Cake Donuts

Cake Donuts - made January 18, 2010 from Bread for Breakfast

I hardly ever make doughnuts. I have nothing against them and they're generally not hard to make but they usually call for more time than I normally have. But Hildy was talking about doughnuts on Facebook yesterday and I had today off so suddenly I wanted a doughnut and had the time to make them. I never actually drive to go get doughnuts - while I'll eat them when they're in front of me, I don't love them enough to make an effort to go somewhere to get them. The first time I ever had a Krispy Kreme doughnut was when I walked by one in a Las Vegas casino and decided to see what all the fuss was about. Beyond that I never actually go to my neighborhood Krispy Kreme for a doughnut.

My earliest childhood memory of doughnut making was my mom taking the tube can of Pillsbury biscuits, cutting out the center with a small circular cookie cutter and deep frying the biscuit dough. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and you had instant doughnuts. My taste buds have matured (and become snobbier) since then but as a kid, I remember them being pretty good.

I've had this recipe typed up for awhile. What I do with my 200+ baking books is go through them, mark which ones I want to try and type them up in a Word doc so I have a soft copy that I can add pictures to as well as my notes of when I made the recipe, what I thought of it and what I would do differently next time. Whenever I have some time and when I'm in the mood, I type up all the recipes I want to try. I have file folders with the names of the recipe books and as soon as I try a recipe, I insert a picture that I took of the finished product into the recipe itself then file the Word doc in the file folder with the name of the cookbook I got it from. For the recipes I've typed up but haven't made yet, I file in a folder labeled (rightly enough) "Still Need to Make". That file folder has dozens of recipes and I can type them up faster than I can make them. Whenever I'm in the mood to bake and want to try something new, I check that file folder first to see what's appealing. So I was glad to finally get a chance to make this recipe since I typed it up several years ago and it's just been sitting in that folder.

The dough itself was easy to put together this morning. I did the substitions the recipe said were acceptable and used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour as well as half brown sugar and half granulated sugar. The recipe calls for chilling the dough for a couple of hours so it won't absorb too much oil when fried. I actually chilled it for longer than that because I was doing other stuff when the 2 hours were up. In any case, I found this dough really soft to work with. It wasn't even possible to knead it without adding too much flour, something the recipe cautions against. Given how soft the dough was, I didn't even bother with a rolling pin but floured a cutting board, grabbed a chunk of the dough and flattened it out with floured palms. I floured two round cookie cutters and cut out the doughnuts and doughnut holes. Because the dough was so soft, it was hard to unstick the cut out dough from the cookie cutter and still retain its round shape.

While I was dealing with the dough, I had the oil heating up in a large pot. When you fry doughnuts or anything similar, the temperature of your oil is critical. Too hot and it'll burn the outside while leaving the inside raw. Not hot enough and your doughnut (or whatever) will absorb too much oil while it's frying and take too long to cook. Also, be aware that the temperature of your oil will change - the more you add to be fried, the lower the temp goes. Don't add too many without waiting for the oil to heat back up. Don't overcrowd the doughnuts and it's best to add several at once so they get done around the same time and you don't have to worry about which one has been in the longest and needs to come out first. Just because your frying pan is big doesn't mean you have to cover every inch with something to be fried.
As an aside, while I was frying the doughnuts, I couldn't help thinking of the book "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Almanzo came in from doing his chores and his mother was frying doughnuts. She'd twist them, drop them in the hot oil (or fat/lard) and they'd rise to the top, turning over to cook on both sides without her "wasting time" turning them. I'd always found that fascinating and always pictured it in my mind's eye. Almanzo's mother didn't hold with the new-fangled concept of a round doughnut that didn't turn itself.

