Cashew Macadamia Crunch

Cashew Macadamia Crunch - made May 6, 2011 from Hershey's Classic Recipes from Publications International (book #102)

Yet another Hershey Book from Publications International.  I must've gone through a phase of picking up these types of books whenever I saw them in the bargain aisle at Barnes & Noble.  They generally have a certain number of the exact same recipes as well as the same type of recipes but I can never resist the yummy-looking pictures that accompany most of the recipes.  These people know how to market to people like me.

Instead of the usual brownies, cookies and cakes that go into these books though, I decided to try this easy candy recipe.  I've been wanting toffee ever since I went to the SF Chocolate Salon and (cough) gorged myself on chocolate samples.  I've made my own toffee before but have had mixed results.  Sometimes I overcook it and it's too hard and other times I undercook it and it's sticky-chewy instead of having the easy snap of good toffee.  Buttercrunch is a little easier than toffee.  Some people might use them synonymously but I consider buttercrunch the easy version of toffee.  You don't have to work with candy thermometers or worry about the sugar crystallizing as it caramelizes or it going grainy.

Spread as evenly as you can over the chocolate chips

Case in point, this recipe couldn't be easier.  I just came back from a brief trip yesterday and didn't really need to "bake" but I was meeting friends today and you know I can't go empty-handed.  Yet I was tired from a cross-country flight and not enough sleep so I wasn't up to full-on baking.  This recipe came to my rescue as it literally couldn't have been easier to make.  You spread the chocolate chips in an even layer in the pan, boil the crunch mixture until golden brown, spread over the chocolate chips and cool.  When you boil the buttercrunch, keep stirring it so it browns evenly and the nuts don't burn.  You only want to cook it until it's a nice golden brown, about the color of Almond Roca.  Spread it over the chocolate chip layer and let it cool to lukewarm then put in the refrigerator to set the chocolate.  Cut or break it up into irregular pieces.  Although the recipe specifies milk chocolate, you can use any type of chocolate.  I prefer milk chocolate so that's what I used.  You can also substitute in whichever nuts you like but I'm a fan of both cashews and macadamia nuts so I stuck to the recipe as is.

I really, really liked this recipe.  Not only was it super easy to make on several hours' sleep, but it tasted good too.  It had the perfect crunch without being hard on the teeth.  I also like how it looks "homey", as in clearly homemade - this could become my new go-to candy to include in Christmas foodie gifts. I broke this up into irregular-sized pieces, piled the pieces into cupcake liners, wrapped each cupcake paper in plastic wrap and included them in goodie bags.

2 cups (11.5-ounce package) milk chocolate chips

¾ cup coarsely chopped salted or unsalted cashews

¾ cup coarsely chopped salted or unsalted macadamia nuts

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1.      Line 9-inch square pan with foil, extending foil over edges of pan.  Butter foil (I sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray.)  Cover bottom of prepared pan with chocolate chips in an even layer.

2.      Combine cashews, macadamia nuts, butter, sugar and corn syrup in large heavy skillet; cover over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Increase heat to medium; cook, stirring constantly until mixture begins to cling together and turns golden brown.

3.      Pour mixture over chocolate chips in pan, spreading evenly.  Cool.  Refrigerate until chocolate is firm.  Remove from pan; peel off foil.  Break into pieces.  Store, tightly covered in cool, dry place.

Makes about 1 ½ pounds of candy

Caramel-Layered Brownies

Caramel-Layered Brownies - made April 30, 2011 from Favorite Brand Name Best-Loved Chocolate Recipes from Publications International (book #101)

It wasn't until I started this baking challenge that I realized how many books I have from the same author(s) or publishers.  The ones from Publications International tend to contain recipes likely sponsored by food companies' test kitchens since they always list the specific brand name ingredients to use.  I've omitted the brand names from the recipes so you should feel free to use the ones you prefer and already know works well (although, of course, the higher the quality, the better your results will be).  This is a recipe book that will likely appeal to less experienced bakers and/or those who like a lot of pictures with their recipes.  It's certainly induced me to try specific recipes over others when I see pictures of how good they look.

