Pumpkin Pie Ebelskivers

 Out with the peaches and in with the pumpkin, autumn's on the way! Today I experimented with the first of what will probably be a long line of pumpkin recipes and I'm thinking these ebelskivers were a great start to the next few months of fall baking.

According to the website instructions, this recipe shouldn't be attempted by amateurs. So, does it count that I've made ebelskivers one other time in my life? Does that make me an expert? Maybe so because I managed to make these puppies and have them turn over and out! (The turning over part is particularly important with ebleskivers.)

The difficult thing about this particular recipe is that the batter is wetter than most ebelskivers. I understood that when pumpkin guts began spilling out as I turned the first batch. And speaking of turning the pancake balls, here's what works for me, contrary to popular directions that say use blunt wooden skewers. I find that a long tea spoon is the easiest implement to use. I take mine, swiftly slip it under the ebelskiver ball and flip. With a less wet dough the process makes perfect pancake balls but some of my pumpkin variety did lose a bit of the wet top as they flipped.  Fortunately, even the ebelskivers that lost part of their dough turned out great once they cooked on both sides.

When I tasted the first of my ebelskivers, I got worried, as they were soft inside. Had I not cooked them long enough? Luckily, I went back to the internet write-up and found my answer when the baking blogger wrote that the ebelskivers would turn out more the consistency of a tiny pumpkin pie than pumpkin bread. And that's exactly what I thought of when I sampled my ebelskiver pancakes - a miniaturized form of my very favorite pie.


Pumpkin Pie Ebelskivers
http://www.teeniecakes.com/pumpkin-pie-ebelskivers/

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, separated
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk, room temperature
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

Confectioners sugar for sprinkling
cream cheese icing (optional)

In a large bowl, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, flour, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks with a whisk or fork. Add the condensed milk and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir until well blended. Expect that the batter will be slightly lumpy.

In a clean bowl, beat egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter, alternating with the pumpkin puree in 2 additions, just until well blended and there are no white streaks

Brush the wells of an ebelskiver pan with the remaining butter and place over:
medium-low heat for electric stove tops or low heat for gas stoves. You will need to test this and cooking time will vary as to your heat source intensity.

Cook until the bottoms of the ebelskivers/pancakes are lightly browned and crisp, about ten minutes (set your kitchen timer!). Use two wooden skewers (blunt side) to turn the ebelskivers and cook until lightly browned on the other side.

Cream Cheese Icing

3 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift confectioner’s sugar into a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter. Add cream cheese and beat until combined. Add confectioner’s sugar and vanilla, scrapping sides with a rubber spatula, until smooth.

Banana Crepe Cake with Toffee Icing

yea, yea, yea - it's not quite ready for a photo op

It's official - let the word go out. I am never going to be able to make the perfect crepes I always see in my mind's eye. Lord knows I had high hopes today when I started this new bucket baking list recipe. Noticing that my Saturday crepe guy has a way better turner than mine, I found a metal version like his online and promptly ordered one. Surely my batter would now ooze out into perfect circles just like the ones I watch being made each weekend. Except it didn't. Even with the fancy-schmanzy new turner, the batter stuck, tore, and, in the end, wound up just as misshapen and irregular as the last time I made crepes. And the time before...

The whole time I was turning out one goofy looking crepe after another, I had this running dialog going on in my head. Clearly, I wasn't going to be able to come up with a symmetrically perfect cake but maybe I could pass my efforts off as intentional. Who needs a cake just like the one in the book? I wanted my cake rustic! Yea, that's the story. Rustic is charming and that's what I was going for with each unmatched crepe piled on top of the last one. 

Here's the thing about my way less than perfect crepe cake - it tasted unbelievably good. I absolutely loved the taste of the crepes, with those hints of nutmeg, cinnamon, and banana coming out in each bite. The yogurt creme filling had just the right amount of tang to complement the sweetness of the crepe. Best of all was that toffee icing. I considered not adding the walnuts because I wasn't sure I'd like the toasted taste but I have a feeling the icing wouldn't have been nearly as good without those nuts. 

Here's a slight change I'd try if I were to make this cake again: I'd use the filling a little more sparingly between layers. Even though it tasted yummy my liberal spreading contributed to the messy look of the finished cake. And how's this for a radical idea? Maybe I would also even out my crepes by cutting them to uniform circles! It could be done. So, let's picture it - a smaller cake with perfect round layers, less filling in the middle so it didn't ooze over the sides and, lastly, one more change. MORE of that toffee topping. As Deb states, you need to use your fingers to spread the thick topping to the edges of the cake and you have to do it quickly before the toffee gets too hard. If there's going to be a crepe cake with something oozing out the sides, I'd just as soon have the excess be that rich, creamy icing. 