Anyway, back to these doughnuts. I made the cinnamon sugar for them, put it in a ziploc bag (since I didn't have a lunch bag) and dropped the newly fried doughnuts into the bag to shake and give them the cinnamon sugar coating. I have mixed feelings about the end results of this recipe. Because the dough was so fragile and difficult to work with, the fried doughnuts also didn't have much substance to them. I'm used to cake doughnuts being like the ones you buy in the store like the Entemann's brand - these were not as dense or cakey as those. They also weren't light like yeasted doughnuts but some cross inbetween. The cinnamon sugar coating was a mistake because it totally overwhelmed the doughnuts and you just got crunch with cinnamon sugar. I also tried a doughnut hole without the coating and it was better. The outer part was crunchy which was good. The inner part was somewhat cakey although the outer layer of the inner part (just beneath the crunchy exterior), while not greasy, looked like it had absorbed some oil. The flavor actually wasn't bad but these doughnuts tasted better cool or room temperature rather than warm. Not sure I'd make these again. If I had to eat something fried, I'd rather have zeppoles.

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (can be half whole wheat flour)
1 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or cardamom
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 large whole egg plus 2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar (can be half light brown sugar, which is especially good if you are making whole wheat donuts)
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup cultured buttermilk
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
About 1 quart vegetable oil, for deep frying

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the all-purpose and cake flours, baking powder, vanilla powder, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt
2. In the workbowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer, cream the egg, yolks, and sugar on low speed until thick and lemon colored, about 1 minute. Add the melted butter and sour cream and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. On low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 separate additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla extract. The dough will be very soft. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours. This chilling before frying prevents the dough from absorbing too much oil while the donuts cook.
3. Using a large rubber spatula or a plastic dough card, scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead a few times, like for biscuit dough, just until it holds together, and keeping it as soft as possible. With a rolling pin, quickly roll out the dough to a thickness of ½ inch (the donuts will puff during frying). Do not add too much flour or over-handle at this point or the donuts will be tough. Using a 2 ¾” donut cutter or two smooth-edged biscuit cutters, one large and one small (to make the hole) dipped in flour, cut out the donuts.
4. In a deep heavy 4-quart Dutch oven, wok or portable electric deep-fat fryer, pour the vegetable oil to a depth of 2 inches. Using a deep-fry thermometer, heat to 375°F (I do this while I am rolling and cutting out the donuts so that the dough does not warm up). Place a clean brown paper bag or a few layers of paper towels on a baking sheet at the side of the stove for draining the donuts. Carefully test the oil by dropping in a leftover scrap of dough; the oil is hot enough when it puffs immediately. Carefully slide 2 or 3 pieces of dough (don’t forget the holes) off a metal pancake turner into the hot oil. It is important not to crowd them. Turn a few times with a large slotted metal spoon when the donut rises to the surface; cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side (1 minute for the holes). Remove with the slotted spoon to drain, and cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Glaze

Enough for 21 cake donuts

1 ½ ounces (1 ½ squares) unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of powdered espresso powder or instant coffee granules
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon boiling water

1. In the top of a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter over simmering water
2. In a small bowl, place the confectioners’ sugar and coffee. Pour in the melted chocolate and vanilla. Using a whisk, beat well until smooth. Adjust the consistency of the glaze by adding boiling water a few drops at a time, just enough to keep the glaze spreadable.
3. Using a small metal spatula, spread the glaze on the top of each donut, letting some run down the sides. Let stand until cool and the glaze harden.

Cinnamon Sugar

Enough for 1 bunch of cake donuts

1 cup granulated sugar
2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, or to taste

1. Place the sugar and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process for 15 seconds.
2. Pour the cinnamon-sugar into a clean brown paper bag (a lunch sack is great). Drain the fried donuts for 1 minute, and then, while still warm, place one at a time while still warm in the paper bag and gently shake to coat with the mixture. Remove from the bag and cool.

Lemon and Parmesan Risotto

Lemon and Parmesan Risotto - made January 18, 2010 from Modern Classics Book 1 by Donna Hay

I love risotto (Asian --> rice = 'nuff said). I love it even more that it's relatively simple to make and even I can make good risotto. I got this recipe from Patricia, a friend of mine from eBay who introduced me to Donna Hay's cookbooks. I haven't made a lot from her books but the directions are pretty easy and there aren't a lot of ingredients to most of them, once again bringing this into my realm of possibility to make.

