then I assembled them. They stayed. Woo.... I guess. I just needed them to stay long enough for pictures to be taken. Then I thickened up the icing with more sugar to decorated the outside of the houses. I was in the middle of making a parchment paper cone when.... the first house crumpled into a heap of molasses-tasting rectangles. Molasses is gross, by the way. I don't know if you knew that. I didn't. I'd never used it before. I do now, though.<br /><br />Anyway. So I randomly piped icing onto the house and took pictures. I really didn't care at all. It made the house cry. I wonder if it's crumpled yet...?<br /><br />The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.<br /><br />I'd give you the recipe, but I'm lazy. And I don't want it anymore, so. Yeah.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-30999971337943584092009-11-04T11:25:00.002-06:002009-11-04T11:32:50.349-06:00Daring Bakers Fail.<strong>The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">So. This month was macarons. I've never had macarons. I've only seen pictures. I understood that it was difficult, etc.<br /><br />I apparently didn't realise how difficult.<br /><br />I had no idea what exactly I was supposed to have with my meringue. When I made it, my meringue was very runny. And I barely folded it. I tried it a second time, and the meringue was still not really stiff. But it was still runny. Both times I got cookies that looked like the milanos from July. So I give up.<br /><br />I can't make macarons.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></strong>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-20639526411340732332009-09-03T22:02:00.003-05:002009-09-03T22:10:53.909-05:00Daring Bakers: Dobos Torte.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SqCESKDLE5I/AAAAAAAAATQ/-bI02sNsZpM/s1600-h/100_3928.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SqCESKDLE5I/AAAAAAAAATQ/-bI02sNsZpM/s400/100_3928.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377443402550547346" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><strong>The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful<br />of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos<br />Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite<br />Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. </strong><br /><br /><br />Not much to say. I'm tired and there are other matters pressing on my mind...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SqCERWA61kI/AAAAAAAAATA/81eILAVhaDE/s1600-h/100_3925.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SqCERWA61kI/AAAAAAAAATA/81eILAVhaDE/s400/100_3925.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377443388582450754" border="0" /></a><br />The torte was okay. The cake was really chewy which wasn't my problem. But the frosting was actually too much for me. The caramel top didn't have a flavour that appealed to me and it was way too chewy for my braces.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SqCERs-OwpI/AAAAAAAAATI/HAY1awpp18k/s1600-h/100_3933.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SqCERs-OwpI/AAAAAAAAATI/HAY1awpp18k/s400/100_3933.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377443394745189010" border="0" /></a>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-23912660566771141262009-08-04T01:03:00.002-05:002009-08-04T01:14:21.626-05:00Daring Bakers: Cookiessss.<p><span style="font-size:78%;"><strong><em><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></em></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:78%;"><strong><em><br /></em></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size:78%;"><strong><em>The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at <a href="http://sweetendingz.blogspot.com/">Sweet Tooth</a>. She chose <strong>Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies</strong> and Milan <strong>Cookies </strong>from pastry chef Gale Gand of the <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/" title="The Food Network">Food Network</a>.</em></strong></span></p>So. I went on vacation. In all the rushing, I never managed to get this up. I apologise.<br /><br />I made both recipes. I fancied the mallows more than the milan cookies. I didn't like the lemony bit of the milan cookies. I also left out the orange zest.<br /><br />Oh. And the mallows. I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil or cocoa butter. My chocolate never set. Unless I refrigerated it. It could be, though, that coconut oil melts at a very low temperature (seventy-six I think?) and we keep our house at seventy-four.<br /><br />But anyway. I'm tired. And I just got back today. And I have work tomorrow.<br /><br />Oh. And as for all my lack of pictures? My camera has had the same batteries (rechargeable) for two years. So I think I need new ones. Because they never hold a charge long enough for me to take pictures and upload.<br /><p><strong>Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)</strong><br />Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website<br /><img src="http://img.foodnetwork.com/FOOD/2003/01/10/sd1b09_marshmallow_cookies_med.jpg" alt="Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies" class="floatright" width="160" height="120" /><br />Prep Time: 10 min<br />Inactive Prep Time: 5 min<br />Cook Time: 10 min<br />Serves: about 2 dozen cookies</p> <p>• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour<br />• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar<br />• 1/2 teaspoon salt<br />• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder<br />• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda<br />• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon<br />• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter<br />• 3 eggs, whisked together<br />• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows<br />• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows</p> <p>1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.<br />2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.<br />3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.<br />4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.<br />5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.<br />6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.<br />7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.<br />8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.<br />9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.<br />10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.<br />11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.<br />12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.<br />13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours. </p> <p>Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping. </p> <p>Homemade marshmallows:<br />• 1/4 cup water<br />• 1/4 cup light corn syrup<br />• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar<br />• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin<br />• 2 tablespoons cold water<br />• 2 egg whites , room temperature<br />• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract</p> <p>1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.<br />2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.<br />3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.<br />4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.<br />5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.<br />6. Transfer to a pastry bag. </p> <p>Chocolate glaze:<br />• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate<br />• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil</p> <p>1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water. </p> <p><strong>Milan Cookies</strong><br />Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website<br /><img src="http://img.foodnetwork.com/FOOD/2003/01/10/sd1b09_milans_med.jpg" alt="Milan Cookies" class="floatright" width="160" height="120" /><br />Prep Time: 20 min<br />Inactive Prep Time: 0 min<br />Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min<br />Serves: about 3 dozen cookies</p> <p>• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened<br />• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar<br />• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)<br />• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract<br />• 2 tablespoons lemon extract<br />• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour<br />• Cookie filling, recipe follows</p> <p>Cookie filling:<br />• 1/2 cup heavy cream<br />• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped<br />• 1 orange, zested</p> <p>1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.<br />2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.<br />3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.<br />4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.<br />5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.<br />6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.<br />7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.<br />8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).<br />9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.<br />10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies. </p>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-60022542101066011292009-05-30T02:54:00.003-05:002009-05-30T03:13:20.177-05:00Daring Bakers: Strudel.I'll get my pictures up, I promise. Annoy me if I don't.<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><br />The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.</span><br /><br />Wednesday when I should have gotten this up, I remembered about it whilst I was at a party Christopher was throwing to celebrate the start of summer and show off his new movie. Thursday I had a physical and got to pee in a cup for a job at Sac-N-Pac.<br /><br />And then I went wandering with Will and Corbin through the outlet mall, trying on clothes I can't afford. I did buy a candle, though. Quickest decision of my life. They were only on sale if you bought two. Corbin said, "Quick, one of you find a second candle." I noticed a red candle, grabbed it, smelled it, "Okay, this one." Apparently it's Black Raspberry. Not bad.. but.. I used to always get only black cherry candles when I was little and have tried to get myself to branch out to othwer scents. -.- I guess it's branching out.<br /><br />Friday... I found out how much effort I really put into that physical. Wow. When I was doing it, yeah, I knew I was working myself. But it wasn't -that- bad. And then I woke up Friday morning. Whoosh.<br /><br />So. As for the strudel? It wasn't the greatest pleasure, either. Now, I'd never had strudel. Nor had I ever -seen- strudel. I'd heard of it, sure, but I'd no clue what it was.<br /><br />I choose two different options. The first was a barbecued chicken strudel using leftover chicken, barbecue sauce, caramelised onions, bacon, and cheese. I liked the filling, but the crust part was rather gross. I had followed how much butter the recipe called for. Exactly. Blindly followed. When I poured my butter on my stretched out dough and smoothed it all out, I still had large puddles of excess butter. I figured, I don't know what I'm doing. Must be right. Yeah. That was -so- greasy. It tasted like the coating on fishsticks. My tastebuds were not amused.<br /><br />So I went up for Round Two. This time? Chicken, mushrooms, broccoli, bechamel, and parmesan cheese. When I rolled out the dough, I used just enough butter to coat the dough. And I used my basic bristle pastry brush even though the instructions tell you not to use one. It woked fine for me. The crust was better this time, but I didn't fancy the filling as much. It all sort of melted into each other, so I didn't get any firm distinction between everything.<br /><br />I might try again some other time, but at the moment... strudel doesn't seem all that enticing. I think part of my disappointment is that I was expecting it to taste like phyllo. Or be more like phyllo. I don't know. Maybe I should try it with all-purpose flour instead of white whole wheat...<br /><br /><p><strong>Apple strudel</strong><br />from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers</p> <p>2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum<br />3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins<br />1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon<br />1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar<br />1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided<br />1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs<br />strudel dough (recipe below)<br />1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts<br />2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)</p> <p>1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.</p> <p>2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.</p> <p>3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.</p> <p>4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.</p> <p>5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.</p> <p><strong>Strudel dough</strong><br />from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers</p> <p>1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour<br />1/8 teaspoon salt<br />7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed<br />2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough<br />1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar</p> <p>1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.<br />Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.</p> <p>2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.<br />Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).</p> <p>3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.<br />Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.</p> <p>4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.</p> <p><strong>Tips</strong><br />- Ingredients are cheap so we would recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;<br />- The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;<br />- Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;<br />- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;<br />- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.</p> <p>Both Courtney and I did a trial run on making the strudel. Below are our notes:</p> <p><strong>Courtney's notes</strong><br />- She could't get it to stretch to 2 feet by 3 feet, it turned out more like 2 feet by 2 feet. But the dough was tissue thin nevertheless;<br />- She got some serious holes, but after rolling it wasn't noticeable;<br />- She used a large cheese cloth which helped manipulate and stretch the dough more than a heavier cloth would have.</p> <p><strong>Someone Else's notes</strong><br />- I made the dough by hand, just mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Kneaded it for about 5 min like you would bread dough. This worked as well. Haven't tried using a standmixer so I don't know how it compares.<br />- Instead of cider vinegar I used red wine vinegar;<br />- I used bread flour;<br />- Picking up the dough to let it stretch didn't work well for me, holes appeared pretty much instantly. Instead I stretched the dough while it was lying on the tablecloth by putting my hands underneath and stretching it out further and further;</p>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-75653944588141069412009-05-16T14:33:00.003-05:002009-05-16T14:50:58.405-05:00Daring Cooks: Ricotta Gnocchi<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/Sg8XRhk4VUI/AAAAAAAAAS4/VK-QGJMvdWY/s1600-h/Black+Pepper+Gnocchi3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/Sg8XRhk4VUI/AAAAAAAAAS4/VK-QGJMvdWY/s400/Black+Pepper+Gnocchi3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336509673295598914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />So for the first Daring Cooks, they decided upon ricotta gnocchi.<br /><br />Apparently a lot of people were surprised gnocchi could be made with something other than potatoes. I, however, had just never had gnocchi. I'd seen it and known what it was. But it was nothing that sounded that astounding.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/Sg8XRuHWH9I/AAAAAAAAASw/uZ_Bf7rkWPg/s1600-h/Black+Pepper+Gnocchi2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/Sg8XRuHWH9I/AAAAAAAAASw/uZ_Bf7rkWPg/s400/Black+Pepper+Gnocchi2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336509676661383122" border="0" /></a><br />But anyway. The recipe says it's best to use fresh ricotta if possible. Well. I could have looked for fresh. Or bought some pre-packaged. But instead, I decided to make my own "ricotta." (We all discussed it... it's not -true- ricotta... but it's close enough.) I had some milk that expired that day, some cream I needed to use up, and lemons. So I decided to do it.<br /><br />It also suggests draining the ricotta for twenty-four hours at least. I didn't read that part. I drained it for.. an hour? I kept pushing on it and was unable to get more liquid. I suppose I could have drained it more because mine was -very- light. Like... it says if you don't drain it enough, it will disintegrate in the water. Mine didn't disintegrate. But the slightest wrong movement after it was done and it easily pulled apart. I didn't even have to chew. «shrugs» Oh, well.<br /><br />My final thoughts were that it was okay. (I can't seem to love any of the recipes I've made in the Daring... Stuff except for the pizza dough and French yule log.) The part I loved best was my "sauce." I melted a bit of butter, splashed in some cream, and threw in freshly cracked black pepper along with freshly grated parmesan.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/Sg8XRT7touI/AAAAAAAAASo/saSwE2mjTYA/s1600-h/Black+Pepper+Gnocchi.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/Sg8XRT7touI/AAAAAAAAASo/saSwE2mjTYA/s400/Black+Pepper+Gnocchi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336509669633270498" border="0" /></a><br /><h1><span style="font-size:100%;">Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi</span> </h1> <p>Source: From <a style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393020436/ref=s9_sims_gw_s1_p14_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0X6V0JME86WMSMGEW1GB&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938131&pf_rd_i=507846">The Zuni Café Cookbook.</a> </p> <p>Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)</p> <p>Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.</p> <p><strong>Tips: </strong></p> <p>- If you can find it, use fresh ricotta. As Judy Rodgers advises in her recipe, there is no substitute for fresh ricotta. It may be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it.<br />- Do not skip the draining step. Even if the fresh ricotta doesn't look very wet, it is. Draining the ricotta will help your gnocchi tremendously.<br />- When shaping your gnocchi, resist the urge to over handle them. It's okay if they look a bit wrinkled or if they're not perfectly smooth.<br />- If you're not freezing the gnocchi for later, cook them as soon as you can. If you let them sit around too long they may become a bit sticky.<br />- For the variations to the challenge recipe, please see the end of the recipe.</p> <p><strong>Equipment required:</strong></p> <p>- Sieve<br />- Cheesecloth or paper towels<br />- Large mixing bowl<br />- Rubber spatula<br />- Tablespoon<br />- Baking dish or baking sheet<br />- Wax or parchment paper<br />- Small pot<br />- Large skillet<br />- Large pan or pot (very wide in diameter and at least 2 inches deep)</p><p><strong>For the gnocchi:</strong></p> <p>1 pound (454 grams/16 ounces) fresh ricotta (2 cups)<br />2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten<br />1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter<br />2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg, or a few pinches of chopped lemon zest (all optional)<br />½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)<br />about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)<br />all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi</p> <p><strong>For the gnocchi sauce:</strong></p> <p>8 tablespoons (227 grams/1/4 pound/4 ounces) butter, sliced<br />2 teaspoons water</p> <p><strong>Step 1 (the day before you make the gnocchi): Preparing the ricotta.</strong></p> <p>If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.</p> <p><strong>Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi): Making the gnocchi dough.</strong></p> <p>To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible.</p> <p>Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta. </p> <p>Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not, just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture.</p> <p>Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’re not using any particular flavouring, that’s fine.</p> <p>Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.</p> <p>Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).</p> <p><strong>Step 3: Forming the gnocchi.</strong></p> <p>Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.</p> <p>In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep.</p> <p>With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.</p> <p>Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.</p> <p>At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.</p> <p>Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.</p> <p>If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.</p> <p>Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them. </p> <p>Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour. </p> <p>You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.</p> <p><strong>Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.</strong></p> <p>Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside.</p> <p>In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other.</p> <p>Once the water is boiling, salt it generously.</p> <p>Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).</p> <p>When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking. </p> <p>Place the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few times as it melts. As soon as it melts and is incorporated with the water, turn off the heat. Your gnocchi should be cooked by now.</p> <p>With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.