Banana Crepe Cake with Toffee Icing

from smittenkitchen.com

Banana crepes

4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus extra for greasing pan

1 large (will weigh 6 ounces/170 grams be about 6 inches long when unpeeled) speckly ripe banana (should yield a scant 1/2 cup peeled, pureed)

1 cup (235 ml) milk

3/4 cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

2 tablespoons (25 grams) light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of ground cloves

Cream cheese yogurt filling

8 ounces (225 grams) cream cheese, well-softened

1 1/2 cups (345 grams) plain Greek-style yogurt

1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Walnut butterscotch topping

1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup (50 grams) packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon (15 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (about 50 grams) chopped walnuts, toasted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt, or to taste

Make the crepe batter: Blend banana in a food processor until totally smooth. Add melted butter, blend again. Add remaining ingredients and blend until they are combined. Transfer batter, which will look pretty thin, to a bowl (even easier later if it has a spout), cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour, preferably overnight, and up to two days. When you remove the batter, it will seem surprisingly thick. Stir it to redistribute the ingredients before using it.

Cook the crepes: Heat a medium skillet or crepe pan over medium-high heat. Once heated, brush pan thinly with melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup batter into skillet, swirling it until it evenly coats the bottom and cook, undisturbed, until the bottom is golden and the top is set, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the crepe and cook it for 30 seconds on the other side, before transferring it to a plate to cool. Repeat with remaining batter. You can stack your crepes and they should not stick together. Let crepes cool completely.

Make filling: Whip cream cheese until fluffy, then beat in yogurt, 1/2 cup at a time. When fully combined, add sugar and vanilla then beat until rich and fluffy, just another minute.

Assemble crepe cake: Lay first crepe on a cake plate or serving platter. Spread with 1/4 cup of the yogurt-cream cheese filling. Repeat with all but the last remaining crepe, which should be stacked but have no filling on top, as it is the lid.

Make walnut butterscotch sauce: Combine the cream, brown sugar and butter in the bottom of a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally in the beginning and more frequently as it reduces and thickens. You’ll know it’s done when it becomes thick and smells toasty. Stir in the vanilla and salt, then walnuts. Immediately pour over stack of filled crepes, nudging the butterscotch to the edges with your spoon — if it goes over the edge, so be it.

Serve immediately, or keep in fridge until ready to serve. Crepe cake keeps for up to 3 days, possibly longer, but good luck with that.

There's something very arresting about the inside of a whole nutmeg

Soft Ginger Cookies

A few years ago, my church hosted a cookie exchange with different category prizes for treats the women brought to share. We did ask that any submission for the contest be home baked so when a particular ginger cookie won by being pretty much the best tasting giant soft cookie EVER, we had no choice but to accept the statement that it wasn't from a bakery. A bakery we needed to immediately locate and start frequenting. Which is not to say we didn't harbor some pretty deep suspicions regarding the veracity of that humble home baked claim, especially after Candice and I both went to our respective homes and promptly tried our winner's recipe the very next day, achieving vastly different results. Neither of us are novices to cookie baking but our batches turned out not at all soft and not at all of the texture or taste that we'd experienced the night before. (By the way, while it sounds like Candice and I deliberately set out to disprove the ginger cookie baker's claims of homemade, we were actually just wanting to replicate that fabulous taste at home. Candice because Elisha loves ginger cookies and me because they're my favorite. Neither of us was aware of the other one baking up a batch of the cookies until days later.)

Yea, so we have our suspicions about those Cookie Exchange Ginger Cookies. Either the recipe was deliberately sabotaged to make sure no one could duplicate the perfection of what we'd tasted, or they were professionally prepared.  Sometimes I'll be at bakeries and delis in the area and purposefully order a ginger cookie, just to see if it matches what showed up for our good-natured competition. That's how much the yummy memory of that cookie has stayed in my mind.

Recently I came across a recipe purporting to hold the secret for soft and chewy ginger cookies. How could I turn down the chance to see if I could come up with anything even close to what our church "baker" brought?  I had every ingredient needed so why not give it a go?

My batter, when completed, was so wet I could barely get it to shape into the walnut size balls. Maybe I should have tried a little harder but I decided to add a pinch more flour instead and that seemed to do the trick. I still had some sticky gooeyness to contend with but at least the now slightly firmer dough would hold to a ball shape.

I gotta say these cookies turned out pretty amazing. Lots of strong ginger taste and, just as promised, a soft and chewy texture. The Cookie Exchange cookies were huge, perhaps double the size of my walnut balls, but, other than that, I'm going to claim a bullseye on the deliciously soft cookie of my memories.

Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies
from Six Sisters Stuff

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
1/4 c molasses
2 Tbsp sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together margarine and 1 cup white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Then add flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Blend together well.  Shape dough into walnut-sized balls, roll in sugar. Place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly.