With this recipe, I find patience is the key. You have to add the chicken stock (I used Trader Joe's chicken broth) a cup at a time and wait until the rice absorbs most of it before adding the next cup. Don't cheat this step as the rice needs time to cook and absorb the liquid and you want to dry it out enough before adding the next cup or you'll end up with either rice porridge instead of risotto or clumpy risotto. This is a perfect dish to make when you're multi-tasking. Add the cup of broth, give it a few stirs and keep doing whatever else you need to do. Check it regularly and you'll know when to add the next cup of broth. I usually wait until the risotto is about the consistency I'd want to eat it before I add more broth.

I only used half an onion for this batch since I'm not overly fond of onions (although I will eat them in the risotto since they end up being the same consistency and texture as the rice) and added chunks of chicken breasts for protein. I added the raw chicken at the step when you stir the rice into the butter-olive oil-onion mixture and let it cook a bit with the rice before adding the first cup of chicken broth. The recipe says it serves 4 but that means pretty generous servings for 4 people. I'd estimate 6-8 servings is closer to reality.

20 g (¾ oz) butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 ½ cups (2 ¼ pints) chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups Arborio or other risotto rice
3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
20 g (¾ oz) butter, extra
Sea salt and cracked black pepper

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter, oil and onion and cook for 6-8 minutes or until soft and golden. Place the stock in a separate saucepan. Cover and bring to a slow simmer.
2. Add the rice and lemon rind to the onion mixture, stirring over medium heat for 2 minutes or until the rice is translucent.
3. Add the hot stock 1 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until each cup of stock is absorbed and the rice is al dente (around 25-30 minutes). To serve, stir through the parmesan, extra butter, salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Serves 4



 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Scones

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Scones - made January 17, 2010 from the May 2002 issue of Chocolatier Magazine

Scones are pretty easy to make. I whipped up this batch this morning before church, chilled them and then baked them while I was working out. Most scone recipes call for patting the scone dough into a disk and cutting into wedges. I usually cheat that step and use my mini scone pan. No messing around with the dough and I can make uniform sizes. It also means I bake it for a slightly shorter amount of time since the scone pan makes smaller scones. It was hard to tell when these were done. I tried the toothpick test but I still wasn't sure so I took them out after almost 20 minutes and that seemed to be about right.

These scones turned out cakey which I hadn't quite expected but it makes sense given the amount of baking powder the recipe calls for. It's also not very sweet at all (note there's no sugar in the actual scone dough itself). I didn't have coarse sugar to sprinkle on top but I should have as that's probably where the sweetness would come from to offset the chocolate flavor of the scone. The chocolate chips helped to give it some sweetness though. These are probably best eaten fresh out of the oven as the top was crisp and the scone was cakey rather than flaky. I tried one and it was good but packaged up the rest for the freezer to portion out at a later date. Those I will likely want to heat up before consuming as they'll probably taste better than being chilled or at room temperature.

Scones
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces Lindt bittersweet chocolate, cut into ¼” pieces

Topping
Coarse sugar

1. In bowl of food processor, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Pulse until well blended. Add butter chunks and process for a few seconds, just until butter is size of peas. Transfer mixture to large bowl and stir in sugar.
2. In small bowl, whisk together heavy cream, eggs, and vanilla extract. Pour cream mixture over dry ingredients, add chopped chocolate, and stir to form dough. Knead dough lightly in bowl about 10 times.
3. Scrape dough onto lightly floured work surface and shape into 7 ½” round disc. Transfer round to plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
4. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375˚F. Remove dough from refrigerator and cut round into 8 wedges. Transfer scones to ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle tops with coarse sugar. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until set. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

Lemon Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake

Lemon Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake - made January 16, 2010 from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

I think this is the 5th recipe I've tried from this baking book and it's another winner. I have several recipe books published by bakeries and some of them are hit or miss on how good the recipes really are (or not). But I need to look up where The Sweet Melissa Bakery is so I can visit it someday because so far her cookbook has been spectacular. It's rivaling the baking books from Magnolia Bakery and Buttercup Bake Shop in terms of consistently good recipes and, having visited both Magnolia and Buttercup in Manhattan, I love those two bakeries. I may also love the Sweet Melissa Bakery if her recipes keep turning out so well.