Caramel and chocolate is usually a crowd pleaser combination so I chose that to add to the bake sale goods.  I left out the nuts (of course) and the only issue I had with this recipe is that there wasn't enough of the batter on top to completely cover the caramel layer.  The recipe says to hold back 1 cup and I held back more than that since I knew I wanted to cover the entire caramel layer.  Didn't quite work out that way, partly because as the batter cools, it stiffens up so it's not as easy to spread thinly over the caramel layer.  So I sprinkled some chocolate chips over the top as well to try and cover up some of the caramel.

The frosting was probably unnecessary but still good

As the brownie baked, the batter on top spread out over the caramel so that was good.  The caramel only leaked through in a few spots.  It was a little hard to tell when this was done just relying on the toothpick test since some of the caramel also clings to the toothpick and makes it seem like raw batter.  So you might want to time this one.  I took it out when it was still a little underdone so separating it from the foil lining in the pan after it had cooled was a little difficult.  But not impossible since it was easy enough to peel the foil off if you up-end the brownie (which is one of the reasons why I always line my baking pans with foil when I use them).  The brownie turned out well but the caramel did make it a little sweet.  You won't taste the chocolate much on its own since the caramel layer blends in with everything.  It's not quite as distinct a layer as the recipe book picture makes it look.  Still a pretty good brownie if you have a good sweet tooth and want something chewy/fudgy.

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 ½ cups chopped nuts (optional)

14 ounces caramels

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1.     Heat the oven to 350⁰F.  Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

2.     In the top half of a double boiler, over hot water, melt chocolate and butter, stirring constantly until melted.

3.     Stir sugar into melted chocolate mixture.  Mix in eggs and vanilla until well blended.  Stir in flour.  Remove 1 cup of batter; set aside.  Spread remaining batter into prepared pan.  Sprinkle with chips and 1 cup of the nuts, if using.

4.     Melt caramels and milk over low heat, stirring constantly, until completely melted and smooth.  Spoon over chips and nuts, spreading to edges of pan.  Gently spread reserved batter over caramel mixture.  Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup nuts, if using.

5.     Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with fudgy crumbs.  Do not overbake.  Cool in pan, cut into squares.

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

Mexican Chocolate Brownies - made April 29, 2011 from The Ultimate Brownie Book by Bruce Weinstein (book #100)

This is the brownie I originally made both to mark Cinco de Mayo and for the spring fair bake sale I'd volunteered to donate baked goods to.  I'm sorry to say I did not like these brownies.  The texture was fine and I don't think it was the recipe but the Mexican chocolate.  I used Ibarra Mexican chocolate which the recipe specifically recommended.  According to Bruce Weinstein, "Mexican chocolate is actually a combination of chocolate, ground cocoa nibs, and cinnamon".  The ingredients list on the package of Ibarra Mexican Chocolate lists: sugar, cocoa liquor, vegetable fat, soy lecithin, and cinnamon flavor.  Hmm.  That might explain it.  I don't know if I would've liked it better if I had gone with a more high end Mexican chocolate, such as the one from Taza.  I've had the chocolate and cinnamon combination before and liked it so I was really disappointed that I didn't like this one.  I tried to salvage the brownies by adding a layer of dulce de leche over it then topping that with a layer of fudge frosting.  I don't think it really worked though.

However, if you want to make these brownies and have a better experience, I recommend substituting a high end bittersweet chocolate for the Ibarra Mexican chocolate and adding a teaspoon of cinnamon.   There was nothing wrong with the texture - it was just the flavor I couldn't get into.

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter

9 ¾ ounces Mexican chocolate, such as 3 rounds of Ibarra, chopped (I recommend either Taza Mexican chocolate or try a high end bittersweet chocolate plus 1 teaspoon of cinnamon)

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.     Position the rack in the lower third of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Butter and flour a 9 x 13-inch baking pan; set it aside.

