Potato Refrigerator Rolls

Potato Refrigerator Rolls - made January 19. 2011 from Betty Crocker's All-Time Favorites (book #40)

This little paperback book has been in our family for as long as I can remember.  It's pretty worn by now and across the top of the front cover are the words "Compliments of American Savings".  So I suspect this is a freebie my parents got from their bank when I was a kid.  If so, it was a pretty good deal. Back in the day, Betty Crocker was the trusted brand for the American housewife and cook.  It's this book that provided the potato bread recipe of my childhood not to mention simple recipes that I cut my baking teeth on.  This is the book that provided me with my first recipes for snickerdoodles and orange chiffon cake.  This was also back in the day when I didn't have recipe ADD and the need to acquire multiple baking books.  Life was simpler then.

When my mom made this recipe (rising and kneading it the old-fashioned way), she used Idaho instant mashed potatoes because I think it gave her more uniform consistency for the bread.  Or else we weren't really big potato connoisseurs (as Asians, it was about rice, not potatoes) and didn't mind instant mashed potatoes to use up the leftover box when she was done making the bread.  I used a real potato to try this recipe.  1 medium-sized potato is more than enough to make 1 cup of mashed potatoes.  You can always fry the leftover potato into a potato cake.

When my mom made this bread as rolls instead of loaves, my job was to roll the dough into little balls and drop 3 dough balls in a "cloverleaf" in each cavity of a muffin tin.  When the rolls were baked, you could split apart the cloverleaf into 3 bite-size pieces of bread and spread butter on the insides.  The only thing better was the same potato bread baked as a loaf, sliced thickly and spread with butter.  Never forget the butter when it comes to piping hot bread.

I tried letting the dough hook of my Kitchen Aid do all the work of kneading but even after I had added up to 7 1/4 cups flour, the dough was still sticky and didn't look like it was coming together even after I let the mixer/dough hook beat the dough for 5 minutes.  So I tipped the dough out onto a floured surface and kneaded it by hand.  It wasn't hard and the dough seemed smooth enough so I didn't need to knead it for very long.  Despite the original directions, I didn't put the dough to refrigerate since I wanted fresh bread now.  Instead, I put the dough to a first rising then after it had doubled in size (about an hour), I shaped it into 1 regular loaf, 1 mini loaf and a 12-cup muffin tin of cloverleaf rolls, let them rise a second time and baked them.

About 20 minutes into baking, everything looked browned and done but I knew the loaves couldn't possibly be cooked yet since they were bigger than the rolls and needed more baking time.  Not wanting to get them too brown, I lowered the oven temp to 375 and baked them a little longer (maybe 10 minutes more).  It got a little too brown but was still okay.  The inside could have baked a few minutes more so next time I would just start it out at 375 degrees or else cover the top loosely with foil to prevent it from browning too quickly.  What I love about this bread is the flavor.  The sugar makes it a little sweet but not overly so and the potato gives it a better texture than I found with the buttermilk bread I made earlier.  It's way too easy to eat too much of this so be warned!

1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup lukewarm mashed potatoes
7 to 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
soft butter

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Stir in sugar, salt, shortening, eggs, potatoes, and 4 cups of the flour.  Beat until smooth.  Mix in enough of the  remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle.
2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, turn the greased side up.  Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate until ready to use.  (The dough can be refrigerated at 45 degrees or below for up to 5 days.  Keep covered.)  If the dough rises, punch it down occasionally.
3. When you want to make fresh rolls, punch down the dough and cut off the amount needed. For cloverleaf rolls, shape bits of dough into 1-inch balls.  Place 3 balls in each greased medium muffin cop.  Brush with butter.  Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Bake rolls for 15 to 25 minutes.  If you're baking as loaves, bake until risen and golden brown.

Pizza Rustica

Pizza Rustica - made January 17, 2011 from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan (already tried as book #6)

 

I like this book although a good portion of it covers a lot of breads which I don't usually make as it tends to take up quite a bit of time and bread has such  short shelf life.  There are also your typical sweet baked goods in this book too but I'm challenging myself not to fall back on the usual cookies, brownies and cakes that I invariably always make.  So I went with this recipe instead.  According to the book, Pizza Rustica is commonly served in Italy as an appetizer.  This may not look like the "pizza" I'm familiar with but I like it as a savory pie.