</p> <p><em><strong>Variations:</strong> For the gnocchi, you can flavour them however you wish. If you want to experiment by adding something to your gnocchi (i.e., caramelized onion, sundried tomato), feel free to do so. However, be forewarned, ricotta gnocchi are delicate and may not take well to elaborate additions. For the sauce, this is your chance to go nuts. Enjoy yourselves. Surprise us!!!</em></p> <p><em><strong>Freezing the gnocchi:</strong> If you don’t want to cook your gnocchi right away or if you don’t want to cook all of them, you can make them and freeze them. Once they are formed and resting on the flour-dusted, lined tray, place them uncovered in the freezer. Leave them for several hours to freeze. Once frozen, place them in a plastic bag. Remove the air and seal the bag. Return to the freezer. To cook frozen gnocchi, remove them from the bag and place individually on a plate or on a tray. Place in the refrigerator to thaw completely. Cook as directed for fresh gnocchi.</em></p><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ricotta</span>:<br /><p>From <a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/234282" target="_blank">Gourmet, April 2006</a></p> <p><strong>Ingredients</strong><br />1 quart whole milk<br />1/2 cup heavy cream<br />1/4 tsp coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)<br />1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice</p> <p><strong>Directions</strong><br />Combine the milk, cream, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Separately, line a colander with cheesecloth and set it in a large bowl. Measure out the lemon juice and set it aside.</p> <p>Bring the milk mixture to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring occasionally with a spatula to prevent scalding. Once the mixture has reached a steady simmer, add the lemon juice and stir gently with the spatula — quickly, just to blend. Let the mixture sit for about 1 minute, turning down the heat slightly so it stays at a simmer but doesn’t reach a hard, rolling boil. Stir with the spatula after about 1 minute, then let it sit another minute until it looks like most of the liquid has separated into curds and whey.</p> <p>Drain the mixture into the cheesecloth-lined colander set over a bowl, and let it drain at room temperature for 1 hour. Transfer the ricotta to an airtight container and refrigerate.</p> <p>Makes about 1 cup.</p>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-41860990990502805322009-05-05T13:27:00.003-05:002009-05-05T14:34:44.298-05:00I have a new appreciation for people who don't know much about a kitchen.So. I recently took up sewing. Why did I take up sewing? Naturally because I want to be the next Stepford Wife. I figured, "I already know how to cook. And I can crochet. And I clean the house. The next step is learning to sew and knit." No, not really.<br /><br />I have a weakness for pretty dresses. I think pretty dresses are swing dresses. You know. Fifties and forties. Known today as "rockabilly." I never understood why people felt the need to give new names to old clothes. It's like Victorian clothes. They are now referred to as "Lolita" clothes. Erm. They're Victorian clothes. Just call them what they are. But apparently people don't like to be reminded that the clothes they wear because they find it hip and trendy (though Michael let me know that nobody uses "hip" unless it's followed by "I broke my") were worn by their great great great grandparents. Because apparently that means it's no longer hip. (I'll say "hip" however much I want.)<br /><br />But anyway. My point is that whilst I fancy these dresses and skirts... erm.. they cost money. Lots of money. And well. I have never had a job. That's not to say that I'm some spoiled little eighteen-year-old that's gotten everything and that's why I've never worked. It's that I'm a spoiled little eighteen-year-old that has gotten a lot of the things I've -really- wanted... and I have no job experience so nobody will hire me. And I haven't even been shooting high. The highest I aimed for so far has been Kohl's. Seriously? I'm not good enough for -Kohl's-? I wanted to work in the kitchen and housewares department. <3 You should know I ramble.<br /><br />I also happened to keep some old sheet sets from when I had a twin bed. A heart sheet set, a yellow sheet set, and a Lion King sheet set. I was convinced I'd "do something with them eventually." Click! I want a swing skirt. A swing skirt costs a hundred dollars. Well. There are some on sale right now for ninety. But still. I've found swing dresses cheaper for forty dollars. Yet a basic skirt, I can't find for less than a hundred. So I decided I should sew my own. I have sheet sets (free fabric) and some thread and my mom has a sewing machine (she doesn't know how to use it.. she got it so my grandma could sew things for my mom).<br /><br />I've sewn three things so far. None have been the swing skirt I originally started this sewing kick for. One was a recreation of this dress I saw at mybabyjo.com that I liked.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SgCI0rLur5I/AAAAAAAAASg/vG6b_ataCYg/s1600-h/cocktailhourblk_th.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 220px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SgCI0rLur5I/AAAAAAAAASg/vG6b_ataCYg/s400/cocktailhourblk_th.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332412397333163922" border="0" /></a>You see that dress? Yeah. It costs a hundred and forty dollars. Ha. That's funny. You really thought I'd pay that much for a dress? Psht. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought twenty dollars worth of heather grey jersey knit fabric. (Grey t-shirt fabric for those unaware.) And I made myself a dress I based on that. Now. Mine isn't as sleak and hip and perfectly upscale like that one. But it's comfortable and I think it's pretty. I used lime green thread on all the visible seams. I love it. Others might find it cheap looking and tacky, but I think it's neat.<br /><br />But as I delve deeper into the magical world of sewing, I find all these new terms that I've never heard of.<br /><br />"Basting stitches? What? The only basting I know is, you know, roasting a chicken or turkey or something els in the oven and basting it to keep it moist. And I'm pretty sure that's not what you mean."<br /><br />Seriously. I'm sooooo confused with all this stuff. I love it, but I'll find tutorials on how to make something, but I'm just so completely lost as to what they're talking about.<br /><br />"Well. You take that one strip I told you about five lines ago and you fold it in half under the second bridge past the green house on a cloudy day the third Thursday of the month."<br /><br />I've tried Googling. It doesn't help. Nobody expects beginners. Because yes, most beginners would be content going to the small, "Look! I sewed a -square-." Maybe. I don't know. I was never like that, though. I don't care if I'm a beginner at something. Doing beginner work bores me. It makes me -not- want to do something, then. Because it's so -easy-.<br /><br />That's why I took AP Calculus my senior year. I was told I needed an elective. Just to fill an empty space in my schedule. I could have picked some slow blow-off class. But I didn't want to bore myself. I knew if I were bored, I'd blow it off. Because that's what I do. When something bores me, I stop doing it. I wasn't going to fail my senior year. So I opted for AP Calculus. Math has always come easy to me, so it wouldn't be too difficult, but it wasn't going to be so easy I got bored. And that's why I jumped straight into actual sewing of real garments. I just... need someone to guide me to explain, "This is what this means. You do this." And once I'm told that, psht, I've got it. But until someone tells me, I don't know.<br /><br />Which is why I have a newfound appreciation for beginner cooks. Well. The ones that listen and actually comprehend. When I was in my Culinary Arts class, there were people there who'd never made scrambled eggs before. I first made scrambled eggs on my own when I was six. (Oh. In addition to not liking to do simple things, I liked to do things on my own. If I wanted food, I wanted to get it myself. I wanted to make it myself. I didn't want other people making it for me. In contrast, my oldest younger sister figures, if others can do it for her, why should she do it herself? She's the lazy one.)<br /><br />There were people who didn't understand what folding meant. They didn't understand what kneading meant. Well. They understood. But they just kind of rolled the bread dough around and poked at it instead of actually kneading it.<br /><br />They would wonder why I'd yell at them for using a metal fork to scrape something out of a non-stick pan, then complain later that their food was sticking to the non-stick pan. They didn't get that "chop as you go" meant to keep their boards and knives at their station for later. Just because there isn't anything to do for the next five minutes doesn't mean I won't need more later. They were the ones who started using all the rubber spatulas with non-stick pans because I yelled at them for using the metal utensils. Then they'd complain to me that the rubber spatula was melting. And so I'd yell at them again because I had already told them to use the -plastic spoons- not my rubber spatulas (I was designated pastry chef of the class). And then I'd hide my good rubber spatulas (the ones that weren't melted) and they'd use the plastic spoons (which weren't heat resistant, either, but they were more heat resistant than the spatulas) and then they'd complain that -those- were melting because they'd have the burner up full blast (commercial ranges are -hot-) and then leave the spoon in the pan. So they'd go searching for a rubber spatula but all they could find were spatulas that were already half melted (really.. half of it was gone) and they'd complain and I'd tell them they shouldn't be leaving utensils in their pans and they'd say that Rachel Ray does it and I'd tell them they weren't Rachel Ray. They didn't like me too much.<br /><br />I didn't really like them, either. I didn't believe that I needed to hold their hand through everything. That explaining it one way should have gotten through to them. And now with sewing... I need someone to hold my hand. Because this explaining one way thing? I don't get it. It's not making much sense to me. I'm sure they understand it. And I'm sure it does make sense. But I'm apparently a visual learner. That's not to say that it has to actually be in front of me. But if I can see the words playing out in my head, I understand it much more than just the words themselves. And so many of these things.. the words just aren't creating the visual they are supposed to. So I don't get it. And I still need someone to hold my hand.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-56471250246512012862009-04-28T00:42:00.000-05:002009-04-29T01:08:37.422-05:00Daring Bakers: Cheesecake.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SfftNZZeyyI/AAAAAAAAASQ/bdrv7UZzfKI/s1600-h/Cheesecake3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SfftNZZeyyI/AAAAAAAAASQ/bdrv7UZzfKI/s400/Cheesecake3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329989498428115746" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Crap. I can never remember to get this thing up. I think the problem is that I'm not really graded like at school or something. I could always get stuff in on time at school. But on this thing? Psht. I'm bad.<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">So. This month was cheesecake. I like cheesecake. But when I found out, I had just made cheesecake two weeks before. Sigh. Oh, well. I looked at the recipe and.. it didn't intrigue me all </span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">that much. My normal recipe has more cream cheese -and- less sugar than that recipe. And I </span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">like it just fine. This recipe also called for a water bath. Sigh.<br /><br /><br /></span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SfftNEjzAvI/AAAAAAAAASA/ENwdLQnB3Og/s1600-h/Cheesecake1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SfftNEjzAvI/AAAAAAAAASA/ENwdLQnB3Og/s400/Cheesecake1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329989492834239218" border="0" /></a><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />I did it anyway. I kept the sugar at the recipe's amount. I just made different additions like cocoa powder for some. More vanilla. Coffee. I even made a caramel one. Oh. I did cheesecake cupcakes. Because I wanted a variety of flavours.<br /><br />How did they taste?<br /><br />Well. The coffee, the caramel, and the German Chocolate, I made by caramelising the sugar in the recipe, then adding the cream. As is always the case, my sugar clumped up as soon as I added the cream. And no matter how long I sat there trying to melt it back into the cream, there </span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">was still a big chunk that just wouldn't mix. So I gave up. And threw that chunk out. I continued on with what I had, though.<br /><br />The chocolate and vanilla I just made basic. Cocoa powder and some chocolate for the chocolate. A lot of vanilla for the vanilla.<br /><br /></span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SfftNI89kuI/AAAAAAAAASI/IEMUAUmZUJY/s1600-h/Cheesecake2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SfftNI89kuI/AAAAAAAAASI/IEMUAUmZUJY/s400/Cheesecake2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329989494013530850" border="0" /></a><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />I had the Coffee, the Ca</span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">ramel, the German Chocolate, and the Vanilla. The first three had the lower amount of sugar because of that chunk that wouldn't melt. I could handle the sweetness of those. The vanilla? Way too sweet for me. Oh. And the caramel didn't taste very caramel-y. Just vanilla-y.<br /><br />As for the "creaminess." My normal cheesecakes don't use a water bath. This one did. Water baths are supposed to make a cheesecake creamier. Were these creamier? Yes. However. They also had a lot more cream. And I don't know about you... but I would think putting cream in something would make something creamy. I actually didn't like the creaminess. The feeling it gave my tongue was like.. drinking cream. Or eating cold fat. You get that greasy feeling in your mouth that doesn't go away.<br /><br /></span></strong><strong>Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:</strong> <p>crust:<br />2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs<br />1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted<br />2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar<br />1 tsp. vanilla extract</p> <p>cheesecake:<br />3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature<br />1 cup / 210 g sugar<br />3 large eggs<br />1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream<br />1 tbsp. lemon juice<br />1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)<br />1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake</p> <p>DIRECTIONS:<br />1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.</p> <p>2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.</p> <p>3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.</p> <p>4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.</p> <p>5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.</p> <p>Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.</p> <p>Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!</p><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><br /></span><br /></strong>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-20856250084985278092009-03-31T12:38:00.005-05:002009-04-02T01:08:09.119-05:00This was supposed to be a carrot cake.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdMFyYkPvaI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/RtMJL4R8YVA/s1600-h/Lemon+Bundt+Cake3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdMFyYkPvaI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/RtMJL4R8YVA/s400/Lemon+Bundt+Cake3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319601948000763298" border="0" /></a><br />It was. It really was. But something went wrong in the oven and a lemon cake came out.<br /><br />No, not really.<br /><br />But it -was- supposed to be carrot cake. I had a craving for carrot cake. And cream cheese frosting. I wanted a dense, moist, sticky spice cake full of shredded carrots, then topped with a slightly sweetened cream cheese frosting. It sounded soooo good. And then I looked at the grocery ads for Newflower. And there was a sale. On bundt cakes. Lemon bundt cakes. And there was a picture. And then I forgot about carrot cake and moved onto lemon.<br /><br />But I'm not complaining. The cake was mouthgasmic. It was gone in about five days.<br /><br />I took the lemon cake I used way back when for my Fourth of July Cupcake Hero thing. Except I didn't try dying it blue again. >.< <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdMFyHUy7PI/AAAAAAAAAQw/7Pku7k9tpQ0/s1600-h/Lemon+Bundt+Cake2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdMFyHUy7PI/AAAAAAAAAQw/7Pku7k9tpQ0/s400/Lemon+Bundt+Cake2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319601943372557554" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Curd Cream Cheese Frosting:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lemon Cake<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"> </span><br /></span>2 cups all-purpose flour<br />1 teaspoon baking powder<br />3/4 teaspoon baking soda<br />1/4 teaspoon salt<br />1 1/2 cups granulated sugar<br />1/2 cup (one stick) salted butter, softened<br />3 eggs<br />1 cup buttermilk <span style="font-style: italic;">(I didn't have any, so I just used sour milk: 1 tablespoon lemon juice and </span><span style="font-style: italic;">enough milk to make one cup.)</span><br />2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest<br />2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice<br /><br />Preheat oven to 350°F.<br /><br />Grease and flour a bundt pan. Or two eight- or nine-inch round cake pans. Or square pans. Or triangle pans! I want a triangle pan... I used my 12-cup bundt pan and sprayed it with Pam for Baking. That stuff works magic on bundt pans.<br /><br />Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and stir to combine.<p><strong></strong>In the bowl of your mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat until well-blended on medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the lemon zest and juice.<br /><br /><strong></strong>Pour batter into prepared pan or pans. You want to get it poured into your pan(s) as quickly as possible because this batter starts reacting -quickly- and you don't want to lose too much air.<br /></p><p>Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. I set my timer for thirty minutes, checked on it, and it was -done-. I expected it to take longer. </p><p>Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes before turning onto the serving plate. You can frost it warm. And I meant to do that with mine so that the frosting melted and oozed all over. But I had waited too long, so I just frosted all around.<br /><br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdMFx3cH9RI/AAAAAAAAAQo/x_0TWG_vjGY/s1600-h/Lemon+Bundt+Cake.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdMFx3cH9RI/AAAAAAAAAQo/x_0TWG_vjGY/s400/Lemon+Bundt+Cake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319601939108328722" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lemon Curd.</span></p><p>1/2 cup sugar<br />2 T cornstarch<br />3 egg yolks<br />1/4 cup lemon juice<br />1 teaspoon lemon zest<br />1/3 cup water</p><p>In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and cornstarch. Then mix in the egg yolks, lemon juice, lemon zest, and water. Cook over medium to medium low heat, stirring constantly until bubbly. I usually start with a flat wooden spoon, then finish with a flat whisk. Cook and stir (or whisk) for 1-2 minutes more.<br /></p><p>Remove from heat and pour into a separate bowl, cover with plastic wrap, pressing it to the surface, and cool. Refrigerate.<br /></p><p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lemon Curd Cream Cheese Frosting.</span></p><p>1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened<br />2 T butter, softened<br />1 cup powdered sugar<br />1/2 cup plus 2-3 T lemon curd, recipe above (or you can use your own recipe or storebought probably. I just knew that I liked that recipe.)</p><p>Beat cream cheese and butter in mixer until smooth and creamy. Then beat in powdered sugar, making sure all lumps are gone. Finally, add in lemon curd and beat until completely mixed.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-47799271091479778692009-03-30T17:46:00.003-05:002009-03-30T19:25:23.995-05:00Daring Bakers: Lasagna.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFi5tne7ZI/AAAAAAAAAPA/ybFknFFUStQ/s1600-h/Spinach+Pasta.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFi5tne7ZI/AAAAAAAAAPA/ybFknFFUStQ/s400/Spinach+Pasta.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319141378538532242" border="0" /></a>Erm. First of all.. I really did make this challenge. (I finally put the pictures up for the other challenges.. I'm lazy.. sorry.) Anyway. My camera ate the lasagna it seems. Seriously. I had taken pictures of the lasagna. I remember making the lasagna. But I put all my pictures from my camera onto my laptop yesterday... and the lasagna pictures aren't there. Aren't anywhere. Erm... yeah. The just... disappeared. Sigh. But I have the pictures of the pasta dough and the fettuccine I made from my leftover dough. I don't understand why. So I figured I'd at least post those.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.</span><br /><br />Anyway. The lasagna. Yeah... Lasagna is okay. And sometimes I'll get a craving for it.. but honestly... it's not that great of a meal. To me at least. Even when I get a craving. I'll make it. I'll eat it. And then I'm like.. "Why did I want that?" It's neat and all. Just not really worth all the effort to me. I'd much rather have stuffed shells. Continuing on.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFigwbgs3I/AAAAAAAAAOo/GGW0JAwZioM/s1600-h/Drying+Pasta.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFigwbgs3I/AAAAAAAAAOo/GGW0JAwZioM/s400/Drying+Pasta.