2.     In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt until well combined.  Set aside.

3.     Place the butter and both kinds of chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water.  Stir constantly until half the butter and chocolate is melted.  Remove the top of the double boiler then continue stirring, away from the heat, until the butter and chocolate are completely melted.  Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

4.     Beat the brown sugar into the melted chocolate with a whisk or with an electric mixer at medium speed; continue beating until the mixture is smooth and silky, about 7 minutes by hand or 4 minutes with a mixer.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, allowing each to be thoroughly incorporated before adding the next.  After beating in the third egg for 1 minute, stir in the vanilla.

5.     With a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture just until combined.  Do not beat.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it gently to the corners.

6.     Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.  Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes.

Pecan Polvorones with Dulce de Leche

Pecan Polvorones - made May 2, 2011 from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich

Cinco de Mayo is coming up and at first I went with a Mexican Chocolate Brownie recipe to mark the occasion.  I haven't put the recipe up yet because, as it turns out, I didn't like it.  But I will put it up shortly since it is part of my baking odyssey and my baking challenge and I can't put up just the recipes that turned out.  Not all of them are going to be successful nor will I like all of them.  But that still left me short for a Cinco de Mayo cookie.  And in flipping through the myriad of baking cookbooks I have, I discovered there aren't many "international" recipes amongst them.

Fortunately, the Browned Butter Oatmeal Cookies were so good that I couldn't resist trying another recipe from Alice Medrich's book before I had to return it to the library.  And she does have more variety of an international bent in her book (I also want to try her alfajores recipe).  This time around, I chose polvorones, which, according to Alice, are "exquisitely tender Spanish or Latin American shortbread cookies".  Filipinos have something similar called polvoron.  Looking at the recipe, the base ingredients are also similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies except this is the thumbprint version.  In keeping with the Spanish/Latin American theme, I skipped the muscovado filling and went with dulce de leche instead.

Make sure you toast the pecans first as that brings out their best flavor.  Cool completely before putting in the food processor.  I don't normally use my food processor to make cookie dough but it was pretty easy to put together per the recipe instructions.  The dough was very easy to work with, not too sticky and it was easy to shape.  Make the balls small since these cookies are best when they're bite size.  Once I shaped them into small balls, I poked the handle end of a wooden spoon in the center to make the holes and widened them slightly.  I froze the cookie dough balls with the indentations first before baking a taste test batch.  The cookies spread only very slightly and the "holes" widened and flattened out a bit.  I didn't want them too flat since I did want the indentations to be deep enough to hold the filling so I took the baking pan out halfway through baking and pressed the handle of the wooden spoon again to flatten the indentations a bit more.  If you make the holes deep enough in the first place, you shouldn't have to do that step.

I really liked these cookies - they had the same tender texture as Mexican Wedding Cakes but were sturdy enough to hold their shape.  I loved it paired with the dulce de leche filling as the sweetness of the dulce de leche was a perfect contrast to the nutty flavor and tender crumb of the cookie.  Alice Medrich also suggests you can fill these with nutella. While this wouldn't be practical in a care package, this is a pretty cookie to serve at an afternoon tea or a dessert buffet.

1 ½ cups (5.25 ounces) pecans

1/3 cup (2.33 ounces) sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into chunks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk (optional)

2 cups (9 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling

2/3 cup (4.625 ounces) firmly packed dark muscovado sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

Scant 1/8 teaspoon salt

1.      Pulse the nuts in a food processor until most are finely ground and the largest pieces are about ¼ inch.  Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

2.      Wipe the processor bowl with a paper towel to remove excess oil from the nuts.  Add the sugar and salt and process until fine and powdery.  Add the butter, vanilla and egg yolk, if using, and pulse until the mixture is smooth.  Add the flour and pulse until the dough starts to clump together.  Add the nuts and pulse just until combined.  Transfer the dough to a bowl and knead it by hand briefly to make sure it is evenly mixed.

3.      Shape the dough into 1-inch balls (0.5 ounce each) and place them slightly apart on a plate or tray big enough to hold all the balls yet small enough to fit in your refrigerator.  Press the handle of a wooden spoon dipped in flour (or your finger) into each ball to form a depression.  Cover and chill the cookies for at least 2 hours, and preferably overnight.