This is exactly the sort of dish that's up my alley - a sweet dough pie crust with a savory filling.  I normally hate using my food processor as it's a pain to clean but it worked well to make the dough for this recipe.  The dough really did gather into a ball around the blade once you added the eggs.  It was a bit sticky and fragile to work with though so I had to add a little more flour when I was rolling out the bottom and top (lattice) crust.  Even then, I had to do a patchwork job on the bottom crust but no one's really going to see that part so it didn't really matter.  Not going for perfection here.  Which is just as well since I didn't do such a great job with the lattice work either.  It's hard to cut perfectly even strips of dough in the same width unless you're really, really good at it.  I'm not.  But I'm a home chef so that's fine with me.  It all tastes the same :).

I really liked this combination of sweet pie crust and savory filling, more than I thought I would since I tend to prefer savory with savory.  But this was a good combo.  The pie crust came out crisp but not too sweet and was a nice base for the ricotta filling.  The recipe doesn't call for brushing an egg wash over the crust but I recommend it anyway.  It'll brown better with the egg wash.  

The Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

1.    Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade; pulse a few times just to mix the ingredients.

2.    Add the butter and pulse 15 to 20 times or until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal.  With the machine running, add the eggs and process until the dough forms a ball on the blade, about a minute or so.

3.    Remove the dough from the processor and knead it, folding it over on itself, until it is smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.  Wrap the dough in plastic and set aside until needed.  Dough can be wrapped and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

The Filling

1 pound whole milk ricotta

3 large eggs

¼ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

¼ pound mozzarella cheese, grated

¼ pound thinly sliced prosciutto, shredded

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1.    Scoop the ricotta into a medium bowl and stir until smooth with a rubber spatula.  Add the rest of the filling ingredients, one at a time, stirring until each addition is incorporated and the mixture is well blended.

2.    Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350⁰F.    Butter a 9” glass pie plate.  If using a metal pie plate, increase the oven temp to 375⁰F.

3.    Divide the dough into two pieces, one twice as large as the other.  Working with the large piece, knead t into a disk and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface into a 12-inch circle.

4.    Transfer the dough to the pie plate and press it gently against the bottom and up the sides of the plates.  Use the dull side of a knife to trim the excess dough even with the rim.

5.    Scrape the filling into the pie shell and smooth the top.

6.    Knead and shape the remaining piece of dough into a block and roll it into a 9” square.  Using a pizza or pastry cutter or a thin, sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 even strips.  To form the lattice top, lay 6 of the strips across the pie at 1 ¼” intervals, then crisscross the strips, placing the remaining strips diagonally across the first.  Trim the ends of the strips even with the edge of the pan and pinch to seal.  Brush with a beaten egg slightly thinned with water (you won't use all of the egg wash.)

7.    Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the filling is firm and slightly puffed.  Transfer the pie to a rack and cool completely before serving.

8.    Leftovers can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Bibingka - the sticky kind

Bibingka - made January 15, 2011 from my mom's recipe

Bibingka (pronounced bee-BEENG-kah) is a Filipino cake.  There are several types of bibingka, including a cakey version that's spread with melted butter when the cake comes out of the oven and sprinkled with sugar on top and a "sticky" version that's a cross between a dense cake and a firm custard that's baked with coconut on top.  The sticky kind is usually made with mochiko or rice flour (pictured below) and/or cassava (also pictured below, available at Asian grocery stores like 99 Ranch in the freezer section with the frozen vegetables).  My mom made bibingka when I was a kid and, along with chocolate chip cookies, it's one of the things I learned to make early on.