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319140949796893554" border="0" /></a><br />This lasagna called for spinach pasta (I happened to have a package of frozen chopped spinach on hand... which I had gotten for a different lasagna and forgot to put in..), a ragú, a bechamel, and parmesan cheese.<br /><br />I'd heard of true ragus before. I'd kind of skimmed over recipes, noting that they called for very little tomatoes and something I'd never put in a pasta sauce before: carrots and celery. I don't have a problem with carrots and celery. I have just never had that before. It's not what I grew up with. The sauce I grew up with consisted of my gram going out and finding whatever ground beef was the cheapest. Then she'd throw it into a pot and cook it. Drain the fat. Pour cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Then she'd season it up with onion powder, garlic powder, dried basil, oregano, and a bay leaf or two. And she'd add some salt and pepper. She'd also usually have a small jar of mushrooms which were just for her and I. Nobody else in the family likes mushrooms. There was no fresh garlic and onions. I've since graduated to fresh garlic and onions and mushrooms and occasionally fresh herbs. But at that time? Psht. There were eleven of us in one house at one point. Meals consisted of things that could be stretched over a large amount of people. And the ingredients had to be what could last a long time. Seriously. I've reviewed a lot of the "recipes" grew up with. Potato soup? Potatoes, a can of tomato sauce, a couple cans of chicken broth (if we had it.. if we didn't, just water), onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and monterey jack cheese. Zucchini in tomato sauce? Zucchini, tomato sauce, dried basil and oregano, salt, pepper, monterey jack cheese. Rice? Rice fried up in some vegetable oil, then chicken broth, tomato sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper were added. See the pattern? That's not to say we never had fresh foods in the house. We did. Bananas, oranges. We ate salads with dinners. Or we'd have a pot of beans. But I'm running away from the point. Carrots and celery were for soups. Not pasta sauces. But I figured I could try for this recipe. As for the other ingredients? Pancetta? Veal? Prosciutto? Erm... I can't even find veal in my grocery store. And if I could, I'd be making pan-fried veal cutlets. Because my mom has been going on about them for years. Only she's had them. But she wants them. So I've made it a mission to make them if I can ever find veal here. Pancetta is okay. Prosciutto I have a problem with. I don't like ham. What does prosciutto taste like? Ham. I explained the recipe to my mom. She gave me a look of disgust. So I used our basic "recipe" for the pasta sauce. I'll give it to you. But I don't have measurements. Even when I started to make it.. I asked, "How much do I put in?" I was told, "Until it tastes good." "Yes, but how much is that?" I didn't understand -not- measuring things at the time. I had to have precise measurements or it was doomed to fail. At least in my mind.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFigzelsfI/AAAAAAAAAOw/eUujPtCvYVc/s1600-h/Fettuccine+alfredo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFigzelsfI/AAAAAAAAAOw/eUujPtCvYVc/s400/Fettuccine+alfredo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319140950615110130" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Then came the pasta. I'd been looking for a spinach pasta recipe, so I figured I'd try it. It was fine.. I just... something is off with the measurements. Now.. I know I didn't use jumbo eggs. I used extra-large. But still. It called for eggs that were two ounces each. An extra-large egg is about two ounces per egg. It varies. But it's usually two ounces or more. Two eggs did not cut it, though. So I started adding some of the water I squeezed from the spinach. But a few spoonfuls of that wasn't doing the trick. So I added another egg. And then I poured in some olive oil. How much? I don't know. I just poured little bits in until it looked good enough to me. Oh. I had a lot of leftover dough. I think half the recipe could have worked for me for the full lasagna. But maybe I just made my dough incredibly thin. I went to number 6 on my roller attachment to my KitchenAid.<br /><br />Then there was the bechamel. I've made that before. I'd actually made one just the week before I did the lasagna. That was another one of our normal meals. Stuffed bell peppers. We top it with a jack cheese sauce. Which is just a bechamel with jack cheese mixed in. It's mouthgasmic. But yeah. I wound up needing more sauce toward the end. I had more room in my pan. More pasta. More tomato sauce. More cheese. But no more bechamel. So I made more.<br /><br />Onto the cheese. I added in half a pound of mozzarella. Because we like cheese. And I wanted more than just parmesan.<br /><br />So here's the recipes we were given. As for the measurements of parmesan? I just grated cheese as I needed it. The same with the mozzarella. I used a whole eight-ounce package of mozzarella. The parmesan I used from the left of one wedge and the beginnings of a new one, so I don't know how much of that I used.<br /><br />With the leftover pasta dough, I cut fettuccine, dried it, and made my own garlic alfredo with more of the bechamel. Except I first cooked some minced garlic, then proceeded with the recipe for the bechamel, and mixed in parmesan cheese until it was as cheesy as I wanted it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">My Pasta Sauce. Woo.</span><br />1 lb ground beef. I don't know the fat content. Whatever you fancy. I use whatever we happen to have. That day, we had some 90/10. We've also made it with 80/20. Right now, we have about seven pounds of 85/15 in the freezer. This new grocery store opened up in Austin about a month ago. I went last week for the first time. They had 85/15 on sale for $1.77 a pound. So we got a bunch.<br />1/2 of a large onion. Or a whole large onion. Diced. I have to limit the onion to appease my family. So I use half.<br />8 cloves of garlic. More or less. Whatever you like. Minced. I like a lot and everyone else doesn't complain about garlic like they do onion. So I put as much as I want. Usually about eight cloves.<br />1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce. I prefer the crushed here.<br />1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce. Whatever I happen to have.<br />Dried oregano.<br />Dried basil.<br />Dried thyme. If I have it.<br />A bay leaf or two. If I have it.<br />Crushed red peppers.<br />Salt.<br />Black pepper.<br />Onion powder.<br />Garlic powder.<br />Caper... juice?<br />Olive oil. Or vegetable oil.<br /><br />So first, I heat a little oil in my pot. Then I throw in the diced onion and cook it until it's soft. I do the onion first, because sometimes when you mix raw onion with raw meat, once it's cooked, the meat will have the flavour of raw onion. To the rest of my family, that's repulsive. I don't mind it. But to get them to eat what I cook, I cook the onion a bit first. Then I throw in the ground beef and let it cook up. When it's almost done, I add in the garlic. Once the meat and the garlic is done cooking, I drain the fat and go at the meat with a potato masher if I want the meat in smaller pieces.<br /><br />Then I turn the heat back on (oh.. usually about medium or so) and add in some crushed red pepper. Not too much. Because they'd also complain if it's too spicy. Yeah. My family is picky. Add more if you want spicy. I do. Do it for me? That wasn't a question. :]<br /><br />Then I pour in the crushed tomatoes and/or tomato sauce. Then I add in dried herbs. For the proportions. I don't like the flavour of basil. At all. I like the flavour of thyme and oregano, though. (My favourite herb is rosemary. And then thyme.) So if I'm using thyme, I add equal portions of all three herbs. I don't measure. I just pour some into my hand. Crush it up with my hands and throw it in. If it looks like enough, I leave it. If I need more, I add more of each. If I'm not using thyme, I use two parts oregano to one part basil. But if you're on of the numerous people that likes basil you can add more. I'm just telling you what I do. And I don't like basil. Oh. You can also use fresh herbs. I'm making some spaghetti later this week with fresh herbs. It's my sister's favourite food. I'm sick of tomato-based sauces. And I don't like spaghetti.. the pasta shape. So I'm making it with fresh herbs to entice me.<br /><br />Anyway. Then I add in black pepper. Lots of pepper. And some sea salt. Then I taste it. If I need more onion and garlic, then I add in some onion and garlic powder. And then I lower the heat.. to low.. and simmer for about half an hour or so. The "or so" is because I'll sometimes (a lot of the time) forget about it. So yeah. Eh. Then I taste it again. And I add more of whatever needs more. Then to brighten up the flavours, I pour in a touch of caper juice. I guess lemon juice or pickle juice could work. Maybe? I've never tried it. I just have a jar of capers. And I'll add the juice. It's not to make it taste like capers. But it adds some salt and brightens things. Nobody else likes capers. Oh. You can also cook up some sliced mushrooms with the meat. I would. If they'd eat mushrooms.<br /><br /><br /><br /><p><b>Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)</b><br />(Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 to 8 as a main dish)</p> <p>Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time</p> <p>10 quarts (9 litres) salted water<br />1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)<b>#1</b><br />1 recipe Bechamel Sauce (recipe follows)<b>#2</b><br />1 recipe Country Style Ragu (recipe follows)<b>#3</b><br />1 cup (4 ounces/125g) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano</p> <p><b>Method</b><br />Working Ahead:<br />The ragu and the béchamel sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The ragu can also be frozen for up to one month. The pasta can be rolled out, cut and dried up to 24 hours before cooking. The assembled lasagne can wait at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit) about 1 hour before baking. Do not refrigerate it before baking, as the topping of béchamel and cheese will overcook by the time the center is hot.</p> <p><b>Assembling the Ingredients:</b><br />Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Have a large perforated skimmer and a large bowl of cold water next to the stove. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Oil or butter a 3 quart (approx 3 litre) shallow baking dish.</p> <p><b>Cooking the Pasta:</b><br />Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.</p> <p><b>Assembling the Lasagne: </b><br />Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle with about 1&1/2 tablespoons of the béchamel and about 1/3 cup of the cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of cheese.</p> <p><b>Baking and Serving the Lasagne:</b><br />Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.</p> <p><b>#1 Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)</b></p> <p>Preparation: 45 minutes</p> <p>Makes enough for 6 to 8 first course servings or 4 to 6 main course servings, equivalent to 1 pound (450g) dried boxed pasta.</p> <p>2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)<br />10 ounces (300g) fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped; or 6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry<br />3&1/2 cups (14 ounces/400g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour (organic stone ground preferred)</p> <p>Working by Hand:</p> <p>Equipment</p> <p>A roomy work surface, 24 to 30 inches deep by 30 to 36 inches (60cm to 77cm deep by 60cm to 92cm). Any smooth surface will do, but marble cools dough slightly, making it less flexible than desired.</p> <p>A pastry scraper and a small wooden spoon for blending the dough.</p> <p>A wooden dowel-style rolling pin. In Italy, pasta makers use one about 35 inches long and 2 inches thick (89cm long and 5cm thick). The shorter American-style pin with handles at either end can be used, but the longer it is, the easier it is to roll the pasta.<br />Note: although it is not traditional, Enza has successfully made pasta with a marble rolling pin, and this can be substituted for the wooden pin, if you have one.</p> <p>Plastic wrap to wrap the resting dough and to cover rolled-out pasta waiting to be filled. It protects the pasta from drying out too quickly.</p> <p>A sharp chef’s knife for cutting pasta sheets.</p> <p>Cloth-covered chair backs, broom handles, or specially designed pasta racks found in cookware shops for draping the pasta. </p> <p><b>Mixing the dough:</b><br />Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.</p> <p><b>Kneading:</b><br />With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.</p> <p><b>Stretching and Thinning:</b><br />If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.</p> <p>Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.</p> <p>Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms!</p> <p>Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag. </p> <p><b>#2 Bechamel</b></p> <p>Preparation Time: 15 minutes</p> <p>4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) unsalted butter<br />4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour, organic stone ground preferred<br />2&2/3 cups (approx 570ml) milk<br />Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste<br />Freshly grated nutmeg to taste</p> <p>Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.</p> <p><b>#3 Country Style Ragu’ (Ragu alla Contadina)</b></p> <p>Preparation Time: Ingredient Preparation Time 30 minutes and Cooking time 2 hours</p> <p>Makes enough sauce for 1 recipe fresh pasta or 1 pound/450g dried pasta)</p> <p>3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (45 mL)<br />2 ounces/60g pancetta, finely chopped<br />1 medium onion, minced<br />1 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced<br />1 small carrot, minced<br />4 ounces/125g boneless veal shoulder or round<br />4 ounces/125g pork loin, trimmed of fat, or 4 ounces/125g mild Italian sausage (made without fennel)<br />8 ounces/250g beef skirt steak, hanging tender, or boneless chuck blade or chuck center cut (in order of preference)<br />1 ounce/30g thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma<br />2/3 cup (5 ounces/160ml) dry red wine<br />1 &1/2 cups (12 ounces/375ml) chicken or beef stock (homemade if possible)<br />2 cups (16 ounces/500ml) milk<br />3 canned plum tomatoes, drained<br />Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste</p> <p>Working Ahead:<br />The ragu can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. It also freezes well for up to 1 month. Skim the fat from the ragu’ before using it.</p> <p>Browning the Ragu Base:<br />Heat the olive oil in a 12 inch (30cm) skillet (frying pan) over medium-high heat. Have a large saucepan handy to use once browning is complete. Add the pancetta and minced vegetables and sauté, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, 10 minutes, or until the onions barely begin to color. Coarsely grind all the meats together, including the prosciutto, in a food processor or meat grinder. Stir into the pan and slowly brown over medium heat. First the meats will give off a liquid and turn dull grey but, as the liquid evaporates, browning will begin. Stir often, scooping under the meats with the wooden spatula. Protect the brown glaze forming on the bottom of the pan by turning the heat down. Cook 15 minutes, or until the meats are a deep brown. Turn the contents of the skillet into a strainer and shake out the fat. Turn them into the saucepan and set over medium heat.</p> <p>Reducing and Simmering: Add the wine to the skillet, lowering the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly. Stir occasionally until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Scrape up the brown glaze as the wine bubbles. Then pour the reduced wine into the saucepan and set the skillet aside.</p> <p>Stir ½ cup stock into the saucepan and let it bubble slowly, 10 minutes, or until totally evaporated. Repeat with another ½ cup stock. Stir in the last 1/2 cup stock along with the milk. Adjust heat so the liquid bubbles very slowly. Partially cover the pot, and cook 1 hour. Stir frequently to check for sticking.</p> <p>Add the tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pot. Cook uncovered, at a very slow bubble for another 45 minutes, or until the sauce resembles a thick, meaty stew. Season with salt and pepper.</p>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-60402570351778463072009-03-17T14:09:00.004-05:002009-03-30T20:53:16.074-05:00Mint Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdF3cnlq_lI/AAAAAAAAAPo/weFhJVDYGSk/s1600-h/Mint+Cheesecake.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdF3cnlq_lI/AAAAAAAAAPo/weFhJVDYGSk/s400/Mint+Cheesecake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319163968448298578" border="0" /></a><br />Honestly, this was supposed to be just a basic mint cheesecake. No chocolate to compete for the taster's attention.<br /><br />But if you want to mention what it was originally going to be....<br /><br />I love Shamrock Shakes. I grew up eating (drinking?) them every year as soon as they came out. I ate a lot. I lived next door to McDonald's, so as soon as I had someone old enough (like.. eight) we'd walk over and buy some. Yes. An eight-year-old friend and I (who was five) were allowed to walk over to McDonald's by ourselves. I'm still alive obviously. Don't get too upset. Anyway. These days, I can not find Shamrock Shakes anywhere. Maybe it's because I had so many when I was young (seriously.. each time they came out, I had maybe five) so I don't get the pleasure of any now.<br /><br />But St. Patrick's Day was coming up. And I lied. Way back in July I said I would never get celebratory about any holiday except for Halloween. Well. Green is my favourite colour. And Ireland is intriguing. So I fancy St. Patrick's Day as well. But I digress. A lot. So I decided I needed something minty to take the place of the Shamrock Shake. I thought of making mint 'n' chip ice cream, which I have made before. But I didn't feel like making ice cream. I had been wanting to make cheesecake, so I decided upon mint cheesecake. Why not? I like cheesecake. I like mint. And I can dye it green. Perfect. I also have a four-ounce bottle of peppermint extract that I need to use. Why such a big bottle? It's the only one we could find. I love how the bottle looks, though. It's pretty.<br /><br />So I set about getting the bits I needed for the cheesecake. I didn't want to do a full cheesecake recipe, so I decided to do half. But then I didn't want to do half. But I didn't want to do a full one. So I settled on three-quarters of the recipe.<br /><br />Sunday night, I set about making the cheesecake. I also decided upon an Oreo cookie crust. Just so you know. Anyway. I got everything mixed up, then I tasted the batter. It was... minty. Yes. Obviously it was minty. I was making a mint cheesecake. But it was... weird. I started having doubts. Everyone else I mentioned the cheesecake to voiced their doubts immediately. But I was convinced it had to be good. Even though my searches for a mint cheesecake recipe proved futile. (I had already figured I'd use my basic recipe, but use peppermint in place of vanilla. But I still wanted to see what else was out there.) I figured I found out why there are no mint cheesecake recipes. But I pressed on. I was going to bake it anyway. But I tasted the batter again. It was still... odd. So I added in a quarter teaspoon of vanilla. There. It wasn't so.. caustic. Though caustic is a bit too harsh. But the vanilla seemed to help.. smooth out the flavour.<br /><br />I also overbaked it a bit. It didn't crack or anything. I just like to remove my cheesecakes when the centre is still a bit wet. It -will- set up as it sits. When I checked on it after one hour, I could make it jiggle, but it was not wet at all. I took it out. It's still good. Just letting you know, if you want it wet in the centre, cook it less.<br /><br />Oh. And I never use a water bath. Too much hassle. I'd have to go out to the garage, find the roasting pan, wipe off the spider webs, hope I'm not bringing some monster spider in the house with it, or anything else. Yeah. I'll do that for a roasted chicken. Cheesecake? No.<br /><br />Since I found the flavour to be... odd... I decided to make a chocolate ganache to put on top. Which ganache to do? The ganache from the December Daring Baker's. It was a nifty ganache. I'm going to use it as a frosting to vanilla cupcakes one day. I just need to find a vanilla cake recipe that isn't so dry. You should know that I ramble.<br /><br />After the cheesecake cooled a bit, I topped it with the ganache and then put it in the fridge. It makes a fudgy chocolate layer on top.<br /><br />The next day, I cut a slice. I tried just the cheesecake without the ganache layer. It was... odd. But with the ganache? 'Twas a minty, chocolatey, cheesecakey mouthgasm. Now I have to eat a whole cheesecake. By myself. Come help. Please? Really. My sisters don't like cheesecake. And my mom and dad keep saying, "I'll try it" just to humour me. I know they don't want to taste it.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mint Cheesecake With Chocolate Ganache.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oreo Crumb Crust:</span><br />2 cups Oreo Cookie crumbs ('twas about 30 normal Oreos for me. Creme and all.)<br />1/4 cup (half a stick) melted salted butter (I always use salted butter.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cheesecake:</span><br />3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened (I actually use two packages cream cheese and one package neufchatel.. which could have result in the quicker cooking? Three normal cream cheese should work fine, though)<br />3/4 cup sugar<br />2 T 3/4 t flour<br />3 eggs<br />1 egg, beaten, 1 T of egg removed and discarded*<br />1/4 cup heavy cream<br />3/4 t peppermint extract<br />1/4 t vanilla extract<br />green food colouring, optional<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ganache:</span><br />67 g sugar<br />3/4 cup heavy cream, warm<br />180 g semisweet chocolate<br />60 g salted butter, room temperature<br /><br /><br />Pre-heat oven to 350ºF.