Archive for the Baked Goods Category


Our Daily Bread: Honey Oat Wholewheat Bread

08/13/2010 8:39:00 AM

Honey Oat Wholewheat Bread. Fresh, fragrant, and warm out-of-the-oven!

There is something so intrinsically therapeutic about baking bread.  So appealing to all the senses, and so calming in so many ways.  I’m a big fan of bread baking.  No bread machines here.  I like to assemble it all, one ingredient at a time.  I like to watch as the yeast is activated and starts to bubble.  I like to set the lump of dough under a clean, fresh dishtowel and peek under it  periodically, watching in wonder as it grows, grows, grows.  And when it is finally at it’s peak - punch it down again and listen to the air “whssss” out of it.  Then roll it around a bit, break it into two pieces and throw it into my extra large bread pans, perfect for sandwich bread, or toast, or slicing up and making croutons.

Here is my Honey Oat Wholewheat Bread recipe.  It was made by accident one day, as I was short on white flour.  I’m sure there are many recipes out there that are similar to this one, but this is the wholewheat bread recipe that I like best:

2 2/3 cup lukewarm water

4 tsps yeast

Add yeast to water in a small measuring bowl.  Wait for the yeast to start bubbling, about 5 minutes or so.

Add to yeast water:

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup olive oil

Whisk up well, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, or Kitchenaid bowl, assemble the following:

4 cups of all-purpose, unbleached flour

3 cups wholewheat flour

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (Quaker)

2 tsps salt

Stir to incorporate the flours and salt.  If you have a Kitchenaid, attach the bowl and use the dough hook.  Set at low speed and pour your water/yeast/honey mixture into the flour mixture very slowly.  Allow the machine to mix (on low) for 5-10 minutes.

If you are going to mix by hand, make a large well in the middle of your flour mixture.  Pour the liquid mixture in the well and mix slowly and gently with a wooden spoon, incorporating more and more flour with every turn.

When your dry ingredients and liquid ingredients are thoroughly mixed, turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead for several minutes.  If you have mixed your dough by hand, you will need to knead for a bit longer.

Knead until dough is smooth and elastic. 

Set dough on a clean counter, or in a clean bowl and cover with a fresh kitchen towel.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 – 1 1/2 hour. 

After your dough has risen, punch it down, knead a few more turns, and separate it into two pieces, shaping each piece in an oval.

Place dough ovals in large loaf pans (approx. 4″ x 9″).  Cover both loaf pans with your clean, fresh kitchen towel and let rise again for about 45 minutes.  To achieve the characteristic slit on the top of the loaf, simply run a sharp knife over the top of your loaf.  This severs the strands of gluten, and will allow your bread to rise further while baking.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees, for about 30 minutes, or until bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped.

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The aftermath of an extended break-making session with the kids.  Smiles all 'round!

The aftermath of one of our extended bread-making sessions. Sure, it's a mess, but the smiles can't be beat!!

The thing about bread-making that I like the best is that it never gets boring.  Every day it is soothing, captivating, warm and lovely.  Children are not lost to these qualities either.  In fact, even the most ‘un-impressed’ child will take notice of the process.  More often than not, I have several little helpers with me asking a myriad of questions, like “Why does yeast bubble?”, “Is it really ALIVE?!?”, ”Where does flour come from? Is it grown or made?”, and so on.  Eventually, they talk me into giving a tiny bit of dough to each of them. 

I have so many fond memories of my little helpers making their little flour messes and delighting in an art so simple, so practical, and so ancient.

In the end you have a mini-art project, a mini-science project, a mini-history project, and a couple day’s worth of bread.  It is simple living and multitasking at it’s best.  Best of all however, you have a way to spend some busy, yet quiet time with yourself, or with some little people who you love.

This recipe makes 2 large loaves.  I usually freeze one (wrapped in foil) for later, and use the fresh one for breakfast toast and/or peanut butter sandwiches.  It is especially wonderful topped with lightly-salted butter and honey.  It’s even great all on it’s own, and makes a perfect high-fiber, low-sugar, wholesome and filling snack for a growing child.