My earliest memory of making bibingka when I was a kid is when my dad's oldest sister was visiting us for a few weeks and some of her friends from the Philippines came by unexpectedly to see her.  I had just made a 9 x 13 pan of bibingka that I thought came out beautifully with toasted golden coconut on top.  In Filipino culture, it's second nature to offer your guests something to eat when they arrive and since we didn't have much notice that we were to have guests, my aunt served my bibingka for their visit.  I went off to the park nearby to play and returned as the guests were leaving.  To my dismay, they had eaten almost the entire pan!  There was only one corner left and I consoled my childish indignation that I could at least have one piece of the pan I had made once the guests left.  Imagine my further indignation when, after all the goodbyes were said and the flurry of the leave-taking had died down, I saw the empty pan.  Apparently the guests had enjoyed the bibingka so much, they took the leftover piece "to go".  It's a funny memory now as I remember how indignant I was at being denied the bibingka and my aunt was embarrassed and apologetic of her friends.  Nowadays, if something like that had happened, I would've been flattered that people liked what I made so much that they literally didn't leave a scrap of it.

This recipe for bibingka is for the "sticky kind" like I had made on that day long ago.  My mom recently made this recipe over Christmas week and we enjoyed it so much that I thought I'd give it a try.  She made some modifications to the original recipe so I'm including those modifications here as hers turned out better than I remember mine being.  If you're avoiding wheat or gluten, this is a good recipe to make since it uses rice flour, not wheat flour.  Some versions of this bibingka are topped with both coconut and cheese.  I don't like cheese on baked goods so I've left it out.  If you want to try it with cheese, add a few ounces of sharp grated cheddar cheese along with the coconut.  If you're like me and love coconut, don't skimp on it when you top the batter with it.  It not only adds to the appearance when the bibingka is baked, becoming a nice golden brown top, but it also adds to the flavor and texture.

One last thing - if you can, use a glass pan to bake this in.  This version of bibingka isn't known as the "sticky kind" for nothing.  Lining the pan with foil, which is what I always do with metal pans so the cake doesn't stick to the pan and can be lifted out of the pan for easier cutting, doesn't help much when you're trying to separate the foil from the bibingka.  If you use a glass pan, you can cut it in the pan without making knife marks in the pan.

1 cup sweet rice flour (also known as Mochiko, can be found in the Asian aisle of most grocery stores)
1 teaspoon baking powder
16 ozs of grated cassava (can be purchased in 16-oz packages at Asian grocery stores like 99 Ranch)
2 cups milk
2 eggs
scant 1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
Sweetened coconut flakes, enough to cover the top of the batter in an even layer

1. Melt butter in 9" square baking pan in preheating oven as it heats to 350 degrees F.  Meanwhile, beat eggs until lightly scrambled.  Add in rice flour and baking powder and make a paste.  Gradually add in milk, mixing with a fork to keep the batter smooth and free of lumps, then add sugar and cassava until well blended.  Do not overmix - you don't want a light or cakey texture. Pour into pan, mixing well with melted butter.  Batter should be somewhat liquidy but not so thin that it can't hold the coconut topping.
2. Generously top mixture with coconut flakes.  Bake until coconut topping is golden brown and edges look crisp, about 45 to 55 minutes. You can't rely on the toothpick test for this one so go by appearance.  The middle should be firm enough not to jiggle when you shake the pan gently.  Don't bake for more than an hour even if the coconut isn't brown all over the top.

Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese

Homestyle Macaroni & Cheese - made January 15, 2011 from Land O Lakes Treasury of Country Recipes (book #39)

This is one of my earlier general cookbooks that I remember getting, probably when I belonged to some cookbook of the month type club when I was in college.  I've had it for years but I mostly used the dessert recipes.  This is where I got my recipes for Lemon Bars and Butter Pecan Tartlets.

I don't normally make mac and cheese since my pasta comfort food of choice is spaghetti and meatballs.  But it's easier (to me) to make a cheesy sauce than a spaghetti sauce.  My friend Emily assures me spaghetti sauce doesn't come out of a jar, er, I'll take your word for it, Em.  I modified this a bit just to use up some ingredients in my fridge so I added half an onion, some diced ham and used fresh basil instead of parsley.  Out of the mac and cheese recipes I looked at, this one was also different in that it added cream cheese in place of additional cheddar.

This came out less orange-colored than I expected but that makes sense since it doesn't have as much Cheddar as some other recipes and the cream cheese is white.  I also think I was expecting something orange like Cheetos because I pictured that all macaroni and cheese would turn out the color of Kraft Mac n Cheese. As mac and cheese goes, this one was fairly decent.  The bread crumb topping seemed a little much so next time I would cut it to 1/2 to 3/4 cup but that's just a personal preference.  I would also either add more ham or else experiment with a spicy sausage.  I liked the basil but that's because I easily prefer the taste of basil over parsley, no matter what dish it's in.  You can definitely taste the mustard.  I don't like mustard but this had a small enough amount that I was okay with it.  It's also pretty rich and creamy so serve in small portions.