<br /><br />Mix Oreo Crumbs with melted butter. Add more melted butter if you need it. I was prepared to. But my crust worked with just half a stick. Press onto bottom and one inch up the sides of an 8.5 inch springform pan. An eight-inch pan works. And so does a nine-inch if those are what you have. I just opted for my smallest pan which happens to be that. Bake for 7-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.<br /><br />In the bowl of a mixer, beat the cream cheese with the sugar and flour. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping well after each addition. You'll beat in the beaten egg here, too. Just so you know. Beat in the heavy cream, peppermint, and vanilla. Mix in green food colouring if you fancy to whatever colour you fancy. I used gel paste because my sister used up all the liquid colourings. I went for a mint green.<br /><br />Oh. And while you're mixing up the cheesecake batter, bring a kettle of water to a boil. Or a pot. Or whatever you use to boil water. Place the cheesecake in the oven on the centre rack. On the rack below the cheesecake, place a 13 x 9 inch pan and fill two-thirds full of water. Or some other such pan. Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 250ºF and bake for 45-60 minutes. You want the cheesecake to be set at the edges, but still a bit wet and wobbly in the centre. I went straight for sixty minutes and it was wobbly-ish, but not wet. Though it was not too far gone. So you can probably go for that long. I just suggested forty-five minutes so you don't get mad at me if 60 minutes results in too overbaked of a cheesecake for you. My own little disclaimer.<br /><br />Allow to cool to room temperature.<br /><br />Once the cheesecake is cool, put together the ganache.<br /><br />Place the sugar in a small or medium saucepan. Try to get it into as smooth a layer as you can. Melt it over medium to medium low heat. Refrain from stirring. I know you want to, but you'll just create lumps that refuse to melt. What you want to do is let the sugar sit. You see the edges starting to melt and turn clear? Keep waiting. If one side of the pan is melting, and the other side isn't, then move the pan over so the other side melts, too. Refrain from stirring. Keep letting it melt. You see it traveling further in? You see the edges starting to turn a light golden? Keep waiting. When the edges are golden and the still-crystalline sugar easily floats on a pool of melted sugar and when you tilt the pan it moves with the waves of molten sugar and the melted sugar is a golden brown? -Then- you can stir. The sugar should easily melt into the rest. If it just creates lumps, you didn't wait long enough. Yes. I realise my run-on question thing repeats and changes and is an incredibly odd question. It got your attention didn't it?<br /><br />Once the ugar is melted and caramelised, turn off the heat and pour in the cream. If the sugar solidifies, turn the stove back on and stir until the sugar melts back into the cream. Pour the hot mixtur over the chocolate and allow it to melt, then stir it together. Mix in the softened butter. Spread the ganache on the cheesecake.<br /><br />Refrigerate four hours or overnight. Or however long you can wait until it's cold.<br /><br /><br />It makes me think of an Andes mint. The colouring. The flavour is different, though. But still good.<br /><br /><br />*The original recipe calls for five eggs. So I did three-quarters. Each quarter recipe would use one and a quarter eggs. One egg is about a quarter cup. A quarter cup is four tablespoon. So logically, three-quarters of the recipe would be three eggs and three tablespoons. That is why I beat the fourth egg and removed one tablespoon of beaten egg. I know I could have simply used four eggs, but I fear things being too eggy. So I removed the extra tablespoon.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-21653757370372640602009-03-03T23:09:00.005-06:002009-03-30T19:51:02.086-05:00Daring Baker's Flourless Chocolate Cake.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFohfuENbI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/oYD09wA0lBs/s1600-h/Flourless+Chocolate+Cake.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFohfuENbI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/oYD09wA0lBs/s400/Flourless+Chocolate+Cake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319147559560951218" border="0" /></a><br />First, The Required Bit:<br />The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.<o:p></o:p> <p class="MsoNormal">We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Okay. So. I can never get these up on time. This month was flourless chocolate cake. 'Twas recommended that we use a heart-shaped pan. But I think that would be the most ridiculous thing. Who even celebrates Valentine's Day still? It's just a corporate holiday. I don't se it as anything special. If you want to give me chocolates, give me chocolates. But don't do it because society tells you to. Morons. Anyway. I used my nifty new eight-and-a-half-inch springform pan. It works fine.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFohnHcbII/AAAAAAAAAPY/xNpRYHqk4zk/s1600-h/Strawberry+Ice+Cream.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFohnHcbII/AAAAAAAAAPY/xNpRYHqk4zk/s400/Strawberry+Ice+Cream.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319147561546443906" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">The cake was pretty good. All it is is chocolate, eggs, and butter. It was neat. I baked mine perfectly. Which I didn't like. It was good, yes. But completely baked through, I didn't like it so much. I would have fancied it a bit more underbaked because, well, I like things underbaked. Brownies. Cookies. Cinnamon rolls. Yep. Oh well. We still ate the whole thing.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFomd36yDI/AAAAAAAAAPg/khBIQR0Uv9s/s1600-h/Caramel+Apple+Ice+Cream.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdFomd36yDI/AAAAAAAAAPg/khBIQR0Uv9s/s400/Caramel+Apple+Ice+Cream.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319147644964751410" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal">We were also required to make an ice cream to go with it. So I made strawberry ice cream. I decided to do half the recipe. It calls for five ounceds of egg yolks. Heh... Which, as it turns out, is about eight egg yolks. 'Twas a lot. My second ice cream (because I had leftover heavy cream) was a caramel ice cream with some cooked apples. I went searching for a "caramel apple ice cream." And I realised as I typed it in, that what I wanted was a caramel ice cream with some apples sauteed in butter, sugar, cinnamona and other such good things. Which isn't really what you think of when thinking of "caramel apples." But I actually found something that matched what I wanted anyway. Next time, though, I think I'll leave the apples out. Something about what I added to the apples, though, prevented the ice cream from freezing solid. The base was in my bowl churning, it was almost done... I added the apples... and it suddenly started to liquefy. So I gave up on it freezing up again, and just scraped it in a container and put it in the freezer. I thought, "Great, I'm going to have frozen ice cream." The next day, when I went to get a spoonful, it was incredibly soft. And has remained so.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Oh. And whereas the caramel apple ice cream is very soft.. it also melts incredibly quickly. The strawberry ice cream... it's not quite solid, but it is rather firm. But it melts veeeeery slowly. So that was neat.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><strong>Chocolate Valentino<br />Preparation Time: 20 minutes</strong><br />16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped<br />½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter<br />5 large eggs separated<br /><br />1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.<br />2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.<br />3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.<br />4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).<br />5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.<br />6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.<br />7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}<br />8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C<br />9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.<br />Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.<br />10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-24054412779619051492009-02-16T16:16:00.005-06:002009-04-01T17:25:23.528-05:00Mmm. Brussels sprouts.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdPli5OKhJI/AAAAAAAAARo/aZqLB9Rcm5Q/s1600-h/Brussels+Sprouts+and+Black+Pepper+Linguine.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdPli5OKhJI/AAAAAAAAARo/aZqLB9Rcm5Q/s400/Brussels+Sprouts+and+Black+Pepper+Linguine.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319847972493231250" border="0" /></a>No, I was not being sarcastic with my title. I truly love brussels sprouts. Though I wasn't aware there was an "S" at the end of "brussels" until about a year ago. They were.. "brussel sprouts." I also grew up thinking it was "blesh you" and "sherbert." Apparently I have problems with pronunciation. I also say "bowlth." But anyway.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdPljHHIayI/AAAAAAAAAR4/Uz7KG5eleS4/s1600-h/Brussels+Sprouts+and+Black+Pepper+Linguine3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdPljHHIayI/AAAAAAAAAR4/Uz7KG5eleS4/s400/Brussels+Sprouts+and+Black+Pepper+Linguine3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319847976221829922" border="0" /></a><br />I love brussels sprouts. So on Friday, when I was wandering Central Market with my friend Colin and happened upon a two-foot long stalk of brussels sprouts for just five dollars. Not five dollars a pound. Five dollars total. I couldn't pass it up. I couldn't think of what to have them with.. but I knew I wanted it. Especially since I haven't seen brussels sprouts on the stalk since I was.. maybe six? My aunt took me to the farmer's market one day when we lived back in California to get strawberries and pomegranates and I saw this large stock studded with little green balls. "-That's- how brussel sprouts grow?" "Apparently."<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdPlivY_jAI/AAAAAAAAARg/nQPdcm98G0A/s1600-h/Brussels+Sprouts.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdPlivY_jAI/AAAAAAAAARg/nQPdcm98G0A/s400/Brussels+Sprouts.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319847969854295042" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So far.. I have gotten through about four inches of the stalk. I made Heidi Swanson's <a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/goldencrusted-brussels-sprouts-recipe.html">Golden-Crusted Brussels Sprouts</a> last night to go with some pork chops for dinner. I used fifteen... and it took three inches worth of brussels sprouts. Then today, I decided I wanted to make something with some brussels sprouts for lunch. So I cut off five and planned.<br /><br />I was thinking of just cutting them in half, sautéing them, then tossing them with brown rice. But I wasn't in the mood for rice. So I considered quinoa. But I didn't want that either. I also had some barley! But I didn't want to wait forty minutes for it to cook. And then I remembered I had recently bought a pound of whole wheat linguine. So I decided that would work. Sautéed Brussels Sprouts Linguine. Hmm..<br /><br />But then I decided to shred the brussels sprouts since I keep seeing people doing that. And and and! And I wanted herbs. And to make a cream sauce. And.... yeah. I started the idea.. but, erm, I don't use cornstarch for the reason that it always has a weird flavour. But I decided to use it. Bad news. As much parmesan and oregano I added, I could not get rid of that cornstarch taste. Luckily, I hadn't added the pasta or the sprouts to the sauce. So I just tossed that out and went back to my original plan. Pasta. Brussels Sprouts. Oil. Butter. Salt. Pepper. Parmesan. Leftover Tri-Tip. And it was delicious.<br /><br />Now. I know apparently a lot of people think brussels sprouts are gross. What I've come to find out is that the longer the brussels sprouts are cooked, the more they break down, and the more... pungent.. they become. And this cabbage-ness is what people don't seem to like. If cooked properly, the sprouts will be tender, but still a vibrant green colour. I seem to be an anomaly, though, and I like brussels sprouts when they're way too overcooked. I like them cooked properly, too. But if you give me overcooked brussels sprouts, I'll still love them. I also like mushy pasta. And mushy peas. And stale Oreos.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdPlizfgwlI/AAAAAAAAARw/x8UPdEL98p0/s1600-h/Brussels+Sprouts+and+Black+Pepper+Linguine2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdPlizfgwlI/AAAAAAAAARw/x8UPdEL98p0/s400/Brussels+Sprouts+and+Black+Pepper+Linguine2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319847970955379282" border="0" /></a><br /><br />But anyway. The pasta. You can also leave out the brussels sprouts completely and it would still be good if you really do not like brussels sprouts.<br /><br />Sautéed Brussels Sprouts and Black Pepper Linguine<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Serves 1-2, depending upon how hungry you are... I was reeeeeally hungry.</span><br /><br />5 moderately sized brussels sprouts, thinly sliced (or however much you want)<br />olive oil<br />coarse sea salt (or whatever you have)<br />Pepper. Lots of pepper.<br />1.5 Tablespoons butter<br />Some kind of meat if you want. I had some leftover tri-tip in the fridge. So I threw it in.<br />whole wheat linguine, about a fifth of a one pound package (I never measure my pasta.. I just grab "what looks right.")<br />freshly grated parmesan cheese, sprinkled on at end<br /><br />Bring a pot of water to a boil. Salt it and add a little oil and cook the linguine according to package directions. Or however you normally make your pasta.<br /><br />Whilst that is going on, heat some oil in a skillet on high. (I used a basic metal pan. No non-stick for this.) Sprinkle in your shredded brussels sprouts and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Allow it to sit for a minute or two to get some caramelization, then toss with tongs a few times. Remove sprouts from pan and set off to the side.<br /><br />Add a bit more oil to the pan and heat it up, lowering the heat to about medium-high. Add in the leftover meat, stirring continuously, and cook for about a minute. Throw in the butter and continue stirring. Lower the heat to medium, medium low. Grab your pasta with your tongs and just transfer it to the skillet, allow most o the water to drain of before you transfer it.. there will be some water that transfers, but it's fine. Toss the pasta with the meat and butter mixture. Season with a bit of salt and lots of pepper. I really like pepper. Add in the brussels sprouts and toss together, allowing the sprouts to heat back through. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with parmesan. Devour with a fork.<br /><br />Then groan, sit back and complain that you ate too much, and proceed to pick brussels sprouts out of your braces for twenty minutes. Well. If you're me. I got braces on Thursday. The brussels sprouts are the only things so far that have gotten stuck -every-where. But it was so worth it.<br /><br />If you caught the inconsistency of the pictures, one was from the day I had leftover tri-tip, and then I made more the next day, but I no longer had any.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-16104349949001443662009-02-12T21:43:00.004-06:002009-02-12T22:16:58.213-06:00Amano Chocolate! Ta-da!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SZT0MEHyvII/AAAAAAAAANw/YLLZ8ICmtYM/s1600-h/Jembrana_On_Beans300x450cu.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SZT0MEHyvII/AAAAAAAAANw/YLLZ8ICmtYM/s400/Jembrana_On_Beans300x450cu.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5302131149423950978" border="0" /></a><br />Yes, I suck at updating. I think it's because I'm pretty sure nobody really reads this. I only get the few courtesy reads from people whose blogs I've commented on. But beyond that.. I don't get much traffic.<br /><br />Either way, I should work on this.<br /><br />But for today, I'm here to talk about my recent BlakeMakes Sooper Heroes win: Amano Chocolate. Jembrana Premium Dark Chocolate. <span style="font-style: italic;">Seventy</span> percent. It's -very- dark. But don't let those people who say "the darker the chocolate, the more bitter it is." This chocolate is not bitter at all. It's not incredibly sweet like milk chocolate, but it is in no way bitter.<br /><br />When I first tasted it, though, I did have myself braced for the lack of sweetness I was expecting to come. The higher the cacao content, the more intense of a chocolate flavour you get... and the more risk of me sneezing. Really. Too intense of a chocolate, and I sneeze. I don't know why. I just always have. So I ate it slowly. I savoured it. <span style="font-style: italic;">I didn't chew.</span> I simply broke off a piece, placed it on my tongue, closed my mouth, and let it melt.<br /><br />Wow. The chocolate was actually sweeter than I had expected. Again, it still wasn't as sweet as, say, a milk chocolate. But it was not too dark at all. It was very appealing.<br /><br />As for the flavour... maybe I'm just an odd taster. I tasted the chocolate, discerned a certain flavour to it. Then read the back of the box. And I laughed because of what my taste buds tasted. The box describes the chocolate as having a "nuttiness." Well. You know how so many people like to describe chocolate as "fruity"? I never could understand how a plain chocolate could taste fruity until I had this bar. There was something with the flavour that I could only describe as... fruity. I tried coming up with other descriptions, but all that stuck out.. was fruity.<br /><br />I ate about a quarter of the bar. And then.... I commited culinary sacrilege. Or brilliance. Depending on how you look at it.<br /><br />I took this seventy percent, high-quality, rare chocolate bar... and made a grilled cheese sandwich with it. Just a half sandwich. One slice of whole grain white bread. Thinly sliced extra sharp cheddar cheese. And three squares of this chocolate bar. Then I grilled it on my cast iron griddle, dry. No butter or oil to compete with the flavour of the chocolate and cheese.<br /><br />I felt so sneaky making it. Like a little kid taking three cookies more than they were allowed.<br /><br />It was the best grilled cheese ever.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-19901081289138980482008-12-31T12:08:00.003-06:002009-03-29T18:29:54.946-05:00Daring Bakers: French Yule Log.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdAD0rSAuhI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/TPG1ZY8SiQo/s1600-h/100_2811.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdAD0rSAuhI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/TPG1ZY8SiQo/s400/100_2811.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318755363430906386" border="0" /></a><br />First, the bit I'm required to say:<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">There. That's out of the way.<br /><br />So. This month was a French yule log consisting of six elements. A mouss</span></strong><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">e, a baked custard (they referred to it as a </span></strong><em>crème brûlée, </em><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">but there was no caramelising sugar on top which, I thought, was the whole essence of </span></strong><em>crème brûlée</em><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">), a chocolate praline crisp, a chocolate ganache, a dacquoise, and a chocolate glaze.<br /><br /></span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdAD02tQYUI/AAAAAAAAAOY/cunVl-MJip4/s1600-h/100_2803.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdAD02tQYUI/AAAAAAAAAOY/cunVl-MJip4/s400/100_2803.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318755366497968450" border="0" /></a><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />They then made available to us several recipes of which we were supposed to use and many variations. I'm told that there was a Word Document that could be downloaded and printed off. However, I didn't have Word (I do now.. Christmas present) and so I didn't download. I just copied and pasted. It's not that difficult, kids. Then I went through and decided upon the variations I would use.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">I came up with: Vanilla mousse, chocolate custard, almond dacquoise, milk chocolate crisp, dark chocolate ganache, and dark chocolate glaze.<br /><br />I had planned on making the lace crepes for the crisp. And they baked. And crisped. And did not burn at all (apparently other kids' stuff burnt). But when I tried getting it off my pan it did not just crumble.. it turned to powder. So I threw that out and used Rice Krispies. Supposedly I was supposed to crush the Rice Krispies. But too bad. I liked it as I did it. I also didn't just lay the crisp into my final log. I chopped it up. And I didn't use praline. I don't have a food processor and I was not spending time trying to turn that stuff to paste using my hand. Yes. I'm high-maintenance. What of it? Instead, I used some dulce de leche I had made previously and a little bit of my almond meal.<br /><br /></span></strong><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdAD1GYMoCI/AAAAAAAAAOg/w22Cpn2GpXY/s1600-h/100_2807.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SdAD1GYMoCI/AAAAAAAAAOg/w22Cpn2GpXY/s400/100_2807.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318755370704609314" border="0" /></a><br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />I also didn't feel it was really that hard unlike other people. But then. I broke it up into four days. I was not going to try and cram everything in one day. I am a bit sane. And I don't like to wash the same bowl five times in one day. So the first day I made the baked custard. Got the kitchen somewhat cleaned. Made the crisp. The next day I made the mousse. And I assembled the mousse, custard, and crisp. The third day, I made the cake. Then I made the ganache. Assembled that. Then the fourth day I made the glaze. It was pretty smooth sailing. The only thing that went wrong was the lace crepes which was easily fixed by Rice Krispies. So.. it really was very relaxed. Boring almost, since it took so many days to assemble.