Easy Bake cOven

Apple Fritters

2011-10-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

These fritters are so good! If you haven't made time for them yet, please do soon! Quick and easy for a special treat. See the rest of the post on the Lovely Lady Baker's blog.

Happy Baking (or Frying)!

September Recipes!

2011-09-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

Because we all like choices, you have two very different ideas for September: Fennel & Parmesan Shortbread or go crazy with Apples!

Shortbread is savory and warm with flavors of fall, and apples are finally back in season. I didn't want to limit when it came to apples because everyone has a favorite. I've added a few different recipes to try but feel free to make the recipe your own and don't forget to try and post before the end of the month.

Fennel & Parmesan Shortbread
from Sweet Paul

1 1/2 C flour
1/2 C butter cold and cubed
1 C grated parmesan cheese
1/4 C milk
1 T fennel seeds

In a bowl of a food processor, add the flour and butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cheese and pulse to combine

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Stir in milk. Form the dough into a 1" thick log and wrap in parchment paper. Chill at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with baking paper (parchment). Cut the log into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a tray. Sprinkle with fennel seeds. Bake until golden, about 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 20. A perfect companion to any cheese.

Baked Apples with Brown Sugar, Golden Raisins & Cinnamon
from Sweet Paul

makes 4
Four good baking apples (Rome, Idared, Pink Lady, Ginger Gold) cored and scored around the middle (do not peel)
2 C apple cider
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C golden raisins
4 cinnamon sticks
2 T unsalted butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 375˚F. In a small bowl, mix sugar, raisins, cinnamon and cloves. Place apples upright in a baking dish. Fill apples generously with sugar mixture. Add any remaining mixture and raisins to dish. Add apple cider to cover one inch of the bottom of the apples. Dot the tops of apples with butter. Place a cinnamon stick in each cavity. Cover pan with a tent of parchment paper-lined aluminum foil. Bake one hour or until apples are knife tender (check periodically).

Apple Fritters
Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman

2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C sugar
3 T sugar
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
3/4 C milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 T melted butter
2 whole granny smith apples peeled and diced
powdered sugar for dusting

Glaze (optional)
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 C milk

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, then add milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Gently fold dry and wet ingredients together until just combined (do not overmix). Fold in apples. Add enough apples to make a very chunky batter. You want the apples to shine through!

Heat a couple of inches of canola oil over medium to medium-low heat. When it gets hot, drop a little drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles immediately and rises to the top, the oil is ready; if it burns quickly, turn down the heat.

Drop teaspoons of the batter into the hot oil, six or eight at a time. SOmetimes they'll flip over by themselves; sometimes you have to flip them. Just watch them and make sure they don't get too brown, but cook them long enough to make sure the batter's cooked through, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes total.

Remove and drain on a paper towel. Dust very generously with powdered sugar, or dip fritters in a light doughnut glaze (mix all ingredients together, then dunk warm fritters).

Serve warm! (may be heated up the next day in a 350˚F oven for 8 minutes.

Caramel Apples
101 Cookbooks
6-8 small apples, unwaxed, cold
1 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 C honey

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Push lollipop stick or popsicle stick deep into each apple - in through stem. Fill a large bowl 1/2 full with ice water and set aside.

In a medium, thick bottomed saucepan heat the cream and salt until tiny bubbles start forming where the milk touches the pan - just before a simmer. Stir in the honey. Bring the mixture to a boil. Now reduce the heat to an active simmer and cook, stirring constantly witha wooden spoon, for about 15-20 minutes or until the mixture reaches about 255˚-260˚F. To stop the caramel from cooking, very, very carefully set the bottom of the saucepan in the bowl of cold water you prepared earlier - taking special care not to get any of the water in the caramel mixture. Stir until caramel begins to thicken up - you want the caramel to be thin enough that it will easily coat your apples, but not si think that it will run right off. If the caramel thickens too much simply put the pot back over the burner for 10 seconds or so to heat it up a bit.

Tilt your saucepan so all the caramel pools on one side and use your other hand to dunk and twirl each apple until it is thoroughly coated with caramel. Place each apple on the parchment lined baking sheets and allow the caramel to cool and set.

M is for...

2011-08-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

Monumental failure. I should done more research on what I was getting myself into. Or rather, what the Lovely Lady Baker was getting me into! Yeah, epic fail, for sure.

I did do a tiny bit of research after the fact. I do believe that I:

1. didn't beat my egg whites long enough,
2. didn't bake the shells long enough, and
3. have an oven that heats unevenly.

Needless to say, because the shells didn't work out, I didn't bother making the cheese cream buttercream filling. So we've been eating a lot of bagels lately...

Anyway, here's photographic evidence of my sad attempt at making macarons. Warning: it isn't pretty.

I might just stick to buying them...

July/August Recipe

2011-07-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

For the month of July/August, we will be making French Macarons! I know this might seem scary to some of you, and some may have no idea what a french macaron is. Trust me though, I've never made them, but I've found if you follow a specific technique, the recipe doesn't really matter. I've added an inspirational photo and links to a few good websites for you to do your homework. I also made this a July/August recipe because I know it will take some time to figure out (and it's almost halfway through the month of July). Post questions in the comments section of this post, and as a collective we can share our thoughts and trials with each other. Feel free to post anytime within the month(s), no need to wait until the end.

Happy Macaroon Baking!

Photo credit: Melanger, Lemon Macarons with Lemon Curd

Resources:
David Lebovits: Making French Macarons
Serious Eats: Introduction to French Macarons
Tartelette: Recipe Index for amazing Macarons
Not So Humble Pie: Macaron Troubleshooting
Melanger: Making Macaron Tips

Stone Fruit Cobbler

2011-07-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

I decided to make an apricot, peach, blueberry cobbler for the June recipe. Mostly apricot and blueberry, but I couldn't resist adding one little peach I needed to use. The sugar dough from Stove is really good and quite versatile. I used it to make the crust of a tart as well. I'll definitely keep this recipe in my favorites pile!

Thanks again Sarah and Eric for picking a fantastic recipe! To see more of my post, please visit the Lovely Lady Baker site.

Happy Baking!

2011-07-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend my husband and I hosted a 45th wedding anniversary party for his parents. For dessert I used the sugar dough recipe as the base for strawberry shortcakes. I appologize for no pictures (We had 11 RSVP and 29 showed up!!! So we were a bit busy!). However, they were a great hit. Agreeing with Dana, how could a dessert recipe calling for a pound of butter not be delicious!

I patted the dough out on a cookie sheet, sprinkled it with coarse raw sugar and baked it all in one piece. While it was still warm, I cut it into squares with a pizza cutter.

To serve the shortcakes I had a variety of fruit ~ strawberries, blueberries, and spiced peaches ~ in separate bowls and whipped cream. Guests could build their own to their liking.

Thank you, Sarah, for a great recipe this month!

Not a berry tart

2011-06-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

Strawberries are now out of season in the heartland. "Why? It's still June", you ask. Well tomorrow the heat index will be close to 110 degrees F. in Kansas and we will have over 20 mph winds. All things tender and succulent, like the spring-loving strawberry, tend to hunker down and just try to survive. Peaches love the heat though. And raspberries/blackberries get busy in the summer sun. So I decided to make a fresh peach and blackberry (picked from a friend's community garden) compliment for the shortbread crust posted for June's recipe.

The shortbread was delicious (what wouldn't be with a lb. of butter in it) and so easy to put together. I pressed the dough into my tart pan and it held up sturdily without being overly tough when cut. I served it unchilled with optional fresh whipped cream. My ten guests for the evening left 1 piece out of the two tarts I served. I made 3 crusts from the posted recipe and froze one for later. Thanks for the recipe Sarah and Eric!

Musings of a former botanist...did you know that "berries" are actually things like tomatoes and grapes? Strawberries are clusters of "drupes"--a single seed surrounded by a bony covering. And the peach is just a large drupe! So this is a drupe (pleural) tart, which really doesn't sound as appetizing as a berry tart so I will dispense with botanical musings. Happy summer.

June Recipe!

2011-06-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

Our Dynamic Baking duo chose the recipe this month, and here is what they (well, one more than the other) had to say:

"I was thinking something with berries and a sugar dough, because:
1. It's strawberry season in Virginia, which means all the you-pick fields are open for business and the June berries are at their best.
2. I've been having friends over to watch Glee every week so am on the hunt for delicious, quick recipes. I made a strawberry shortcake the other week that was delicious and oh so easy.
3. We ate at our favorite restaurant the other night (Stove), and had what my mom called "the best cobbler I've ever had." That's high praise from a Townsend. It was delicious.

So I'm submitting the sugar dough recipe from our favorite restaurant, Stove. It is really simple, but makes a delicious base for just about anything. Folks could make cobbler, shortcakes, pies, whatever with it. The cobbler we had was constructed like tiny pots and filled with peaches and berries, lemon slurry, and had a whipped whiskey cream and caramel sauce on top."

Stove’s Sugar Dough

Restaurant - Portsmouth VA

This is not a dough for rolling, you have to pat this dough out into the pan your using for dessert. It’s rich and wonderful and can also be made into a short bread as well. I have even used it for bottoms of pans mixed with pecans and then a cake batter over that for a crunch factor. Just don’t over mix it or you will have some good rubber dough

1 cup white sugar, baker’s sugar if you can find it
1# unsalted double A butter
6 cups of all purpose flour,
(unbleached and without chemicals if possible, King Arthur is good stuff and easy to find)

In the bowl of a 4 to 6qt. mixer cream the sugar and butter until light and somewhat fluffy

Stop the machine, scrape down sides and add all at once 6 cups of flour, raise the bowl and on the lowest speed blend the dough until it pulls
together. if it’s winter and your environment isn’t warm you may need to spray from a mister water a little at a time till the dough starts to combine.

pinch a bit of dough to see if it will hold together, if so it’s ready for use.

this dough stores in the refrigerator for a week or so

To help inspire you, here are a few resources for recipes to try:
Betty Crocker's Classic Strawberry Shortcake
Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Summer Cake

or if you want something with a little more wow factor:
I am Mommy's Red Velvet Strawberry Shortcake
and the link to her amazing frosting tutorial

Thanks Sarah & Eric for this month's recipe. As always, try and post before the end of the month! I hope you are as excited as I am... with summer berries in full swing you can't go wrong this month.