Bake 8-10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Growing up, my brothers and I ate a lot of Campbells soups for lunch, probably because that can of chicken noodle or tomato soup, paired with a half sandwich, offered a quick and easy way to fill five hungry tummies.

You know what I wonder, as I think back to all those grill cheese sandwich and soup lunches? How many cans of soup was my mom using to feed all five of her brood? Because, let's face it, a can of Campbells turns out hardly more than one serving of food. Maybe as children we had much smaller appetites, and maybe my mom put more than a can of water in the pot but, even so, it's amazing how little soup comes out of one of those cans. 

If I can still like Campbells chicken noodle soup even as an adult, imagine how much I love Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen version! I admit the process of making this soup is a little more complicated than opening a can and adding some water but, oh my!, what a lovely result. 

This soup made a very satisfying dinner, paired with a green salad and...what else? A grilled cheese sandwich.  Best of all,  there's plenty left for another day. 

Chicken Noodle Soup

from smittenkitchen.com

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 

1 large onion, chopped

3-pound chicken, in parts or 3 pounds chicken pieces of your choice

8 cups water

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons table salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large carrot, diced (1/3-inch)

1 medium parsnip, diced (1/3-inch) (optional) (A parsnip in Martin's soup? I think not!)

1 large celery stalk, diced (1/3-inch)

3 ounces dried egg noodles, I prefer wide ones

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

Prepare broth: In a large (5-quart) heavy pot over medium-high heat, heat the vegetable oil. Add the onion and saute it for 3 to 4 minutes, until beginning to take on color at edges. Add the chicken pieces (if too crowded, can do this in two batches), making little wells in the onions so that the parts can touch the bottom of the pan directly. Cook chicken parts until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Add water, bay leaf, table salt and some freshly ground black pepper and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and skim any (sorry for lack of better term) scum that appears at the surface of the pot. Simmer pot gently, partially covered, for 20 minutes.

Transfer chicken parts to a plate to cool a bit before handling. Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl (ideally, with a spout) and pour soup through it.

If your pot looks grimy and you’re fanatical about having a clear soup, you can give it a quick wash before returning the broth to the pot. You can remove a bit of fat at this point, if it looks necessary. Bring the broth back to a simmer.

You may be tempted at this point to taste it and add more salt. I know this because I do it every single time, adding another teaspoon, and every. single. time. I regret this as it is too salty in the end. So, proceed with any re-seasoning with caution.

To finish and serve: Add diced vegetables and simmer them until they’re firm-tender, about 5 minutes. Add dried noodles and cook them according to package directions, usually 6 to 9 minutes. While these simmer, remove the skin and chop the flesh from a couple pieces of chicken, only what you’re going to use. You won’t need all of it in the soup. I usually use the breasts first because they’re my least favorite and benefit the most from the extra moisture of the soup. The remaining parts can be slipped into an airtight bag in the fridge (I recommend leaving the skin on for retained moisture until needed) and used for chicken salad or the like over the next few days.

Once noodles have cooked, add chicken pieces just until they have rewarmed through (30 seconds) and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with dill or parsley, dig in and let it fix everything that went wrong with your day.

Do ahead: If planning ahead, the point where you strain your chicken broth is a great place to pause. Refrigerate the chicken broth until the next day. Before heating it and finishing the recipe, you can easily remove any solidified fat from the surface for a virtually fat-free soup. Then, you can cook the vegetables and noodles to order, adding the chicken only so that it can rewarm (and not overcook!). If making the broth more than a day in advance, you might as well freeze it. I recommend freezer bags with as much air as possible pressed out. Freezing the bags flat will make it easier to stack and store with other frozen soups, and the bag will only require a short soak in warm water to defrost.

Chicken Fried Steak with Milk Gravy

No, you're not going to be getting  a picture of this dish because, even though it was a very good meal, my pictures of meat always look less than appetizing. There are plenty of food bloggers who take gorgeous shots of roasts, pork chops, and all manner of other meaty main courses, but I'm not one of them. At least I've finally recognized my lackings and won't even try putting up a picture. Based on internet searches, lots of folks are still posting pretty awful pictures of chicken fried steak, for one. I mean, really, how much can you dress up and glamorize a slab of meat with what looks like snot on top of it?

My friend Candice makes fabulous chicken fried steak. I've not eaten her recipe in years but what I do remember is the spiciness of her meat, as opposed to the more bland, floury tasting versions I've cooked up in the past. This isn't Candice's version but it did turn out well.

Originally, I'd planned to make a gravy that came with the steak recipe but, right in the middle of cooking the meat, it hit me how unlikely Martin was to eat that particular version of the gravy. Yea, it sounded great, with all kinds of added goodies like bacon bits and chives but who was I kidding? Martin barely eats the gravy, period, much less one with all kinds of weird extra ingredients floating around. Even with everything prepped for the first version, I quickly looked up a simpler recipe, winding up with Paula Deen's version. If anyone should know how to make gravy, it would be Paula.