<br /><br />The vanilla mousse didn't really shine through paired with so much chocolate. I'm considering making another sometime, but with lemon mousse. And... dare I use it... -white- chocolate. I hate that stuff. It's not even chocolate. And it's sickeningly sweet. But I don't like lemon with dark chocolate. I like both by themselves. But paired together, the chocolate overpowers the lemon and I love lemon. Or maybe I won't so this. I'll do something else. But either way. I am curious to use at least the ganache again. But as a frosting.<br /><br />So yeah. Now I have this big loaf of stuff. I told Aaron I'm forcing him to take half of it.<br /><br /><br /><br />The Recipes:<br /><br /></span></strong><strong><span class="bbu">Element #1 Dacquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake)</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Preparation time:</strong> 10 mn + 15 mn for baking<br /><br /><strong>Equipment:</strong> 2 mixing bowls, hand or stand mixer with whisk attachment, spatula, baking pan such as a 10”x15” jelly-roll pan, parchment paper<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> You can use the Dacquoise for the bottom of your Yule Log only, or as bottom and top layers, or if using a Yule log mold (half-pipe) to line your entire mold with the biscuit. Take care to spread the Dacquoise accordingly. Try to bake the Dacquoise the same day you assemble the log to keep it as moist as possible.<br /><br /><strong>Ingredients:</strong><br />2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) almond meal<br />1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) confectioner’s sugar<br />2Tbsp (15g) all-purpose flour<br />3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) about 3 medium egg whites <br />1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar<br /> <br />1. Finely mix the almond meal and the confectioner's sugar. (If you have a mixer, you can use it by pulsing the ingredients together for no longer than 30 seconds).<br />2. Sift the flour into the mix.<br />3. Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff.<br />4. Pour the almond meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula.<br />5. Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it.<br />6. Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape (circle, long strip etc...) and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm).<br />7. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes (depends on your oven), until golden.<br />8. Let cool and cut to the desired shape.<br /><br /><strong><em>Variations on the Almond Dacquoise listed above:</em></strong><br /><br /><strong><em>Hazelnut Dacquoise</em></strong><br /><em>Substitute the same amount of hazelnut meal for the almond meal.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Chocolate Dacquoise</em></strong><br /><em>Add 3 tablespoons of sifted unsweetened cocoa powder into the almond meal/caster sugar mix in Step #1 of the Almond Dacquoise.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Lemon Dacquoise</em></strong><br /><em>Add the zest of 1 Lemon after the flour in Step #2 of the Almond Dacquoise.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Coconut Dacquoise</em></strong><br /><em>Substitute ¼ cup of almond meal and add 2/3 cup shredded coconut in Step #1 of the Almond Dacquoise.</em><br /><br /><br /><strong><span class="bbu">Element #2 Dark Chocolate Mousse</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Preparation time:</strong> 20mn<br /><br /><strong>Equipment:</strong> stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment, thermometer, double boiler or equivalent, spatula<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> You will see that a Pate a Bombe is mentioned in this recipe. A Pate a Bombe is a term used for egg yolks beaten with a sugar syrup, then aerated. It is the base used for many mousse and buttercream recipes. It makes mousses and buttercreams more stable, particularly if they are to be frozen, so that they do not melt as quickly or collapse under the weight of heavier items such as the crème brulee insert.<br />In the Vanilla Mousse variation, pastry cream is made to the same effect.<br />In the Mango Mousse variation, Italian meringue is made to the same effect. Italian meringue is a simple syrup added to egg whites as they are beaten until stiff. It has the same consistency as Swiss meringue (thick and glossy) which we have used before in challenge recipes as a base for buttercream.<br />The Whipped Cream option contains no gelatin, so beware of how fast it may melt.<br />Gelatin is the gelifying agent in all of the following recipes, but if you would like to use agar-agar, here are the equivalencies: 8g powdered gelatin = 1 (0.25 oz) envelope powdered gelatin = 1 Tbsp powdered gelatin = 1 Tbsp Agar-Agar.<br />1 Tbsp. of agar-agar flakes is equal to 1 tsp. of agar-agar powder.<br /><br /><strong>Ingredients:</strong><br />2.5 sheets gelatin or 5g / 1 + 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin <br />1.5 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) granulated sugar <br />1 ½ tsp (10g) glucose or thick corn syrup <br />0.5 oz (15g) water <br />50g egg yolks (about 3 medium)<br />6.2 oz (175g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped<br />1.5 cups (350g) heavy cream (35% fat content)<br /> <br />1. Soften the gelatin in cold water. (If using powdered gelatin, follow the directions on the package.)<br />2. Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in colour (approximately 5 minutes until almost white).<br />2a. Cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F (118°C). If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature.<br />2b. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer.<br />2c. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.<br />3. In a double boiler or equivalent, heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.<br /><span style="color:blue;"><strong>4. Whip the remainder of the cream until stiff.</strong></span><br />5. Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatin, mixing well. Let the gelatin and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in ½ cup (100g) of WHIPPED cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe.<br />6. Add in the rest of the WHIPPED cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.<br /><br /><strong><em>Variations on the Dark Chocolate Mousse listed above:</em></strong><br /><br /><strong><em>White Chocolate Mousse</em></strong><br /><em>Substitute the same quantity of white chocolate for the dark chocolate in the mousse recipe listed above.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Milk Chocolate Whipped Cream (Chantilly):</em></strong><br /><em>(Can be made the day before and kept in the fridge overnight)<br />2/3 cup (160g) heavy cream 35% fat<br />7.8 oz (220g) milk chocolate <br />2 1/3 tsp (15g) glucose or thick corn syrup<br />1 1/3 cup (320g) heavy cream 35% fat<br /><br />1. Chop the chocolate coarsely.<br />2. Heat the 160g of cream to boiling and pour over the chocolate and glucose syrup.<br />3. Wait 30 seconds then stir the mix until smooth. Add the remaining cream.<br />4. Refrigerate to cool, then whip up.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Vanilla Mousse</em></strong><br /><em>2/3 cup (160g) heavy cream (35% fat content)<br />2/3 cup (160g) whole milk<br />1 vanilla bean<br />4 medium-sized egg yolks <br />3 oz (6 Tbsp / 80g) granulated sugar<br />3 Tbsp (25g) cornstarch, sifted<br />4g / 2 tsp powdered gelatin or 2 sheets gelatin<br />1 cup (240g) whipping cream (35% fat content)<br /><br />Make a pastry cream:<br />1. Pour the milk and 2/3 cup cream into a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean halves into milk and put the vanilla bean in as well.<br />2. Heat to boiling, then turn the heat off, cover and let infuse for at least 30 minutes. Then remove the vanilla bean.<br />3. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until white, thick and fluffy.<br />4. Add the cornstarch, beating carefully to ensure that there are no lumps. While whisking vigorously, pour some of the milk into the yolk mixture to temper it.<br />5. Put infused milk back on the stove on medium heat. Pour yolk mixture back into the milk while whisking vigorously. Keep whisking vigorously until mixture thickens considerably.<br />6. As soon as the mixture starts to boil, leave on for only 2 more minutes. (The recipe says you should remove the vanilla bean at this time but in the interest of no one getting burned, that can be done after you take the pastry cream off the stove.)<br />7. Once removed from the heat, cover the pastry cream by putting plastic film directly on the surface of the cream (this prevents it from forming a thick and unappetizing skin as it cools). Let cool at room temperature.<br />8. Soften the gelatin in cold water and melt in a small saucepan with 1 tsp of water OR melt in the microwave for 1 second (do not boil). Whisking vigorously, pour the cooled pastry cream over it.<br />9. Whip the 1 cup whipping cream until stiff and add gradually to the pastry cream (DO NOT WHISK). Blend delicately with a spatula (DO NOT WHISK).</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Mango Mousse</em></strong><br /><em>2 medium-sized egg yolks<br />2 Tbsp (17g) cornstarch<br />1/3 cup (80g) whipping cream<br />7 oz (200g) mango puree <br />3.5 oz (1/2 cup / 100g) granulated sugar <br />1.3 oz (36g) water<br />2.5 gelatin leaves or 5g / 2+1/4 tsp powdered gelatin<br />3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) about 3 medium-sized egg whites<br /><br />1. Beat the egg yolks with the cornstarch until thick, white and fluffy.<br />2. Heat the cream in a medium saucepan and once hot, pour a small amount over the egg yolks while whisking vigorously.<br />3. Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the rest of the cream in the saucepan, add the mango puree and cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens considerably, at least 3-5 mn. Let cool to lukewarm temperature.<br />4. Make an Italian Meringue: Cook the sugar and water on medium heat until temperature reaches 244°F (118°C) when measured with a candy thermometer. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, test the temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water. If it forms a soft ball, you’ve reached the proper temperature.<br />4a. Beat the egg whites until foamy. Pour the sugar syrup into the whites in a thin stream while continuing to whisk vigorously (preferably with a mixer for sufficient speed). Whisk/beat until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The meringue should be thick and glossy.<br />5. Soften the gelatin in cold water and melt in a small saucepan with 1 tsp of water OR melt in the microwave for 1 second (do not boil).<br />6. Put the melted gelatin in a mixing bowl and, while whisking vigorously, pour the lukewarm mango cream over the gelatin.<br />7. Carefully blend the Italian meringue into the mango mixture.</em><br /><br /><br /><strong><span class="bbu">Element #3 Dark Chocolate Ganache Insert</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Preparation time:</strong> 10mn<br /><br /><strong>Equipment:</strong> pan, whisk. If you have plunging mixer (a vertical hand mixer used to make soups and other liquids), it comes in handy.<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Because the ganache hardens as it cools, you should make it right before you intend to use it to facilitate piping it onto the log during assembly. Please be careful when caramelizing the sugar and then adding the cream. It may splatter and boil.<br /><br /><strong>Ingredients:</strong><br />1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar <br />4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp/ 135g) heavy cream (35% fat content) <br />5 oz (135g) dark chocolate, finely chopped<br />3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened<br /><br />1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).<br />2. While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.<br />3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.<br />4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.<br /><br /><strong><em>Variations on the Dark Chocolate Ganache Insert listed above:</em></strong><br /><br /><strong><em>White Chocolate Ganache Insert</em></strong><br /><em>1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar <br />5 oz (135g) white chocolate, finely chopped<br />4.5 oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp / 135g) heavy cream (35% fat content) <br /><br />1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small sauce pan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).<br />2. While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.<br />3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Dark-Milk Ganache Insert</em></strong><br /><em>1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar <br />4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp / 135g) heavy cream (35% fat content) <br />2.7 oz (75g) milk chocolate<br />3.2 oz (90g) dark chocolate<br />3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened<br /><br />1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).<br />2. While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.<br />3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.<br />4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Cinammon-Milk Ganache Insert</em></strong><br /><em>1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar <br />4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp / 135g) heavy cream <br />A pinch of cinnamon <br />2.7 oz (75g) milk chocolate, finely chopped<br />3.2 oz (90g) dark chocolate, finely chopped<br />3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened<br /><br />1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).<br />2. Heat the cream with the cinnamon (use the quantity of cinnamon you want to infuse the cream, a pinch is the smallest amount suggested) until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.<br />3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the milk and dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.<br />4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.</em><br /><br /><br /><strong><span class="bbu">Element #4 Praline Feuillete (Crisp) Insert</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Preparation time:</strong> 10 mn (+ optional 15mn if you make lace crepes)<br /><br /><strong>Equipment:</strong> Small saucepan, baking sheet (if you make lace crepes).<br />Double boiler (or one small saucepan in another), wax paper, rolling pin (or I use an empty bottle of olive oil).<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Feuillete means layered (as in with leaves) so a Praline Feuillete is a Praline version of a delicate crisp. There are non-praline variations below. The crunch in this crisp comes from an ingredient which is called gavottes in French. Gavottes are lace-thin crepes. To our knowledge they are not available outside of France, so you have the option of making your own using the recipe below or you can simply substitute rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K for them. Special note: If you use one of the substitutes for the gavottes, you should halve the quantity stated, as in use 1oz of any of these cereals instead of 2.1oz.<br />If you want to make your own praline, please refer back to the Daring Baker Challenge Recipe from July 2008.<br /><br />To make 2.1oz / 60g of gavottes (lace crepes - recipe by Ferich Mounia):<br />1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk <br />2/3 Tbsp (8g) unsalted butter <br />1/3 cup – 2tsp (35g) all-purpose flour <br />1 Tbsp / 0.5 oz (15g) beaten egg<br />1 tsp (3.5g) granulated sugar<br />½ tsp vegetable oil<br />1. Heat the milk and butter together until butter is completely melted. Remove from the heat.<br />2. Sift flour into milk-butter mixture while beating, add egg and granulated sugar. Make sure there are no lumps.<br />3. Grease a baking sheet and spread batter thinly over it.<br />4. Bake at 430°F (220°C) for a few minutes until the crepe is golden and crispy. Let cool.<br /><br /><strong>Ingredients for the Praline Feuillete:</strong><br />3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate <br />1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) butter <br />2 Tbsp (1 oz / 30g) praline<br />2.1oz (60g) lace crepes(gavottes) or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K<br /><br />1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.<br />2. Add the praline and the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate.<br />3. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.<br /><br /><br /><strong><em>Variations on the Praline Feuillete (Crisp) Insert listed above:</em></strong><br /><br /><strong><em>Chocolate Crisp Insert</em></strong><br /><em>3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate<br />1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) unsalted butter<br />2 Tbsp (1 oz / 30g) praline <br />1 oz. (25g) lace crepes or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K<br /><br />1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.<br />2. Add the praline and the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate.<br />3. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>Coconut Crisp Insert</em></strong><br /><em>3.5 oz (100g) white chocolate <br />1 oz (1/3 cup/25g) shredded coconut<br />1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) unsalted butter <br />2.1 oz (60g) lace crepes or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K<br /><br />1. Spread the coconut on a baking tray and bake for 5-10 minutes at 375°F (190°C) to toast (a different temperature might work better for you with your own oven).<br />2. Melt the white chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Stir until smooth and add the toasted coconut.<br />3. Add the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.</em><br /><br /><br /><strong><span class="bbu">Element #5 Vanilla Crème Brulée Insert</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Preparation time:</strong> 15mn + 1h infusing + 1h baking<br /><br /><strong>Equipment:</strong> Small saucepan, mixing bowl, baking mold, wax paper<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> The vanilla crème brulée can be flavored differently by simply replacing the vanilla with something else e.g. cardamom, lavender, etc...<br /><br /><strong>Ingredients:</strong><br />1/2 cup (115g) heavy cream (35% fat content) <br />½ cup (115g) whole milk <br />4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks<br />0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) granulated sugar<br />1 vanilla bean<br /><br />1. Heat the milk, cream, and scraped vanilla bean to just boiling. Remove from the stove and let the vanilla infuse for about 1 hour.<br />2. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).<br />3. Pour the vanilla-infused milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.<br />4. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center.<br /><strong>Tartelette says:</strong> You can bake it without a water bath since it is going to go inside the log (the aesthetics of it won't matter as much since it will be covered with other things)....BUT I would recommend a water bath for the following reasons:<br />- you will get a much nicer mouth feel when it is done<br />- you will be able to control its baking point and desired consistency much better<br />- it bakes for such a long time that I fear it will get overdone without a water bath<br />Now...since it is baked in a pan and it is sometimes difficult to find another large pan to set it in for a water bath, even a small amount of water in your water bath will help the heat be distributed evenly in the baking process. Even as little as 1 inch will help.<br />5. Let cool and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm up and facilitate the final assembly.<br /><br /><strong><em>Variations on the Vanilla Crème Brulée insert listed above:</em></strong><br /><br /><strong><em>Chocolate Creme Brulée Insert</em></strong><br /><em>½ cup + 1 2/3 Tbsp (140g) whole milk <br />2/3 cup + 1tsp (140g) heavy cream (35% fat content) <br />1/3 cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder<br />4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks<br />1.4 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) granulated sugar<br /><br />1. Heat the milk and cream to just boiling. Add the cocoa powder.<br />2. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).<br />3. Pour the cocoa milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.<br />4. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center.<br /><strong>Tartelette says:</strong> You can bake it without a water bath since it is going to go inside the log (the aesthetics of it won't matter as much since it will be covered with other things)....BUT I would recommend a water bath for the following reasons:<br />- you will get a much nicer mouth feel when it is done<br />- you will be able to control its baking point and desired consistency much better<br />- it bakes for such a long time that I fear it will get overdone without a water bath<br />Now...since it is baked in a pan and it is sometimes difficult to find another large pan to set it in for a water bath, even a small amount of water in your water bath will help the heat be distributed evenly in the baking process. Even as little as 1 inch will help.<br />5. Let cool and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm up and facilitate the final assembly.</em><br /><br /><br /><strong><span class="bbu">Element #6 Dark Chocolate Icing</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Preparation time:</strong> 25 minutes (10mn if you don’t count softening the gelatin)<br /><br /><strong>Equipment:</strong> Small bowl, small saucepan<br /><br /><strong>Note:</strong> Because the icing gelifies quickly, you should make it at the last minute.<br />For other gelatin equivalencies or gelatin to agar-agar equivalencies, look at the notes for the mousse component.