Biscuits X2

Today was baking group at the clubhouse, and we made biscuits.  The original plan was to make scones to go with tea, but I discovered there were no eggs, so we made biscuits instead.  They turned out great!  We added cheese, dried chives, and dill to the mix, and the flavours were great.  Here they are.

When I got home, I decided to keep the baking momentum going and make something to accompany my cabbage rolls.  I was out of bread, too.  So, I decided to make this recipe, Pull-Apart Drop Biscuits.  They involved a very wet but rich dough that was very sticky to work with, but they turned out fantastically!  I was super impressed.  Both biscuit recipes came from the May 2010 issue of Canadian Living Magazine.  The above recipe is the Flaky Biscuits, and the recipe for the Pull-Apart Drop Biscuits is here.

A Pair of Upside Down Cakes/Cooking with Betty Crackpot

I am currently facilitating a baking group at my local mental health clubhouse, which is part of my volunteer requirements for the peer support training program I'm in.  Once a week, we bake something simple that can be accomplished in 2 hours, and recently I was asked if I could use up a pineapple that the clubhouse had on had that had gone overripe.  It was a pretty pathetic looking specimen, but once I cut into I thought it would be OK for a pineapple upside down cake.  I sliced up the pineapple and went ahead with the project.

It turned out superbly!  The recipe for the cake is Betty Crackpot's Dinette Cake, and you can find that recipe here.  For the upside down part of the cake, i.e. the bottom, mix together 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar. Spread evenly over the bottom of the cake pan. Arrange pineapple slices on top, make the cake batter, then spread it evenly over the pineapple.  I know this is supposed to have maraschino cherries in it, but honestly, it didn't need them (and they're not in my budget).  Here is the cake!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Also, very recently, I went over to some friends' place and divested them of all their rhubarb.  Two of these friends had never had rhubarb before, and one didn't like it, so the rhubarb plant was basically going to waste.  After the success of my pineapple upside down cake, I decided to make a rhubarb version.  And this is it:

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

 Same deal with the bottom, except rhubarb needs a bit of help.  I used about a cup and a half of finely chopped rhubarb, and combined it with about 1/4 cup of sugar, and some cinnamon & ground ginger.

This was TO.DIE.FOR.  In fact, it's one of the best things I think I've ever baked!

I loved it!  And I ate 3/4 of it in four days, I'm slightly sheepish to admit.  I gave the other quarter to a friend.

I have in the freezer a bag of wild blackberries.  I think I'll make a blackberry upside down cake next!

Fresh Orange Cookies

I made these the other day for a housewarming party I'm no longer having.  They are soooooo good.  I didn't have any walnuts, but I had a ton of coconut, so I substituted that.  Pure win!  The recipe came from The Cookie Bible.

Fresh Orange Cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 unpeeled orange (seedless, of course), finely chopped, either in a blender or food processor
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or shredded coconut

Orange Glaze

1 cup icing sugar
1 - 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 tbsp butter, softened
zest of one orange
- mix all this together in a bowl until smooth

1. Beat butter & sugars until light & fluffy.  Add egg and orange and beat well.  Gradually blend in dry ingredients, then stir in nuts or coconut.  Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for at least an hour.  Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake at 375F for 10 - 12 minutes, or until lightly golden.  Spread with glaze.

Awesome!  And a great way to use up oranges you have kicking around that might be past it slightly.

Lemon "Brownies"

I have been back on Pinterest - that's how bored I am!  What a time-sucker it is.  But it's irresistible at the same time.  I have posted a few recipes I've found there on here, but then they marked this blog as spam and I was pissy about it, sent an email, which was never responded to, and then I promptly left the site for over a year and a half.  Now I am back...and once more addicted.

There is so much food on Pinterest it's ridiculous.  I found this recipe for Lemon Brownies the other day and was immediately intrigued.  I love a good lemon square, but this was a different kind of bar, so I wanted to try it.  There is a bit of risk with Pinterest recipes; some of them don't turn out and you never really know if they're as tried and true as they claim to be.  But this worked out wonderfully, despite the fact that there is no leavening agent in it.  I was worried about that small detail; I thought perhaps the cake part of the brownie would turn out like a chunk of cement.  I needn't have worried.  Though I slightly over baked it, the cakey part was just great.

I took them to a dinner for dessert and they were a big hit!  I will definitely make these again!

The recipe is here.

Enjoy!

"Small Potatoes."  How often have you heard that?  You're standing naked in the kitchen and suddenly your wife blurts out,"Small potatoes." Fortunately, she's not staring at you.  She's looking in the pantry.