I hope you enjoy the soothing art of bread-making soon!

Best wishes,


Rabbit’s Envy Carrot Cake

03/30/2010 5:00:00 AM

This is THE carrot cake. The secret, award-winning carrot cake recipe that I have used in my home-based dessert catering business for years.

It’s the best carrot cake in the world.

The best thing about developing the best carrot cake recipe in the world, is that when you start getting overwhelmed with orders – you have two choices:

a) Open up a bakery (um….no – I like being home with my kiddos and I don’t really think the military would move my bakery from duty station to duty station….)

or b) Start teaching classes on HOW to make that carrot cake.

I chose option ‘b’, of course.

Option ‘b’ works well enough and is really, really FUN!! But what happens when you are stretched so thin by teaching classes and you realize that once the military moves you, your student’s will need a place to find more recipes, more classes, and more talk about food?

That’s when you start a blog.

Friends, thank you so much for following The Flying Kitchen. We have been up and running now for 2 months exactly and we have received hits from all fifty states and over twenty countries. I’m spending more time with my family than ever – and the most wondrous thing about all of this is that my family eats everything that I post on this blog. So…I’m able to do what I love to do – which is teach, write and develop recipes WHILE I’m taking care of my family, which is what I love to do most of all!

Sometimes I think that my kids get tired of me ‘fiddling around’ in the kitchen, and yes, there have been times when I have pushed the envelope once or twice, and my toddler (in protest) had to smash a few eggs to get my attention. I’ve got to hand it to her – that was not only effective, but it did stick with the whole ‘cooking’ theme – which is worthy of applause in of itself.

But then there are times when one of my kids does something so extraordinary that all I can do is stand there and blink my eyes in disbelief. Like yesterday, when my ten-year-old announced that she would like to make a “Lemon Layer Cake”. She found the recipe in a library book and proceeded to make a vanilla sponge cake – from scratch – completely on her own. She THEN pulled out my double-boiler and made lemon curd. LEMON CURD. From lemons, and egg yolks, sugar and butter. Again, totally on her own. And then a glaze to pour over the top of her layer cake. She even knew which cake pedestal she wanted to use. It was glorious. All of it.

And those are the kids of moments that make me just sit in a quiet kind of wonder and think. I ponder that this little person has never had a formal ‘lesson’ from me. She has never read my writing. She expressly picked a recipe that was not mine. And she flew.

If I can offer any advice to any mommy, it is to always follow your passion. Always. And while there may be days where you seem to get little sleep, being mommy-by-day, and graphic designer/writer/student or artist by night – those tired days will not last forever, further; they will fill your home with an energy and enthusiasm that is absolutely priceless!! Find what it is that makes your eyes pop with excitement and run – just run with it!

Or FLY!

Fly until you have reached your pinnacle, then sit on that precipice and rest, and watch the ripple effect of what you have done as it continues to radiate through every fiber of your life. And smile.

Find your passion, friends.

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Rabbit’s Envy Carrot Cake

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare two 8 or 9 inch round pans.

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3 cups grated carrots

1 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained well

1 cup pecans

1)Open can of pineapple and drain in strainer over a seperate bowl or the sink. You will want the pineapple to sit in this strainer for about 20 minutes so very little juice remains.

2) Chop the pecans very finely. Almost to a powder. Place on cookie sheet and toast in a 400 degree oven for 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally – until lightly toasted and fragrant. This is a very, very important step.

3) Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

4) cream butter, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla and eggs together. Whip until light and fluffy. Add cinnamon and nutmeg.

5) Gently add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture – taking care not to over-beat (over-beating makes a from-scratch cake dry).

6) When the flour mixture and the butter/sugar mixture and well combined, add the grated carrots, pineapple and toasted pecans. Combine gently.

Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until inside of cake is no longer gooey.

Cream Cheese Icing:

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 packages cream cheese

1 2lb bag of powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla. Add powdered sugar gradually and whip until the whole mixture is fluffy.