Happy Baking
The Lovely Lady Baker

Lemon Cheesecake!

2011-05-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

I made cheesecake this month too! It seems to be a big hit as you can see from Dana and Matt's previous posts. The cheesecake turned out well. Philadelphia knows cheesecake! Thanks again Dana for sharing one of this months recipes! Feel free to stop by the Lovely Lady Baker blog to see the rest of my post, and don't forget to check out everyone's entries this month.

2011-04-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

It was a glorious day in the heartland. Cool breeze, sunny and the smell of the garden soil and fresh mowed grass. But, the kitchen beckoned, since I needed to throw together a chocolate marble cheesecake for next weeks festivities. I am convinced that cheesecakes really are an easy accomplishment as long as you don't overcook them. This one turned out to be not very marbled though because I took too long setting up for the photographs. The chocolate dollops cooled too much to be pulled into ribbons when I cut the knife through the batter. But, the chocolate sour cream frosting covered all imperfections. Another bonus in making cheesecakes for special occasions is that you can just pop them back into the springform pan, cover with foil and refrigerate...they will hold perfectly for at least a week. I will be making two more later this week since we are expecting ~ 100 people. Will serve with a tart cherry sauce on the side.

Sun-Sational Cheesecake

2011-04-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

I decided that since it has been ages since I have had a chance to bake, and not much was planned for the weekend, I just had to bake a cheesecake. I decided on the more traditional Sun-Sational Cheesecake. The recipe was easy to follow, though I had to find an Australian substitute for Graham Crackers: I used Arnotts Marie Biscuits - they are a plain sweet biscuit, often used for tart/cake bases.

I confess that I added more lemon rind than suggested - I find with citrus recipes that more of the rind/juice makes it taste even better!

I was a bit concerned when I was making the topping, as it seemed flavourless and glutinous as I was preparing it. I was also worried that I had overcooked the cake as the edges were a bit brown when I removed the springform, but then the centre was still quite a bit softer than the edges, so may be not!

Instead of the thin slices of lemon on top as in the recipe, I just put some lemon zest on top: it looked good!

Anyway, the cheesecake was delicious! And my partner loved it too!

Chocolate Cookies: a variation on a theme

2011-04-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Last month, I chose to make the homemade oreo cookies, because, well, as stated earlier in this month's recipe post, I love making cookies! In fact, I've had an "oreo" cookie recipe bookmarked in my phone for several months, but I just hadn't had the time to bake them. Ironically, making these cookies aren't nearly as time consuming as I thought they'd be.

Long story short, the cookies were a success, but I overflattened and overbaked the first batch, resulting in big, thin, crispy cookies. The second batch turned out much better; I didn't really flatten the balls of dough and then baked them for only 8 minutes. Perfect.

Next time, I might try minting the cream filling...

Speaking of mint... (nice segue, eh?)

This month, I submitted the Mint Chocolate Cookie recipe. I did so because I had all of the necessary ingredients on hand. At least, I did until my husband decided to make the oreo cookies again last night for a bake sale at work today. So, I was left with a paltry 1/4 c of cocoa. So I went ahead and made a 1/4 recipe. And I'm glad that I did. These were pretty yummy. Here are my 1/4 recipe measurements with alterations:

4T butter

7/8 c sugar

1/2 egg

1 t peppermint extract

1/2 c flour

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/4 t b soda

1/4 t b powder

1/8 t salt

1/4 c dark chocolate chips, chopped

I used my AWESOME (new) cookie scoop that makes 1 1/4 t balls of dough--love this gadget-- and didn't flatten said balls (mostly because I forgot to do so). And I baked them on a silpatted cookie sheet for 10 minutes, cooled them on the sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to the cooling rack. They were bitty cookies that could be eaten in two quick bites. And that's all you need. The flavor is pretty big and sticks with you. They really do taste like the cookie form of an Andes Candy. I think next time I would do one or some of the following:

increase the amount of chocolate chips (a 1/4 cup was all I had on hand)
dip them in chocolate
sub brown sugar for the white sugar to make a chewier cookie

April Recipes!

2011-04-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

For your baking enjoyment this month, Dana picked Cheesecakes (two of her favorites) and Emily picked Mint Chocolate Cookies. Check out their recipes and descriptions below. As always, try to post by the end of the month and share a picture if you can!
Happy Baking!
The Lovely Lady Baker

Cheesecakes from Dana: Here is what she had to say, "For some reason cheesecake evokes oooos and ahhhs that seem out of proportion to the time spent making them. They also seem to confer “advanced cook” status to the baker without mastery of some technique other than mixing, and baking without peeking. They do require a “springform pan”. They do require that you don’t overbake them as they are a custard mixture.

They are gorgeous and when placed on a pedestaled cake server, are elegant and worthy fare for any special event. Two of my favorites follow. If you offered these two and a classic cheesecake with fresh berries you would have variety for any taste. I plan to bake these for an upcoming pre-wedding celebration for a special couple."

Sun-Sational Cheesecake
(from the Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese Cookbook)
Translucent, lemon-sauced
1 ½ C graham cracker crumbs
4 T sugar
4 ½ T melted butter

Combine; press onto bottom of 9” springform pan. Bake 325˚F for 10 min.

(3) 8-oz. packages Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
1 C sugar
3 T flour
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 T grated lemon rind
½ tsp vanilla
4 eggs (1 separated; make sure there is no white in the yolk)

Combined softened cream cheese, sugar, flour, lemon juice, rind and vanilla until well blended. Blend in 3 eggs and 1 egg white; reserve yolk. Pour over crust. Bake 450˚F, 10 min. Reduce to 250˚F, continue baking 30min. Loosen cake from rim on pan. Cool; remove rim.

¾ C sugar
2 T cornstarch
½ C water
¼ C lemon juice

Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Gradually add water and lemon juice. Cook, stirring constantly, until clear and thickened. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into reserved egg yolk; return to hot mixture. Cook 1 min. stirring constantly. Spoon over cheesecake; chill. Garnish with thin lemon slices.

Chocolate Marble Cheesecake
(from an old friend; one I have made often)
Rich, chocolate taste but not overwhelming

1 ½ C graham cracker crumbs
2 T sugar
1 T cocoa
¼ C melted butter
Combine; press onto bottom of 9-in springform pan.
(3) 8-oz. pkgs Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
1 C sugar
1 ½ t vanilla
5 eggs
2 squares semisweet chocolate

Combined softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Set aside 1 C of the mixture. Pour remaining over unbaked crust. Folded melted chocolate into the 1 C mixture. Spoon in dollops on top of regular mixture in pan. Cut through batter in a spiral motion and then again after turning the pan ¼. Bake 1 hr. at 300 or until just set. Cool. Refridgerate. Frost.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate pieces
½ C sour cream
Dash of salt.
Melt chocolate pieces. Add sour cream and salt. Beat with a wooden spoon until creamy and of spreading consistency. Frost top only of cheesecake.

Mint Chocolate Cookies from Emily: Here is what she had to say, "Common knowledge to anyone who knows me: I have a love affair with cookies. More specifically, I love making them; eating them is a secondary pleasure. Cookies are like little rounds of love. A secret little dream of mine is to bake and sell cookies for a living. To that end, I have amassed a pretty good collection of cookie recipes; there are definitely some favorites that I've developed over the years. So for the blog, cookies were a no-brainer. After all, we hadn't really had a lot of them in the last year.

So what kind of cookie? Sitting at home on a Thursday evening, baby asleep for the night, I took stock of what was in my kitchen. Butter, check; eggs, check; sugars, flour, and baking soda, check, check, and check. The basics were covered. So what else did I have to make a cookie with personality? I have a soft spot for chocolate... and I had cocoa in my pantry. I had mint extract. Bingo: Mint Chocolate Cookies."

Mint Chocolate Cookies

from Epicurious
Ingredients

16 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Beat in eggs and peppermint extract. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt and beat until well blended. Form dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten balls slightly to 1 1/2-inch rounds.
Bake cookies until edges begin to firm but center still appears soft, about 13 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely. (Cookies can be prepared up to 5 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

I read the reviews, and it was suggested:

to cut the flour back to 1 1/2 c.
to up the mint extract to 2 t.
to add semi-sweet chocolate chips.
to reduce baking time to as little as 8 minutes.

I think everyone should make alterations that they feel are necessary. I mean, what else are we going to talk about? Right?

Copy-cat crackers

2011-03-31T13:14:00.000-07:00

Since I've already made Smitten Kitchen's grahams and mallows a million times, I opted for the imitation whole wheat goldfish recipe. Check out my musical cracker adventure over at Life of Nickle.

Better Than Goldfish Wheat Crackers

2011-03-30T23:15:00.000-07:00

I chose to make the Whole Wheat Cheddar Crackers! They were fantastic (yes even for whole wheat). I definitely recommend trying them if you didn't choose them this month. You can read my entire post here.

Happy Baking!

Homemade Oreos

2011-03-29T14:30:00.001-07:00

I really enjoyed this idea of creating typical snacks from scratch at home. On the page listing the oreo recipe, there is also a link to a gluten free version. That is the recipe I chose to make. The cookie part of the recipe tasted really good, but didn't replicate an oreo very well. Adding a little more GF flour and cocoa powder might help that. I will, however, definitely make them again. Frequently using GF flours, especially rice flour, leaves baked products with a slightly gritty feeling in your mouth. There is very little of that in this recipe; perhaps the icing the middle helps cover that texture. Rachel loved them, as did the rest of us. We definitely recommend giving them a try.