Only other note - I made a mess out of making my steak and gravy. That's the picture I should've taken.


Chicken Fried Steak
from Southerncooking.Com
Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs boneless round steak, tenderized if possible
1/2 lb thick slab bacon, preferably peppered
1 cup milk
1 egg
salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
season salt (like season-all) (optional)
vegetable oil, for frying (shortening is best but liquid veg oil is fine too)

Grab two dishes large enough to accommodate the steak. Combine the milk and egg in one and the flour and season salt in the other.
Trim fat from steak and cut it into 4 pieces.
Sprinkle garlic powder, onion powder and a little salt and pepper over the steaks. Rub the seasonings into the meat and allow it to rest for a few minutes. Now pound the meat using a meat tenderizer if possible or anything heavy if not. Pound until meat is thin, about 1/4 inch, yes even if it already tenderized. You want this to melt in your mouth.

Heat enough shortening or oil in a large skillet- preferably cast iron- until the oil reaches 350 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer drop a little bit of flour in, the oil should sizzle nicely just like for fried chicken.

Meanwhile, turn the steak in the flour one at a time and shake to remove any extra flour. Dunk the meat into the egg wash and let the extra drip off. Put the meat back in the flour and turn it well to coat the whole piece really well.
Place the meat on a cooling rack and repeat til each piece is coated.

When the oil reaches 350 degrees add the steak but do not overcrowd the pan. You may need to do this in two batches.
Cook until golden brown and then turn to brown other side, again just like frying chicken. Remove to a cooling rack with a plate underneath to catch the oil and keep warm in the oven until all the meat is done.

Paula Deen's Milk Gravy
Ingredients:

1 -2 tablespoon vegetable oil or 1 -2 tablespoon vegetable shortening (use the excess oil from frying the steaks)
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
This recipe will have more flavor if you use 1-2 tablespoons of oil from the oil you fried chicken fried steak in, or maybe even bacon grease. If you don't have that, no need to worry, you can use vegetable oil or vegetable shortening.

Heat 1-2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Whisk in flour, whisking constantly for about 1 minute.
Slowly add milk, whisking constantly.
Stir in pepper and salt and continue cooking.
Whisk constantly for about 10 minutes, or until thickened.

Chocolate Chip Brioche Rolls

I can't think of when I've had such a challenging time making a recipe, as I did with this one yesterday. Whoa...don't run away, picturing a complicated dish that will be impossible to make! The difficulties I encountered yesterday are completely separate from how easy and downright fun it is to make these pretzel shaped rolls.

OK, here's what happened. Deb calls for 10 minutes of mixing the dough but this shouldn't be a problem since the Kitchen Aid is going to do all the work. Only small hang-up was that my mixer kept dancing all over the counter top, making weird noises, and trying to sling the dough out of the bowl and onto the walls and floor of the kitchen. Ten minutes of this, I wondered? Where were Deb's detailed notes saying that we might want to clear the house of any other people before letting loose with such a clacking racket? How about the warnings to be ready to dodge flying dough missiles?

I finally figured out I'd forgotten to lock the tilting head in place and, once that lever was switched to proper position, everything got quieter and less projectile. Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief, it came time to take the bowl off the stand assembly of the mixer. Only the bowl wouldn't budge, no matter how much heft and weight I applied. You've never seen such wrangling in your life, as I struggled mightily to get that bowl disengaged from it's base. This is a mixer I've owned for many, many years without ever encountering this problem before, but stuck is stuck and my bowl was stuck. I pushed and pulled. I put the mixer on the floor and tried using brute force. A bruise came up immediately on my right palm next to my thumb, but still that bowl remained firmly lodged. 

Things got desperate so I went to the internet to find fixes. It was kind of freaky to watch a video from a woman with the same problem and learn that her stuck bowl had occurred the very first time she used her brand new Kitchen Aid! Even worse, from the way she talked, the problem tended to be reoccurring. She outlined four possible fixes for the stuck bowl. The first one I'd already tried - a hot towel wrapped around the base of the bowl. I did it again. Then oil at the base. No luck. Now onto a variation of what I'd done before with putting the machine on the floor. (About this time, I was more inclined to pitch it through the kitchen window but with my now injured hand, didn't have the strength to heave that mighty behemoth out of my sight.) Once the mixer was on the floor, Fix-It Lady demonstrated a straddling position to gain power and leverage before yanking the bowl apart. No luck. I can't remember the fourth strategy but I know that I had to walk away from the problem for awhile. So, I went in the family room, watched an episode of Once, and then came back to repeat the hot compress and oil treatments. This time something worked and the bowl finally dislodged. Let's hope I don't have to repeat that process anytime soon!