Relief and anxiety.  Anxiety turns to erotic, small potato possibilities.

“I have a luncheon today and need to bring something.  What can ‘we’ make with small potatoes?”

It’s the royal ‘we.’  Hot stove and hotter grease await you and you alone.  Erotic images melt like cotton candy in a rainstorm. Thoughts morph to the vision of hot grease on a man’s jolly jingles.  Apron!  No, wait!  Socks, shoes, trousers, shirt, then an apron.  Oven mitts. A morning of ‘safe cooking.’

Remember those days when she would have forgotten about those potatoes?  Remember those days when you had no idea whose kitchen you were in?

Small Potatoes That Ain’t

The necessities:

4.5 pounds (2.2 kilos) of small potatoes

An inch depth of cooking oil in a medium sized saucepan

2.5 Cups homemade bread crumbs (see very helpful suggestion below)

1 stick butter

Salt and pepper to taste

2 heaping Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 heaping Tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Doin’ the small potato shuffle:

Heat the oven to 400ºF or 200ºC. 

Put the oil in the saucepan and heat it on the stovetop to 350ºF or 175ºC.

Wash the potatoes and partially peel them.  I leave stripes of peeling on the potatoes.

Dry the potatoes and put the first batch in the hot grease.  Continue until all potatoes are ready for the oven.  The point of the fry is to get a nice roasted look on the outside.  They don’t have to cook completely.  You’re going to finish them in the oven.  As the potatoes fry to a nice brown, set them in the baking dish.

When all are nicely browned, put the baking dish in the pre-heated, 400ºF oven.  30 minutes should be enough to finish the cooking job.

As the potatoes bake, make the buttered breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs:

I make my own and here’s how.  Crumble enough stale baguette pieces in your food processor to make 2.5 cups.  If you don’t have a stale baguette, use any stale bread, or use fresh bread slices and either bake them, or leave them out overnight.  I detest the prepared breadcrumbs that come in a can, part of a long list of things I detest!

Put the butter in a skillet, let it melt and add the breadcrumbs.  Mix well.  Doesn’t matter if the breadcrumbs brown or not, but you want them all buttery.

Putting it all together:

Pull the baked potatoes from the oven, sprinkle over-generously with the buttered breadcrumbs.  Salt and pepper to taste. Scatter the Parmesan cheese and put the baking dish back in the oven.  Bake until the breadcrumbs are a toasty brown, about 5 to 10 minutes.  Watch that oven like a hungry hawk!

Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle on the chopped cilantro.

Voilá!  Small potatoes have just become a big, scrumptious, crowd-pleasing part of your fantastic culinary repertoire!

Now, go ambush the wife.

Wheat and Whatnot

Germany is the eighth largest producer of wheat.  Top three?  China, by a big margin, then India, then the land of “amber waves of grain.”  Germany grows enough to feed a population that eats 192 pounds of bread per person, per annum.  That doesn’t even count the pasta, cakes, pastries, and beer.  Yes, they brew vast quantities of Weißbier, or wheat beer.  It’s a so-called sour beer, although it tastes plenty sweet to me.  Another thing about wheat beer is that by German law it’s a top-fermented beer.  For my money, that means less fizz and more flavor.  Lots of varieties of wheat beer, which also uses barley in the brewing mix.  I had a lovely dark wheat beer last night at the local bier stube.

But, back to wheat.  There are great fields of it in this part of Germany and one is right outside my door.  German wheat is of the hard winter wheat variety.  What’s that mean?  Winter wheat is planted in late September through October and not harvested until late July, or August. Winter wheat needs vernalization (cold temperatures), where spring wheat does not.  It sprouts, then goes dormant, then resumes it’s growth in the spring.  Remember, I said 'hard' winter wheat.  The term ‘hard’ comes from the firmness of the kernel.

Any differences between winter and summer wheat?  Plenty, but the thing to remember is that winter wheat has more protein (at least 12%) and more gluten.  High gluten is best for bread baking. 

I’ve often wondered, as I sit on my porch, overlooking my garden and the field of wheat beyond, What does it all mean?  All-purpose flour.  Cake flour.  Organic flour.  Whole wheat flour.  Cauliflower.   Nope, scratch that last one, it’s in the cabbage family.