7 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni

¼ cup butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cups milk

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons country-style Dijon mustard

2 cups cubed ½” cheddar cheese

1 cup sliced, diced ham (if desired)

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or substitute basil if desired)

1.    Heat oven to 400⁰F.

2.    Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain.

3.    Meanwhile, in 3-quart saucepan, melt ¼ cup butter; stir in flour.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until smooth and bubbly, 1 minute.  Add chopped onion and cook until soft.

4.    Stir in milk, cream cheese, salt, pepper and mustard.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.  Stir in macaroni, cheese and ham, if using.

5.    Pour into 2-quart casserole.  In small bowl, stir together bread crumbs, melted butter and parsley; sprinkle over macaroni and cheese.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and heated through.

Brown Butter Waffles

Brown Butter Waffles - made January 13, 2011 from The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox (book #38)

Continuing with the theme of breakfast food, waffles are also another favorite.  Whoever invented the waffle with its square "pockets" to hold syrup was a culinary genius. One thing that always struck me though - have you ever noticed when you order pancakes or waffles from a restaurant, that they invariably offer pancakes with other items like sausage, eggs, hash browns, etc but waffles are a standalone order and if you want anything with them, you have to order them separately?  I've always wondered why.  It's not like waffles are any less filling than pancakes or come in bigger sizes (although I guess some do).  Sometimes the pancakes alone are a meal but they still come with protein choices.  Waffles don't.  Weird.

I love my waffle maker but don't use it that often.  It's a pain to clean.  Those same pockets that allow for syrupy goodness also means cleaning the waffle iron takes time and care.  I have an awesome recipe for waffles but since this is about trying new recipes, I thought I'd give this one a shot, especially since I like the taste of browned butter.  The nice thing about waffles is they freeze well and you can pop them into the microwave or toaster oven for a quick meal or snack when needed.  Since I'm not in the office and don't have my coworkers to serve as taste testers anymore, I'm having to get creative about what I make and how to preserve it so I don't eat it all myself or else I can space out when I have it so I can still control my portions.

When it comes to waffles, I'm a purist.  That means butter and syrup are fine with waffles but no fruit topping, no whipped cream, and no chocolate (yes, you read that correctly).  I know the trend has been to use waffles as the base for other ingredients and elaborate concoctions but that's not for me.  If anything, the only time I've had waffles with anything else is when I went to Park Place at the Cypress Hotel with my friends Bryan and Cheryl and tried the chicken and waffle sandwich where the waffles were the bread for the chicken.  That was actually tasty but maybe because it was a savory item.  Otherwise, I like my waffles plain, adorned only with syrup or butter.

I have to say I loved these waffles.  Served warm directly from the waffle iron, they were delicious.  In fact, I didn't even bother with butter or syrup since the waffles themselves had enough flavor and tasted so good - another calorie saver.  The browned butter taste didn't come through as strongly as I would've thought but you can taste the "nuttiness" from it.  If you cook them long enough, the waffles will be crisp on the outside but still soft inside.  I don't like crispy waffles and prefer mine on the soft side.  Portion control almost went out the window as I wanted to keep eating the whole batch.  I don't know how I can stop at one brownie or cookie and walk away but could not stop eating these waffles until I was almost sick.  Fortunately sanity kicked in before I had consumed more than 1 whole waffle (okay, maybe it was a whole and a quarter).  I'm putting the rest in the freezer for future days but I suspect those days will come sooner rather than later.  One batch made 4 whole waffles in my waffle maker.

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs, separated

Unsalted butter, for the waffle iron

1.     In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat; continue cooking until the butter turns brown and has a nutty fragrance, about 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

2.     In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk and the egg yolks.  Whisk the wet ingredients together, gently working them into the dry ingredients until just combined.  Add the browned butter and whisk until fully absorbed.  (At this point, the batter will keep for several hours or up to 2 days in the refrigerator.)