Other than a recalcitrant mixer, I loved making this recipe. Here are a few notes about the process:

This recipe is from Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen cookbook but I'd copied the entire recipe into my Paprika app so I could make an easy shopping list. The first instruction says to dissolve the yeast in 1/3 cup of milk but I somehow managed to write that up as 1/3 TEASPOON of milk. First off, how do you measure a third teaspoon????? That should've been my first clue something was amiss but, silly me, I heaped up slightly less than 1/2 and then added the yeast. Ummmm...let's think about the physics of this - dissolving a teaspoon of yeast in 1/3 teaspoon of liquid - not going to happen. Realizing my error, I went back to the book and figured out the correct amounts. 

Still on the yeast, milk step, I wondered about putting the yeast in cold milk. Usually, Deb is detailed and meticulous in outlining every step but why no mention of heating the milk? Does instant yeast not require a warm agent to mix with? I decided to email my daughter the Berkeley scientist and ask if she thought I should warm the milk first. She's actually made these rolls in the past so I figured she'd be the expert. I completely forgot that her new lab deals with yeast cultures, giving way to this witty reply: "I've never considered you a Clueless Cook (that's how I'd signed my email to her) but I'm having to reconsider now that you're reaching out to scientists in one of the world's leading yeast laboratories at a major research institution just to make some bread. Overkill, much? Dial it down a bit, Mom!" 

With help from a scientist at one of the world's leading yeast laboratories at a major research institution, I decided to warm the milk first and my yeast rose and all was good. 

By far, the most fun part of making this bread is rolling out those dough snakes. Deb mentions that she finds it easier not to flour the counter for this step and I found that to be true. I rolled mine out using a large mat I have for making pie dough. The bonus was having a marked ruler along the edges, allowing me to see when I'd reached the 18 inches needed for each strand. I can't tell you how much rolling those snakes out felt like using Play-Dough with my kids when they were small. It seemed both therapeutic and nostalgic to start with a big blob of dough and energetically transform it to long and lean coils, ready to be shaped into pretzels. Which, by the way, turned out to be another ridiculously fun continuation of the throwback to Play-Dough days. It's embarrassing to think about how pleased I was with my ability to take a long strand of dough and expertly mold it to pretzel perfection. Ah, the small pleasures in life!

I ate one of these chocolatey rolls straight out of the oven and still so hot I had to handle it gingerly - and after the last yummy bite was gone, I sat and just took in the lingering smell of baked goodness.


Chocolate Chip Brioche Pretzels
from Deb Perelman's Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
yield: eight 4-inch pretzels

for the dough:
1/3 cup (80 ml) whole milk
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
8 tablespoons (115 grams or 1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (6 ounces or 170 grams) well- chopped chocolate (for the best chocolate flavor) or miniature chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest (optional, but lovely if you're into that
chocolate-orange thing)

for the glaze:
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon water
Coarse or pearl sugar, for finishing

Make brioche: Whisk the milk and yeast together in a small dish until the yeast has dissolved. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, stir together fl our, sugar, and salt. Add the eggs and the yeast mixture, and mix at a low speed until the dough comes together in a shaggy pile. Raise the speed to medium, and beat for 10 minutes; the long mixing time creates the soft, stretchy strands brioche is known for. Add the butter, a third at a time, mixing the dough between additions. Now switch to the dough hook, and knead at low speed until a silky- smooth dough forms, another 5 minutes. Add the chocolate and zest, if using, and run the machine until it is mixed into the dough.

Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm spot for 2 hours, until almost doubled. Alternatively, you can rest the dough in the fridge overnight (or up to 24 hours), bring back to room temperature, and let the rise complete before continuing to the next step.

Meanwhile, line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Form pretzels: Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into eight pieces, about 3 1/4 ounces (93 grams) each. Working with one piece at a time, roll each piece into an 18-inch-long rope about 1/2 inch thick. Curiously, I find these ropes easier to roll and stretch on an unfloured or very lightly oiled surface, but if you find yours sticking too much, lightly fl our your counter before continuing.

To form the pretzel, draw the ends of a rope together to form a circle. About 2 inches from both ends, twist the rope ends together to close the circle-- a full twist, so that the rope end that started on the right side finishes there. Fold the twist down into the circle, adhering the loose ends of the rope at five and seven o'clock on the base. Repeat to make eight pretzel twists. Transfer them to prepared baking sheets, brush them with glaze, and let them rest for about 15 minutes, during which they'll puff slightly again.

To finish: Brush pretzels with glaze one more time, sprinkle with pearl or coarse sugar, then bake for 12 minutes, or until puffed and lightly bronzed. Cool slightly on a rack before serving, if you can bear it.