Vegetarian Pasties

2011-03-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe to be really yummy! It's definitely one to make again and experiment with different fillings. The crust was really buttery and flaky. I used a potato instead of a rutabaga, which worked well. And, I discovered I really like lentils. I'm not too much of a gravy person, but found this one to be a really tasty part of the recipe. Congratulations and thank you to Eric!

March Recipes

2011-03-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Nicole picked our recipes this month. She was inspired to "recreate a store-bought favorite" this month and turned to the Smitten Kitchen blog, her constant inspiration. To find out more about Deb behind Smitten Kitchen, click here. Nicole suggests trying one of the following Homemade recipes:

Whole Wheat Gold fish Crackers
Graham Crackers
Homemade Pop Tarts
Homemade Oreos

Making your favorite snacks from scratch may be a bit more time consuming than placing a box in your basket at the supermarket, but you have so much more control over what goes into each dish. Less sodium, less sugar, you might even find you like the homemade version better! Be sure to share your recipe with us the last week of the month.

We Have a Winner! February Savory Recipe Contest

2011-02-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

As most of you may already know, the winning recipe is Vegetarian Pasties with Gravy! What you don't know yet is who submitted it... Congratulations to Eric from the Dynamic Baking Duo. Thanks Eric for submitting your recipe! You will receive a copy of Savory Baking by Mary Cech shortly.

Thanks everyone for participating in our first Recipe Contest! I hope to have a couple more throughout the year. For the month of February, I encourage you to try Eric's recipe and post about it anytime later this month. If you want another challenge more on the sweet side, I have posted another recipe for the month of February. Check it out below, and Happy Baking to all of you!

Vegetarian Pasties with Gravy

For the Pasties

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup shortening

1 cup cold water

½ c. green peas

½ c. cooked lentils

1 onion, chopped

½ c. rutabaga, cubed

1 carrot, diced

salt and pepper to taste

6 tablespoons margarine

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Shape into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.

2. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. In a large bowl, combine vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Divide dough into six pieces, and shape into balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6 inch round. Place approximately 1 cup filling on one half of each. Dot each with 1 tablespoon margarine. Draw the other half of the pastry over the filling. Crimp edges to seal in filling. Prick with a fork and place on prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

For the Gravy

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup chopped onion

5 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 teaspoon dried sage

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce to form a smooth paste. Gradually whisk in the broth. Season with sage, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until thickened. Serve the pasties hot with gravy over the top

Sweets For those of you who want to make something sweet for your sweet on Valentines... or want to prepare for the new craze before it explodes (which a friend of mine and I schemed up way before the New York Times ever did...) you can make a Mini Pie! That's right, Mini Pies are going to make it big. They are currently being referred to as the "new cupcake" and our dear friend Martha and her army of bakers is not far behind.

The best thing about a mini pie (besides it being so cute) is that you can give them as individual gifts, or packaged as wedding favors, or just eat one at a time yourself. They are fun to make too. I made some long long ago when I started a pretend bakery at an art gallery for the weekend. Make them in tiny pie tins, large muffin tins, or flat in a puff pastry shell. Whatever you end up making, be sure to enjoy it and share a new recipe with us!

Lemon Meringue - Martha Stewart

Mini Berry Pie - Martha Stewart

Savory Baking Recipe Contest

2011-01-19T22:22:00.000-08:00

Today marks the first day of the Easy Bake cOven Recipe Contest! I asked all of our members to submit a savory recipe for the month of January. For the remainder of the month, it is your job to vote for your favorite recipe. The winning recipe will become the February Recipe of the Month, and the winner will receive a copy of Savory Baking, by Mary Cech.

Why savory? For a few reasons... I feel like we forget about the savory, or forget what we can make when challenged. Sweets baking comes easy for most of us in this club, and it was actually hard for some members to come up with something they make that is savory. I relaxed the term "baking" a little for this reason, and we received very different entries. I have posted them in random order and want you to vote for your favorite, or which you think you might actually make. See the Voting Poll at the right in the sidebar. Please vote only once for only one recipe. Feel free to pass this along to friends and co-workers to get their vote as well.

Just for fun, (and because I'm not participating in the contest) I thought I'd submit one of my own savory baking recipes, which explains the current image behind the Easy Bake cOven logo. I had not made many savory items besides dinner when I was challenged by Daring Bakers to make Puff Pastry in the form of Vou al Vents. We were supposed to be creative with the toppings, so I made one savory and one sweet (mostly I couldn't resist). The savory was by far the crowd favorite, so I thought I'd share it with you here. Mine doesn't count in the poll, but definitely try it sometime!

Voting ends on January 31st 11:59pm PST. No votes count after that time. February 1st we will reveal the winner of the contest as our February savory recipe. Happy voting!

The Lovely Lady Baker

Roasted Tomato and Cheese Tarts
3oz Goat Cheese
Tomato slices 1/4" thick (about 4 large tomatoes)
1 C onion sliced super thin and separated - caramelize over low heat with a tiny bit of butter
Thyme
Feta Cheese
Puff Pastry

You can make your own puff pastry, or buy the frozen kind. Roll into a long rectangle about 4" wide and as long as your baking sheet. Cut 1/2" strips the same length as the rectangle is long and lay on top of the edge. Do the same for the short end. Think about forming "walls". Bake according to package instructions or see this post here for more information on making your own puff pastry. You can also form them into individual squares or rounds with cookie cutters or biscuit cutters, but it’s not necessary as you can cut the rectangle into strips after assembly.

Roast the tomato slices on a lightly greased, rimmed baking sheet in a 400˚F oven until edges start to brown (about 20 minutes). Smear some goat cheese on top of the finished puff pastry. Spread the tomatoes evenly across the goat cheese, or stack two layers of tomato for each individual tart (I used small yellow and red heirloom tomatoes). Then spread the onion across the tomatoes or add about a tablespoon of caramelized onion on the individual tart. Sprinkle with crumbled feta and fresh thyme to your hearts content.

Savory Recipe Contest Entries

Lemon Thyme and SeaSalt Shortbread Cookies
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt

Stir the flour, salt, lemon peel, and thyme together in a medium bowl. With your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until a coarse, crumbly mixture forms.

Blend the lightly beaten egg, egg yolks, and water together. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the egg mixture for brushing.Make a well in the center of the flour. Add the remaining egg mixture and blend together with your hands without kneading the dough together; the dough will look a bit crumbly. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough together once or twice, just until it sticks together. Press the dough into a 1-inch disc, wrap in plastic film, and refrigerate until firm, about 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line the bottom of a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, and place it on a floured work surface. Press the dough into a 6-by-5-inch rectangle. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a larger 10-by-7-inch rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough in half, forming two 5-by-7-inch pieces. Using a pizza wheel or sharp paring knife, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips.

Carefully place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet leaving a little room between each cookie. Brush the tops with the reserved egg mixture and sprinkle a little coarse sea salt on top. Gently press the salt into the surface of each cookie so it does not fall off. Bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and serve warm or at room temperature. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Chicken Pot Pie
4 Tablespoons Butter
1 Leek, chopped
1⁄2 cup onion, chopped
1⁄4 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1⁄4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1 teaspoon thyme
2 cups diced cooked chicken (I use rotisserie chicken – both white and dark meat)
1 cup frozen peas
2 medium carrots, sliced as coins
1 – 1 1⁄2 cups chopped broccoli
Additional chicken broth to cook vegetables

Make two recipes of the Flaky Pie Dough, recipe below.

Melt butter in medium size sauce pan. Add leek and onion and cook until just tender. Add flour, blending flour well into the mixture – do not brown. Add chicken broth, chicken, parsley and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until sauce is well thickened.Cook carrots in chicken broth until just tender, remove and set aside. Blanche broccoli in the chicken broth. Rinse peas in cold water. Add vegetables to chicken mixture.

Assembly: Preheat over to 350˚F.Divide the dough in half and roll out both halves according to the size of your pie pan. Place one of the dough discs into a lighting greased pie pan. Pour the chicken mixture into the pie pan. Top with the second disc, flute the edges, and cut slits into the top of the dough. Bake until crust is light brown, about 35 to 45 minutes.

Flaky Pie Dough
Original recipe from Nick Malgieri who contributed this to the Austin Statesman.Note: The baking powder encourages the dough to puff slightly while baking so that it presses into a hot pan bottom and bakes through evenly preventing an underdone bottom crust. The amount of water added to the dough is always variable. When the flour and butter mixture is very finely rubbed together and a little warm, it will absorb less water; when it is dry and cool and a little undermixed, it will absorb more. Too little water makes a flakey crust that will crack during rolling; too much water makes an elastic bread-like crust that lacks flakiness.
1 1⁄4 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1⁄4 teaspoon salt (I use kosher salt)
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1⁄2 cup (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 – 3 tablespoons cold water

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium-size mixing bowl; sitter well to mix. Add butter pieces and toss once or twice to coat.Use hands or pastry blender to cut butter and dry ingredients into tiny pieces, continuously pinching and squeezing butter into dry ingredients. Be careful to keep mixture uniform by occasionally reaching down to bottom of bowl and mixing all ingredients evenly together.Continue process until mixture resembles coarse-ground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible. Scatter 2 tablespoons water on mixture and stir gently with for (dough should begin holding together.) If mixture still appears dry and crumbly, add remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until dough holds together easily.Scrape dough onto lightly floured surface and form in disc. (If doubling recipe, form into two equal discs.) Place dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and press into 6-inch disc. Refrigerate dough between 2 pieces of plastic to use, at least 1 hour.
Makes about 10 ounces dough, enough for a single crust.Roll out according to the size of your pie dish. I usually refrigerate the pie crust and pan while I finish making the filling.