While this recipe has "walnut" in the title, your eyes aren't deceiving you that there aren't any walnuts in the picture. There aren't any because I generally don't like nuts in cakes and I specifically don't like walnuts at all. But this was fine without them. The recipe calls for baking the pound cake in a single large loaf pan but I made it in 3 small loaf pans. I like using the smaller sizes because they bake faster and it's nicer to present and give away to several different people as a single small loaf than a large loaf cut into pieces. Just don't forget to adjust the baking time. I baked the small loaf pans in about 40-45 minutes. This one's mostly for my parents, except for the one I had to cut for the taste test. This has a perfectly balanced lemon flavor, is moist without being too dense and has a perfect pound cake texture with a tender crumb. I should know because I ate a second taste test piece just to be sure :).

Lemon Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake

For the cake
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup vegetable shortening
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup sour cream
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

For the glaze:
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup fresh lemon juice

1. Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter and flour a 1 ½-quart loaf pan.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, shortening, sugar and zest, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice, almond extract, and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter in two batches, alternating with the sour cream. Do not overmix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Gently fold in the walnuts, saving some to sprinkle on top.
4. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before inverting onto a rack for glazing.
5. For the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and lemon juice and heat to a high simmer. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, or until reduced by half.
6. Using a pastry brush, brush the hot glaze on the still-warm unmolded cake. Brush again, if desired, after 15 minutes. Let cool before slicing.

General Pao's Chicken

General Pao's Chicken - made 1.16.10, from The Most Decadent Diet Ever by Devin Alexander

Let's call this the dish where I set a kitchen towel on fire. Naturally I didn't mean to and I've been using a gas stove without incident for years. Usually to fry scrambled eggs or melt chocolate in a double boiler. This time around I was using my wok and was holding the steel handle with a kitchen towel so I wouldn't burn my hand. And, you guessed it, wasn't that careful about where the ends of the towel were so next thing I know, a small flame was licking at the raggedy ends. Oops. Fortunately I caught it quickly and shook it out, no harm done. Heck, the smoke alarm didn't even go off so, really, I've had worse incidents.

This is another recipe where the mise en place is important. I had the chicken breasts cut up and had to put the sauce ingredients together. Then cut the onions and bell pepper last. Slicing onions is a PITA. I'm sure there are all sorts of tricks to prevent your eyes from tearing up and weeping like a soap opera queen but I've never bothered to learn any of them. Other than cutting as fast as I can so I can stop crying. After the onion, the bell pepper was a piece of cake.

Things didn't go that great with this recipe and for that I'm going to blame my wok. I have a Calphalon one bought from who knows when (also from one of my previous attempts to learn how to cook). It's not nonstick and the recipe didn't call for that much oil so I didn't use much. It wasn't so bad when I was just stir frying the onion and bell pepper but when I took those out, added a little more sesame oil to the wok and tried to fry the cornstarch-coated chicken pieces, it was near-disastrous. The chicken stuck to the wok, no matter how much I kept trying to stir it around and whatever coating was supposed to be on the chicken ended up on the bottom of the wok. Undeterred, I kept on with the recipe anyway, added the onion and bell pepper back in and poured the sauce over it. It obligingly thickened up like it was supposed to and except for the bottom of the wok that I just knew I had to scrub later, this seemed to turn out all right. Or it would have if I actually liked or ate onion and bell pepper. Why make it with them if I don't eat them? Well, that's what the recipe called for and I wanted to see what it tasted like as written. It turned out fine but didn't have much sauce (probably ended up stuck to the bottom of the wok like everything else). Next time I'm going to make it without the onion and bell pepper and just make it a nice chicken stir-fry. As soon as I get a better wok.

1 ¼ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, visible fat removed
3 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1/3 cup 98% fat-free or fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sherry
1 ½ teaspoons hoisin sauce
1 ½ teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1 teaspoons finely chopped dried red chilies, or to taste
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, divided
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup 1-inch onion squares
1/3 cup chopped whole green onions