All-purpose flour is usually a mix of spring and winter wheat flours (hard and soft), meaning less gluten and less protein.  Cake flour is a low protein (6-8%) flour made from soft winter wheat.  Organic is supposed to mean free of chemicals.  Whether that is true or not depends on the manufacturer.  I have some Organic Gold Medal All-purpose flour.  On the side panel it says it’s made with certified organic wheat, but is also 'enriched' with a lot of vitamins and minerals.  Is that bad or good?  I haven’t the fainted idea.  Are they natural vitamins or are they derivatives from petroleum byproducts and toxic waste.  Don’t know.  All vitamins are not manufactured or collected in the same way.

White flour uses only the grain, with the bran, germ, and endosperm eliminated; bleaching seems to get rid more of the natural goodness.   Whole wheat has all of it, containing many natural vitamins.  The downside is, whole wheat doesn’t do a good job of rising without a lot of leavening agents.

Bleached or unbleached?  Why bleach at all?  Makes the flour white. That's it.   In the good old days, bleaching meant the flour was out in the sun for awhile. With the advent of the industrial age and mass production and distribution, bleaching came to be done with chemicals, usually chorine.  Recently, unbleached flours have gained favor.  I use them.

Lots of information.  What are some bottom lines?  I try my best to buy organic, unbleached, and unadulterated flour.  If you live near a co-op, or a well-stocked health food store, ask them about their flours.  Otherwise, I’ll mention two brands, with their web sites: http://www.kingarthurflour.com  and http://www.hodgsonmill.com .

For American breads, I offer two bits of advice:  the first is, Read the label!, and the second, bake your own bread!  After reading the labels, you may die of fright, or you may reevaluate whether you’re truly allergic to the gluten in flour, or to the chemistry set that’s tucked inside your store bought bread, favorite cake mix, or box of industrial strength cookies.

Meanwhile, I’m going to sit on my patio, overlooking a field of grain, and enjoy another Weißbier, made with hard winter wheat and brewed to the highest German standards of purity.

Reasons for Raisin Bread

Ready for butter

Really not quite this yellow, but you get the idea

Stiff dough not yet greased

After the second rising.  Oven ready!

It’s a rainy Sunday morning and my wife is at church.  I’m left to my own vices…I mean devices.  Too early for even a small glass of beer.  Too early to chase some sweet young thing, and besides, I’m married and my knees aren’t what they used to be.

Watching TV on Sunday morning is for sissies. Already read a novel for a couple of hours, sipped my coffee and did a Sudoku.  My sons will soon arrive home after a weekend of debauchery at a squalid rock concert.   That’s not envy you hear in my voice.  I swear it’s not.

Perhaps a winding, forest drive to a log rolling fest?  There’s one nearby that proposes to show how they did it in the old days.  Did logs float differently back when men were men and winked at each other when someone suggested ‘log rolling?’  Probably not, but Germans will grab any sliver of opportunity to drink bier and eat wurst.  My kinda guys.

I think I’ll make some raisin bread.  Why make it when you can buy it?  The nearby German bäckerei usually does a superb job on breads, but their raisin bread is a little thin on raisins.  I don’t know why. Maybe a stiff tax on dried fruit. In any case, there’s a reason raisin is in the singular. Or, I could go to a grocery and buy tasteless ‘air bread,’ with the odd raisin included as an afterthought.

No.  None of that.  I want bread that slices in thick slabs and holds more butter than a dairy churn.  I want raisin bread that looks like an anthill when you cut it open.  I want the fresh bread aroma that permeates every pore and makes a man forget about sex for three or even four minutes.  Well, possibly four.

Also, when my sons eventually run out of money and beer and come home I want them to see not only my beautiful loaf of raisin bread, but what life is like after they’re married, de-clawed, and domesticated.

Raisin Bread

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (110-115ºF or 43-46ºC)

1 1/2 cups raisins (I use golden raisins, but whichever you use, make sure they’re not dry and hard)

1/3 cup soft butter

1/4 cup sugar (more if you want a sweet version, in which case consider also adding cinnamon)

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (don't skimp or the bread will be bland)

1/2 cup scalded milk

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (approximately)

2 eggs, smashed and badly beaten

Preparation:

Dissolve the yeast in warm water, with a pinch or two of sugar added. In a few moments the yeast will ‘proof,’ or bubble up.  (see photo)

In a large bowl, combine raisins, butter, sugar, salt, and hot milk; stir to dissolve the sugar. Let mixture cool to lukewarm. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the flour; beat well. I use a hand beater.

Add the yeast mixture and the beaten eggs; blend well.