Overnight Brisket Sandwiches
1/2 t. garlic salt
1/2 t. oregano
1/4 t. basil
1/2 t. italian seasoning
1/2 t. seasoned salt
1 t. seasoned pepper
1/2- 1 t. chili powder
1/4 t. red pepper (if desired)

Place beef brisket in a roasting pan and cover with 2-3 sliced medium onions. Sprinkle with 1 T salt. Add water to pan until meat is about half covered. Cover roaster tightly and cook @ 200 degrees, overnight. Let meat cool slightly and take off all visible fat. Strain broth. Wrap meat and refrigerate both meat and broth until thoroughly cold. Thinly slice beef across the grain. Remove fat from the top of broth. Add spices to broth and simmer.Correct seasonings after simmering. Add sliced beef to broth and heat until just warm. If left too long, the beef slices will not hold together. Serve on hard rolls with bowls of broth for dipping.

Rosemary Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Yams
8 cloves of garlic
3 T olive oil
1 ½ lb baking potatoes, cubed
1 ½ lb yams, cubed
½ c milk
¼ c butter
½ t dried rosemary
½ c grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease an 8” square baking pan.
2. Place garlic in small ovenproof bowl, and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes or untilvery soft. Cool and peel the garlic; reserve the oil.
3. Boil potatoes and yams in a large pot of salted water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain,reserving 1 c cooking liquid.
4. Return potatoes and yams to pot. Add milk, butter, rosemary, garlic and reserved olive oil.Mash to desired consistency, adding reserved cooking liquid as needed. Mix in ¼ c cheese.Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle withremaining cheese.
5. Bake until heated through and golden on top, about 45 minutes.

Mediterranean Bruschetta
Artisan olive bread (Kalmata)
Extra virgin olive oil
hummus
cucumber
feta cheese
fresh mint

Slice the olive bread, lay slices on baking sheet and toast lightly in oven. Remove from oven. While warm: Drizzle olive oil over slices, Spread hummus on bread, Top with sliced cucumbers and sprinkle crumbled feta over top. Finish with chopped, fresh mint leaves, fresh ground pepper, and another thread of extra virgin olive oil. Enjoy with a glass of wine outside!

Vegetarian Pasties with Gravy
For the Pasties
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortening
1 cup cold water
½ c. green peas
½ c. cooked lentils
1 onion, chopped
½ c. rutabaga, cubed
1 carrot, diced
salt and pepper to taste
6 tablespoons margarine

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Shape into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.
2. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, combine vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Divide dough into six pieces, and shape into balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball into a 6 inch round. Place approximately 1 cup filling on one half of each. Dot each with 1 tablespoon margarine. Draw the other half of the pastry over the filling. Crimp edges to seal in filling. Prick with a fork and place on prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

For the Gravy
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce to form a smooth paste. Gradually whisk in the broth. Season with sage, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until thickened.Serve the pasties hot with gravy over the top.

Baking for the Month of...

2011-01-15T18:28:00.000-08:00

Here is list below generated in random order by random.org to choose who picks our monthly recipes. We will have two recipes per month and if you need to swap months let the Lovely Lady Baker know!

February
Contest Winner to be decided

March
Nicole E
Matthew D

April
Emily W
Dana T

May
Carolyn K
Elisa S

June
Sarah T + Eric R
Joanna L

July
Angela N
Carol R

August
Adriana M
Laura E

September
Rebecca R
Gretchen H

October
Patrizia DiG
Christina T

November
Another Contest Winner!

Mint Chocolate Brownies & Hot Chocolate

2010-12-31T15:57:00.000-08:00

For the December recipes, I made the chocolate mix and mint brownies! All were fantastic, so thanks to those who contributed. I'm happy to have the chocolate mix to last the rest of the winter, and I think I might introduce mint brownies into other seasons besides Christmas. Yum! If you'd like to read the rest of my post, please feel free to check out The Lovely Lady Baker blog.

Happy New Year!

December Recipes

2010-12-05T00:41:00.000-08:00

I asked Joanna, one of our newest to share a recipe with us. I was specific though... I've known Joanna since college and she is super sweet. She shared her Hot Chocolate recipe with me once and after that I was addicted. Here is what Joanna has to say about her recipe:

"I grew up making this Hot Coco Mix with my mom every winter. We would fill a big tupperware container and keep it near the stove. When I moved away, my mom would mail me a bag of it.

A fun way to incorporate this into Christmas gifts is to fill a mason jar with the mix, top it off with some mini marshmallows, and tie a ribbon with instructions around the top. It is also a big hit at retreats, holiday parties, or just to snuggle up on the couch during a cold winter day. Enjoy!"

Hot Chocolate Mix

8 quarts dry milk (11c)

8 oz French vanilla powdered coffee creamer

16 oz nonfat powdered dairy creamer

1 lb milk chocolate mix (Quik or off-brand, both work well)

2 cups powdered sugar

Mix well (pouring the ingredients in layers helps). Store in air tight container. Fill cup or mug 1/2 full with coco mix then add hot water. (I like to save room to add a little cold milk to make it creamier and cool it off faster.)

You can substitute 24 oz of nonfat dairy creamer instead of using the French vanilla creamer. However, my mom believes the French vanilla is what makes it so creamy and delicious :)

Who can resist an incredible warm brownie with hot chocolate? I hope none of you. I've posted two brownie recipes below, but feel free to use your favorite and share your recipe with us!

Mint Brownies

Mint seems to be a good pairing with chocolate, no? Here is a recipe from Smitten Kitchen that looks delicious!

Check out the link above for the full recipe!

and one more just for fun

Espresso Brownies

mmmm.... coffee and chocolate.

1/2 C butter

4 oz bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped

3 oz unsweetened chocolate coarsely chopped

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1 T espresso powder

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 C all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 C miniature semisweet chocolate pieces

chocolate cream cheese frosting

In a medium saucepan, combine butter, bittersweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate. Cook and stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool. Preheat oven to 350˚F and line an 8x8x2 inch pan with foil extending over the edges. grease foil and set aside.

Add sugar to cooled chocolate. Add eggs one at a time beating until just combined. Stir in espresso powder and vanilla. In a small bowl combine flour, soda and salt. Add flour mix to chocolate and stir until just combined. Stir in the chocolate pieces. Spread batter into pan and bake for 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Spread with chocolate cream cheese frosting and top with chocolate covered espresso beans.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

In a small saucepan heat and stir 1/2 C semisweet chocolate pieces over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and cool. In a medium bowl, stir together 3oz cream cheese with 1/4 C powdered sugar. Stir in melted chocolate until smooth. Store in a single layer in an airtight container.

from Better Homes and Gardens 30 Blissful Brownies Recipes

What's next? maybe a contest?

Share with us your own creation for a savory baked item by December 30th, and you'll automatically be entered into our February recipe contest. Anything you can imagine. We're going to have a vote in early January and your recipe will be featured as one of our February recipes. What's in for you? Well, I'm glad you asked! Our very first winner will receive a copy of Savory Baking by Mary Cech! So how do we do this? I'm going to submit all of your recipes in random order in one post. You'll have the entire month of January to vote, and the winner will be announced February 1st on our monthly recipe post. More on voting to follow.

The fine print:

1. You MUST use your own recipe. If your recipe is based on another fantastic recipe, you must have changed at least 4 things about it to call it your own. Please be honest!

2. All entries must be received by December 30th at 12:00pm PST to be considered.

3. You must have made this recipe at least twice. Preferably, it should be something you really love and would like to share with everyone.

4. There is no restriction on difficulty. We like a good challenge every now and then.

Puffs & Pies

2010-11-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

I love the holiday baking season!

I altered the Pumpkin Puffs recipe to a gluten-free alternative by adding an extra egg, 1/2 tsp of both soda and powder, and using GV flour. I also wanted it to be "old fashioned gingerbread"-like so I put all the batter on my pizza stone at once, slid it in the oven, and crossed my fingers that it would turn out like I expected....I took it to a LIFE group lunch and it was a hit! I added a layer of cream cheese frosting to the top and sprinkled with with pumpkin pie spice for appearance sake. I then cut it into squares and let people serve themselves straight off the stone. It worked really well.

This week for my husband's family's traditional, don't rock the boat, Thanksgiving dinner I made the Pear & Plum Pie. Usually when I serve them something non-traditional they take a small piece and I get, "mmm...that's good; it's really different" (which translates to: "that's too weird for me, don't make that again") I expected this with the pie, but it sounded really good, so I took it anyway. I followed the recipe as stated except for the cinnamon. My brother-in-law is allergic so I used just a bit of ginger and nutmeg. It turned out beautifully and I went home with an empty pie plate. Success! I loved the combination of flavors and will definitely make this one again!

November Recipes

2010-11-18T23:09:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow bakers. I've been meaning to write this since the beginning of November, but life got in the way! Anyways, if you haven't already planned your Thanksgiving feast, and since Pie is an essential Thanksgiving dessert, I've added some pies for you to try. Some are fairly traditional in concept, but have a little twist or flair. I was inspired by my Better Homes and Garden magazine this month with recipes from a local bakery, Mission Beach Cafe, from pastry chef Alan Carter. I've included the recipes below, but feel free to use them as a base and create something fantastic.

Dress up a store bought pie with Hazelnut cream! Or, if you're not into pie, share with us your favorite Thanksgiving dessert, or try the pudding recipe I added here! Can't wait to see what you all make.

Pear Plum Pie

2 rolled, refrigerated unbaked pie crusts
1 1/4 C sugar
1/4 C cornstarch
1 tsp lemon peel
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 C cored and coarsely chopped pears
2 C chopped plums
1 small quince, cored, sliced, and poached (or 1 C coarsely chopped pear)
2 T lemon juice
2 T port (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg beaten
1 T whipping cream

To prepare quince, simmer 5 minutes in water and drain.

Preheat oven to 375˚F. Roll out pastry on floured board and place in a 9" pie plate without stretching the crust, trim pastry even with the rim of tin.

In a small bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, lemon peel, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. In a large bowl combine pears, plums, and quince. Add lemon juice, port, and vanilla. Add sugar mixture; toss to coat. Transfer to prepared pie tin.