Cooking note: Unfortunately, I find this to be the rare bread dough that's radically easier to make with a stand mixer. Nevertheless, should you feel up for the challenge, you can vigorously "knead" the dough in a large bowl with a wooden spoon for a good 10 minutes before adding the butter. Yes, this takes longer than your average bread dough, but that long kneading time is what yields the long, stretchy strands essential to great brioche.

                                                              (Ready to be baked)

Fall off the Bone Crockpot BBQ Ribs

It's unseasonably warm here in San Diego right now. Along with the miserable heat we also have uncharacteristic humidity and a decided lack of the wind flow that normally keeps cooling breezes blowing. In short, not ideal cooking weather.

I've mentioned before that I think crockpot meals often wind up tasting like a soupy mess. Even so, I'm always game to find recipes that cook all day without heating up the  house. This ribs recipe is actually a work in progress, as plans changed yesterday, such that we ended up not eating at home for dinner. Score! I now have tonight's meal completely cooked and just waiting to be quickly heated in the oven.

As I was grilling the ribs with the sauce last night, I decided to do a tiny bit of experimenting. (The only kind of experimenting old cautious, non-creative me will ever engage in!) One portion sized rack of the ribs I left ungrilled. Tonight when I reheat the ribs, I'll douse that one in some of the left-over sauce, cover it well with foil, and bake it until I get the sticky glaze effect. I do also have extra glaze for the other ribs, as they get heated up in the oven.

One thing I already know - while taking the ribs off the grill last night, I did some taste testing and found the meat to be just as tender, tangy, and tasty as promised. Tonight's going to be some good eatin'!


Fall Off The Bone BBQ Ribs
from Six Sisters Stuff


Ingredients:
1 (2-3 lb) rack of ribs (I use pork loin ribs)

3 1/2 cups pineapple juice (reserving 1/4 cup for later)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 (16 oz) bottle BBQ sauce (Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy sauce was recommended so that's what I bought) 

Directions:
Spray the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray (or use a slow cooker liner to make clean up a breeze!).

Take your slab of ribs (make sure that they are defrosted) and cut into individual slabs (about 2-3 ribs each). Throw the ribs into the slow cooker.
Mix the pineapple juice and brown sugar together and pour over the ribs. Put the lid back on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 7-8 hours or LOW for 10-12 hours.

After they are done in the slow cooker, use tongs to gently pull them out (they will literally fall apart when you touch them). Turn the grill on medium heat. While the grill is warming up, mix together the bottle of BBQ sauce and the 1/4 cup of pineapple juice you saved from earlier.
Place the ribs gently on the grill and and brush with BBQ sauce. Turn the ribs twice, slathering with more sauce each time (you can't have enough sauce!); they will take about 10-15 minutes to glaze over (as soon as that sauce starts to turn sticky, you know they are done!).

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Blueberry Crumb Cake

One of the odder standard meals I've been known to make is macaroni and cheese paired with blueberry muffins and a salad. There have been prior entries on this blog about Martin's legendary love of macaroni and cheese, coupled with my search for a more perfect recipe. No matter how many new versions I try, it seems as though hubby most prefers the one I've been making for years, coupled with the muffins. Cindy used to laugh at the choice of blueberry muffins paired with my macaroni but, with Martin, meals are sometimes not about what is balanced nutritionally but simply what he likes.

I've wanted to make this cake for awhile and, tonight, considered pairing it with...you guessed it...my macaroni. In the end, I made a turkey breast and didn't whip up the crumb cake until after we'd eaten and were on to watching Amazing Race Season Three.

Sometimes I'm not crazy about Smitten Kitchen cakes but this one is straightforward in the preparation and lovely to eat. As Deb mentions, the batter is very stiff such that I worried the resulting cake might turn out to have a texture I wouldn't like. Nope. This cake is perfect, with that sweet crumble topping, the tang of the blueberries, and a batter I couldn't get enough of, from licking the beater all the way to wolfing down pieces of cake.

As I was preparing the crumb topping, it seemed so much wetter than similar toppings. Deb mentions this in her write up and it's absolutely true. Instead of a sandy mixture like you'd normally have, this feels like a smaller batch of batter. Once baked, however, you do get that lovely taste of sugary topping and, best of all, no worries about losing that part of the cake, due to crumbling. In other words, it's all the best of crumb without being crumbly.

A note on one of the ingredients - Deb suggests 12 to 16 ounces of the blueberries and then goes on to say she used the full 16 because she loves blueberries so much. I'm a fan myself but it just happened I could only get 12 ounces when I shopped for my blueberries. With even the smaller amount, it almost felt like there wasn't going to be enough batter to cover the fruit. Folding that many berries into such a stiff batter without breaking them and causing blue batter was quite the feat. I can't even imagine how 16 ounces would work!