At this point, use your hands to mix and knead. Add a cup of the remaining flour to make a soft, but stiff dough.   Add additional flour as needed to make your dough stiff, probably half a cup.  At this point you should have about a quarter of a cup of flour left.

Knead the dough in the large bowl for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Dust with the remainder of the flour as needed to keep the dough elastic and not sticky.

Leave the dough in the bowl.  Drizzle some vegetable oil over it, turning to grease the whole surface. The dough should look wet, but not be overly greasy.

Put the greased dough in a gallon-sized plastic bag.  Close it, but leave an inch long opening for gas to escape. Let stand in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.  I put mine in a cold oven, leaving the oven light on.

When the dough has risen, punch it down and shape into a loaf; place in a greased 8x4x3-inch loaf pan. Put it back in the cold oven and let it rise again for about 45 to 60 minutes, until almost double.

Bake at 375° for 25 minutes, placing foil over loaf the last 10 minutes, if the loaf is getting too brown on top.  Every oven is different.  If yours, like mine, is hotter on the top rack, bake this bread on the bottom rack to keep it from drying out, or decrease the cooking time by five minutes.

Remove loaf from the pan and let it cool on a rack.

Slice to your preference and slather on the butter.

If your sons are getting home soon, eat your fill before they get back.

Cooking with Betty Crackpot: Ranger Cookies

This is another childhood recipe we made when we needed a change from chocolate chip cookies - or wanted cookies in addition to chocolate chip cookies.  Ranger Cookies (I have no idea where the name came from) have a great texture since they have a bunch of textured ingredients in them, like the corn flakes (which we used instead of Wheaties) and coconut.  As the recipe says in its intro, these cookies are chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside.  Until the other day, I hadn't had these in years, and again, tasting them gave me a feeling of nostalgia.

Ranger Cookies, from page 135 of Betty Crocker's Cookbook, 1969 version

1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup Wheaties or Total (like I said, I used corn flakes)
1/2 cup shredded coconut

375F oven.  Cream, combine, scoop.  Bake about 10 minutes or until golden.  Yield is about 3 dozen.  I got about 2 dozen since I wanted a bit larger a cookie.

Awesome!  Good old corn flakes!

Cooking with Betty Crackpot: Corn Bread

I needed something to go with a killer soup I made the other night (recipe upcoming) and decided to make cornbread.  I love things made with cornmeal.  My mom had a great recipe, but I doubt it came from Betty because this was underwhelming.  I even have a way better recipe. 

In typical Betty Crocker cake-ish fashion, you just dump everything into a bowl and beat the crap out of it.  But that wasn't the problem; it was just not very interesting.  I will admit to over-baking it slightly, which might have accounted for the dryness, too.  But, still, I don't think I'll be making this again.

Corn Bread (page 49 of Betty Crocker's Cookbook)

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/4 shortening or butter (I used butter)
1 egg

Preheat oven to 425F.  Grease or line with parchment paper an 8x8" square baking pan.  Throw all ingredients in a bowl and beat the crap of out them ("blend for 20 seconds.  Beat vigourously for 1 minute").  Pour into pan and bake 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown.

There are two variations.  The first is to make this into 12 muffins.  The second is "Double Corn Bread" which directs the baker to prepare a 9x9" pan, use 2 eggs, and stir in 1 can (7 - 8 oz) whole kernel corn, well-drained, into the batter.  This actually appeals to me more than the regular recipe.

Meh!

No Stir, That's My Cobbler

Just pour the batter into the butter, then add the blueberries.

Cobblers, laced with fruit, and crusty with risen dough, are some of my favorite desserts. Among these, blueberry cobbler sits at the top.  Sweet and bursting with plump berries…, my taste buds are doing back flips just thinking about it.

A little bit about blueberries.  The blueberry bush is a native-American plant.  Didn’t reach Europe until the 1930’s.  But now it seems, blueberries are noted for desserts and jams all over the globe.  German grocery shelves are filled with a selection of blueberry jams.  Also, the health industry lauds blueberries for their dietary benefits.  I’ll leave more of that to you and Google.

Most U.S. commercially grown blueberries come from Maine, but even when I lived in the southern U.S., there were pick-your-own blueberry farms.  Great fun and far less expensive than buying them in a store.  Our family used to pick enough to freeze bags of them, which I found out, doesn’t hurt the color, flavor, or round plumpness.

Let’s get to the recipe, which is soooooo simple, you’re going to have to control your urge to do more.  Read the whole recipe, including the notes, to ensure you get the dessert that will have your loved ones, or even your family raving for more.