3.     In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites to soft peaks.  Gently fold the whites into the batter in two additions.

4.     Lightly brush a waffle iron with butter and cook the waffles according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

German Apple Pancake

German Apple Pancake - made January 12, 2011 from Baking Illustrated (book #37)

Baking Illustrated is by the editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine and is a handy book to have.  Each recipe section goes into detail of the trial and error they went through to come up with the best version of the recipe they're publishing, just like they do with Cook's Illustrated.  It's enlightening to read, especially when I'm looking for a particular recipe and want some background on the do's and don'ts of making it.  That said, I don't go to this book as often as I do my other cookbooks.  I can't say it's got THE best recipes for everything but then again, I haven't made as much from this one as others.  There have been one or two that I didn't think turned out so well - whether it's the recipe or the baker, I don't know.  Maybe that's why it hasn't been the Bible of my baking as much as I expected.  But I still like checking with it first and seeing what they've got when I want to try something new.

The German Apple Pancake falls into the category of something I've never made before.  I'm inordinately fond of breakfast food and see nothing wrong with having breakfast for dinner.  Cooking breakfast always seems easier to me than cooking dinner.  Plus I don't have much of an appetite in the morning until I've been up for at least a couple of hours and (preferably) got a workout in so I usually can't do justice to a good breakfast.  I also like the concept of this pancake as something to make when I have friends over for brunch.  Who doesn't like pancakes?   Normally I like my pancakes plain but if there's a fruit that can be added to it, I prefer apple.

This was pretty simple to make.  Because it calls for having the oven initially at such a high temperature, I recommend preheating your oven as the first step since it'll probably take your oven awhile to get up to 500 degrees.  You can easily prepare this in the time the oven is heating.  I opted to use 2 Granny Smith apples instead of 3 because I thought I didn't want to overwhelm the pancake with too much apple.  I forgot, however, that apples cook down considerably and I actually ended up with less apple than I thought.  Going with 3 apples would've been fine.  The pancake puffed up at the sides rather than the middle and almost look like it was going to spill out of the pan but fortunately it was "baking" up the sides instead.  I left it in the oven for 15 minutes as the edges were looking crispy and done even though the middle was still a bit pale.

Overall, this was delicious.  It's best served warm and the apples made it sweet enough that I skipped the maple syrup entirely - no need for the extra calories.  It's not a pancake like you'd think an IHOP buttermilk pancake is.  The texture is less fluffy and thinner once the pancake collapses.  But the browned, caramelized apples is a nice touch and the pancake serves as more of a backdrop for the apples.  Definitely eat this while warm.

2 large eggs

¾ cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

½  cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

3 medium Granny Smith apples (about 1 ¼ pounds), peeled, cored and cut into ¼” slices (I used 2)

¼ cup packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Maple syrup, warmed

1.    Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 500⁰F.  Combine the eggs, half-and-half, vanilla, salt and granulated sugar in a food processor or blender and process until well combined, about 15 seconds.  Add the flour and process until thoroughly mixed and free of lumps, about 30 seconds; set the batter aside.

2.    Add the butter to a 10-inch ovenproof, nonstick skillet and heat over high heat until the butter foams.  Add the apples and sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over them.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples begin to turn light brown, about 5 minutes.  Continue to cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the apples are golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.

3.    Remove the pan from the heat.  Quickly pour the batter around the edge of the pan then over the apples; place the pan in the oven.  Reduce the heat to 425⁰F and cook until browned and puffed, 16 to 17 minutes.  With a heatproof spatula, loosen the edges of the pancake.  Invert the pancake onto a serving platter, dust it with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately, accompanied by the warm maple syrup.

Pecan Passion

Pecan Passion - made January 11, 2011 from Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies (book #36)

One of the things I'm really enjoying about my baking challenge to try at least one recipe from every cookbook I own before I let myself buy a new one is I get to revisit a lot of cookbooks I've owned for some time but haven't really used.  And the point really is to make use of what I have instead of yearning for more, more and more.  I've had this recipe book for years but I honestly can't remember the last time I made anything from it or if I've even used it.  Hence why this challenge is good for me.