Roll remaining pastry portion into a 12 inch circle. Place on filling, gently molding over the fruit. Trim to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie tin. Fold top pastry under bottom pastry. Crimp edge as desired. Cut 4 small slits in top crust to allow steam to escape. Combine egg and cream; brush on pastry. Pace pie on a foil lined baking sheet.

Bake 1 hour and 20 minutes covering edge of crust with foil, if necessary, to prevent overbrowning. Cool on wire rack. Makes 10 servings.

Hazelnut Mousse

1/4 C pasteurized egg whites
1/4 C water
1/2 C sugar
1 C whipping cream
1 8oz carton mascarpone cheese
2 T Frangelico or other Hazelnut liqueur (optional)
1/2 C toasted, peeled, and ground hazelnuts

In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form (tips curl over when beaters are lifted). In a small saucepan combine water and sugar; cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and comes to a boil. Using a candy thermometer, cook at a steady boil over medium heat until mixture reaches 240˚F (about 5 minutes).

Beat egg whites on high speed, slowly pouring in hot liquid mixture (pour against side of bowl and not beaters). When all the sugar mix is added, continue beating 5 minutes more to cool.

IN a large bowl, whisk whipping cream and mascarpone; whisk in liqueur and 1/3 cup of hazelnuts. Whisk in cooled egg whites. Sprinkle with remaining hazelnuts. Serve with pumpkin pie. Makes 10 servings.

Banana Pudding
Courtesy of Tyler Florence via Better Homes and Garden

2 C half and half
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 egg yolks
2 T unsalted butter
2 T vanilla extract

2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 C powdered (confectioner's) sugar
1/2 of a 12 oz box of vanilla wafers (about 44)
3 ripe bananas, sliced 1/4 inch thick

For the pudding, combine half and half and sugar in a stainless steel bowl or top of a double boiler set over simmering water. Whisk in flour and salt until combined, about 2 minutes; remove from heat. Place egg yolks in a separate bowl. Gradually add half of the hot cream mixture, stirring constantly to temper eggs. Whisk egg mixture into remaining hot cream and place back over simmering water. Cook whisking constantly until mixture has thickened to the consistency of pudding, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350˚F. For the meringue, beat egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add the cream of tartar, vanilla, and confectioner's sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until the whites form stiff peaks.

To assemble, cover the bottom of a 2-quart square baking dish with half of the wafers. Top with half of the banana slices and half the pudding. Make a second layer, ending with pudding. With a spatula, spread meringue over entire banana pudding, forming attractive peaks. Place dish in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until mixture is golden brown on top. Makes 8-10 servings.

For individual servings, layer pudding and wafers in serving dishes. Spread meringue on top and using a torch, brown meringue.

Yummy Pumpkin Puffs!

2010-10-31T20:05:00.001-07:00

As a newcomer to the cOven and first time blogger, I am excited to share my baking experience. I am part of the audio/visual team at church and practice every Thursday. It was the perfect opportunity to try out the pumpkin puff recipe. They were quick to make and turned out great! Since I have a sweet tooth, I decided to go ahead and drizzle them with frosting. Unfortunately, my camera battery died before I could take a picture of the finished product with the frosting. Overall, the team approved and said I can use them as guinea pigs any time. I plan on making a second batch for the girls study tomorrow.

Pumpkin Puffs

2010-10-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

I made the pumpkin pumpkin puffs! I might try and make one more recipe before the end of the month. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Check out my post on The Lovely Lady Baker's blog. Can't wait to see what all of you chose to make!

The Lovely Lady Baker

October Recipes

2010-10-09T21:46:00.000-07:00

This month we have a variety of things to choose from. One is an old favorite, and one was suggested by Elisa. The other seemed easy and festive for the month of October.

I love fall because it means pumpkins are in season! What better dessert to make than something pumpkin? Well, if you think otherwise, the brown sugar cupcakes are for you. Elisa thought these cupcakes looked tasty, and cupcakes are quite the craze these days.

Please feel free to make any of the recipes for your entry this month. Try to post within the last week of the month with a few words and a picture if you can.

For the next few months, I'd like all of you to share a recipe you would like to make. I'm thinking we are a group who likes options, so if we have a couple of recipes to try each month, everyone might be able to participate more. I'll try and combine them into November and December - and if you send me a lot of recipes, we will be set for the new year.

Pumpkin Cookies
(I like to call them Pumpkin Puffs)
2 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C butter softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Frosting Optional (I don't think it needs frosting)
2 C confectioners sugar
3 T milk
1 T melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Mix together the dry ingredients including spices. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in egg and mix until incorporated. Add pumpkin and vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients. Using a cookie scoop, drop dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes. Cool and drizzle frosting over the top if using.

Cookies are cake-like in texture and get better with age. I think they are best the next day. Store up to one week in an airtight container. The cookies will be puffy - hence the name "puffs" and should not spread out on the pan. If you want them to be less puffy, press the dropped dough down with your fingers before baking.

Pumpkin Truffles
2 1/2 C white chocolate chunks divided
1/3 C gingersnap cookie crumbs (more for garnish)
1/4 C canned pumpkin puree
1/4 C graham cracker crumbs (more for garnish)
1 T confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp orange zest
1/8 tsp cinnamon
pinch of fine salt
2 oz cream cheese softened

Melt 1/2 C of chocolate in a double boiler over medium heat. Remove from heat and add all of the ingredients. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Transfer to a shallow bowl, cover and chill until solid enough to roll (about two hours).

Line a baking tray with parchment. Melt remaining two cups chocolate and transfer to a small deep bowl. Working quickly, roll heaping teaspoons of the pumpkin mix by hand. Dip each ball into the melted chocolate making sure to cover each side fully. Let excess chocolate drip off the sides and set on parchment to dry. Sprinkle gingersnap or graham crackers over the top. Complete all balls and chill for one hour until chocolate is set. Keep refrigerated until serving. Makes about 30.

Nigella's Burnt-Butter Brown Sugar Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1/2 C plus 2 Tbs unsalted butter
3/4 C self-rising cake flour
3 T sugar
5 T light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 T milk
12-cup muffin pan lined with 2 paper baking cups
For the icing:
1/2 C plus 2 T unsalted butter
1 2/3 to 2 C confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 T milk

Preheat the oven to 400˚F and then get on with burning your butter. Put it in a small saucepan on medium heat, stirring all the time until it turns a dark golden color. Take the pan off the heat and strain the butter into a bowl or cup, as it will have made a sediment. In other words, this is like clarified butter, but with a smoky note. Let the butter solidify again but don't put it in the refrigerator; you need it to remain soft for the cupcakes. This shouldn't take long, except in hot weather, in which case leave the preheating of the oven till after the butter's been burnt.

When the butter is solid but still soft, put all the cake ingredients except the milk in a food processor and blitz to a smooth batter. As normal, add the milk down the funnel, pulsing sparingly to form a soft, dropping mixture.

Divide among the paper cups, and cook for 15-20 minutes. While the cupcakes are baking, get on with the icing. It's the same procedure for the butter--burn, strain, solidify--then beat it with half the sugar or enough to make it stiff. Add 1T of milk and the remaining sugar alternately to reach a good consistency, and finally the vanilla.

While the icing's still soft, smear messily over the cooled and waiting cupcakes. Makes 12.

Last Year's Recipe

September Recipe - Pancakes!

2010-09-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

Because I recently ate one of the largest pancakes I have ever seen in my life, and because Sarah is hungry for breakfast... we are making pancakes this month!

Sarah picked our theme since pancakes are easy, and there are endless options. "Sourdough? Whole Wheat? Berry? Banana? There are so many crazy things you can do with pancakes!" says Sarah.

Your task - make an amazing pancake. Dress up a box mix, or try those yeasted pancakes you have been reading about. Try posting your creations by the last week of the month.

Photo by M - The Tractor Room, San Diego

August Recipe : Summer Berry Trifle

2010-08-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Because it is summer, and because I can't resist berries, this month's recipe is a Trifle. I have included one recipe from Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, Ethnic and Regional Recipes from the Cooks for you to follow, or you are more than welcome to create your own, or use your favorite recipe. The recipe below comes from the British Isles by Tom Walsh and is described as a "Proper Trifle" (because all things british are proper).

If you don't use the recipe, remember trifles can be made with sponge cake or pound cake, layered with whipped cream or custard, and your choice of macerated fruits. Bake the pound cake from scratch - or from your favorite box - just let us know which.

Can't wait to see all of your creations (and sorry for the late post!) If you need additional time to post this month's recipe feel free to post the first week of September.

Enjoy!

A Proper Trifle
from Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant, Ethnic and Regional Recipes from the Cooks

A Proper Custard
1 1/2 C heavy cream
5 egg yolks
3 T superfine or granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Cake/Fruit Layer
5 C broken pieces pound cake or sponge cake
raspberry jam
1/8-1/4 C sherry
1 1/2 C fresh (or frozen) raspberries or blackberries
1 large banana

Topping
1/2 pint heavy cream, whipped
1/4 C slivered almonds, lightly toasted

To make the custard, heat the cream in a small saucepan, taking care that it does not scorch. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch in a bowl. When the cream is hot, pour it into the bowl with the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Return the custard to the saucepan and stir constantly on low heat until thickened, but do not let it boil (*see my note below). Remove it from the heat and cool.

To assemble the trifle, spread the pieces of cake with a thin layer of jam. Put the pieces in a large bowl. (Clear glass or crystal is traditional.) Sprinkle the sherry and berries over the cake and stir. Don't bother to thaw the frozen berries ; theres less mess if they're still frozen. Peel and thinly slice the banana. Stir it in with the cake and berries. Drizzle the custard over the top. Don't expect to cover and completely encase the cake and fruit mix.

Spread the whipped cream over the trifle. Sprinkle the almonds on top. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours.

A british trifle differs from the American version with only one layer of cake and fruit mixed together. Feel free to assemble however you like substituting fruits in season and available to you.