When the cake is cool, layer this icing in between your two cakes then frost the entire cake.

If you would like to decorate your cake with little ‘carrots’, reserve 1/2 cup of your icing and color it with orange and green food coloring.

This is what I’ll be making for our Easter dinner on Sunday! I’m really looking forward to it!

Sometimes, saying something out loud is all you need to do to start believing in yourself. So, if you would please say out loud, “My passion is _____”. Even if you are not sure if THAT is in fact, your passion. It could be one of many – that’s okay. If you would like to take an extra step toward walking the path of your passion, leave a comment telling us what your passion is! I know that putting it out there for all to see IS a bold move, but sometimes making a bold move, while scary, is just what the doctor ordered! So, what’s your passion?!?

Walk in JOY.

Bon appetit, and bonne chance in YOUR Adventures In Cookery,


Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes For An Extraordinary Day

03/27/2010 7:59:00 PM

Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes with Satiny Chocolate Buttercream. Delightful!

 We humans love a good food experience.  In fact, most of our shared pastimes are accompanied by an indelible presence of a certain and specific food.  Baseball games and hot dogs.  Carnivals and cotton candy.  Hot summer days and popsicles.  And of course, movies and popcorn.

This afternoon my husband and I took our three oldest children to the movies for the first time in four years!  We decided that a good 3-D experience (and a lovely movie about a kind-hearted boy and dragons) was enough to justify the splurge.  Of course, being that it was a very special affair, I wanted to go all-out and buy them each a bag of popcorn.  For $5.95 a piece.

I’ll say that again:  Popcorn.  Small bags of popcorn. For $5.95.  A piece. 

It occurred to me, as I pulled the twenty dollar bill out of my wallet that if I(along with millions upon millions of people) am/are  willing to pay THIS much for POPCORN…and “butter” – then there was much more about this popcorn than meets the eye.

Clearly, I knew that this popcorn was worth less than twenty cents per bag (I do calculations like that for fun) – but I still pulled out the money and handed it over.  Indeed, this popcorn was ’special’.  Why?  Because this popcorn was part of a memory-making experience for my children.  I know that they will always remember getting to go on a special date – “Just the big kids and mama and daddy” – and that they will always remember being handed a bag of popcorn that they would not have to share.

Cha-ching.

I can’t say that this didn’t leave me cringing and wincing in discomfort – and I must say that I guarded my little children (and my precious popcorn investments) like some kind of human force-field - watching for sporadic movements from the other children in our path.  One false move of an overexcited kid and $5.95 cents of popcorn would go spilling across the floor – and I (not wanting this experience to be tainted by some popcorn spilling injustice) would have no choice but to buy another.  After a heart-stopping close call with a little girl who had broken into a dead sprint and just missed my four-year-old by inches….we made it, popcorn intact.  And we all had a wonderful and memorable time.

_____________________

Food is a powerful thing.  Further, the food/event connection is a much more impressive phenomenon.  This is why people are willing to pay a 3000% mark-up for popcorn at the movie theatre.  This is also why learning how to cook is so important. 

One of the greatest things about being a cook, is that by the mere conjuring of a recipe, we can make any day into an extraordinary day.   Event-less days can be marked by a lovely bruschetta or an unforgettable soup.  A quiet evening can be transformed into an impromptu cookie party.

Even better, after a quiet moment on a Saturday morning where the day is sitting before you like an open and free landscape, you can think – what would I like to eat today?  And then – you can make it so.

As was the case this morning – as I sat drinking coffee and suddenly wanted to eat a chocolate cupcake.  Albeit, I didn’t get to eat that chocolate cupcake until this evening – but it was well worth the wait.  It was not some store bought dry and smackey cupcake that would leave me disappointed (and craving more).  It was exactly the cupcake that I wanted.  Because I can cook, I was able to create (in part) the kind of day that I wanted to have.

Sour Cream Cupcakes For An Extraordinary Day

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (Hershey’s)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 1/4 sticks) – room temperature

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

Add the sour cream and flour mixture - bit by bit - to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and stir gently.