I leafed through the whole book and saw many recipes I wanted to try but I had to limit myself to one for now.  The recipe I chose was one that seemed similar to my Chocolate Caramel Brownie in that it had a chocolate brownie base covered with a layer of caramel and pecans.  Maida's recipe didn't call for chocolate chips but I put them in anyway - as soon as the brownie was done and the caramel pecan layer was still hot and bubbly from the oven, I generously sprinkled chocolate chips over the top to let them melt into the top layer.

Cut these while the chocolate chips are still soft.  They'll be gooey but that's okay as they'll firm up when they're fully cool.  This can only be described as a "confection" since it's practically candy.  The chocolate brownie base is thin and provides a good backdrop for the caramelized pecan topping.  The caramel layer is a bit chewy (as caramel should be) and the toasted pecans add a wonderful flavor.  Be warned though as it's pretty rich.  Use a good dark cocoa for the bottom layer so the dark chocolate provides a contrast to the sweet topping.  I'm seeing friends tomorrow so thankfully I can hand these over to them - otherwise I'd be tempted to have more than my usual one taste test piece.

ETA: I had a(nother) small piece once this had completely cooled.  The caramel was definitely chewy, a trifle more than I would've liked, and once it was cool, I could taste the rum more clearly even though there was a relatively small amount in it.  If you're like me and don't care for the taste of rum, I don't see the harm in leaving it out.

Bottom Layer

3 ounces (¾ stick) unsalted butter

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup sifted all-purpose flour

Topping

1 tablespoon dark rum or cognac

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

3 ounces (¾ stick) unsalted butter

1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar

Scant ¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup dark corn syrup

7 ounces (2 cups) toasted pecan halves

1.    Preheat oven to 375⁰F.  Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

2.    In a small pan over moderate heat, melt the butter.  Place it in the small bowl of an electric mixer.  Add the sugar, salt, vanilla and egg and beat to mix.  Beat in the cocoa and flour.

3.    Place this thick chocolate mixture in a ribbon or in several mounds all over the bottom of the foil-lined pan.  With the bottom of a metal spoon, spread the mixture in an even layer.  It will be a thin layer and level itself while baking.

4.    Bake for about 15 minutes until the shallow cake springs back when gently pressed with a fingertip.  Remove the pan from the oven and let stand. 

For the topping:

5.    Add the rum or cognac to the cream; set aside.

6.    In a heavy, 3-quart saucepan over moderate heat, melt the butter.  With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in the sugar, salt, and corn syrup.  Stir over moderate heat until the mixture begins to boil all over the surface.  Place a candy thermometer in the pan and cook, stirring a few times until the temperature reaches 250⁰F (this takes about 2 minutes of boiling).  Watch it carefully and do not let it cook even slightly too long.

7.    Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the cream mixture (the mixture will bubble up) and then the pecans.

8.    Immediately pour the mixture over the bottom layer.  Use a metal spoon to even the layer.

9.    Bake at 375⁰F for 25 minutes.  Time carefully and don’t overbake or it’ll be too hard.

10.   Remove from the oven and let stand for at least a few hours, until completely cool.  Cut into squares with a sharp knife.

Buttermilk Bread

Buttermilk Bread - made January 10, 2011 from Baking in America by Greg Patent (book #35)

When I was a kid, my mom used to make homemade bread regularly.  She used a recipe for potato bread that I found addicting.  I have fond memories of cutting a thick slice of fresh-baked bread, still steaming, and spreading butter to melt over it.  There was nothing better than that slice of fresh baked, warm bread.  Anything store-bought just couldn't compare.  Sadly, it almost seems like the days of homemade bread have gone by the wayside.  At least, in most working families that I know.  In today's busy environment and shelves of convenience food, not to mention the modern convenience of breadmakers, the days of old-fashioned "mix the dough, let it rise, knead the dough, let it rise some more, knead it again, shape it and let it rise one last time" feel extinct.  Does anyone still make homemade bread the old-fashioned way?