<br /><br /><strong>Ingredients:</strong><br />4g / ½ Tbsp powdered gelatin or 2 sheets gelatin <br />¼ cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)<br />2.1 oz (5 Tbsp / 60g) granulated sugar<br />¼ cup (50g) water<br />1/3 cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder<br /><br />1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.<br />2. Boil the rest of the ingredients and cook an additional 3 minutes after boiling.<br />3. Add gelatin to the chocolate mixture. Mix well.<br />4. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.<br /><br /><strong><em>Variations on the Dark Chocolate Icing listed above:</em></strong><br /><br /><strong><em>Milk Chocolate Icing</em></strong><br /><em>1.5 gelatin sheets or 3g / 1/2Tbsp powdered gelatin <br />4.2 oz (120g) milk chocolate <br />2 Tbsp (30g) butter <br />¼ cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)<br />1 2/3 Tbsp (30g) glucose or thick corn syrup<br /><br />1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.<br />2. Coarsely chop the chocolate and butter together.<br />3. Bring the cream and glucose syrup to a boil.<br />4. Add the gelatin.<br />5. Pour the mixture over the chocolate and butter. Whisk until smooth.<br />6. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.</em><br /><br /><strong><em>White Chocolate Icing</em></strong><br /><em>1.5 gelatin sheets or 3g / 1/2Tbsp powdered gelatin <br />3.5 oz (100g) white chocolate <br />2 Tbsp (30g) unsalted butter <br />1/3 cup (90 g) whole milk<br />1 2/3 Tbsp (30g) glucose or thick corn syrup<br /><br />1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.<br />2. Coarsely chop the chocolate and butter together.<br />3. Bring the milk and glucose syrup to a boil.<br />4. Add the gelatin.<br />5. Pour the mixture over the chocolate and butter. Whisk until smooth.<br />6. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.</em><br /><br /><br /> <strong><span class="bbu">How To Assemble your French Yule Log</span></strong><br /><br /><strong>Depending on whether your mold is going to hold the assembly upside down until you unmold it or right side up, this order will be different.<br />THIS IS FOR UNMOLDING FROM UPSIDE DOWN TO RIGHT SIDE UP.<br />You will want to tap your mold gently on the countertop after each time you pipe mousse in to get rid of any air bubbles.</strong><br /><br />1) Line your mold or pan, whatever its shape, with rhodoid (clear hard plastic, I usually use transparencies cut to the desired shape, it’s easier to find than cellulose acetate which is what rhodoid translates to in English) OR plastic film. Rhodoid will give you a smoother shape but you may have a hard time using it depending on the kind of mold you’re using.<br /><br /><strong>You have two choices for Step 2, you can either have Dacquoise on the top and bottom of your log as in version A or you can have Dacquoise simply on the bottom of your log as in version B:</strong><br /><br />2A) Cut the Dacquoise into a shape fitting your mold and set it in there. If you are using an actual Yule mold which is in the shape of a half-pipe, you want the Dacquoise to cover the entire half-pipe portion of the mold.<br />3A) Pipe one third of the Mousse component on the Dacquoise.<br />4A) Take the Creme Brulee Insert out of the freezer at the last minute and set on top of the mousse. Press down gently to slightly ensconce it in the mousse.<br />5A) Pipe second third of the Mousse component around and on top of the Creme Brulee Insert.<br />6A) Cut the Praline/Crisp Insert to a size slightly smaller than your mold so that it can be surrounded by mousse. Lay it on top of the mousse you just piped into the mold.<br />7A) Pipe the last third of the Mousse component on top of the Praline Insert.<br />8A) Freeze for a few hours to set. Take out of the freezer.<br />9A) Pipe the Ganache Insert onto the frozen mousse leaving a slight eidge so that ganache doesn’t seep out when you set the Dacquoise on top.<br />10A) Close with the last strip of Dacquoise.<br /><strong>Freeze until the next day.</strong><br /><br /><strong>OR</strong><br /><br />2B) Pipe one third of the Mousse component into the mold.<br />3B) Take the Creme Brulee Insert out of the freezer at the last minute and set on top of the mousse. Press down gently to slightly ensconce it in the mousse.<br />4B) Pipe second third of the Mousse component around and on top of the Creme Brulee Insert.<br />5B) Cut the Praline/Crisp Insert to a size slightly smaller than your mold so that it can be surrounded by mousse. Lay it on top of the mousse you just piped into the mold.<br />6B) Pipe the last third of the Mousse component on top of the Praline Insert.<br />7B) Freeze for a few hours to set. Take out of the freezer.<br />8B) Pipe the Ganache Insert onto the frozen mousse leaving a slight edge so that ganache doesn’t seep out when you set the Dacquoise on top.<br />9B) Close with the Dacquoise.<br /><strong>Freeze until the next day.</strong><br /><br /><strong>If you are doing the assembly UPSIDE DOWN with TWO pieces of Dacquoise the order is:</strong><br />1) Dacquoise<br />2) Mousse<br />3) Creme Brulee Insert<br />4) Mousse<br />5) Praline/Crisp Insert<br />6) Mousse<br />7) Ganache Insert<br />8) Dacquoise<br /><br /><strong>If you are doing the assembly UPSIDE DOWN with ONE piece of Dacquoise on the BOTTOM ONLY the order is:</strong><br />1) Mousse<br />2) Creme Brulee Insert<br />3) Mousse<br />4) Praline/Crisp Insert<br />5) Mousse<br />6) Ganache Insert<br />7) Dacquoise<br /><br /><strong>If you are doing the assembly RIGHT SIDE UP in a springform pan the order is:</strong><br />1) Dacquoise<br />2) Ganache Insert<br />3) Mousse<br />4) Praline/Crisp Insert<br />5) Mousse<br />6) Creme Brulee Insert<br />7) Mousse<br />8 OPTIONAL) Dacquoise<br /><br /><strong>THE NEXT DAY...</strong><br />Unmold the cake/log/whatever and set on a wire rack over a shallow pan.<br />Cover the cake with the icing.<br />Let set. Return to the freezer.<br />You may decorate your cake however you wish. The decorations can be set in the icing after it sets but before you return the cake to the freezer or you may attach them on top using extra ganache or leftover mousse, etc...<br />Transfer to the refrigerator no longer than ½ hour before serving as it may start to melt quickly depending on the elements you chose.<br /><br /><br /><br />Oh. I had mine sitting in my fridge for almost two hours before I cut it. Maybe my fridge is just really cold because even then it was still hard to cut. And I left it in there over night. It's still in log shape.<br /><br />Pictures will come soon.<br /><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span><br /></strong>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-72104874335902883552008-12-18T15:54:00.003-06:002008-12-18T16:32:04.293-06:00Lesson today, Kids.So. I'm pretty sure you're aware, but I'm going to explain this lesson anyway.<br /><br />When you're little and you try doing something that only "grown-ups" do or when you're first trying something you've never done before, you're cautious. You double-check things. You always make sure it's safe. If it's a nw recipe, you're constantly rechecking the ingredients. "Was it two cups? Yeah. It's two cups. Wait. Two cups, right? Okay. And now... I have two cups in... yes. That's right." But then you start repeating your recipes or whatever else you're doing and you become confident. Which is good. But then.. you become overconfident. You become<span style="font-style: italic;"> cocky</span>. And that's when you screw up.<br /><br />Now, this isn't meant to demotivate you. But to make sure you're aware. No matter how invincible you think you are, how smart you think you are, how great you think you are, you're going to mess up at some point. Maybe you're exceptional in English.. and you fail your mid-term. Or.. you're absolutely fantastic at baking.. and your cake doesn't rise. Or.. you've burnt yourself whilst cooking so few times that you think you're just that much more careful than everyone else. And then, like me, you burn yourself three times in as many weeks. Yes. Three times. The first was on the side of my right hand at the base of my index finger on the oven wall. What's odd is that the oven was to my right. So I don't even know how I did that. The second time I was making jambalaya.. which I didn't get a picture of. I ate it all before I remembered. I tilted the pan to move the oil and butter and grease around. And it worked. But I also moved the chicken, it slammed against the wall of the pot which sent up a big splash of hot grease which landed right on my hand. Nowhere else. And the third time, I was taking a pizza out of the oven, but had failed to open the oven door all the way because, well, I never open it all the way. I misjudged the distance between the door and my hand and SSSSS. I have my own mood tattoo. The burn changes colour depending upon how hot my hand is.<br /><br />So I've been making mistakes and it has made me realise no matter how good I think I am.. I'm going to mess up at times. Even the jambalaya got messed up. It burned. Yeah. Just a bit. But it burned. The resulting jambalaya was quite good, though. Seriously. It had this slight smoky flavour that wouldn't have been present otherwise. I'll likely never be able to get that same flavour again, but it worked to my advantage.<br /><br />The next time you mess up that cake, or your lemon mousse you spent hours making separates overnight, or your essay that you simply adored gets a "C," don't fret. Take the unrisen cake and fill it with big layers of mousse to take the attention away from the thin cake and give it height. Mix the separated mousse together and call it "Lemon soup." It tastes just as good, it's just not a mousse, so label it differently. Your guests question the change in dessert when you said you were having mousse and you wind up with soup? "This recipe sounded niftier." Or you know.. whatever word you fancy. I fancy "nifty" and "neat." I've also taken a fancy to "the bee's knees." Your essay got a C? That's a bit trickier. You can't quite take that back. But you can always talk to your teacher and ask what was wrong with it so you can find out what to fix next time. Was your conclusion weak? Your body empty? Something wasn't strong enough, but if you know what your weakness is, you can strengthen it. If you don't know what's wrong, you'll spend too much time trying to fix something that isn't broken. Your teacher obviously knows what is wrong. But you're still okay. You can fix it and come out with something even better.<br /><br />Most of the time, these screw-ups aren't so bad. Just like my burns. You burn yourself, sure, it hurts. Screwing something up is going to be a big blow to your ego. But if you dwell on it and leave your food alone or all the stuff around you alone while you pity one tiny mistake, it's going to hurt yourself more in the long run. If you just continue on, the burn doesn't seem so bad. And within just a few days, it's not so much of a problem, it's just a minor irritant. Nothing that won't be gone in just a few more days.<br /><br />So go make your mistakes. I'm off to make brownies and burn myself again most likely. Eh. That's life.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-29441539874342359222008-12-03T15:35:00.005-06:002008-12-03T17:00:43.380-06:00So I pretty much love chicken.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/STcPSo3JevI/AAAAAAAAALA/fAyM7tEAPBc/s1600-h/Roman-Style+Chicken2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/STcPSo3JevI/AAAAAAAAALA/fAyM7tEAPBc/s400/Roman-Style+Chicken2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275702301368613618" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I really do. Chicken is amazing. As much as people can try to persuade me to be a vegetarian, I don't want to do it for the "sake of the animals." And as much as they tell me about the health benefits.. well.. I just can't give up my meat. I am able to have meals without meat. I do know there is such a thing. But to completely get rid of it and never have it again? I can't do that.<br /><br />What is this rambling about? Well. I've been wandering through Yahoo! Answers lately, helping with stuff in the "Food & Drink" section. Which is how I came upon <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/roman-style-chicken-recipe/index.html">this</a> recipe. Someone was curious if this dish would go well with fettuccine alfredo. Alfredo is a cheesy cream sauce, whereas this dish is a salty tomato based sauce. I told her to go ahead. It sounded great. You can have tomato cream sauces, so why not have it separated in the same meal? The chicken recipe kept staring at me. It sounded so good. Especially with fettuccine alfredo. So that's what I made for dinner last night.<br /><br />I didn't follow the recipe completely, though. Through my years (ha, I sound like I'm some wise old grandmother when I'm simply some random eighteen-year-old girl) of cooking, I've learned to not blindly follow a recipe. Well. You can, yes. And a lot of times it does turn out well. But if you're looking at a recipe and it does not seem right at all, or it has something you don't want to use, change it, then. This recipe called for a bit of salt. One and a half teaspoons. No, it isn't -that- much. But. When you add in the fact it calls for capers and prosciutto and canned tomatoes as well. Hmm. Something isn't quite right.<br /><br />And on the topic of "things you don't want to use." It called for both wine and fresh red and yellow peppers. Any time something calls for wine, I instead use chicken broth. I could have used my nifty turkey stock I made after Thanksgiving, but I still had a carton of open chicken broth in the fridge, so I used that. As for the fresh bell peppers, I'd gladly use fresh. However, where I live, one single yellow bell pepper costs $1.79 and a red one costs $1.49. That's not per pound. That's each pepper. Or they have jars of roasted red and yellow peppers in the canned vegetable aisle that contains one red and one yellow bell pepper for $1.99. I'm cheap. So I went that route.<br /><br />The recipe also didn't seem like it had enough garlic to me, so I increased that, and added in some chopped onions and sliced mushrooms. Well. The mushrooms were made off to the side because I'm the only one in my family who will eat them. And while the recipe calls for four bone-in, skinless chicken breasts and two skinless, bone-in thighs, I knew that would be way too much chicken for us. The original recipe could have been made with smaller breasts. I don't know. But where I live, chicken breasts come in a pack of three and all three feed five of us. But I couldn't find bone-in breasts, skinless or not. So I just grabbed the biggest package of boneless skinless.<br /><br />I also didn't use fresh herbs; I used dried. Nor did I measure my dried herbs. I just used enough until it tasted good to me, and I added basil. The parsley and capers called for in the end are entirely optional. I left the parsley out completely, but I did add capers, only to my plate. Capers are an odd little thing, simply the pickled flower bud of [insert plant name here]. To me, they look like they're supposed to be crunchy, yet they're soft. They also have quite a salty, vinegary flavour, but more salty. I think if they had more of a vinegar flavour I wouldn't be so taken with them. I don't like vinegar at all.<br /><br />As for the salt I mentioned, what, twenty minutes of writing ago? I only used enough salt to sprinkle on the chicken breasts. That's it. I felt no need to add anymore salt after that. But use your sense if you do decide to make this. Just because I changed it to suit my needs doesn't mean you have to, too. That's my lesson today, kids. Just because a recipe tells you to do something doesn't mean you have to do it. That zucchini bread tell you to put in half a teaspoon of cinnamon, yet it has no flavour? Add more. Change it. Go with what works for -you-. Recipes are created by -one- person with what works for -their- palate. Just because I feel this tastes good my way doesn't mean it doesn't taste good any other way.<br /><br />Oh. And my fettuccine? Yeah. I made it myself. I was so giddy about it. But I never got a picture. It was dark. And then it was eaten. Mmm.<br /><br /><div class="body-text"> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Roman-Style Chicken. (By Giada de Laurentiis.)</span><br /></span><!--concordance-begin--><br />4 skinless chicken breast halves, with ribs <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-style: italic;">(I used three big boneless, skinless chicken breasts)</span></span><br />2 skinless chicken thighs, with bones <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-style: italic;">(I omitted.)</span></span><br />1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I didn't measure; just sprinkled a little on each breast to season)</span><br />1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1 teaspoon <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(Again, didn't measure, but I did add some extra later, into the sauce.)</span><br />1/4 cup olive oil <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(Didn't measure, just coated the bottom of my pan in a thin layer.)</span><br />1 red bell pepper, sliced<br />1 yellow bell pepper, sliced <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I used jarred, roasted red and yellow peppers that I chopped and added with the tomatoes)</span><br />3 ounces prosciutto, chopped<br />2 cloves garlic, chopped <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I used three, plus some garlic powder later on because I felt it needed more garlic.)</span><br />1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I used petite-diced tomatoes that I drained)</span><br />1/2 cup white wine <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I used low-sodium chicken broth)</span><br />1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I used dried.)</span><br />1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I used dried.)</span><br />1/2 cup chicken stock <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I used low-sodium broth.)</span><br />2 tablespoons capers <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I just spooned some onto my portion)</span><br />1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I omitted.)</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">Things I added:</span> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">sauteed, sliced mushrooms</span> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-style: italic;">half of a large onion, chopped</span> <!--concordance-end--> <h2>Directions</h2> <p> Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I didn't measure. Just sprinkled some on.)</span> In a heavy, large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, cook the chicken until browned on both sides. Remove from the pan and set aside. </p><p>Keeping the same pan over medium heat, add the peppers <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(I added the chopped onions here, and if people would have eaten mushrooms, these would have gone in at this time, too.)</span> and prosciutto and cook until the peppers<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> (onions) </span>have browned and the prosciutto is crisp <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(mine didn't crisp)</span>, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, wine <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(broth)</span>, and herbs <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(and I added the chopped, roasted peppers at this point)</span>. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the pan, add the stock <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(broth)</span>, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 to 30 minutes.</p><p> </p><p>If serving immediately, add the capers and the parsley. Stir to combine and serve. If making ahead of time, transfer the chicken and sauce to a storage container, cool, and refrigerate. The next day, reheat the chicken to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the capers and the parsley and serve. </p> </div><h2><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/STcPSReo0SI/AAAAAAAAAK4/AIIHZdL2Uu0/s1600-h/Roman-Style+Chicken.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/STcPSReo0SI/AAAAAAAAAK4/AIIHZdL2Uu0/s400/Roman-Style+Chicken.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275702295091794210" border="0" /></a></h2><br />With my additions, I fancied this a lot. Without them.. I might have liked it, sure. But probably not as much.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-10828081671329042462008-11-29T17:00:00.002-06:002008-11-29T17:57:55.725-06:00Daring Bakers: Caramel Cake.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/STHW-Ktqf9I/AAAAAAAAAKw/us-m3AM1OmI/s1600-h/Caramel+Carrot+Cupcakes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/STHW-Ktqf9I/AAAAAAAAAKw/us-m3AM1OmI/s400/Caramel+Carrot+Cupcakes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274233002143678418" border="0" /></a><br />So. I have basically stopped posting recipes. I'm lazy. I get sidetracked a lot. I mean to post something, but I wind up doing something else, or making a new recipe, or something, and eventually the thing I made is so old that I don't see a point in posting it. Though I really should fix that.<br /><br />Anyway. November's Daring Bakers' challenge was a caramel cake with caramelized butter frosting. We were allowed to make it any shape we wanted and pair it with any flavours. But we had to make the cake and the frosting. So I decided to make a two-layer cupcake with half caramel cake and half carrot cake, topped with the frosting because I had to make it.<br /><br />I did not like this at all. Really. I hate the taste of caramelized butter and the taste of powdered sugar, so the frosting was the most disgusting thing about the cake. The caramel cake was rather dry, but that could have been just a difference in baking times between the carrot cake and it. The caramel cake also didn't have that bold of a caramel flavour. Maybe I didn't cook my caramel syrup long enough, but I did it three times, so.<br /><br />I tried one cupcake with the frosting. I didn't like it at all. So the rest I left naked. My favourite part was the carrot cake, which had nothing to do with the challenge. I am glad, however, that I did not make the full recipe.