1 1/4 sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare cupcake tins by lining the cups with cupcake papers.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Stir to mix.  Mix well.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the room-temperature butter, the sugars and the eggs.  Whip until light and fluffy. 

Add the sour cream and the flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture alternately.  Meaning: add some flour mixture and stir, then add some sour cream and stir, and so on.  From this point on stir very, very gently.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake papers.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the centers of the cupcakes are no longer jiggley and liquid.

Cool on wire rack and frost.

Satiney Chocolate Buttercream

1 stick, plus 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter – at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients and whip until smooth and satiney.

Frost cupcakes!

These are tender, creamy and  absolutely delectable!  Well worth the effort and the time.  I encourage you to try these lovely cupcakes the next time you find yourself AND your day free and uninhibited.  And that, in essence, IS an extraordinary day!

When you can cook, you can play in integral part in making ordinary days special, hallmark occasions complete, and almost any occasion memorable.  And in the end – isn’t that what matters?

In four years from now, when we go to the movies again….I will buy more popcorn.  But by then the babies will be old enough to come with us…..so I’d better start saving now. 

But it’ll be worth it, to me.

Bon appetit and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery,


My Daughter’s Jam Cookies

03/23/2010 2:33:00 PM

Simple and delightful!

 

First of all, I must say a huge THANK YOU to all who commented on this week’s giveaway.  I loved reading and responding to all of your cookie memories!  It was truly an honor to share your special ‘rememberings’ with you.

This week I’ve been working on several recipes to post, but I hit a writer’s block and I didn’t know where to begin.  So this afternoon I went for a little walk to clear my head.

When I returned I found this beautiful plate of cookies!  My oldest daughter (under the watchful eye of our babysitter) made these amazing little gems!

Wow!  I know!  They are so beautiful and my heart smiles.

Writer’s block OVER.

My Daughter’s Jam Cookies:

3 cups all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

3 Tablespoons of milk

Jam(s) of your choice.

Directions:

Preheat oven 400 degrees, F.  

Grease cookie sheet.

Mix flour and baking powder together.  Melt butter in microwave and pour into flour mix.  Add sugar and stir well.  Add eggs and milk and stir until mixed but still lumpy.

Dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough out.  Cut the dough in half, then cut those balls in half, and so on until you have 24 even sized pieces.

Shape each piece into a little ball.  Use your hand or a large spoon to flaten each ball.  Then using a small spoon, press a little well into the center of each ball.

Using the same small spoon, fill each well with a jam or jelly of your choice.  The more variety, the better!

Bake for about 10 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack, and enjoy.  My daughter recommends either apple or cranberry juice as an accompaniment.

And this, my friends, is the start of a grand tradition in my home.  I hope that one day my daughter’s children and her grandchildren will remember these cookies and share these memories with others, just as you have shared your memories with me.

Walk in JOY, friends.

Bon appetit and bonne chance in Your Adventures In Cookery,


Bailey’s Irish Cream Bread Pudding

03/15/2010 12:05:00 PM

Topped with fresh whipped cream and sitting in a shallow pool of Bailey's Irish Cream...this dessert is delightful, simple and sophisticated.

 Bread pudding is one of those desserts that has been under-rated for way too long.  But, like so many dishes that ‘use up’ leftover ingredients, it has been relegated as “peasant food”.

One thing I have found in my travels and in my studies, is that “peasant food” is THE BEST food.  Other examples of peasant food that have been transformed into world-class fare (often by sheer demand of the public) are: pizza, paella, stews, breads of all kinds, fried rice, and crepes.  Bread pudding is in good company, indeed.

Many cultures have their own version of bread pudding.  This is my ‘Americanized’ version of a traditional Irish bread pudding.  We Americans LOVE St. Patty’s day, and love making everything “Irish”.  When contemplating which kind of St. Patrick’s Day dessert to create for The Flying Kitchen, I found myself toying with the idea of making a green dessert.  You know….to make it “Irish”.  I went around and around the idea, my stomach turning all the while.  Quite simply, I just couldn’t bring myself to make a green dessert.  I couldn’t understand why I have such a adverse response to the mere thought of a GREEN dessert….until I remembered that when I was four or five years old, I drank a Shamrock Shake and promptly ‘un-drank’ it.  Ah yes.  Food memories (both good and bad), die hard.