I myself rarely bake bread or any kind of yeasted dough.  It's not hard to do but it takes time, especially if you have more than one rising.  Bread making is not for the rushed or impatient which, by necessity, most of us have to be just to fit life in.  Fortunately, however, I have all kinds of time these days and a cloudy, overcast day seemed like a perfect day to make fresh bread.  This is a standard bread recipe except for the buttermilk but I'm always on the lookout for recipes that use buttermilk so I can use all mine up before it expires (always a constant battle).  With a KitchenAid mixer, it's even easier to make the dough - throw it in the bowl and let the dough hook do its job.  Much as I love homemade bread, I don't enjoy kneading it.  The trick to good bread is kneading the dough well enough to develop the gluten.  How do you know when the gluten is fully developed?  It's a matter of feel and look.  A properly kneaded dough is elastic and not too sticky.  You can also pull the dough and make a "window pane" by stretching the dough without it breaking.  If you don't knead it enough, your dough is clumpy and sticky.  If you knead it too much, the gluten breaks and your dough isn't stretchy.  We made bread doughs in culinary school and it's something you get good at with lots of practice but it's definitely an art.  I've been out of practice for awhile so I wanted to try something fairly simple....and shamelessly used my Kitchen Aid and dough hook.

When my mom made bread and needed a warm place for the dough to rise, she would boil hot water, pour it into a shallow pan set in the oven and place the dough in a bowl on the rack above the pan of steaming water.  The hot water and steam provided a warm, humid place for the dough to rise and whenever it had cooled off too much, my mom simply boiled more water and replaced the cooled water in the baking pan with more hot water.  I thought I would have to do the same thing, especially since it was a cold day and the recipe says to let the dough rise at room temperature.  Room temperature in winter can be pretty cool and not warm enough to let bread dough rise.  However, when I looked at the bells and whistles on my oven, I discovered a setting marked "Proof".  Seriously?  Yippee!  I pressed the button and the oven warmed to just the right temperature to gently allow the dough to rise but not so hot that it actually baked the dough.  Genius, these oven people are.

I only made half the recipe since I didn't need 2 loaves of bread.  The first rising went fine and so did the second rising.  I took the dough, kneaded it a bit with a little flour and put it in a greased loaf pan.  Put it to proof in the oven for an hour while I did other stuff. When I came back after 70 minutes (lost track of time), the dough had risen and spilled over the sides of the pan.  Eek.  I scraped off the excess dough at the sides and set the loaf to bake but put the loaf pan on a baking sheet in case any more dough spilled over.

I forgot to time it so I don't know how long I baked it but I baked it until it was the golden brown color you see.  I did brush it with egg wash before I baked it to help it brown better.  Overall, this was pretty good.  The inside was soft but not too soft and it was chewy.  The outside was crusty but not hard.  I expect it'll soften once it's cool.  I can taste the tang of the buttermilk.  It's not quite as good as my mom's potato bread recipe though so I'm going to have to look up that recipe and try it myself.

2 cups warm buttermilk (105⁰ - 115⁰F)

½ cup warm water (105⁰ - 115⁰)

1 ¼-ounce package (2 ¼ teaspoons) fast-rise active dry yeast

7 cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more as needed

4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

¼ cup sugar or ½ cup untoasted wheat germ

1 tablespoon salt

1.    In a mixer bowl, stir the buttermilk, water, yeast and 3 cups of flour together with a wooden spoon.  Beat until smooth, cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature until doubled in volume and bubbly, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.

2.    If using a stand mixer, add the butter, egg, sugar or wheat germ, salt and the remaining 4 cups of flour to the bowl.  Attach the dough hook and knead on low to medium speed for 5 to 8 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic, cleans the sides of the bowl, and is only slightly sticky.  Knead in a bit more flour if the dough seems too wet and sticky.

3.    Lightly oil a 6-quart bowl or coat with cooking spray.  Add the dough, turn to coat all surfaces, and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Let rise at room temperature until almost tripled in volume, about 1 ½ hours.

4.    Butter or grease two 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pans or coat with cooking spray; set aside.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat it gently to remove any air bubbles.  Divide the dough in half, and shape each piece into a loaf.  Place the loaves into the prepared pans.  Cover loosely with lightly oiled plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature until the centers of the loaves have risen 1 ½ to 2 inches above the rims of the pans, about 1 hour.

5.    About 30 minutes before the loaves are ready to bake, adjust an oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 375⁰F.