*Note: When cooking your custard, don't overcook it on the stovetop. Remove it from the heat as soon as it starts to thicken like pudding. This step usually happens quickly so keep an eye on it!

Some links to fantastic pound cakes:
Paula Deen (where large amounts of butter are accepted!)
Ina Garten's Lemon Pound Cake (who says you can't have lemon?)
Buttermilk Pound Cake, All Recipes

2010-08-08T16:26:00.001-07:00

This cake is special. I finally had a chance make the cake yesterday and was completely pleased with the results. We have two in the family that are not crazy about ginger, but even they enjoyed the cake. The flavors worked nicely together: the ginger and the caramel sauce. The fresh ginger was pleasant, not overwhelming. The cake was exceptionally moist. The caramel was lovely and I will make it again for a topping on other recipes. This cake deserves to be shown off and I look forward to serving this for dinner guests in the future!

2010-08-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

Ginger Cake!

The recipe for this cake was mouthwatering just to read it. I can only imagine how wonderful this dessert must be from the original restaurant. The recipe, though it had a lot of ingredients, was easy to follow and made for a very tasty batter! I brought my friend Amy along for the ride on the day I decided to make it. So while we discussed life matters, we baked! It was a fun afternoon.

The cake turned out well and tasted great. Our only tragedy of the day was not watching the carmel closely. It took a very long time to reach the appropriate temperature and I knew we should watch it closely when the temperature began to rise, but we got busy talking and before we knew it, it was black. We were both heart broken! But, that was solved with a plate of cake. I probably disgraced the cake's creator by adding store-bought carmel as the topping, but it was still delicious! It will definitely be my birthday cake in October!

Ginger Cake!

2010-08-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

I made the ginger cake and liked it very much! Thanks for another great recipe! Check out my full post on the Lovely Lady Baker blog.

Chow's Ginger Cake

2010-07-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

As always, I start to make the recipes from the cOven with some trepidation, and this one as much as any – probably because it was an attempt to recreate a particular dessert from a particular restaurant – and one that had been showered with glowing praise.

And I had decided that I was going to attempt to make it gluten-free, as my partner is a bit wheat-intolerant. Plus, since corn syrup is hard to find in Australia, I was going to substitute golden syrup and use whatever molasses I could find. (In the end, I think it may have been blackstrap after all, after the recipe advised not to use that!).

I had intended to cook this earlier in the week, but when we decided to have a lovely dinner at home on Friday night, it seemed the perfect dessert after home-made prawn cutlets, and roast chicken and vegies for main.

It was easy to make, though I found the order of doing some things intriguing. I had to cook it a bit longer than suggested, possibly because of the gluten-free flour, or the fact that my oven is getting old.

And it was delicious. The two types of ginger and other spices made it a bit sharp, set off by the caramel sauce. I didn’t have the energy for making the special cream (nor does my waistline need it either!) We had it with natural yoghurt – which also worked really well!

It was really great. My partner said that he thought it was really lovely too!

And there is more for dessert tonight & tomorrow!

Best of Intentions

2010-07-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Well, there I was, almost 38 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good. Looking forward to making a fabulous ginger cake to take to a friend's dinner party this weekend. It was going to be great.

...and then...last night...I sneezed. And all my hopes were dashed.

Turns out I pulled a muscle in my back, if you can believe it. Who does that? Apparently pregnant women in their 38th week do that, all the time. And so the ginger cake, I'm afraid, is not going to be made this month. I can barely breathe deeply; never mind trying to whip and mix and bake a 3 component cake. Sigh.

But I've been so very delinquent in my blogging in the last couple months, despite the fact that I've been baking! So I thought that my time recuperating from my fateful sneeze could be spent blogging about baked goods passed. So here we go...

May: Free For All

I made April's recipe for my freebie.
Check out my fruit tart!

This was my very first fruit tart ever. And I was really pleased with the recipe. It was very straight forward and almost fool-proof. What amazed me was how quickly the pastry cream turned from soupy to custard. I looked away for a second, and there it was. Yum.

I was a bit intimidated by the idea of arranging the fruit, but I think it turned out pretty well. And well, as my mom always says, it all tastes the same in your stomach!

June: Crepes

For the first time in a while, Jay and I were able to wake up late on a Saturday morning. And it was a beautiful Saturday morning, for that matter. So obviously, it was the perfect opportunity to make a special breakfast: Spinach, portabello mushroom and gruyere crepes and dessert crepes with varying combinations of strawberries, honey-sweetened ricotta cheese and nutella. Dessert after breakfast--can't beat that.

July Recipe: Chow's Ginger Cake

2010-07-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

This month's recipe was chosen by Gretchen. The recipe for Ginger Cake below is her absolute favorite dessert. It comes from a great restaurant here in San Francisco, CHOW, and the recipe was published by SF Gate who also admire chef Tony Gulisano's recipe. Gretchen is challenging us to replicate this dessert and "attempt to achieve the gooey, moist, delicious consistency that Chow achieves every time".

There are three components to the recipe - the cake, caramel and whipped cream. If you read through the SFGate article, it suggests serving it with Vanilla Ice Cream, or Pumpkin Ice Cream like Chow does, but the recipe only calls for whipped cream. Feel free to make your own ice cream in addition to this months recipe if you have the equipment. Try also to stick as close to the original as possible so we can see who makes the gooiest cake possible. Sorry to those of you who don't live in San Francisco and have no frame of reference for this cake (I haven't eaten here yet so I'm just as clueless). But, I have a feeling you will be able to make it.... and possibly even enjoy it. If you need to make adjustments for dietary restrictions feel free. Here is one source for substitutions.

Remember to post during the last week of the month and by the 31st. Looking forward to seeing your cakes!

Credit: Craig Lee / Special to The Chronicle; styled by Julia Mitchell

Chow's Ginger Cake with Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream
SF Gate, courtesy of Chow Restaurant, San Francisco
Printer Friendly Version

The secrets:

Two kinds of ginger: Loads of fresh ginger, backed by the powdered product, gives the cake a fresh spike of flavor. Dark molasses: This adds a rich, earthy element to the blend. Warming before serving: While the cake is good cold, it tastes even better gently reheated in the oven. Caramel sauce: The caramel adds a pleasant dose of sweetness and sets this cake apart. Serves 16
Ginger cakeButter and flour to prepare pan
2 ounces ginger, peeled and finely grated on a Microplane (about 3 tablespoons)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup rice bran oil or other neutral flavored oil
3/4 cup dark molasses (see Note)
4 large eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon baking soda
Caramel sauce1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup heavy whipping cream at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into pieces
Whipped cream1 cup very cold heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon Tahitian vanilla extract
1 tablespoon powdered sugar, + more to garnish
For the cake: Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly butter a 9- by 9-inch cake pan and dust very lightly with flour or line with parchment paper (see Note).
Combine ginger with 1/2 tablespoon water in a mixing bowl; add sugar, oil and molasses. Mix on low speed. Add eggs; continue mixing at low speed until fully incorporated.
Combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, white pepper, ground ginger and baking soda in another mixing bowl. Add dry ingredients slowly to the egg mixture, continuing to beat slowly, scraping mixing bowl occasionally. Increase speed to medium for 2 minutes. Scrape; decrease speed to low and slowly add 3/4 cup hot tap water. Mix until just combined, occasionally scraping. (The batter will be slightly thin.)
Pour into prepared cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes.
For the caramel sauce: In a medium-size stainless steel pot, combine sugar and 1 3/4 cups hot water, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add corn syrup and cream of tartar; mix. Wipe down the inside of the pot with a wet towel to remove any sugar crystals. If needed, also brush inside of pot just once with a wet pastry brush. Bring to a boil over high heat without stirring, until mixture becomes a deep caramel color or a candy thermometer reaches 335°.
Remove pot from heat and immediately add cream in a slow stream while stirring (be careful - it will pop and sputter). Whisk in salt and the butter, a little at a time.
The caramel sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated. Carefully reheat in a water bath or in a microwave before using. Makes approximately 2 cups.

For the whipped cream: Vigorously whisk cream, vanilla extract and powdered sugar in a cold bowl until the cream reaches soft peaks. You want the cream to be relatively soft so it can slowly run over the sides of the cake. Makes about 2 cups; refrigerate leftovers to use another time.
To finish: (At Chow, the cake is cut into 2-inch squares and reheated 2 1/2 minutes in a 350° oven.) Place the cake square in a shallow bowl, top with caramel sauce and a dollop of whipped cream. Finish with a dusting of powdered sugar.
Note: If you plan to turn the cake out of the pan before cutting, also use the parchment paper, which helps the cake release more easily. Dark molasses (also labeled "full") is more intensely flavored and less sweet than light or mild molasses. Avoid using blackstrap, which is less sweet and has a stronger flavor than dark molasses.

My House is a Crepe House

2010-07-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

I hope all of you had a nice time making crepes this month. Check out my post on the Lovely Lady Baker blog!

Crepes - just like my grandmother made!

2010-06-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

I was excited when this month’s recipe was crepes, as crepes have a wonderful memory for me.

When I was growing up, I lived a long way from my grandmother, my mother’s mother. But on the rare
occasion that I was sick and staying with her, she would make my favourite foods, in an effort to get me to eat. And one of my favourite things was pancakes – as we called crepes, when I was young. My grandmother made them so wonderfully – in a pan with lots of butter, served with lots of sugar and lemon juice, rolled up! (I confess that my grandmother’s pancakes were even better than my mother’s!!)

So it was with great joy that I made this month’s recipe.

The Alton Brown recipe was really great. It was simpler and possibly more delicious than the recipe that my mother gave me about 20 years ago, or the other one I have used many times, from The Commonsense Cookery Book (compiled by The Public School Cookery Teachers’ Association of New South Wales, 1960).

And as we were going to have it for dessert, I decided to wrap each crepe around balls of raspberry-swirl ice-cream, and served with some raspberries.

But they were so good, that I had to have some more.

This time, I had them just like my grandmother made them, rolled up with lots of lemon juice and sugar – truly perfect!