Anyhoo – I decided that I could make this classic Irish dessert even MORE Irish by adding Bailey’s Irish Cream.  And guess what?  It’s really, really good…(and really, really IRISH).

Simple, delectable, absolutely spectacular in it’s creamy-ness (and with a punch), this bread pudding will delight you and your (adult) guests. 

Note: As you can see, I used individual pudding cups to make little single serving portions.  You can use any kind of dish that you like, large or small – provided that it is oven safe.  Most commonly, a single shallow baking dish is used.

A store-bought Italian loaf is a good choice of bread when making a bread pudding.

Ingredients:

6 cups stale or toasted bread crumbs

6 eggs

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup whole milk

1 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream

1/2 cup butter, melted

Pouring the liquid mixture over the toasted bread crumbs is the most complex step in making a bread pudding.

 

 

Directions:

If you don’t have any stale bread crumbs on hand, just slice up a bunch of bread, throw it on a cookie sheet and bake it at 400 degrees, F until toasty.  If you have a house-full of Leprechauns like me, you probably don’t have any leftover ’stale’ bread either. ;)   After bread crumbs are toasted, pour them into a large mixing bowl.

 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, F.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, milk and Irish cream.  Stir well, until thoroughly combined.

Pour the liquid mixture over the bread crumbs, and mix gently.

One tablespoon melted unsalted butter in the bottom of each cup, or pour all of the butter into your pan if you are making a single large bread pudding.

 

Prepare your individual dishes/pans by pouring a tablespoon of butter in the bottom of each one, or by pouring the whole (1/2 cup of butter) in a large pan, if using one.

Place your baking cups or pan in a “water bath”.  A “water bath” is a shallow pan of water that is used as a ‘heat cushion’ for many egg-based desserts.  You can use a cookie sheet, or a baking dish as I have done.

 

 

 

Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.  If making a large bread pudding, cooking time

Custard dishes resting in a 'water bath'. Water baths help the egg-based desserts to cook gently and evenly. I used a 9x13 inch pyrex casserole dish.

will be longer, about 30-40 minutes.  You will know when your bread pudding is done when the liquid mixture has become a springy custard.

 

 

When done, remove from the oven

If 'over turning' the pudding onto a dessert plate, run a table knife around the rim to loosen the mixture.

and let cool in the water bath for approx. 30 minutes, then chill before serving.

 

Garnish with some additional Baileys, and a dollop of Fresh Whipped Cream!!  Recipe for Fresh Whipped Cream is HERE.

 

Pour a little Bailey's over the top. Just for good measure, you know. Then top with a dollop of whipped cream!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’ll put a little spring in ‘yer step!

And that beats the heck out of a Shamrock Shake any day!

 

Bon Appetite and Bonne Chance in Your Adventures In Cookery,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Chocolate “Emergency” Cake

02/23/2010 6:02:00 PM

Never fear - Chocolate Emergency Cake is here!!

February – it’s a toughie. Here’s a quick and easy cake recipe to sooth the weary soul. Next time you’re at the store, pick up it’s few simple ingredients so you’ll be ready if a “chocolate emergency” strikes.

Here’s a from-scratch cake that requires no sifting, egg-white whipping, no troublesome pan preparation and no fretting. You can whip it up in 25 minutes start to finish, and it’s best when eaten while still warm. Very gooey, very chocolately, and very, very yummy. Chocolate therapy!! That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Shannon’s Chocolate “Emergency” Cake

Cake:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, F

Spray a 9×13 inch casserole pan with non-stick spray.

Throw these ingredients in a bowl:

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

In a medium sized saucepan, melt:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

When melted add:

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

stir well.

Add the warm chocolate mixture to the flour/sugar mixture and stir.

Next add:

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Stir until incorporated and pour into your pan.