And one more side note. I'm not much of a gourmet in regards to ingredients. I'll do whatever the recipe tells me to but I don't have the expertise to understand how certain components go together or what taste is likely to be created by mixing different spices. Sometimes I'll be putting a cake or some other recipe together and I'll wonder at how the original cook came to figure out what spices and ingredients she wanted, in what amounts. I am genuinely clueless as to the process and in total amazement at how separate ingredients come together to produce a pleasing taste.

As I was making the cake this evening, I almost left out the lemon zest because my iPad battery was dying so I kept switching the device off while I did one part of the recipe and then turning it back on for the next section. Kinda nutty and also kinda conducive to unintentionally skipping parts of the directions. This would be especially easy to do with about any Smitten Kitchen recipe as they all seem to be wordy, even if the actual food you're making isn't all that complicated. It's just something about the way Deb goes into such detail on every bit of the process. I love her manner of writing and explaining how a recipe comes together, EXCEPT when I'm trying to rush though preparation before my battery gives out!

Anyway, (speaking of wordy), as I was zesting my lemon I found myself wondering if it would really matter had I not remembered to include this part of the recipe. Surely no one would really notice the difference between a few lemon peel zests or not. And yet later, as I was eating that first "test" piece of the cake, I realized I could taste the subtle but very pleasing hint of lemon in the batter. Not an in your face overpowering the blueberry kind of lemon taste, but just a slight depth to the flavoring that wouldn't have been there without that tiny bit of zest. I felt ever so discerning and chef-like as I registered the taste of that small, seemingly superfluous addition to the batter.


Blueberry Crumb Cake from Smitten Kitchen.com
Adapted from Maida Heatter’s Book of Great Desserts

Topping:
5 tablespoons (40 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup, 2 ounces or 55 grams) unsalted butter, cold is fine
Pinch of salt

Cake:
2 cups minus 1 tablespoon (i.e. 1 3/4 cups + 3 tablespoons or 240 grams) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup, 2 ounces or 55 grams) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint (2 to 2 2/3 cups, 12 to 16 ounces, or 340 to 455 grams) fresh blueberries, clean and dry
1/2 cup milk, whole is ideal, any kind should work
1/2 cup (55 grams) walnuts, chopped medium fine (optional) (I didn't put the walnuts in mine.)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Heat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch round baking pan (with at least 2″ sides) and dust it lightly with flour; line it with a round of parchment paper.

Prepare the topping by mixing the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt, then cutting the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt until combined. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and zest together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Beat in 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture until just combined, followed by 1/2 the milk; repeat with remaining dry ingredients and milk, finishing with the dry mixture. The batter will be very stiff, but don’t fret. Fold blueberries into cake batter until evenly distributed.

Scoop cake batter into prepared pan and smooth so that it is flat. If using walnuts, scatter them on top. Sprinkle with prepared streusel. Bake in heated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out batter-free. You can let the cake cool complete in the pan on a rack, or just cool it in the pan for 20 minutes before flipping it out onto a cooling rack, removing the parchment paper lining, and flipping it back onto a plate. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if using.

Do ahead: Cake keeps covered with plastic or foil at room temperature for three days. If longer, it might be best to keep it in the fridge. It gets more moist each day.

Slow Cooker French Dip

If I'm having a day where time in the kitchen is limited, I'll sometimes make bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches for Martin. The ingredients are almost always on hand, they're quick to make, and my hubby loves them. For all that I talk about the many negatives of Martin's picky palate, he can also be very easy to please.

Another sandwich I know he likes is french dip but I don't make those at home. At least, not until this evening. What I actually prepared is more of a cross between roast and traditional french dip sandwich. While the beef was cooking all day, I had an advance audience already buzzing about how delicious the meal smelled and how much they wished they were going to be here for dinner. First it was my housecleaner, wanting to know what was creating those enticing smells. She was joined by two men installing new carpet in my family room. They told me the meal smelled great and then all three of them - housecleaner and carpet layers - discussed the meal some more in spanish. Bilingual rave reviews.

With a good sized portion of meat and just the two of us, there would've been enough to invite all the "hired hands" to share dinner with us. I'm not a lover of french dip but I did think this sandwich had a good, hearty flavor. On a warm summer day when the back part of my house was torn asunder, sticking meat in a crock pot was a quick way to a tasty dinner at the end of the day. Brand new carpet and a husband pleasing meal that took only minutes to prepare. My work is done.