Plus, I have some batter left, and lemon juice too, so I think I might have to have more tomorrow!

June Recipe: Crepes!

2010-06-04T21:49:00.000-07:00

Espresso Crepes with Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

This month's recipe is crepes. If you have never had a crepe before, they are magnificent little pancake like discs filled with a variety of fresh fruits, or vegetables, eggs, and potatoes. Below you will find Alton Brown's recipe with three variations: plain, savory and sweet.

You may choose which ever batter preparation you like, and fill it to your hearts content with fruit, nuts, herbs, cheese, etc. And if you are feeling extremely indulgent, top it with ice cream. You can also form them into little vessels for your ice cream. Be Creative and have fun. It will be great to see all of your creations.

Now, go forth and purchase Nutella!

Here are step by step images and instructions for How to Make Crepes

Crepes Three Ways

Alton Brown - Food Network

Ingredients

2 large eggs

3/4 C milk

1/2 C water

1 C flour

3 T melted butter

Butter, for coating the pan

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.

Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months. When using frozen crepes, thaw on a rack before gently peeling apart.

Savory Variation Add 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 C chopped fresh herbs, spinach or sun-dried tomatoes to the egg mixture.

Sweet Variation Add 2 1/2 T sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 T of your favorite liqueur to the egg mixture.

Here are some links to Creperies for menu inspiration.

The Crepe Place, Santa Cruz CA
Flip Happy Crepes, Austin TX
The Crepe Cafe, a very commercial but tasty looking venue

Lemon Sandwich Cookies

2010-06-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

For May’s independent study baking project, I baked lemon cream sandwich cookies. The recipe came from Citizen Cake in San Francisco. I love sandwich cookies: lemon cream, Oreos, Nutter Butters…So I thought this might be a fun thing to do. Also, lemon season is ending soon, so this was a nice way to get a quick lemon recipe in. The cookies were pretty easy to make. You have to plan ahead a bit because you need time to refrigerate both the dough and the filling. I used a decorative cookie cutter which made the cookies look prettier. Note to self: “The fancier the cutter, the prettier the cookie.” The recipe called for lemon zest – I was careful to only zest the yellow part of the peel to avoid the bitter taste. The cookies were yummy the first day and even better the second. They make a great lunch box cookie, for those of us packing lunches! The recipe:

Lemon Sandwich Cookies
Adapted from Citizen Cake, San Francisco
For Cookies
½ Tbsp. grated lemon zest
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 large egg yolk
¼ tsp. baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour

For Filling:
3 Tbsp grated lemon zest
¼ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted (after measuring)

Equipment:
A 2-inch round cookie cutter

Make Cookies: Boil lemon zest and juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 1 Tbsp, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Beat together butter, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer at 5 minutes. Add yolk and egg, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in lemon reduction. At low speed mix in baking soda and lour until just combined. Form dough into a 6-inch disk. Chill, wrapped, until firm, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F with racks in middle and upper positons. Butter 2 larage baking sheets. Rool out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin to a 13-inch (1/8-inch-thick) round. Cut out cookies, rerolling dough once. Bake 1 inch apart until edges are golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Make Lemon Filling: Mince zest with salt. Beat butter with a electric mixer until light and fluffy, then beat in zest paste. Reduce speed to low, then mix in sugar until well combined.

Assemble cookies: Spread filling (about a rounded Tbsp) on half of the cookies and sandwich with remaining cookies. Press slightlly, then smooth edges with a butter knife or small spatula. Chill until filling sets, about 30 minutes.

Fresh Starwberry Pie ~ Gluten Free

2010-06-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

In March my daughter had to begin a Gluten Free diet. She's now feeling great, but it's been a learning process for mom. Just when I finally felt all grown up and confident in my baking skills, I feel like I'm starting over learning about rice flour, sweet rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, corn flour, almond flour, dry egg replacer, xantham gum...I could go on and on. We've been experimenting with a wide variety of recipes - some good, some not so. One of my saving graces has been the late Bette Hagman's "Gluten Free Gourmet" cookbook series. Not only are they quality recipes, there is variety and kid-friendly options. She offers good information on Gluten Free living as well. Seems everyone knows someone with special diet needs, so I thought I'd share with you a new recipe I tried.

This week we attempted something new - gluten free pie crust. And, I must say, it was a flaky success. I don't know about where you live, but the strawberries are perfect and abundant this year in Kansas. So we made fresh strawberry pie this morning - literally walked outside, picked the berries, and made a pie. Can't get any fresher than that. I followed the recipe listed below as written. One thing to note before beginning, the crust needs time allowed to chill. Since I'm impatient, I put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes and found it easy to work with. It's very light and airy, not like typical pie crust dough. It reminded me of icing made with shortening - that kind of bulk without the weight. The only change I would make, not suggested in the recipe, Is that it probably needs foil around the edges to keep from browning too much. The edges of the crust were nicely browned when the bottom of the crust was still a bit too soft. Otherwise, a great pie and crust!

Gluten Free Ricotta Pastry

1 1/2 c. white rice flour

1/2 c. tapioca flour

1 t. baking powder

1 t. xantham gum

1 c. melted margarine

1/2 c. ricotta cheese

1/2 c. sour cream (no substitutions)

Sift together the dry ingredients. Mix together the margarine, cheese, and sour cream. Stir in dry ingredients. Chill for at least 2 hours, or until dough is easy to handle. Roll out dough on a rice-floured plastic as it may be sticky. Using a second piece of plastic keeps it from sticking to the rolling pin. Transfer to your pie pan/plate and flute the edges. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Cool before filling.

Fresh Strawberry Pie Filling

1 qt. fresh strawberries

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. water

1 1/2 T. cornstarch

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

3 T. sugar

In a sauce pan, put 1 c. sliced berries, 1/2 c. sugar, salt, and 1/4 c. water. Bring to boil. Cook 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix cornstarch and remaining water. Add to sauce pan. Return to heat. Stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Allow to cool. Mix into remaining fresh berries.

Mix cream cheese and sugar. Spread cream cheese mixture on the bottom of the cooked, cooled pie crust. Add berry mixture on top. Chill until firm. Approximately 7 servings.

Carrot Cake

2010-05-31T22:17:00.000-07:00

Our puppy loves to dig and decided to take it upon himself to harvest our backyard carrots. To rid him of this naughty behavior I had no choice but to harvest them all at once. My husband and I can only eat so many carrots at dinner, and I didn't want them to go to waste, so I decided to make carrot cake. For some reason I've always been a bit intimated by it but I really needed to use those carrots! I found a recipe online, and in the process made a few tweaks. I was really happy in how it turned out. Very moist, and not too sweet. We ate it over a week and the moisture endured.

CARROT CAKE

18 Servings

Cake

4 eggs

3/4 cup of canola oil

1/2 cup of apple sauce

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 cups of grated carrots

1 8oz can of crushed pineapple (remove excess juice)

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Frosting

1/2 cup softened butter

8 oz softened cream cheese

2 cups confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl beat together eggs, oil, apple sauce, sugar and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Stir in carrots and pineapple. Fold in pecans and pour into prepared pan.

3. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes.

4. To make frosting, in a medium bowl combine butter, cream cheese, confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

May Free for All - Blondies

2010-05-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

I made some blondies this month and a few cakes, but decided to post about the blondies. You can read the whole post on the Lovely Lady Baker blog.

Dilly Casserole Bread

2010-05-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

I know that I keep saying this, but "better late than never"..........
and so as we are halfway through May, I have finally got to make one of the March recipes - Dilly Casserole Bread.

I admit that I didn't know what to expect, having never heard the term 'casserole bread' before. Only know, do I understand that it is designed to not require kneading - which in my mind defeats one of the purposes of making bread: I love to knead!

And so I made it.

I confess that I wasn't that impressed - the taste was OK but not remarkable, the texture a bit too cakey (it was almost like savoury panettone!). I'm not sure that I will be making it again!

Plus, it got very brown very quickly - normally my oven is a bit slow, but not with this recipe!

My partner wasn't that impressed either! Maybe I will get a chance to try to Maple Oat bread recipe - I think that I'll enjoy that one more!

you NEED to make these cupcakes

2010-05-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. Did that get your attention? They are 100% deeeeelish. Check out the recipe and stories on my blog!

The Strawberry Clafoutis

2010-05-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

So, I'm obviously very late in posting, but I figured better late than never- especially since I posted the recipes. I had tried these tasty treats while living in France, but never attempted to make my own, so it seemed like a worthwhile goal. I have a French dessert cookbook that I had bought while over there but had also never tried, so I enlisted Christina's help and between the two of us we got the Clafoutis recipe translated. There were several lessons learned- the almonds weren't ground fine enough (no food processor) and some of the batter oozed out of the bottom of the tart pan I used (it was closest in size to what I needed...), but it still turned out pretty well. Another try and it might taste pretty close to what I remember.

May Recipe: Anything You Desire!

2010-05-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

For the month of May, bake and share the recipe of anything you wish. Dig out that stash of recipes you tear from magazines every month and finally make something from it, or bake your favorite snack, cookie, pastry, or savory snack. There is no limit to what you can do this month. (we'll resume next month with a member choosing the recipe).

Make sure you share the recipe and provide adequate credit by listing the cookbook, or website you found the recipe on. It is also good practice to provide a link to buy the cookbook online. If you need any help with this let me know!

Have fun, and remember to post during the last week of the month.
The Lovely Lady Baker

I made the clafoutis!

2010-05-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

And the lemon bars and the croissants and I'm just now catching up to posting.

Head on over to my blog to read about my attempt at April's dessert.

Almost too late: Strawberry Clafoutis in very early May!

2010-05-02T04:55:00.000-07:00

I thought that I wasn't going to get a chance to do any baking this month, but at last I got to make the Clafoutis as posted by Rebecca for April, even if it is very early May!