It will just cover the bottom and look more like brownies than cake.

Bake for 15 minutes.

While it’s baking, take the same medium sized saucepan, wash it out and get ready to make the pourable icing.

Icing:

Melt in saucepan (again):

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

When melted, add:

3 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Stir well. Bring to a boil, then add:

3 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

It will look kind of like a mess when you start. Keep stirring and soon you’ll have a nice fudgey sauce. I may make this again one day and dip fruit in it. Feel free to eat it off the spatula as you go.

This is what the cake will look like when it’s finished baking.

While it’s still warm, take your icing off the heat and pour it right on the cake. All together now: “Ooooh. Ahhhhh”.

Spread it like so with a spatula.

And voila!!

Cut it up right away and serve it in paper bowls for the kids.

Serve on chipped plates for the grown-ups.

Wrap yourself up in a warm quilt, and be comforted. Nighty night!

Bon appetit and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery (and have a cozy night!),


Exceptional Red Velvet Cupcakes

02/22/2010 5:21:00 AM

I can’t deny the fact that the red food coloring in a Red Velvet Cake makes it better.  I just can’t.

For those of you who are not Red Velvet Cake aficionados like myself – Red Velvet Cake is just devil’s food cake with a heap of red food coloring in it.

Please let me expain that I’m really not a ‘red food color’ person.  I’m just not fond of colorings and additives of any kind.  But when it comes to Red Velvet Cake I must make an exception.

I also make an exception to my ‘no additives’ policy when it comes to maraschino cherries.  I love them.  End of story.

That is why I have named these little goodies ‘Exceptional Red Velvet Cupcakes’.  Not only because they are exceptions to my rules, but  because they really are EXCEPTIONAL little pieces of decadence.  I highly recommend making them for a friend who has had a hard week or been through a general rough patch as of late.  After all, don’t we all need a little ‘lift’ once in a while?

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp real vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

4 tsp red food coloring

Sift together all dry ingredients. Set aside.

 Beat butter till smooth and fluffy. Add sugar and whip till creamy. Add eggs, one at at time, stirring after every addition. Dump dry ingredients, buttermilk, vanilla extract and red food coloring into your bowl in one fell swoop. Mix gently with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.Pour into 24 prepared cupcake tins. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until done. Cool on a wire rack and frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

 Cream Cheese Frosting

 First, a word on Cream Cheese Frosting and Red Velvet Cake-

Cream Cheese Frosting is really one of the best frostings on Earth. I have heard it said that the best thing about a Red Velvet Cake is in fact, that it is a vehicle for Cream Cheese Frosting. For people who decrease the amount of cocoa in the cake recipe in order to achieve a startling red color, this claim must be true (a true Red Velvet Cake should be a deep burgundy, not a startling Red).  However, my cake recipe is really very good and wonderful and chocolaty, so the Cream Cheese Frosting is really the perfect partner to it, and doesn’t overshadow it in any way.

1 pack Philly Cream Cheese

1 stick unsalted butter

4 cups powdered sugar 

1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

Frost the cupcakes and top each with a cherry. DIVINE!

*TIP* Before placing the cherries on the cupcakes, be sure to dry the cherries thoroughly and let them sit on paper towels for about 20 minutes to absorb any excess ‘cherry juice’. 

Good friends are exceptional treasures, and empathy is the crowning jewel of any friendship.  Make some of these for someone you know who might need a pick-me-up!

Bon appetit and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery,


“Country Girl In Prada”

02/10/2010 2:31:00 PM

Moist, decadent, chic and EASY. Chocolate Buttermilk Cake With Grand Marnier - Infused Buttercream

 

Here is an “old-meets-new”….a “simple and wholesome with a shot of liquor” or, as I like to officially call it:  ”A Country Girl In Prada”.

This is my newest creation; The Buttermilk Chocolate Cake w/ Grand Marnier-Infused Buttercream.

Grand Marnier is an orange flavored liquor. I really, really like Grand Marnier.  It’s pretty spendy, but one bottle will last you a year.  I add it to all kinds of desserts and drinks. In fact, I’ll probably have a “Grand Marnier” category at The Flying Kitchen soon.