One note of caution:  Make substitutions at your own risk.  If you throw together a gluten-free, artificially sweetened, non-butter cobbler, you’re on your own in a nasty and brutish culinary wilderness.  And, no one, not even your now-disgusted friends, are going to save you.

Blueberry Cobbler

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC)

1 stick butter (114 gm)

1 Cup flour  (128 gm)

1 Cup sugar (200 gm)

2 teaspoons baking powder  (approx 11 gm)

1/2 teaspoon salt (3 gm)

1 Cup milk (.25 liters)

2 1/2 Cups fresh blueberries, or one 12 oz package of frozen blueberries (see baking note below) mixed with 1/4 cup sugar

Melt the butter in a medium sized, deep-sided baking dish that holds at least 6-8 Cups.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.  Add the milk  to the dry ingredients and mix well to make a mildly thick, but liquid batter.

Pour the batter into the baking dish containing the melted butter.  DO NOT STIR, just pour it in. 

Pour in the sugared blueberries on top of the batter.  DO NOT STIR.

Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 1 hour.  Crust will rise to the top as the cobbler bakes.

Voilà!

Baking Notes:  1) If you are using frozen blueberries, increase the baking time to 1 hour and 15 minutes.  2) This is a very sweet and juicy dessert.  If you want it less sweet, do not mix sugar with the berries.  If you want it more cake-like, mix the batter using 3/4 cup of milk.

Besides the taste, why is this one of my favorite desserts to serve to guests?  You can put it together in a flash (before you serve the main course) and go back to your guests while it bakes.  Using only two mixing bowls and one stirring spoon (only for the batter!) it’s a very quick cleanup.  I often serve it with vanilla ice cream, for a hot/cold combination that’s a wonderful dessert choice year around.

Cooking with Betty Crackpot: Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was only a matter of time before I made this recipe as part of this series.  I've been making this very cookie recipe since I was a kid and to this day I still think it's the best.  This was the first recipe I ever experimented with, replacing one of the fats with peanut butter to get a wonderful peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, and the summer I turned 16 I made a huge batch of these to take to a camp I was working at for the summer to share with the staff for break time.  That was when my mom declared "you have these down to a science!"  I had the exact timing down pat - 17 minutes (we were at high altitude) to the perfect cookie.

A couple of notes, though.  First, I never bake anything with chocolate over 350F, and this recipe says to bake at 375F.  Also, the original recipe says this makes about 7 dozen cookies and I have never, ever gotten that many out of it!  When I made these the other night, I got about 3 dozen.  To get 7 dozen out of this you'd have to make very tiny cookies.  And this time I did use shortening, even though I don't believe in baking with it, but I had some on hand and it was already softened so I thought, what the hell.

Chocolate Chip Cookies, from Cooking with Betty Crocker, page 136

2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts
2 packages (6 oz each) chocolate chips (I used about 1 1/2 cups)

Heat oven.  Mix thoroughly fats, sugars, eggs and vanilla.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  (The original recipe says here "for a softer, rounder cookie, add 1/2 cup flour" - I have never needed to do this.)

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2" apart onto baking sheet.  Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until light brown.  Cool slightly before removing from baking sheet.

YUM!  So, so good, and again, very nostalgic for me.  These did not last long in this house, I can tell you that!

Cooking with Betty Crackpot: Kitty Cat Cake!

Growing up with my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook from 1969 was a key element in creating my love for baking and cooking, and I've mentioned before on this blog how, as a kid, I just used to love to curl up with the book and look at the cake pictures. To a child, they looked marvelous. To me as a woman pushing 40, they look quite amateurish, but they still have a lot of charm to them. The cat cake (instructions on page 116) always tickled my fancy, and my mom and I did make it together. I don't have any photos of it, but I remember my mom using yellow smarties for the eyes and snipping lengths of black licorice for the whiskers. I did find a picture of the Betty Crocker version of the cake online, so that's what you see to the right.

Last weekend, while at Jodi's, Jodi decided it was high time to indulge in her own cat cake dreams and make the the cake herself, which she didn't have the joy of making as a child. She used the Silver White Cake recipe from page 94, and the recipe for that is HERE. The cake came out great; it's indeed very white and just like the Dinette Cake, it was fluffy and moist and plain awesome.

And now, let me present to you, Jodi's Kitty Cat Cake! She used Dots candy for the eyes and paws and piped on the whiskers with melted chocolate.

Cute, eh? The frosting is Betty's Chocolate Butter Frosting from page 125.