4.      Preheat the oven to 325⁰F.  Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

5.      Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and place them 1 inch apart on the lined or ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until the cookies are lightly colored on top and light golden brown on the bottom.  Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.  Cool cookies completely.

6.      To make the filling: while the cookies are cooling, combine the muscovado sugar with the cream and salt in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.  Boil gently for about 2 minutes without stirring.  Cool the sauce briefly.

7.      Spoon a little filling into the depression in each cookie.  Allow the filling to cool completely.  May be stored in airtight container for at least a week.

Chocolate Caramel Oat Brownies

Chocolate Caramel Oat Brownies - made April 29, 2011 from Mrs. Fields' Great American Desserts by Debbi Fields (book #99)

This is the baking book that gave me my favorite coconut cake recipe so it's already worth its price to me.  This recipe is more for a bar cookie than a brownie since it's comprised of a bottom oat layer, a middle layer of pecans, chocolate chips and caramel and a top crumb layer of the same oat mixture as the bottom layer.  I baked it for a few minutes longer than the 15 minutes called for in the recipe because at 15 minutes, although the edges were golden brown, parts of the middle still looked a bit pale.  As long as you cover the caramel completely with the oat crumb topping, it doesn't hurt to bake it a bit longer.  It's important to cover the caramel completely or any that bubbles through the top crust will have a tendency to boil over and become chewy hard when the bar cookie cools.  Keep it covered and the caramel stays soft and creamy.

I thought this was a really good bar cookie, especially if you like oats and caramel.  I didn't even mind the pecans because it added a little bit of crunch and flavor to complement the creamy sweetness of the caramel.  The chocolate chips also provided a nice chocolaty addition to the bar.  Another good recipe from Mrs. Fields.

Top view

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats, toasted

1 ½ cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

½ cup heavy cream

14 ounces caramel squares

1.     Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, line it with aluminum foil and butter the foil.

2.     In the food processor, pulse the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt together just to combine.  Add the butter, a few pieces at a time, and cut it into the dry ingredients by turning the machine on and off quickly.  Process until the mixture is coarsely textured with small, irregular flakes and bits the size of small peas.

3.     Remove 2 cups of the crumb mixture and set aside.  Press the remaining crumb mixture over the bottom of the baking pan.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips and chopped pecans evenly over the crumb mixture.  Set the pan aside.

4.     In a heavy-bottomed, medium-size saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over the medium heat.  Add the caramels, turn the heat to low, and melt them, stirring constantly, until smooth.  Pour the caramel sauce over the chips and nuts in the baking pan.  Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture evenly over the top, pressing it down lightly with a metal spatula.

5.     Bake the brownies for about 15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.  Remove the pan to a wire rack, and while the brownies are still warm, cut around the sides of the pan with a metal spatula to loosen the edges.  Let the brownies cool on the rack to room temperature.

6.     Cut the brownies into 2 by 3-inch pieces.  Arrange on a serving plate, cover the plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours.

7.     Let the brownies stand at room temperature about 15 minutes before serving.

Brownies

Brownies - made April 28, 2011 from Williams Sonoma Dessert (book #98)

I've been asked to contribute to another bake sale this weekend, this time for a spring fair where the proceeds benefit the school a friend's son goes to.  Anything for a good cause and any excuse to bake, that's my motto.  So you know this means the next few posts will be all about bake sale brownies.  I also will bake any kind of brownies that let me add the nutella crunch topping on it so I went with this plain brownie recipe from the Williams Sonoma Dessert cookbook.  This differed from most of my brownie recipe in that it uses cake flour instead of all-purpose flour.

Except for the cake flour, it's a pretty standard brownie recipe and it turned out well.  In fact, I could probably have left the topping off if it weren't for wanting it to look a little more special for the bake sale.  The brownie was fudgy with just the right amount of chocolate and can stand alone as a plain brownie. I took a couple of closeups of the brownie so you can see what I mean when I say "fudgy".  This is what I look for in a good brownie and why I never overbake brownies.  If you overbake, you won't get this fudgy texture.

A good brownie has to be dense and fudgy

½ cup unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup sugar

Pinch of salt
2 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup cake flour, sifted

¾ cup bittersweet chocolate chunks

1.     Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish, preferably glass (I used metal and it was fine).