6.    Remove the plastic wrap from the loaves and place in the oven, leaving a few inches between the pans.  Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the loaves are well browned and sound hollow when you remove them from the pans and rap the bottoms.  They will not rise much.  Cool on wire racks. 

Low fat, high fiber....chicken?

Oven-fried chicken - made January 7, 2011

This may be one of the healthier things you'll see on my blog...as long as you ignore the butter with mashed potatoes and cheddar muffin.  But the corn and the chicken leg are healthy!  Actually, I wasn't even following a recipe with this and did it on a whim as I pictured putting together something like a KFC meal I used to eat before I stopped going to fast food.

I was having one of those use-what-I-have-on-hand days and this fit the bill.  I had buttermilk I needed to use before it expired so I soaked a package of chicken legs in buttermilk overnight like my other recipe had me do.  Except, instead of frying it, I oven baked it and skipped all that oil.  For the coating, I crushed Fiber One cereal with a rolling pin and coated the chicken legs in the crumbs after letting the excess buttermilk drip off.  No egg, no flour, just Fiber One and some random spices I threw in.  The main motivation for using the Fiber One was I bought the cereal thinking it was healthy. And it is. One 1/2 cup serving only has 60 calories and a whopping 14 grams of fiber.  Which would've been great except I didn't like the taste.  I had tried a different Fiber One cereal and been fine with it but couldn't make myself like the original version.  After trying a serving, I can safely check "eat bark" off my bucket list.

But I didn't want the cereal to go to waste so I figured I would try it as chicken coating.  Cornflakes can do it, why not Fiber One?  It actually didn't turn out half bad.  The coating made it crispy and the cereal is already the color of golden brown chicken so all you really had to do was cook the inside.  Protein and fiber - what a deal.

Cheddar Muffins

Cheddar Muffins - made January 7, 2011 from How to Bake by Nick Malgieri (book #34)

I can also call these "the muffins that set off my smoke alarm".  In my defense I followed the recipe baking instructions exactly - oven at 450 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes.  I checked them just before 20 minutes and the oven was smoky.  Not a good sign, especially when my smoke alarms are uber sensitive and it took several minutes of frantically fanning a dish towel at the smoky air and throwing open a window and 2 French doors to clear the smoke.  Fortunately I took them out when they were only starting to think about scorching and were merely on the slightly overdone side.  That's the cheddar cheese protesting the high temp.  I don't know whether my oven was exceptionally strong or 450 degrees is simply too hot when baking anything with cheese (I think it's the latter).

It's not uncommon for muffins to be baked at a high temperature since that's what gives them that initially "spring" and high muffin top to activate the leavening in the baking powder.  But when you have cheese in them, some of which is at or near the top of the muffin cavity, it might be inevitable that they'll burn if you don't take them out sooner rather than later.

I made half this recipe since I didn't need that many muffins.  The key to tender muffins is to handle them as little as possible so always mix muffin batter with a fork, mix your dry ingredients first then add the wet ingredients (already mixed together) all at once.  I had to add a little more milk than the recipe called for as the batter still had flour pockets and I didn't want to mix them in to the point that the batter became overmixed.

For the most part, I did like these muffins....once I took off the over-toasted bits.  The outside was crunchy and the inside had a nice soft but chewy texture you can get from a good cheese bread.  They're not as fragile or soft as the cheddar biscuits from Red Lobster or as buttery but they had a good flavor.  Next time I make them, I'm going to lower the oven temp to 400 degrees and check them early and often.  Properly made, I think they'd make a nice bread accompaniment to a meal.

2 ½ cups bleached all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter

1 cup coarsely grated sharp cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)

2 large eggs

¾ cup milk

One 12-cavity muffin pan with paper liners

1.     Set a rack at the middle level of the oven and preheat to 450˚F. (You might want to play it safe and put it at 400 degrees instead.)

2.     Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

3.     Cut the butter into 12 pieces, add to the dry ingredients, and rub in until the mixture resembles fine meal.  Stir in the cheese.

4.     Whisk the eggs into the milk and stir into the dry ingredients to form a very soft batter.  Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough.

5.     Spoon the batter evenly into the lined pan.

6.     Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are golden and firm.  Do not overbake or they will be dry.