1. Place the chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper on a flat work surface. Use the flat side of a meat mallet to pound them to an even 1/3-inch thickness. Cut the breasts into ¾-inch strips. Transfer to a medium bowl and add 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Toss to coat well. Let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the remaining cornstarch and the broth, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, sherry, hoisin sauce, ginger, garlic, and chiles in a medium bowl until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is well combined.
3. Place a large nonstick wok or stir-fry pan over high heat. When the wok is hot, put in 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Add the bell pepper and white onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until the veggies are crisp-tender, but not yet browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove them from the wok and set aside.
4. Put in the remaining teaspoon of sesame oil and the chicken in a single layer. When the chicken is lightly browned on one side, after about 2 minutes, flip it and let the other side brown lightly. Then continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink inside. Return the bell pepper and onions to the pan and then add the sauce. Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture constantly until the sauce thickens just enough to stick to the chicken and a little bit remains in the wok. Transfer the chicken and vegetables to a serving platter and top with the green onions. Serve immediately.

Serves 5

Sesame Chicken

Sesame Chicken - January 13, 2010

Two weeks into the new year and I haven't set off the smoke alarm yet with my cooking efforts - progress! This recipe harkens back to my early undergrad days at UC Davis (before I transferred to Berkeley) and comes from my cousin Christine (back in the days before I was snipped off that branch of the family tree, lol). It's really easy to make but in the past, I've botched this one up too. This time I made some simple modifications and, buoyed by the moderate success of my recent cooking experiences, I didn't find it that intimidating to make. It's not gourmet cooking but if you want a little flavor for some chicken, it's good enough.

The original recipe calls for chicken thighs but I substituted 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts that I pounded and cut into 4 thin pieces ala the Chicken Piccata. It also calls for dipping the chicken in flour, then egg, then flour then egg again to give it a good coating that fries up crisp - at least that's how I remember Christine making it. I skipped all that and just did a light coating in flour, also like the Chicken Piccata. I also skipped the oil and fried the chicken in a couple of teaspoons of light butter.

I did keep the sauce recipe exactly the same and once the chicken was fried, I poured the sauce over it, put in the oven and baked for 30 minutes. It came out tender. The flavor wasn't as good as I remember but this was also way back in my college days so I'm sure my taste buds have changed. But still, it's good enough for lunches for the rest of the week and I'm glad I made the modifications I did because my taste for fried, breaded food has also abated.

Sesame Chicken

Package of chicken thighs
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup sugar
1/8 cup sherry

1. Double dip chicken in egg then flour. Fry until golden brown.
2. Place chicken in foil-lined, shallow pan.
3. Mix soy sauce, sugar and sherry in a bowl. Pour over chicken.
4. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes in a preheated 350˚F oven.

ETA: this is a bit saltier than I remember it being. You might want to either substitute some of the soy sauce for sherry or add a bit more water.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini - made January 10, 2010

When I was an undergrad at UC Berkeley, I lived at Asher House which was a house for Christian Science students at Cal and neighboring schools. Asher was a co-op, meaning the students who lived there took turns with house duties such as cleaning the common areas, grocery shopping and cooking for the house. One of my housemates, Amber, made this Chicken Tetrazzini recipe. Being pasta and chicken in a rich sauce, it was a good dinner to serve to starving college students on a budget. I don't know where Amber got the original recipe from but I modified it for my purposes today. I substituted fat-free half-and-half for the whipping cream and omitted the mushrooms since I don't like mushrooms. I used grated/shredded Parmesan cheese (the real kind, not the kind in the green cylinder that sprinkles Parmesan cheese dust). I cheated on the chicken and used the already cooked, grilled chicken breast strips from Costco. Much easier than starting with raw chicken breasts, pounding them, cutting them and frying them myself. Maybe next time.

Because of the substitution of the half-and-half for the whipping cream, the sauce isn't as thick or rich as I remember Amber's version to be but this probably still has a fair number of calories to it. I also didn't bake it as long as the recipe calls for as I don't like the top layer of noodles to get too crusty or hard. BTW, does anyone know the difference between tetrazzini and alfredo sauce? They both have the same type of ingredients in it: chicken broth, cream, cheese and flour as a thickener so they seem pretty much the same to me.