<br /><br />If you want to try it, go ahead. I don't recommend it, though, and I don't plan to ever make it again. The carrot cake didn't even do it that much for me, either. It was okay, but there weren't enough carrots or spice.<br /><br />New Stuff I Have to Put In:<br /><br />Recipe Origin: http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2006/12/24/caramel-cake-the-recipe/<br />Author: Shuna Fish Lydon<br />Hosts: http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/<br />http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/<br />http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/<br /><br />Yep. And following is the original recipe for the cake and the scaled down recipes I did.<br /><br />CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING<br /><br />1/2 cup (one stick) plus 2 T butter at room temperature<br />1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar<br />1/2 teaspoon kosher salt<br />1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)<br />2 each eggs, at room temperature<br />splash vanilla extract<br />2 Cups all-purpose flour<br />1/2 teaspoon baking powder<br />1 cup milk, at room temperature<br /><br />Preheat oven to 350º F<br /><br />Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.<br /><br />In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.<br /><br />Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.<br /><br />Sift flour and baking powder.<br /><br />Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}<br /><br />Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.<br /><br />Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.<br /><br />Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.<br /><br />CARAMEL SYRUP<br /><br />2 cups sugar<br />1/2 cup water<br />1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)<br /><br />In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.<br /><br />When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.<br /><br />Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}<br /><br />Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.<br /><br />CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING<br /><br />3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter<br />1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted<br />4-6 tablespoons heavy cream<br />2 teaspoons vanilla extract<br />2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup<br />Kosher or sea salt to taste<br /><br />Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.<br /><br />Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.<br /><br />In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.<br /><br />Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.<br />To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light<br /><br />(recipes above courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon)<br /><br /><br />Carrot cake:<br /><br />3 T butter<br />1/4 cup sugar<br />1/2 beaten egg<br />1/4 cup flour<br />1/4 t baking soda<br />1/4 t cinnamon<br />1/8 t salt<br />1/8 t vanilla<br />3/8 cup grated carrots<br /><br />Cream the butter with the sugar until light aand fluffy. Beat egg into mixture. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix into egg/butter mixture. Fold in carrots and vanilla.<br /><br />Caramel Cake:<br /><br />2.5 T butter<br />1/4 cup plus 1 T sugar<br />1/8 t salt<br />1 T 1 t caramel syrup<br />1/2 beaten egg<br />1/8 t vanilla<br />1/2 cup flour<br />1/8 t baking powder<br />1/4 cup milk<br /><br />Cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt, and cream until light and fluffy. Beat in caramel syrup until thoroughly mixed. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix flour and baking powder and add to butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour.<br /><br />Have your oven pre-heated to 350º F<br /><br />Line about 7-8 muffin papers in a muffin tin. Fill one third with caramel cake, then the top third with carrot cake and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes.<br /><br />Caramel Syrup<br /><br />1/2 cup sugar<br />2 T water<br />1/4 cup water<br /><br />In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.<br /><br />When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.<br /><br />Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}<br /><br />Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.<br /><br /><br />Gross Frosting.<br /><br />3 T butter<br />4 oz powdered sugar<br />1/2 t vanilla<br />1/2 - 1 T caramel syrup<br />salt<br /><br />Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.<br /><br />Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.<br /><br />In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-39704579663843507192008-10-30T14:45:00.003-05:002008-10-30T15:50:29.997-05:00Daring Bakers: Pizza Dough.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQoZalFOuYI/AAAAAAAAAKg/kDUtAQoINqY/s1600-h/Perfect+Pizza.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQoZalFOuYI/AAAAAAAAAKg/kDUtAQoINqY/s400/Perfect+Pizza.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263047058957187458" border="0" /></a><br /><br />October for Daring Bakers was pizza dough. Seems simple enough, but I was excited. It menat I got to try a new dough recipe. The dough I use is just a random dough recipe I found on Food Network's website. And I've posted about it before. The one recipe barely gives me two incredibly thin pizza crusts. This recipe was said to give me six crusts. Hmm. Six -thin- crusts. I despise thin, crispy crust on pizza. I want a thick, chewy crust. I want something there. So. While the recipe says it makes six crusts... I decided to do the recipe a time and a half. And I got five thick and chewy crusts from it. And yes, they cooked completely through. I didn't have any dough bits. I also had my oven up to 550º F and I used my stoneware baking sheet. I don't have a pizza stone. But it's the same material. Essentially. I think.<br /><br />Anyway. Yes. I made five pizzas. Everyone in my house prefers something different. So when we order pizza, we usually have to settle for the basic: a pepperoni one and a cheese one. I like everything. Nobody else does. One sister likes just cheese. The other likes just pepperoni. She'll be okay with sausage and such, but complains if we get it. I despise just pepperoni. I think it's gross. The things I like that my dad is okay with, my mom doesn't like. We never agree on pizza. And add in the fact that my perfect pizza was finally discovered at this local pizza chain in back in California. So I can only get it if I make it myself. So I did.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQoZaUUDulI/AAAAAAAAAKY/4duLtjFKLss/s1600-h/Pineapple+Pizza.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQoZaUUDulI/AAAAAAAAAKY/4duLtjFKLss/s400/Pineapple+Pizza.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263047054455978578" border="0" /></a><br />Pizza 1: Cheese. For Sister 1.<br />Pizza 2: Pepperoni. For Sister 2.<br />Pizza 3: Pepperoni and green bell pepper. For my dad.<br />Pizza 4: Pepperoni and pineapple. For my mom.<br />Pizza 5: Green bell pepper, white onion, mushrooms, and half with some pepperoni (because it was what was left in the bowl). With a roasted garlic cream sauce. For me. It's amazing. I love it.<br /><br />I only managed to get a picture of my mom's and my pizzas. Everyone else had already devoured theirs.<br /><br />This is the recipe as written. I did one and a half times the recipe to make five crusts about ten inches in diameter or so. It all depends on how thick or thin you want your crust. Plenty of people got six crusts from it, but like I said. I don't like thin crust.<br /><p><br /></p>4 1/2 cups unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(I just used basic bleached all-purpose flour)</span></span><br />1 3/4 teaspoons salt<br />1 teaspoon instant yeast<br />1/4 cup olive oil (optional) <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(I used it)</span></span><br />1 3/4 cups water, ice cold<br />Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(I used both)</span> </span>Directions:<br /><br />1. Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment), If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F. <p>2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil (or lightly oil the parchment). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or less, if you want thicker crusts as I did). You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it, Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a food-grade plastic bag. </p> <p>3. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.) </p> <p>4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Let rest for 2 hours. </p> <p>5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone either on the floor of the oven (for gas ovens), or on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible, up to 800F (most home ovens will go only to 500 to 550F, but some will go higher). If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan. </p> <p>6. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs of your hands and knuckles, in flour and lift I piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. If it begins to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue shaping it. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss as shown on page 208. If you have trouble tossing the dough, or if the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, though this isn't as effective as the toss method. </p> <p>7. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 9 to 12 inches in diameter for a 6-ounce piece of dough), lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other top- pings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American "kitchen sink" approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. A few, usually no more than 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese is sufficient. </p> <p>8. Slide the topped pizza onto the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5 to 8 minutes to bake. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone to a lower self before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone for subsequent bakes.</p> <p>9. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving, to allow the cheese to set slightly.</p><br /><br />Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce:<br /><br />Sauce<br /><br />olive oil<br />1 head of garlic, roasted<br />1 small shallot, sliced thinly, or diced. It's going to be pureed anyway.<br />3/4 cup chicken broth<br />1 cup heavy cream<br />salt and pepper, to taste<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">about</span></span> 2 tablespoons butter<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">about</span></span> 3 tablespoons flour<br /><br /><br />In a saucepan, add the wine, cream, and chopped shallot. Warm this up, then squeeze the cloves of garlic out of the papery coating into the saucepan.<br /><br />Simmer this mixture for 15 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Puree this sauce in your blender. Set aside.<br /><br />In your saucepan, melt about two tablespoons of butter. Mix in about three tablespoons flour. Cook for a minute or two, forming a roux. Stir in the garlic cream puree. Cook until thickened. Season as needed with more salt and pepper.<br /><br />This made more than enough for one pizza. So with the leftovers, I made My Perfect Pizza by way of Pasta.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQoZa6ohNVI/AAAAAAAAAKo/l59iLv9z_Wg/s1600-h/Perfect+Pasta.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQoZa6ohNVI/AAAAAAAAAKo/l59iLv9z_Wg/s400/Perfect+Pasta.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263047064742344018" border="0" /></a>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-19250992805797671052008-10-23T18:34:00.003-05:002008-10-23T18:41:57.521-05:00Pi Cubes.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQELVTbNC-I/AAAAAAAAAJo/bJ41JSMSyYA/s1600-h/Letter+Tray.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQELVTbNC-I/AAAAAAAAAJo/bJ41JSMSyYA/s400/Letter+Tray.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260498300364983266" border="0" /></a><br />So <a href="http://www.blakemakes.com">Blake Makes</a> had this nifty giveaway a little while ago for Letter and Number baking and freezer trays. And I won. The first of these food blog giveaways I won. -Finally-. Haha. But anyway. I won a nifty number tray. And once I got it, I decided I wanted to do something, but I didn't know what I could do. So I went into the pantry and spotted a canister of Tang. Ah-ha! Tang cubes! But then... not -just- Tang cubes. I could make.. Tang Pi Cubes! Yep. I made pi. Because I'm that big of a nerd. This should be expected. I took AP Calculus my senior year as an elective. I didn't need the credit. I just needed a class to fill up space in my schedule. So I took Calculus because I figured it would be an easy A. (And it was for me.)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQELV6xl05I/AAAAAAAAAJw/jiXqo3s3VOw/s1600-h/Pi+Cubes.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQELV6xl05I/AAAAAAAAAJw/jiXqo3s3VOw/s400/Pi+Cubes.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260498310927864722" border="0" /></a><br />So yep. I want to make pi cakes, too. :] A friend told me to make pi pie. But I don't think it would work in these. Too small. XDAshley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-55746213814429427932008-10-20T16:06:00.006-05:002008-10-28T21:52:05.244-05:00So. Cupcake Hero, huh?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQfOh44ENII/AAAAAAAAAKA/_l4H7o6PfiU/s1600-h/Butternut+Squash+Cupcake1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQfOh44ENII/AAAAAAAAAKA/_l4H7o6PfiU/s400/Butternut+Squash+Cupcake1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262401771204260994" border="0" /></a><br />We were given free reign last month and so I decided to do those pumpkin cupcakes. Even though a part of me kept saying not to do it. Just wait. Because I had a feeling that October would be something like pumpkin or squash. Just because I did pumpkin in September. And look! October's theme is squash. Damn. I couldn't very well do my pumpkin cupcake again. Well. I could. There's nothing in the rules that says I can't. But I felt weird doing anything pumpkin-related. So that was out. And I've done zucchini before. So that was out. I realised that cucumber is a squash. But I couldn't think of what I could do with it. Mainly because I didn't think too hard and I don't like cooked cucumber. I like it cold, raw, and sliced. Just as is. So I thought and thought. And I finally came up with an idea. Butternut squash cupcakes. Have I ever had butternut squash? No. Did I know what it looked like? Yes. Perfect!<br /><br />So that was good. All I needed then was a recipe. So I wrote one out. Yep. I created my own recipe. Using stuff I'd never eaten before. Aren't I tricky? Anyway. I had my cake. Now all I needed was frosting. I wanted something with maple. I thought about it and came up with either maple cream cheese frosting or maple marshmallow frosting. I asked people their thoughts and I got an even split between cream cheese and marshmallow. So I did neither. I made a maple buttercream instead. Of which I forgot to put lemon juice in. (It helps the texture come together I realised. Because mine looked broken. Even though it was quite smooth and yummy.)<br /><br />And then for garnish I decided I wanted to put a single pecan on. Toasted, I decided. I had never had toasted pecans. I had only had pecans once, ever. Which was two years ago when my great aunt mailed us a giant Ziploc bag filled with raw pecans from her trees. By the time they got here, they had started to mould. Did I eat them anyway? Yep. I would grab a handful, pick out the mouldy ones, and eat the ones that were fine. They tasted very maple-y to me. We got through about half the bag before the mould took over and we threw the rest out. But anyway. You can put some chopped pecans into the cake if you'd like. I don't, though, because my mom is allergic to them. And after much investigating through the store I discovered that it's cheaper to buy raw mammoth pecans from the bulk dispenser in the health food aisle than anywhere else. The bags in the baking aisle were the most expensive. Then there were bags in the produce section. Then the bulk area. I've taken quite a fancy to the bulk dispensers. I needed a few bay leaves for something I'm making later this week. I got probably five or so for seven cents. I don't need that much, but it works because it was only seven cents rather than getting a jar from the spice aisle for five bucks. Yay for being cheap. Forgive me. I ramble.<br /><br />So the end result was a spiced butternut squash cupcake (which reminds me of pumpkin), a buttery maple frosting, with a maple-y crunch from the pecan on top. And the cake was very light, too. Unlike most other spice cakes I have tried that are pretty dense.<br /><br />Oh. And after further investigation, my cake appears to have more spice than I have seen other recipes have. This is because I have tried many recipes where they don't have very much spice, so it doesn't have very much flavour. So I decided to see what my cupcakes would be like with less spice. I baked up an incredibly scaled down recipe (three cupcakes) and tasted them. Without frosting, they were still pretty good. I didn't like them -as much-, but still flavourful. Then I put on the frosting. Yeah. Keep the spices as they were.<br /><br />I also tried to make a variation on black bottom cupcakes, but with a butternut squash cheesecake filling and no cocoa powder in the cake and I added cinnamon. It was good. But they turned out more like pre-frosted cinnamon cupcakes than what I had hoped they would be. I still ate them. All three. Because I scaled that recipe down, too.<br /><br />With the remaining butternut squash puree I had, I found a pumpkin pancake recipe and just substituted butternut squash puree for the pumpkin. And.. I used the leftover maple buttercream as my butter on them. They were pretty amazing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQfOmih8R9I/AAAAAAAAAKI/3NOgy3dKSsM/s1600-h/Butternut+Squash+Cupcake2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQfOmih8R9I/AAAAAAAAAKI/3NOgy3dKSsM/s400/Butternut+Squash+Cupcake2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262401851105232850" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So finally. The recipes.<br /><br /><br />Butternut Squash Puree. (In case you need help with this.)<br /><br />1 butternut squash<br />oil<br /><br />Pre-heat your oven to 350º F.<br /><br />Cut the squash in half lengthmish from stem to.. whatever that circle thing is called. If you can manage to do it with a chef's knife or anything, great. I can't. I use the saw from our pumpkin carving kit. The one to cut the lid off. Yeah. It's the only surviving saw we have. Scoop out the seeds. You can either discard them, or rinse them off to roast later.<br /><br />Brush some oil on a baking sheet. Lay the squash cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake for about an hour, or until tender. Turn the halves over, scoop out the flesh, and puree it in your food processor. Which is probably the easiest route. I don't have a food processor, though. So I put the flesh and a bunch of water into my blender to get it thoroughly pureed. Don't freak out about the water. After it's been pureed, line a colander with cheesecloth (read: paper towels) and set over a bowl. Pour the puree into the colander. Press some saran wrap onto the surface of the puree and put in the fridge to drain overnight. All the water that was added and extra moisture from the squash itself will drain leaving you with a thick puree. Ta-da!<br /><br /><br /><br />Butternut Squash Cupcakes (makes 24; you can easily divide the recipe in half)<br /><br />1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar<br />3/4 cup (one and a half sticks) butter<br />2 eggs<br />1 1/2 cups butternut squash puree<br />2 teaspoons vanilla extract<br />2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour<br />2 teaspoons cinnamon<br />1 teaspoon nutmeg<br />1 tablespoon baking soda (yes, that says tablespoon)<br />1 teaspoon baking powder<br />1 teaspoon salt<br />3/4 cup vanilla yoghurt (it was supposed to be plain, but there was only one cup at the store that was all beat up)<br /><br />Pre-heat the oven to 350º F. Line two muffin pans with cupcake papers.<br /><br />Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the butternut squash and vanilla extract.<br /><br />In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Alternately mix in the dry mixture and yoghurt into the butternut mixture, starting and ending with flour.<br /><br />Fill prepared tins two-thirds full. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.<br /><br /><br /><br />Maple Buttercream<br /><br />2 egg whites<br />1/4 teaspoon salt<br />1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar<br /> 1/4 cup water<br /> 1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (which I forgot to add)<br />1.5 sticks (3/4 cup) butter, cut into cubes and softened slightly<br />2 tablespoons pure maple syrup<br /><br /> Combine egg whites and salt in bowl of a standing electric mixer or other large bowl.<p> Stir together sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and washing down side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. When syrup reaches a boil, start beating whites with electric mixer at medium-high speed. Once whites are frothy, add lemon juice and beat at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. (Do not beat again until sugar syrup is ready—see below.) </p><p> Meanwhile, put thermometer into sugar syrup and continue boiling, without stirring, until it reaches soft-ball stage (238–242°F). Immediately remove from heat and slowly pour hot syrup in a thin stream down side of bowl into egg whites, beating constantly at high speed. Beat meringue, scraping down bowl with a rubber spatula, until meringue is cool to the touch, about 6 minutes. (It's important that meringue is fully cooled before proceeding.)