This cake is moist, decadent, chic andEASY.

The perfect choice for an elegant birthday celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

2 cups flour, sifted

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/4 cup unsalted butter (2 1/2 sticks)

1 3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350, F.
Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder.  Stir gently.  Sift.
 In your mixer bowl, or using a hand mixer – cream butter until smooth.  Add sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Now you have two bowls.  A bowl of flour and stuff, and a bowl of butter, sugar and eggs.
Measure out your buttermilk. 
Take a big scoop of the flour mixture and throw it into the butter mixture.  Add about 1/3 of the buttermilk and stir gently to combine.  Repeat until all of the flour and buttermilk are gone.  Be sure to mix your batter very gently from this point on.  Over-mixing the batter will make your cake tough and dry.
Pour batter into 2 9-inch, prepared cake pans.   Bake in pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes.
 
Grand Marnier – Infused Buttercream Icing
1  2lb bag of powdered sugar
1 lb butter, softened
1/4 cup Grand Marnier liquor
Combine all ingredients and whip until smooth.
Fill, stack and ice your cake and give it to YOUR favorite “country girl in Prada”!
Bon appetit and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery,

Blackberry Scones With Caramel Glaze

02/8/2010 4:10:00 AM

 

Brighten someone's day with a fresh baked, fragrant scone!

Scones, glorious scones!

A scone is a British classic, and is very much like our American buttermilk biscuits – light, fluffy, hearty and delicious.  Scones are sweet – but not as sweet as a cinnamon roll or a doughnut.

Scones have become very popular here in the U.S., thanks to our burgeoning branded coffee shops.  They are thick and satisfying and make the perfect accompaniment to your morning cappuccino or latte.  What I bet you don’t know is that scones are very easy to make and VERY frugal.  Whip up a batch and see for yourself!  Better yet, share them with your friends and save everyone a buck or two (or $3.75 – to be exact!).

Ingredients:

Scones -

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, right out of the fridge (none of this ‘room temp’ business!)

2 cups buttermilk 

Glaze- 

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbs butter

2 Tbs milk 

Preheat the oven to 350.

Sift the flour, then measure out 3 1/2 cups. Add salt and baking powder then sift the whole mixture. This is very important, as it keeps the flour clump-free, light and airy!!

Throw in your brown sugar.

Take the cold butter and cut it into small chunks. Throw the chunks of butter into the flour mixture. Now, get both your hands in there and squish the butter chunks around, till they break up, and you have a mixture of lumpy flour. Make sure not to over-do this part. You really want some lumps in there. Trust me.

Now that you have a lumpy flour mess, add the buttermilk little-by-little, and mix with a wooden spoon. Don’t over mix. Once you add in all your buttermilk, your mixture is still going to be a little goopy. That’s okay.

Throw some flour down on your counter top, and turn your scone batter out on it. Throw some more flour on top of your batter, and just pat it down with your hands, and shape it out till you get a rectangle. 

Now, take a knife and cut a big ‘zig zag‘ through your dough so you get some big triangle shapes.

Here’s the fun part:

Take a few lumps of brown sugar and stick them in the dough. Yup. You know, those clumps of brown sugar that you sneak a taste of, now and then.

Now take some frozen blackberries and stick a few in each scone.

Carefully move your scones to a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them.

Here is how you make the glaze:

Get a saucepan and throw the brown sugar and butter in it. Melt the butter and sugar on medium. Stir frequently. You’ll get a thick paste. Next, add some milk. Stir until combined and smooth.

And that’s it!

Once your scones cool a bit, drizzle some glaze over the top of them. You could also use a pastry brush to brush glaze on them. Either way, it’s delightful.