Chicken Tetrazzini

¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
1 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper
1 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons white wine or sherry
7 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
⅓ cup sliced mushrooms
¾ cup Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt butter in large pan. Add flour and stir.
2. Blend broth well; add cream. Heat to boiling. Boil and stir 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste, wine, mushrooms and ½ cup Parmesan cheese.
3. Cook slowly for 5 minutes. Pour sauce in casserole dish mixed with chicken and spaghetti. Top with ¼ cup Parmesan cheese and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Banana Apple Bread

Banana Apple Bread - January 10, 2010

I should probably stop pretending that I'm on baking hiatus in January since this is the second time I've broken it. But I had a good excuse - I mean reason - this time. Every Sunday I go to church and meet my parents for lunch and I usually bring them something I've baked. Last Sunday, being dutifully on baking hiatus, I hadn't brought anything so I was caught off guard when my dad said, "no cookies?" Now, he was fine that I hadn't made anything, especially since they still had some of the orange pound cake I'd made them for New Year's. But I don't like not having something if he expected something. I wasn't going to get caught flat-footed again.

Baking for my parents can be a tricky proposition. They don't like anything too sweet (that lets out caramel-related baked goods as well as a major portion of what I make) and they're not especially fond of chocolate baked goods (they'll enjoy a box of Godiva chocolates but chocolate chip cookies or brownies? Not so much). So I normally go for something like lemon bars, orange cake, banana bread, snickerdoodles and/or white chocolate macadamia coconut cookies. This time around, I decided to try this recipe for Banana Apple Bread from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy. I'd made a few recipes from her book already and they had all turned out pretty well. This recipe was no exception.

It takes a little more prep than the average banana bread recipe since you had to chop up the apples and caramelize them, squeeze the orange juice and mash the bananas. But even that wasn't too hard or time consuming. I managed to get this made up before church this morning and had it baking while I worked out. I made them into 4 mini loaves instead of 1 big loaf so they baked in about 40 minutes (my workout was 36 minutes long so that worked out well). Normally I'm not a big fan of mixing fruit flavors but I actually liked the chunks of apples in the banana bread. The texture was soft and moist and it's something a little different from the norm.

Mom's Banana Apple Bread from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

For the apples
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ½” pieces
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Banana Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoon (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
¼ cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups very ripe mashed bananas (2 to 3)

1. Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350˚F. Lightly butter and flour a 1 ½-quart loaf pan.
2. To make the apples: Preheat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and brown sugar and heat until bubbling. Add the apples and cinnamon and sauté until golden and tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
3. To make the banana bread: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. In a small bowl, combine the orange juice and vanilla.
6. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternating with the orange juice mixture, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each flour addition. Stir in the mashed bananas until combined. Then stir in the reserved apples.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool further.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. The banana bread keeps well wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage, freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Defrost still wrapped at room temperate.

Skinny Scampi

Skinny Scampi - made January 6, 2010 from The Most Decadent Diet Ever by Devin Alexander

I love shrimp so I was predisposed to like this dish even just by reading the recipe. And it didn't disappoint. Ironically, I don't usually eat scampi just because of the high butter content and I normally prefer butter in baked goods or on a warm piece of bread rather than on something savory like shrimp or lobster. But the recipe seemed really easy to make and it was. The important thing is to prep your ingredients and that was probably the most time-consuming part. I'm actually an expert at peeling and deveining shrimp since that was one of the few things I could do to help my mom when she cooked so that was no big deal. But I'm certainly not fast at it. Although the recipe says to leave the tails on, I took them off while I was peeling the shrimp. I was peeling them anyway and my hands were already messy so why not? I don't like having to take the tails off of cooked shrimp while I'm eating them - it only slows me down :).

Once you turn the pan on, putting together this dish goes really, really fast so it's important to have your mise en place fully ready. I had bought a wine opener (the good kind since I doubted my strength in yanking a cork out of a bottle with just a corkscrew) so I had the white wine ready and I used the last of my mom's organic lemons to squeeze the lemon juice. Cooking the shrimp and putting together the sauce took almost no time and you end up with a delicious dish. This is another entree I could serve up to company as well as eat without rice - for you low carbers, this easily goes on a salad for a healthy, low-calorie meal.

So far, this cookbook has been a really good investment. I know of a few people who already have it and have recommended other recipes in the book for me to try. I've had a couple of people also tell me they're going to buy the book based on what I've posted so I'm very pleased about that. Definitely don't just rely on what I'm posting as there are many other recipes in the book that look good as well. I doubt I'll be able to try them all or blog about all of them so don't miss out.