</p><p> With mixer at medium speed, gradually add butter 1 piece at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated. (If meringue is too warm and buttercream looks soupy after some butter is added, chill bottom of bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice and cold water for a few seconds before continuing to beat in remaining butter.) Continue beating until buttercream is smooth. (Mixture may look curdled before all butter is added, but will come back together before beating is finished.) Add maple syrup and beat 1 minute more.</p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQfOuzviR6I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/z6B9pobYF6c/s1600-h/Butternut+Squash+Cupcake3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SQfOuzviR6I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/z6B9pobYF6c/s400/Butternut+Squash+Cupcake3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262401993164605346" border="0" /></a><br />Then frost cooled cupcakes and top with a pecan half (I think halve sounds better) if you desire.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-37176209469719256732008-09-27T16:51:00.003-05:002008-09-27T16:59:46.139-05:00Daring Bakers: Crackers.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SN6sjAVvIpI/AAAAAAAAAJY/nT0UA3XVXxs/s1600-h/Artichoke.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SN6sjAVvIpI/AAAAAAAAAJY/nT0UA3XVXxs/s400/Artichoke.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250823932947145362" border="0" /></a><br />So. Daring Bakers this month. I wasn't too thrilled. Crackers. They said we had free reign. Okay. But it had to be vegan. And we had to have a dip. That was vegan. And gluten free. Well. I don't think much about dips. Dips aren't that intriguing to me. And I'm not invited to any parties that require me to bring a dip. So that was a problem. I had never had spinach artichoke dip, though. But it sounded good to me. So I made that. Along with a carmelised onion relish. Woot. I also un-veganised half my crackers. I sprinkled shredded parmesan cheese on them. I liked those ones. I also cheated with rolling and just passed them through my pasta roller. I achieved even crackers that way. They weren't bad. Nobody touched the simply salted crackers, though. They all liked the cheese ones. And I made the mistake of taking some of the crackers with me to my high school to visit my old teachers. The Culinary Arts students aren't cooking yet. So they had nothing to cook and eat. I took out my crackers.. and they were gone in about a minute. Lydia ate some, then Landon had some. Shane got a couple, then Landon devoured the rest. I want to go back. Maybe I'll teach them how to make the crackers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SN6sjM1nY6I/AAAAAAAAAJg/vL6nuzI_-ds/s1600-h/Onion.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SN6sjM1nY6I/AAAAAAAAAJg/vL6nuzI_-ds/s400/Onion.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250823936302080930" border="0" /></a>Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-56983513749245611642008-09-25T00:43:00.006-05:002008-09-25T01:49:39.327-05:00Posh Pumpkin Cupcakes.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNspgCSbDdI/AAAAAAAAAIc/49jaBRdMslQ/s1600-h/Dulce+de+Leche.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNspgCSbDdI/AAAAAAAAAIc/49jaBRdMslQ/s400/Dulce+de+Leche.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249835420977139154" border="0" /></a><br />These are basically my pride and joy. I am in love with these cupcakes. The recipe made ten. I ate five. That is how much I love them.<br /><br />Cupcake Hero this month was Baker's Choice. The choice of picking at least two of the previous challenges and put into a cupcake. My first thought was chocolate and mint. It was brilliant. A chocolate cupcake with a layer of home made mint 'n' chip ice cream, and a mint marshmallow frosting. Yeah. I liked them. They weren't what I had hoped for. But. I decided they just wouldn't do. So I completely forgot about that idea and came up with a new one.<br /><br />I had had a craving for something pumpkin. I thought about cheesecake, and then decided to make cupcakes. Cranberry pumpkin cupcakes. Hmm. With a cream cheese frosting. I also wanted to make dulce de leche. So I made a dulce de leche cream filling. Which was a marshmallow frosting with dulce de leche mixed in. And -then- I decided that with the leftover pumpkin I would have from the frosting I would use to make a pumpkin mousse. It was perfect. And it covered three themes. Cranberry, Clove, and Marshmallow.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNspx0EBkDI/AAAAAAAAAI0/kiU4h792U6U/s1600-h/Pumpkin+Cupcake3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNspx0EBkDI/AAAAAAAAAI0/kiU4h792U6U/s400/Pumpkin+Cupcake3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249835726396297266" border="0" /></a><br />They were utterly amazing. You had four different textures in one bite. I'm tempted to make it again. In layer cake form. Mmm... Just look at that ooey, gooey-ness of that filling. Who could turn that down? Fluffy, spiced pumpkin mousse. Creamy spiced cream cheese frosting. Spiced pumpkin cake studded with moist cranberries. Caramel-y, cool cream filling. Michael turned it down. He hates pumpkin. And cream cheese. I told him I'd make him some caramel cream filling, then. Just need to find a way to get out there. Anyway.<br /><br />These cupcakes were rather time-consuming. Well. In the way that I spanned the cupcake-making over three days. I made these last week starting Monday to be assembled on Wednesday to have as dessert for our Thanksgiving dinner in September. Why Thanksgiving? Because I was making up the grocery list and nobody could come up with meals, so I decided I was making Thanksgiving dinner. 'Twas very yummy. My dad had such doubts about my doing a turkey breast because it's usually so dry. It was so juicy. I was quite proud of myself.<br /><br />Now. Let it be known that you can easily use store-bought caramel sauce or dulce de leche if you'd like. I just wanted to try making it. It wasn't difficult. Just took a while.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNspxwO-C6I/AAAAAAAAAIs/NnQJ1tzFoa8/s1600-h/Pumpkin+Cupcake2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNspxwO-C6I/AAAAAAAAAIs/NnQJ1tzFoa8/s400/Pumpkin+Cupcake2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249835725368462242" border="0" /></a><br />Day 1: Dulce de Leche.<br /><br />Dulce de Leche <span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(adapted from Alton Brown)</span></span><br /><br />2 cups whole milk<br />6 ounces sugar (by weight)<br />1/4 teaspoon baking soda<br />5/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract<br /><br />Combine the milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Once it has dissolved, stir in the baking soda and continue to stir the mixture occasionally for about an hour and a half. In the last twenty minutes, don't leave the stove and stir constantly to prevent the bottom from scorching. You can turn the heat down as well if you'd like. It should be a nice dark caramel colour. Strain if you wish. I did. Because I didn't stick around the last twenty minutes and it scorched a bit. It had some bits in it that I didn't want. Stir in the vanilla extract.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNstjdaQ2sI/AAAAAAAAAI8/RHkbtYFAiYg/s1600-h/Pumpkin+Cupcake4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNstjdaQ2sI/AAAAAAAAAI8/RHkbtYFAiYg/s400/Pumpkin+Cupcake4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249839877843901122" border="0" /></a><br />Day 2: Cranberry Pumpkin Cake and Pumpkin Mousse.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cranberry Pumpkin Cupcakes</span><br /><br />1/4 cup butter, softened<br />1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar<br />1 egg<br />1/2 cup pumpkin puree<br />1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract<br />1 cup flour<br />1/2 teaspoon baking soda<br />1/4 teaspoon baking powder<br />1/4 teaspoon salt<br />1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon<br />1/2 teaspoon cloves<br />1/4 teaspoon nutmeg<br />1/3 cup dried cranberries<br />1/4 cup buttermilk<br /><br />Pre-heat oven to 350º F. Line a standard cupcake pan with ten liners. (Or twelve if you manage to stretch it that far, but I only got ten.)<br /><br />Beat together butter and brown sugar thoroughly. Add in egg, mixing until completely combined. Then beat in the pumpkin and vanilla extract.<br /><br />In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cranberries.<br /><br />In three additions, beat the flour mixture in alternately with the buttermilk, starting and ending with flour.<br /><br />Fill each cup about two-thirds full and bake for about twenty minutes. Cool completely.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pumpkin Mousse</span><br /><br />1/3 cup sugar<br />1/4 cup water<br />3 egg yolks<br />3/4 cup pumpkin puree<br />1/2 teaspoon cinnamon<br />1/4 teaspoon cloves<br />1/8 teaspoon nutmeg<br />1 1/2 cups heavy cream<br /><br />Whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks and set aside in the fridge while you get everything else ready.<br /><br />Place the egg yolks in a glass or metal bowl. Set aside.<br /><br />In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Heat until the sugar is dissolved. Start whisking the egg yolks and slowly stream the hot sugar syrup into them. Place the bowl over pot of boiling water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Whisk the mixture constantly for at least ten minutes. The egg yolk mixture should thicken and lighten in colour. It may take a few minutes more. Just keep whisking. If you want, you could use a handmixer I guess. But it really doesn't take too much strain to whisk that long. It just might get boring. I played music while I did it.<br /><br />After it has thickened, remove the bowl from the heat, scrape it into the bowl of your stand mixer, attach the whisk attachment and turn it on to medium, medium-high speed. Let it go until the bottom of the bowl feels cool. The mixture should have thickened by then.<br /><br />Meanwhile, once you've put the egg yolks in the mixer, mix the pumpkin with the cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Put it in the microwave for about thirty seconds to a minute. I did this to help release some of the flavour from the spices into the pumpkin.<br /><br />Once the egg yolk mixture has cooled, switch from your whisk to paddle attachment. Beat in the pumpkin mixture until combined.<br /><br />Fold a third of the whipped cream into the mixture to help lighten in, then fold in the rest. Refrigerate until set.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNspxrzU29I/AAAAAAAAAIk/HrhrheLLXKU/s1600-h/Pumpkin+Cupcake.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNspxrzU29I/AAAAAAAAAIk/HrhrheLLXKU/s400/Pumpkin+Cupcake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249835724178774994" border="0" /></a><br />Day 3: Frosting, Filling, and Assembling.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cream Cheese Frosting</span><br /><br />4 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used Neufchatel; cream cheese with a 1/3 less fat)<br />2 tablespoons butter, softened<br />3/4 cup powdered sugar<br />1 teaspoon vanilla extract<br />cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, to taste, optional<br /><br />In your mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until combined.<br /><br />Beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in vanilla extract.<br /><br />I then transferred it to a small bowl and at the last minute chose to throw in some spices. I didn't want to go searching for my measuring spoons, though. I just made sure I sprinkled in more cinnamon than cloves and more cloves than nutmeg. Tasted, then adjusted.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Dulce De Leche Cream Filling</span><br /><br />1/4 cup egg whites (about two)<br />1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar<br />1/2 cup sugar<br />1/2 cup water<br />3 tablespoons dulce de leche (I warmed it to make it more fluid)<br /><br />Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in your mixer bowl and whisk on high to stiff peaks.<br /><br />Meanwhile, combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Then attach a candy thermometer and allow to boil without stirring until the syrup reaches 242º F.<br /><br />With the mixer down to about medium high, slowly pour the hot syrup into the egg whites and whip until completely cool to the touch and the frosting is nice and thick.<br /><br />Measure out the two tablespoons dulce de leche, scraping it into the mixture with your finger. Or you can use another spoon. Or just eyeball it. But.. I wanted to lick it off my finger after. You can add more dulce de leche if you'd like. Mix until completely incorporated.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Posh Pumpkin Cupcakes</span><br /><br />Cranberry Pumpkin Cupcakes<br />Dulce de Leche Cream Filling, as needed<br />Spiced Cream Cheese, as needed<br />Pumpkin Mousse, as needed<br /><br />The trickiest part is how to fill the cupcakes. You could always put the filling in a pastry bag fitted with a long, narrow tip and pipe it in. If that works for you. But I don't have one. And when I tried with the tip I had, it didn't work.<br /><br />So instead, you can do what I did (if you so choose). I simply cut a conical "plug" out of the top of each cupcake. I inserted a steak knife into the cupcake at an angle about two-thirds of the way into the cupcake, with about a quarter inch border. Then I cut in a circle and lifted it up. Ta-da! Cone plug, hollow cupcake. Then I cut off most of the plug, leaving a little lid. I likened it to carving pumpkins. Except I was carving pumpkin cupcakes. Ha. I thought it was nifty...<br /><br />Anyway. Once I'd cut out a plug in all the cupcakes and disposed of the centres.. into my stomach.. I began filling. I just used a small spoon from the silverware drawer and scooped a bit of the dulce de leche filling into each cupcake.<br /><br />Once the cupcakes are filled, replace the lids. (Oh. I should have mentioned. It helps to remove each lid as you go, then replace, so you don't have multiple lids and you're not sure which one goes where. Yes, that is probably an unnecessary tip, but just in case.)<br /><br />You can then pipe on some cream cheese frosting if you want, but I just plopped a spoonful onto each and spread it with the back of my spoon.<br /><br />Finally.. the mousse. I had originally planned to just plop a big dollop of mousse onto each cupcake. And you can if you'd like. I figured I would go for a nicer presentation and I took out my #40 disher and placed a scoop on top of each.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNstjm0UhRI/AAAAAAAAAJE/3MML3sAAaIU/s1600-h/Pumpkin+Cupcake5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNstjm0UhRI/AAAAAAAAAJE/3MML3sAAaIU/s400/Pumpkin+Cupcake5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249839880369112338" border="0" /></a>Yeah, I only have Christmas cupcake papers. My grandmother gave them to me for my birthday (which is in June) so I'm using those until I need to buy more.Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9134060916569511761.post-66678479263281489012008-09-17T20:44:00.003-05:002008-09-17T22:03:42.151-05:00Gasp! An update! Nobody reads this anyway...Really. They don't. And if you do, well. Then I'm wrong. It happens. Occasionally.<br /><br />So anyway. I've basically been very lazy in posting anything I make. I have made quite a lot, it's just.. I feel the need to give more information on what I made. And I just didn't want to do it. Partly because after I made it, I went on and on and on to people about it. And my best friend kindly puts up with it as we chat on AIM. He just does other things and lets me talk, throwing in random statements of understanding even though he read nothing. Yes, it sounds like he doesn't care, but he does. He humours me and lets me ramble. And I do the same for him. :]<br /><br />This post is actually two things. I had been wanting to do something with ground turkey. Why?<div id="recover"><span id="spellcheckMessage"></span></div><textarea style="display: none;" name="postBody" rows="17" cols="47" id="textarea" wrap="soft" dir="ltr" tabindex="5"></textarea> Because I hadn't used it except for in Culinary Arts I last year. And even then, I didn't directly work with it. I did the dessert. I think that was when we did the lemon mousse/soup. The night I made it.. it was soup. Then the next day, I got to class, took it out of the fridge, unwrapped the pan, and.... it had separated. Crap. I tried to fold it together, but it didn't work. It was flat. I tasted it. It was still amazing. Just.. not mousse. I tried heating up some of it with extra gelatin we had.. but it didn't firm it. We just got globs of creamy, lemony gummies. I loved them. But the entree was stuffed shells. With homemade turkey sausage. 'Twas good. So I decided I would make my own shells with the ground turkey. Except.. not sausage. I also knew that if I used a whole pound of turkey for shells.. I'd be eating them for the next week. So I made lasagna with the rest of the turkey! With thin slices of zucchini instead of pasta! Which I ate for the next five days... And I still only got through half of it before I had to throw it out.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Turkey Base</span><br /><br />1 lb ground turkey (I used 93/7)<br />half a medium sized onion, chopped<br />about 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced<br />salt and pepper<br />crushed red pepper, <span style="font-style: italic;">optional</span><br />oil<br /><br />Heat up a large skillet and add he turkey. Once some of the fat from the turkey has rendered a bit, add in the onion, salt and pepper to taste, and crushed red pepper. Stir as you will, trying to brean the meat up as it cooks. Add in more oil if you need to. Towards the last few minutes of cooking, add in the garlic. (You can add it in the beginning if you'd like. I just fear burning my garlic, so I like to add it towards the end since it doesn't take too long to cook and I will still be giving whatever it is I'm cooking some flavour.)<br /><br />That's pretty much it for that bit.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNHD4AJBl8I/AAAAAAAAAIM/PxBa7hQ5LN4/s1600-h/Stuffed+shells.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNHD4AJBl8I/AAAAAAAAAIM/PxBa7hQ5LN4/s400/Stuffed+shells.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247190407741282242" border="0" /></a><br />Stuffed Turkey Shells<br /><br />1/3 of the cooked ground turkey mixture from above<br />about a half of a medium zucchini, chopped<br />salt and pepper<br />oil<br />parmesan cheese, grated (I bought a wedge and just grated some in until it looked good)<br />about a pinch of oregano<br />7 or 8 jumbo pasta shells, a little undercooked<br />marinara sauce, about a cup or more, depending on how much you want for the shells<br /><br />In a skillet, heat a bit of oil. Mix the zucchini with some oil, salt, and pepper. Add to the pan. Try to get one layer and let it go until the bottom starts to turn golden, then stir and let the other side turn golden as well. If you need to, you can cover the pan to let the zucchini steam a bit if it isn't cooking through. Remove from heat.<br /><br />In a bowl, mix the turkey, zucchini, parmesan cheese, and the pinch of oregano. Spoon into shells. You could always cook up some mushrooms or peppers or such to add to the mixture. But the peppers and mushrooms didn't look to good at the store. So I didn't do it.<br /><br />Spoon a bit of marinara into the bottom of a square 8 x 8 baking dish, place the shells in the pan, and spoon a bit more sauce over the tops of each, sprinkle a bit more grated parmesan cheese and bake in a 350º F oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until heated through. You can cover it if you'd like. I chose to just throw it in the oven as it was. I wanted those toasty, crunchy edges of shell.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNHD4cF5g6I/AAAAAAAAAIU/wJZsFPXXILM/s1600-h/Stuffed+shells2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNHD4cF5g6I/AAAAAAAAAIU/wJZsFPXXILM/s400/Stuffed+shells2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247190415244362658" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNHD31KOb4I/AAAAAAAAAIE/2XC65sY_5xM/s1600-h/Lasagna2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNHD31KOb4I/AAAAAAAAAIE/2XC65sY_5xM/s400/Lasagna2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247190404793528194" border="0" /></a><br />Turkey Lasagna<br /><br />2/3 cooked ground turkey mixture<br />about half a head of broccoli cut into florets, cooked, cooled, chopped<br />1 16-ounce container of ricotta cheese<br />12 ounces of mozzarella cheese, grated (My grocery store makes some on-site, so I got that.)<br />2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced (I just used my peeler to cut thin ribbons off.)<br />parmesan cheese<br />2-3 cups of marinara sauce<br /><br />In an 8 x 8 inch square baking dish, spoon a little marinara sauce in to just coat the bottom of the pan. Lay down a layer of zucchini ribbons. Top that with some turkey, then marinara, then mozzarella, broccoli, ricotta, then grate on some parmesan cheese, and repeat the process. I wound up getting three layers out of it, ending with a top "layer" of sauce and mozzarella. You can also change up what goes next to what, or add in more things. I actually meant to add in some chopped, frozen spinach. But I forgot about it because it was in the freezer.<br /><br />Bake the lasagna in a 350º F pre-heated oven for about 40-50 minutes, or until heated through. Again, you can cover it if you'd like, but I feared the cheese would stick to the foil. So I left it uncovered.<br /><br /><br />I really liked the lasagna.. but I should warn you.. the zucchini has a tendency to let out liquid as it cooks. I let the lasagna sit for a bit before cutting. Ha. I still got a rush of cheesy, tomato-y liquid fill in the cut out hole. It isn't bad unless you don't like that. I ate it like soup. It was amazing.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNHD3xmfLHI/AAAAAAAAAH8/X_mzpplcsT0/s1600-h/Lasagna.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_EhEfI4UlKkw/SNHD3xmfLHI/AAAAAAAAAH8/X_mzpplcsT0/s400/Lasagna.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247190403838323826" border="0" /></a><br />Yay for sun glare on cheese!Ashley Nicole.http://www.blogger.com/profile/01157867814179914846noreply@blogger.com0