Bon appetit, and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery,


Your Great-Great Grandmother’s Pie Crust Recipe

02/1/2010 7:36:00 PM

Making pie crust is one of those culinary endeavours that is seen as scary, intimidating, and quite impossible.
That reminds me….
Remember “impossible pie”?  Where “they”, said that making pie crust was SO hard that we needed to pollute our food with some quick baking mix in order to achieve something…um…sort of …like pie crust.
Now, I don’t think anyone ever really loved ‘impossible pie’, but you see…if the box said that pie crust was hard, and that buying their product would make this toil and drudgery of making a pie for our family just a wee bit easier, then who were we to argue?  After all, it WAS in print.  And, well, you know…if ‘they’ put it in print, then ‘they’ must know what they are talking about.  Right?
I am here to tell you the truth.  The TRUTH about pie crust…(enter superhero music) DA-DA-DA-DAAAAA!!
Pie crust is easy.  E-A-S-Y.  You know, like ‘easy as pie’. 
Pie was the vehicle in which our great-great-great grandmothers, and THEIR great-great-great grandmothers made ends meet.  They would take all the leftover bits of whatever they had…and make a pie.
Chicken pies, beef pies, pork pies, cheese pies, mince pies, custard pies, ham and egg pies (quiche if your great granny was french), berry pies, apple pies, peach pies, lemon pies, sweet potato pies, pumpkin pies, pecan pies, peanut pies, vanilla custard pies, chocolate cream pies, banana cream pies, coconut cream pies….
Gasp, gasp, gasp, gasp.  Someone get me a paper bag.

"Cutting" Simultaneously draw each knife back, then rotate the bowl, and repeat. The world's first food processor!

This recipe is at least 70 years old, and uses a technique called ‘cutting’, wherein you use two knives, holding one in each hand and simultaneously slice the butter in opposite directions. The world’s first food processor!!
First though, let’s talk about the ingredients.  You will notice on the list of fine ingredients below that there is NO SHORTENING.  Let me tell you right now that I am on a mission to rid your food of shortening, also-known-as PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS.  We don’t eat it in my house, and I recommend that you rid your house of it too.
**More on disgusting hydrogenated oils in  future posts.**
This is an all-butter crust.  Very yummy.  Some would argue that without shortening, the crust won’t be crisp enough.  Maybe so.  BUT you are better off using lard.  Really.  Lard is better for you than shortening.
Okay, I’m going to calm down now.  I realize that I can’t save the world from hydrogenated oils in this one post so I’m going to have  sip of tea (pause), and take a deep breath (pause).
Let’s continue.
Here are your lovely ingredients:
1 ½ cups flour

¾ tsp salt

1 Tbs sugar

3 Tbs of ice water...

½ cup butter, chilled

3 Tbs ice water.

And now, the directions:

Mix dry ingredients. Place butter in the middle of flour mixture and “cut” butter with two knives until the butter is cut to the size of small pebbles. Add 3 Tbs ice cold water. Working quickly, mix the dough with your fingers, squishing the butter between your thumb and fingers until it resembles a big mess.

Turn the mess out on your work-surface and mold and mix. Shape your dough into a small disk, approx. 3 inches in diameter. Chill for 1-12 hours.

Gently mold into a disk...

When you are ready to roll out your dough, take your disc out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. This will soften it enough to be able to roll it out.  If it’s still really stiff – just zap it in the microwave for 10 seconds.  There ya go.

Put your disk of dough on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle some flour on top of the dough,  and roll gently with a rolling pin.  A lot of us have seen people working with dough, and we automatically assume that dough must be beat into submission by kneading and folding, and kneading and folding.  That’s a different kind of dough.  Be very gentle with pie crust, and pastry of all kinds (for that matter). 

The way to transport your pie crust....

Here’s a nifty little tip for ya:  When you go to move your pie crust FROM your work surface TO your pie pan, fold it up into fourths (thus increasing the thickness, and decreasing the surface area), lift it to your pan, and position the ‘point’ of your folded crust directly on the center of the pan.
And that is how our great-great-great grandmothers did it.  And if they could do it in the middle of the wilderness with a dozen children (and no babygates), a wood burning stove, with wild animals running around, and no e-mail…then you can too!
Bon appetit, and bonne chance in your Adventures In Cookery,