Crock Pot French Dip

Ingredients:
 1 (4 pound) boneless beef roast
 1/2 cup soy sauce
 1 beef bouillon cube
 1 bay leaf
 3 whole black peppercorns
 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
 1 teaspoon dried thyme
 1 teaspoon garlic powder
provolone or mozzarella cheese slice
french bread roll

Directions:
Remove and discard all visible fat from the roast. Place trimmed roast in a slow cooker.
In a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, bouillon, bay leaf, peppercorns, rosemary, thyme, and garlic powder. Pour mixture over roast, and add enough water to cover roast. Cover, and cook on Low heat for 10 to 12 hours, or until meat is very tender.
Remove meat from broth, reserving broth. Shred meat with a fork, and distribute on bread for sandwiches. Place cheese on top. Melt slightly in a microwave. Used reserved broth for dipping.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Sometimes you just want a chocolate cake that'll be a crowd pleaser without taking all day to prepare, and this cake fits that bill. Going together, it reminds me of my Aunt Janet's funeral cake in that the mix winds up very wet and "runny" when you pour it into the pan. It also includes buttermilk, as does funeral cake. Janet's version has cinnamon which gives the batter a different flavor than classic chocolate. I love both.

If nothing else, making this moist, rich and EASY cake should be enough to convert anyone to made from scratch over store-bought cake mix. Really, what is the benefit of a box mix when creating a basic cake is such a straightforward process? Be gone, Betty Crocker!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 cup hot water
Mom's Best Frosting
Sprinkles (completely optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Mix in the oil, buttermilk, and eggs. Once the eggs are fully incorporated, pour in the hot water and mix well (your batter will seem runny, but I promise that it will work out!).

Grease a 9x13" baking pan and pour batter into pan. Bake for 33-38 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean- mine was done at 33 minutes). When the cake is completely cool, top with frosting and decorate with sprinkles (if so desired).

Mom's Best Frosting


Ingredients:
1/2    cup    butter ( or margarine, softened )
1/4    cup    milk
1 1/2    teaspoons    vanilla extract
3    tablespoons    cocoa powder
3    cups    powdered sugar

Directions:
Mix all ingredients with a hand mixer until smooth. Add more powdered sugar or milk until you reach desired consistency.

Charred Corn and Avocado Pizza

I am barely up from the table and already dying to write about this amazing pizza. A pizza so good it just might supplant Smitten Kitchen's shaved asparagus pizza as my very favorite. At least for now.

What makes this dish so good? How about everything. Maybe it's the fresh from the farmer's market cilantro, corn, and avocado that revved up the taste. Or the biting zest of the pepper jack cheese paired with the sweetness of charred corn. It could even be that any pizza seems marvelous next to the way more boring cheese with canadian bacon variety I make for Martin. This recipe turned out close to perfect, making me love pizza in a way I never would've dreamed possible for all those years of enduring Sunday night youth group runs to Shakeys pizza parlor for awful heartburn inducing tomato saucey pies. I wouldn't even touch pizza for many years after that unfortunate phase of my life. And now here I am, extolling the virtues of none other than a humble (but sublime) pizza that certainly bears no resemblance to anything Shakeys ever produced.


Charred Corn and Avocado Pizza
recipe courtesy of Two Peas and a pod
Yield: 1 large pizza Cook Time: 18-20 minutes

Ingredients:
1-16 ounce pizza dough (homemade or store-bought)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups shredded Pepper Jack cheese
1 small ear grilled, charred* sweet corn, kernels removed from cob
1 roasted poblano peppers, diced  (I didn't include this on my pizza.)
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
2 avocados, sliced, pit and skin removed
1/3 cup cotija cheese (if you can't find cotija cheese, feta is a good substitute)
Squeeze of fresh lime juice
Tabasco Sauce, for serving  (I also didn't include this.)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Place the pizza dough on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a circle. Carefully move the pizza dough to a pizza pan or pizza stone. Spread the pizza evenly with olive oil. Top with pepper jack cheese, corn kernels, peppers, and cilantro.

3. Place the pizza in the hot oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until pizza crust is golden and cheese is melted. Remove the pizza from the oven and top with avocado slices and cotija cheese. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the pizza. Cut into slices and serve with Tabasco sauce, if desired.

* To char the corn and roast the poblano pepper, place the corn and poblano pepper on a hot grill or over a gas flame. Cook until they are black and charred. Remove the black skin on the peppers, and dice.  I LOVE my panini press! Not wanting to heat up the grill, I just stuck the corn kernels right on the press and let them cook until they blackened. Maybe not conventional (and definitely a bit messy on the grill) but it worked. 

Pizza Dough  
(I usually use the Smitten Kitchen recipe for easy pizza dough but Trader Joe's makes a good substitute if you don't want to bother with homemade. That said, there really isn't much bother to making pizza dough! The only thing you have to be aware of is starting early enough to let the dough rise and sit.)

3  1/2 to 4 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling. (Using bread flour will give you a much crisper crust. If you can't find bread flour, all-purpose is fine. It yields a more chewy crust.)
1 tsp. sugar
1 envelope dry yeast
2 tsps. kosher salt
1  1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F.
2 Tbs. olive oil, plus 2 tsp.
Directions:
Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast, and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine.
While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.