Skinny Scampi

1 ¼ pounds medium (31-40 count) shrimp, peeled (tails left on) and deveined
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Black pepper
6 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 ½ tablespoons)
¼ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons light butter (stick, not tub)
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1. Toss the shrimp with the olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste in a medium bowl.
2. Place a large nonstick skillet over high heat. When the skillet is hot, put in half of the shrimp. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they are just pink on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes. Add half of the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until the shrimp are lightly browned on the outside and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a platter and cover to keep hot. Repeat with the remaining shrimp and garlic. Add them to the platter and cover.
3. Add the wine and lemon juice to the pan. When the liquid is reduced by half, 1 to 2 minutes, turn the heat to low and add the butter and 1 tablespoon parsley. Use a wooden spoon to stir until the butter is melted completely, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Spoon the sauce over the shrimp and toss well, then garnish with the remaining parsley. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Baby Brownies aka Dulce de Leche Brownies

Baby Brownies - made January 5, 2010, from The Silver Palate Basics Cookbook

Okay, so I wasn't going to be baking in January. Too many people "dieting" or having new year's resolutions to eat healthier and cut out sweets. Or so I thought. I underestimated the fact that I work mostly with men who don't care so much about that kind of stuff. I had a few people ask me if I'd made anything or what I was baking lately. Hey, I can take a hint. Plus I had meetings today where I normally bring something and I would've hated to disappoint anyone if they expected it and I showed up empty handed. And actually, let's face it - I'm weak. Despite burning out on baking over the holidays, after a 5-day hiatus from it, I suddenly didn't seem to mind baking again. Maybe I just needed a respite from cooking, lol.

This recipe was given to me by Jim, one of the VPs I work with. Jim made them last month and gave our group some so I knew ahead of time they were good. So it wasn't like I needed to make them myself, right? Apparently, I'm also a control freak and I wanted to try the recipe for myself. When Jim had us try this the first time, I had an end piece and a middle piece. I always like the middles because they're the most moist. I ate the middle piece first and it was just all yummy, fudgy, chocolatey goodness. When I ate the end piece, it was good too and still moist but not as moist as the middle piece and before I even looked at the recipe, I guessed there was chocolate syrup in it. And I was right. At the time, the only chocolate syrup I knew of was the Hershey's brand and Jim said he used the Hershey's Special Dark syrup. I'm more of a hot fudge person myself and the syrup didn't detract from the brownies and likely helped them be so moist and fudgy. But I wondered if I could make them so that you can't really taste the syrup.

I wanted to know if there were more high end chocolate syrups out there beyond Hershey's and, at Jim's suggestion, I posted that question on Yahoo! Answers. Someone replied and suggested Trader Joe's Midnight Moo chocolate syrup. Okay, c'mon, for that name alone, you have to try it. So I bought a bottle and that's what I used to make the brownie batter. However, being me, I also put my own spin on it. I still had almost half a jar of dulce de leche from the Fantasy Bars I'd made a few weeks ago so I covered the bottom of the baking pan with half the brownie batter, dropped dollops of the dulce de leche over it then covered it all with the remaining brownie batter. I didn't swirl the dulce de leche in or try to spread it thin. I wanted it completely covered because if you bake it with the dulce de leche exposed, the dulce de leche bubbles up during baking and will become chewy when it cools. I don't want chewy, I wanted creamy and for that, the dulce de leche has to be covered and sandwiched within the brownie.

Just stare at the picture. Can you see how fudgy and moist it is? There are no chemical leaveners in the recipe (no baking powder or baking soda) and you don't beat a lot of air into it so it's just a rich, moist, fudgy brownie - perfect. The dulce de leche adds a sweet, caramel-like flavor and even more moistness to it so don't underbake it by too much. I turned off the oven after 30 minutes then let the baking pan sit in there for another 5 minutes before I took it out. As the recipe says, cut these into small pieces as they're pretty rich.

Here's the recipe:

http://www.stillwatersgroup.com/recipes/baby_brownies.htm

Just add the dulce de leche on your own if you wish but it's certainly excellent without it too.