Betty Crocker's Chocolate Butter Frosting (page 125 of the 1969 edition)

⅓ cup soft butter or margarine
2 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (cool)
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
About 2 tablespoons milk

Mix thoroughly butter and cooled chocolate. Blend in sugar. Stir in vanilla and milk; beat until frosting is smooth and of spreading consistency.

Fills and frosts two 8- or 9-inch layers or frosts a 13x9-inch cake.

There was just enough frosting for the cat cake.

There you go! Another Betty Crackpot success!

Bagels Redux

I was nearing the end of my last batch of bagels, so this weekend I decided to make some more. I am determined to become a bagel-making queen! Again I used Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe from The Bread Bible, but I did a few things differently this time.

• I made 12 bagels from the recipe instead of 10. This worked very well and I was very happy with the size this batch came out as
• I reduced the black pepper to 1/2 tsp instead of a full tsp. The last batch was too peppery. I might forgo the pepper altogether next time
• I used a whole egg for egg wash instead of just the whites. Not a big change, but it worked just as well
• most notably, I boiled the bagels for a longer time than I did previously. This, I think, was key in making them nice and chewy
• I baked them at a higher temperature for a shorter period of time
• I did half with sesame seed topping and half with coarse salt

I still need a lot of practice portioning and shaping the bagels. One of the reasons I decided to go with 12 bagels over 10 is that it was easier for me to eyeball the portions, but even with this change I had different-sized bagels. What I might do next time is weigh the dough out before portioning and divide the weight by 12 so I'll get the most consistent size. Shaping is still an issue, though it was better this time than it was before. Rolling ropes of dough, or making holes in dough like this, is not one of my fortés.


So, things are coming along. These should last me over 2 weeks, so I'll make more then.

New Series: Cooking with Betty Crackpot

I was having a bad day today, but it wasn't a complete write-off because I came up with a new idea, a series for this blog based on recipes from my mom's 1969 copy of Betty Crocker's Cookbook. I've mentioned several times here that I grew up with this book and that it was partially responsible for my wanting to become a baker. Last fall, I was on holiday in PEI, where my mom lives, and I asked her if she still had the book, and she did! It's a little worse for wear - the spine is missing and the binding is falling apart, and it's stained and dog-eared and definitely "well-loved" - and after not very much convincing at all, Mom let me take the book home with me.

Growing up, my mom always wittily referred to Betty Crocker as Betty Crackpot, and it stuck with me (why wouldn't it?), so that's why I'm going with it for the title of the new series. This book has everything under the sun in it, and the food styling is absolutely horrendous by contemporary standards. My aim is to reacquaint myself with some childhood favourites for nostalgia purposes, as well as try out some new old funky stuff that might be good - or not. I also aim to entertain! I'll try to stay as true as possible to the original recipes, except I will not be using any vegetable shortening and I'll probably cut down on the fat a bit because, man, some of these recipes are decidedly not healthy. Then there will be things I can't find because maybe they don't make them anymore. I should be interesting, and it should be fun.

First up, something not very unusual or unattractive Dinette Cake, found on page 97. I believe this is the batter we made when I first used my Easy Bake Oven when I was very young. It's a very simple recipe, but the method of beating the crap out of the batter seemed counter-intuitive to me. But nonetheless, I beat the batter as the directions stated.

Dinette Cake, Betty Crocker's Cookbook, page 97

1 ½ cups cake flour or 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup milk
⅓ cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour square pan, 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 inches. Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl. Blend ½ minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes high speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool.

The original recipe suggests Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting or Coconut Broiled Topping.

I chose no topping because I have homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream on hand!

As you can see there are some darker brown spots on the surface of the cake; this is because there were a lot of air bubbles in it as it baked. I used an 8x8" pan.

And the finished product:


The verdict: OMG, so awesome! I could have eaten the whole thing on my own. The texture was amazing, the flavour was amazing...The beating of the batter didn't seem to harm the texture of the cake, which was good. Such a simple recipe with such a super result. And the scent of it really brought back memories...Yum!

Cream Egg Brownies

Here is another Pinterest find that I couldn't resist. I do loves me a Cadbury Cream Egg around Easter time, though I prefer the mini eggs because they're less sweet. I thought this brownie idea was pretty fracking brilliant. And I had all the ingredients on hand, so that was cool, too. Thanks to my roommate T for having a huge bag of milk chocolate chips on hand!

The original recipe is HERE.

Here is my product:
I had one issue with the recipe and that was the filling: 1/4 cup of corn syrup wasn't enough moisture to absorb all the icing sugar, so I had to add some whipping cream to it to loosen it up.