I was keen to try this recipe, as I have a very successful clafoutis recipe that I have used in the past, and I wanted to compare them. Anyway, more about how and why it happened today:

It was a glorious autumn day today in Sydney, still warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt as we went to North Bondi for a walk along the cliffs and beach. And because it was such a glorious day, I decided that we had to have an extra special dinner. And as it happened, I had almost everything needed for the clafoutis at home, except the blanched almonds which are ground up anyway, so I just used some almond meal,,,,,,,,

Anyway, I made half the mix, as there are only 2 of us in the house, and if I had made it all, we were likely to eat it all in one sitting! And I used some small overware dishes, to make 3 individual dishes.

As it isn't strawberry season in Australia, the ones I bought were not fantastic and I had to toss a few out, so I supplemented the strawbs in the oval dish with a few mixed frozen berries.

The clafoutis looked amazing when it first came out of the oven, all puffed up!

I confess I was a bit disappointed by what they looked like after they had been sitting on the bench for about 30 minutes, cooling. They were somewhat deflated and so was I!

But I persisted, and sprinkled them with icing sugar, and served them up. (They still did look good, as the custard has slightly shrunk away from the strawberries, leaving a wonderful textured surface.)

And, what was it like?

The flavour was lovely - I think that strawberries are better for this than the cherries I normally use.

The texture was great - using ground almonds in the custard gives it a firmer, less rubbery texture, plus a nice nutty taste too.

And what did we think overall:

The Clafouti recipe was a huge success. I'll definitely make this one again. And my partner won't complain - he loved it too!

The Lovely Lady Baker - French Desserts

2010-05-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

I ended up making both desserts! Check out my post at The Lovely Lady Baker. Thanks Rebecca for choosing some great desserts for the month. Can't wait to see everyone's tarts/clafoutis.

Tart...not Tart

2010-04-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

I decided to try Dorie Greenspan’s Traditional Fruit Tart for April’s baking adventure. I’ve wanted to make a fruit tart similar to this for some time, so this month’s recipe was the perfect opportunity. I had a busy work week, so I made the tart over two days and that was the perfect solution. I thought I followed the recipe pretty closely, but inexperience resulted in a tart that was delicious but a custard that was not firm enough. My custard was runny. I should have let it thicken. I suspect that I either didn’t cook it over a high enough heat or I should have cooked it for a longer time. I’ll watch out for this when I make this again! The crust was similar to a pate sucre – which is a nice match for the tart. I'll experiment with the recipe for the crust next time I try this.

This is a great recipe for the busy person. I found it very manageable to make the crust and the custard one day and assemble the tart the following day. Hence - perfect for entertaining! I was a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to make the tart look “pretty”. I would like to work on this some more, but berries in of themselves are beautiful – so no need to stress there. It’ll look great. So I will try this again, at my next dinner party? And by the way, the family enjoyed it. They were delighted with the look of the tart...it impressed the Philistines at my house. The only negative comment was, “The tart isn’t very tart…”

Traditional French Clafoutis

2010-04-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

Decided to post my original inspiration for the Clafoutis. I pulled it from a French cookbook I bought while living over there, but was a little concerned about my translation skills as they apply to technical baking terms. I think I got it figured out though, and thought I would share in case anyone else wants to try something a little more interesting.

Clafoutis with pears, raspberries, and almonds
from Saveurs Minute Desserts

6-3/4 oz of dry white wine
2-3 lengths of zest from a lemon
The juice of one lemon
2 T. honey
4 cloves
4 large ripe pears, pealed, cut in quarters and seeded
7 T of softened butter
6T of powdered sugar
Grated zest from ½ an orange
3 eggs lightly beaten
3/4 cup almonds chopped into a fine powder
2 T vanilla extract
1 cup of fresh raspberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. In a bowl, mix the white wine, lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, and cloves. Bring to a boil then simmer for 5 minutes and slowly reduce the liquid. Add the pears, cover and continue cooking for 5 minutes.
2. Remove the pears and transfer to a plate to cool. Filter the zest and cloves from the liquid and set aside.
3. Whip the butter, powdered sugar, and orange zest together with a mixer or by hand. When it starts to mousse, slowly add the eggs, almonds, and vanilla. Keep whipping until everything is well mixed.
4. Lay the pears in a ceramic tart pan 9.8 inches in diameter. Add half the raspberries to the eggs and pour into the pan. Spread evenly with a spoon. Bake in the oven 25-30 min.
5. Take the reserved liquid and bring to a boil. Let boil for 5 min, reduce to 3 T. Sprinkle on top of the clafoutis then increase the oven temperature to 450˚F and bake 5 more minutes. Let cool, add the remaining raspberries on top and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar just before serving.

April Desserts

2010-04-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going to pass on both of this month's recipes until later in the summer when berries are in season.

Last summer I made a raspberry tart with some gorgeous beries we picked at my husband's father's house.

I also made an amazing clafoutis with tart cherries; if you come across some I can not reccomend the substitution highly enough. Wonderful!

April Recipes: Classic French Desserts

2010-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Rebecca chose this month's recipes, A Traditional Tart, and Strawberry Clafoutis. These recipes sound great - you can make either one or both if you can't choose. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out! Don't forget to post preferably by April 30th!

Printer friendly version.

The traditional fruit tart:

From Baking From my Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan

For the Tart Dough:

Ingredients:

1 ½ c. all purpose flour

½ c. confectioners' sugar

¼ tsp. salt

9 Tb. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

2 c. whole milk

6 large egg yolks

½ c. sugar

⅓ c. cornstarch

1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract

3 ½ Tb unsalted butter, but into pieces and at room temp.

2 Pints Fresh berries (such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, or an assortment of each)

To make the Tart Dough:

Put all dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the pieces of unsalted butter over the top of the dry ingredients, and pulse until the butter is cut in and the mixture looks like coarse meal. Break up the yolk a bit before you add it to the food processor, and then add it and process in long pulses until the dough comes together, you will hear the noise of the motor change.

Buttter a 9 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. You want to keep it crumbly here, it doesn't have to be perfect. Freeze crust for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375˚ F. Butter a piece of aluminum foil and fit it (buttered side down) over the crust. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet, bake the crust for 25 minutes, then remove the foil. Continue baking until the crust turns golden brown (don't let it burn!) about 8 – 11 more minutes.

Let cool. You can do this and store it up to 5 days before you need to serve it.

To make the Pastry Cream:

Boil the milk and the vanilla (if using beans, scrape the seeds into the milk and include the pods) in a small saucepan. As this is heating, in a medium saucepan whisk the yolks with the sugar and cornstarch, until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about ¾ cup of the hot milk in order to warm the yolks. Continue whisking as you slowly add the rest of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and whisk constantly, bringing it to a boil. Keep mixture at a boil, continuing to whisk, for about 1–2 minutes, and remove from heat.

Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the butter until they are fully incorporated. The pastry cream will be smooth and silky, not clumpy. Scrape cream into a bowl and let it cool off. You can place a piece of plastic wrap right on the surface of the cream so you don't get a skin. Refrigerate until it is cold and ready to use. You can keep it for up to 3 days.

Assembly:

When you are ready to serve your tart, pour the cooled pastry cream (give it a pass or two with a whisk to incorporate it again) into the tart shell. Add fruits of your choice over the top. If you want a glaze, use about ⅓ cup of jelly of your choice and one teaspoon of water, boil it, let it cool, and using a pastry brush "paint" your fruit.

or...

Strawberry Clafoutis

posted on the NPR Kitchen Window

Serves 6.

1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) unsalted butter

1 1/2 pint (3 cups or 20 ounces) fresh strawberries

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup whole blanched almonds

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

A pinch of salt

3 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon light rum (optional)

Confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8-inch-square glass or ceramic baking dish (or 6 1-cup ramekins for a more elegant presentation) with one tablespoon of the butter. Melt the remaining butter in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat (or in a small bowl set in the microwave for a few seconds) and set aside.

Rinse the strawberries under cool water -- do not soak or they will loose some of their flavor. Drain in a colander for a few minutes, and gently pat dry with a clean dishtowel.

In a food processor or blender, mix together the flour and almonds until finely ground. Add the sugar, cornstarch and salt, and mix again. Crack in the eggs one by one, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Pour in the melted butter, milk and rum if using, and mix again until well blended. The mixture will be thin, like crepe batter.

Hull the strawberries, cut in halves or quarters depending on their size, and arrange in a single layer in the prepared dish or ramekins. Drizzle the batter over the strawberries, and put the dish in the oven to bake for 40 minutes (30 minutes if you use ramekins), until puffy and set. Transfer dish to a rack, and let cool to room temperature. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar, and serve directly from the baking dish or ramekins. Clafoutis is traditionally served on its own, but if you like you can add a few fresh strawberries on the side, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a little whipped cream.

The Lovely Lady Baker - Maple Oat Bread

2010-03-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bread Bread Bread! I love making and eating bread. Hope you all had a chance to try at least one of the recipes. I made the Maple Oat Bread and will probably try the Dill bread at some point soon. Thanks Dana for choosing this month's recipe. Check out the rest of my post on the Lovely Lady Baker.

Lemon Rolls

2010-03-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

I make yeast breads often, once I got over my initial trepidation about yeast- will it rise? what if it doesn't?- I discovered how versatile and easy to work with it is. In fact, I normally let my mixer do all the work.

I decided to go in another direction this month, I had a lot of beautiful lemons, and when I saw this recipe for lemon sticky buns on The Kitchn I decided to go for it.

Delicious, of course.

March Madness

2010-03-23T20:17:00.001-07:00

I love making yeast bread and usually make some for my family about twice a month. My family always looks forward to homemade bread and we all love the aroma that fills our home. The smell of homemade bread baking in the oven makes grumpiness go away and makes our home feel solid.
I chose to make the Maple Oatmeal Bread. It was a little plain, not as flavorful as my old standby, which my family calls Redeemer Communion Bread. The Maple Oatmeal Bread had good texture and was easy enough to make – it just wasn’t memorable.