I don't have any yellow food colouring at the moment, so I didn't bother tinting part of the filling.

These were a huge hit with my roommate, who claimed they were better than a cream egg. This recipe has been kid-tested and approved, too, by my young roommate, R, and her friend who was over playing when I made these.

Definite keeper of a recipe!

Apple Cake from the Lone Star State

Ready for coffee or a big glass of milk

Dough is stiffer than you're used to

Heaven in a bunt pan

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m all for healthy eating, as long as its done in moderation.  But, sometimes ya just gotta push those lily-livered, calorie countering, conscience messing, whiners away from your table.  Let ‘em take their guilt-troubled egos to the dry salad and celery stalk rabbit hutch, while you push your ponderous gut forward and gulp with all the gusto of a starving hog at the trough.

I’m talking fresh apple cake!  And plenty of it!  That’s the ticket.

What the hey!  Do apples even grow in Texas?  Hells, bells, ye of little faith and paucity of knowledge.  Pomaceous fruit grow all over the Lone Star State, although Texas can’t compete with Washington State, which produces 60% of the apples in the U.S.

For this particular apple cake, and generally for cooking with apples, the rule of my thumb is:  the more tart the better.  Tart apples have an intense flavor that overpowers their sweeter kin.  How many varieties of apple are there, anyway?  About 6000, counting hybrids and a few thousand non-commercial types.  Did you know apples are a member of the rose family?  I didn’t pick up on that in 9^th grade biology either.

Let’s get on to some cookin’ and then on to some eatin’!

2 Cups Sugar

1 1/2 Cups vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons vanilla

2 eggs, well beaten

1/2 a lemon

3 Cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum free baking soda

3 Green Apples, peeled, cored, and chopped

Heat the oven to 325ºF, or 165ºC

Oil and flour a bundt pan.

Put the sugar, oil, vanilla, and beaten eggs in a bowl and beat well.  Squeeze the lemon juice into the mix and beat again.

Ditch the electric beater and use a big wooden spoon to stir the flour mix into the bowl of sugar/oil. The dough will be stiff, but not to worry.  Now add the chopped apples and stir well.

Put the dough into the bundt pan and pop it in the oven.  Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.  When a knife comes out clean, the cake is ready.  Slip a knife around the inside of the pan, and then let the cake rest for about ten minutes.  Now invert the pan on a plate and the cake will come out cleanly.  The aroma is going to tantalize your nostrils and take your kitchen back to grandma’s glory days!

Time to brew some coffee, slice some cake and lock the door to keep out the nosey neighbors and those suddenly hungry health addicts who just raced back from the rabbit hutch.

Doughnut Time!

Today I ventured into as yet uncharted territory: the making of doughnuts.

As I mentioned in this post, I went to Top Pot in Seattle this month and picked a copy of their cookbook. When my roommate, T, went through the book, she spied a recipe that tickled her fancy right away: the Pumpkin Old-Fashioned Doughnuts. T, like me, loves pumpkiny baking, and since I had some of the stuff stashed in the freezer after making the pull-apart loaf, I was in.

Here is the recipe, which I lazily cut and pasted from this site (thank you, Nicky).

Pumpkin Old-Fashioned Doughnuts

For the Doughnuts

• 3 cups cake flour, plus more for rolling and cutting
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. iodized salt
• 3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. shortening/vegetable lard
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• Canola oil, for frying

For the Pumpkin Glaze

• 4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 tsp. light corn syrup
• 1/4 iodized salt
• 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup hot water

1. To make the doughnut dough: Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice together into a medium bowl, and set aside.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the sugar and shortening for 1 minute on low speed, until sandy. Add the egg yolks, then mix for 1 minute on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if necessary, until the mixture is light colored and thick.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three separate additions, alternating with the sour cream and pumpkin, mixing until just combined on low speed and scraping the sides of the bowl each time. The dough will be sticky, like wet cookie/biscuit dough.
4. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap/cling film, for 45 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
5. Meanwhile, make the pumpkin glaze: Place the confectioners sugar, corn syrup, salt, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin and vanilla in the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the machine on medium speed, add the water in a slow, steady stream, and blend until all the sugar has been incorporated, scraping the bowl a few times if necessary. Set aside.
6. Using a candy thermometer to measure the temperature, heat oil (at least 2 inches deep) in a deep fryer, large pot, or high-sided frying pan to 325 degrees F. Roll out the chilled dough on a generously floured counter or cutting board to 1/2 inch thick, or about 8 inch in diameter, flouring the top of the dough and the rolling pin as necessary to prevent sticking. Cut into as many doughnuts and holes as possible, dipping the cutter into the flour between each cut. Fold and gently re-roll the dough to make extra holes (working with floured hands makes the dough less sticky), and cut again.
7. Shake any excess flour off the doughnuts before carefully adding them to hot oil a few at a time, taking care not to crowd them. Once the doughnuts float, fry for 15 seconds, then gently flip them. Fry for 75 to 90 seconds, until golden brown and cracked, then flip and fry the first side again for 60 to 75 seconds, until golden. Transfer to a rack set over paper towels/absorbent paper.
8. While the doughnuts are still quite hot, dip the side with the deepest cracks on each into the warm Pumpkin glaze. Let dry on cooling racks, glazed side up for about 15 minutes.

Needless to say, these came out just amazingly. I especially loved all the little "Timbits"! Of course, now we have a bunch of doughnuts kicking around the house, but I've had worse problems.

One issue I had was that there was too much glaze for the number of doughnuts I had, so I have put the remaining glaze aside for another use. I'm not sure what that use would be at this point, but it's there should inspiration strike.


As you can see from the photo, I deep fried in my wok. This is my preferred deep frying vessel and it always works great.

This was definitely a worthwhile experience and I'm sure I'll be making more recipes from the book, but next time a yeast doughnut, perhaps. I have my eyes on the Raspberry Bullseyes!

Crumb Cake Heaven

Yes, another post about baking Jodi did while I was visiting her recently! This time, a heavenly crumb cake with tons of crumb topping that was probably my favourite thing she made while I was there.


Jodi found the recipe here. Funnily enough, it originated from a Cook's Illustrated issue from 2007, which we found ironic after this post & video, but Jodi assured me there weren't 80 ingredients in it and the recipe was easy to follow. :)

Yes, the amount of crumb topping on this cake was very impressive. Usually, crumb cakes don't have enough crumbs on them for my liking, but this cake was not lacking in that department at all. Also the texture of the cake was blissfully velvety, probably due to the fact that it was made with cake flour. The recipe states that one should not substitute the cake flour with regular all purpose flour; I'd concur with that after eating the cake - it would not have been the same.


We ate quite a bit of the cake in one day, but Jodi did pack me with two slabs to take home with me on the train, for which I am very grateful. I'm definitely going to have to try this one out myself, soon.

Pull-apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread with Rum Butter Glaze

Oh, Pinterest, how do I love thee? Sometimes, way too much. But as I've said before, the food on it is unbelievable, and when I saw the recipe for this treat I knew I had to make it, and last week, I did. I even went and purchased a mini of rum for the glaze!

The original blog post & recipe is here.

So, let's get down to business. After making the dough (I used instant yeast so I didn't have to go through the extra step of activating it) and letting it rise, I went about shaping it. The instructions say to roll the dough out into a 20x12" rectangle, spread with the cinnamon sugar mixture, and cut that into six strips. Then you take those strips and lay them on top of each other, and then cut them into six squares. After that, you stack the squares on their edges in a loaf pan. I greased my loaf pan pretty well.


Then the loaf goes for another rise. This is where I had some issues. The squares were quite tightly packed in the pan, but as the loaf rose, the end ones rose up and out of the pan.


Upon baking, I got quite an odd-looking and lopsided loaf:


The other issue I had was that the bottom of the loaf caramelized to the loaf pan and I couldn't get the loaf out of the pan until it was rather cool and I could get my hands in and kind of tear it out by the roots. I just removed it straight to a platter for serving.


So, it wasn't over attractive. But so what? This was absolutely delicious! The rum & butter glaze was absolutely to die for, and that little recipe is going up my sleeve for some other ideas I have for it, like as a cinnamon roll glaze, for instance.

The only criticism I had was that the pumpkin flavour was quite lost with all the other flavours going on in here. It added a nice colour to the dough, though. But if I do this again, I might use more pumpkin or alter the recipe so that it's more of a brioche dough and just do a more plain pull apart loaf. But look at it! It's gorgeous!


My roommates and I tore into it and dipped the pieces in more glaze until we nearly devoured it. We left just enough for a small snack the next day.

Here it is again, from another angle:


Definitely a keeper of an idea. Go Pinterest! My roommate and I are working on another Pinterest recipe now, but it takes a while so I won't get a post up about it quite yet, but it should be worth the wait, especially if you love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and vodka. :D