2.     In a saucepan over low heat, combine the butter and chopped unsweetened chocolate.  Heat, stirring often, until melted, about 4 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt.  Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until well blended.  Sprinkle the sifted flour over the mixture and stir until just blended.  Stir in the chips, if using.

3.     Pour the batter into the prepared dish and spread evenly.  Bake the brownies until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost completely clean, about 30 minutes, or longer if using a metal pan.  Do not overbake.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting.

Browned Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal Cookies - made April 28, 2011 from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich

Growing up, I never ate oatmeal for breakfast.  It just wasn't your typical Asian way to start the day.  Although ironically, my parents now regularly have it for breakfast because of the health benefits of oatmeal (I think they actually like the taste too).  But I think the first time I was introduced to oatmeal, it was in cookie form.  I like a good oatmeal cookie as much as the next person but I haven't yet discovered a "go-to" recipe for oatmeal cookies.  A good oatmeal cookie should be thick and chunky, crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle and generously studded with chocolate chips.  Do not come near me with raisins or nuts for an oatmeal cookie.  My requirements for a good oatmeal cookie are similar to what I look for in a chocolate chip cookie.  But a good oatmeal cookie shouldn't just be a chocolate chip cookie with oatmeal added to it.  There's something whimsically wholesome about an oatmeal cookie and we're tempted to think of it as healthy as long as we conveniently ignore the butter, sugar and flour that also goes into it.  Granted, oats are good for you and they've endured through the ages with "their first known appearance being in combat when the Romans battled England hundreds of years ago....the English and Scots carried saddlebags filled with oatmeal cakes eaten as a quick, nourishing pick-me-up." (Source: press release from May Cookie Co)

We don't quite carbo load with oatcakes just to do hand to hand combat anymore but we do honor the oatmeal cookie properly nowadays.  Saturday, April 30, is National Oatmeal Cookie Day.  (Again, what an awesome country we have in that it has foodie "holidays".)  So, in my continuing quest for an awesome oatmeal cookie recipe, I turned to Alice Medrich's latest cookbook, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies, another book I want to eventually acquire but prudently borrowed from the library instead.  What caught my eye is that the recipe calls for melting the butter.  That immediately made me want to make the cookies with browned butter, similar to what I did with Alton Brown's chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Now that recipe has become my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies so I thought I could give Alice Medrich's recipe a boost by doing the same thing.  What I also liked about all the recipes in this book is she gives the weight measurement of the ingredients as well as the more traditional volume measurements.  If you have a food scale, it's better to weigh out your ingredients rather than volume measure them - it's more accurate that way.

Added milk chocolate chips and Hershey kisses

Browned butter smells good and makes everything tastes so much better.  Just mixing this cookie dough together was an alluring experience.  If I was the type of person to eat cookie dough, I could probably have downed half the batch in raw form.  Fortunately, I'm not and it was easy enough to put the bowl of cookie dough in the fridge to cool, unscathed.  Harder to wait overnight to bake the cookies.  The dough became considerably firmer after being chilled overnight so it was a little difficult to scoop into dough balls.  I'd advocate making the dough balls right after you mix the cookie dough and then chilling (not freezing) the dough balls if you want to bake them the next day.  The reason for not freezing them immediately is to let the oats absorb the moisture of the dough first.

Overall, this was a good cookie.  I underbaked them slightly so the edges weren't as crisp as I think they were meant to be but the middle was gooey.  I liked the caramelized taste a lot from the browned butter.  The cinnamon doesn't come out very much, probably because the browned butter is more prominent but I consider this another solidly good recipe from Alice Medrich.

2 cups (6.67 ounces) rolled oats

¼ cup water

1 ¼ cups (5.625 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter

¾ cup (5.25 ounces) packed light brown sugar

½ cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 cup (3.5 ounces) walnuts, chopped (I used milk chocolate chips)

1 cup (5 ounces) raisins (I used milk chocolate chips)

1.      Place the oats in a small bowl and sprinkle with the water. 

2.      Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork.

3.      Cut the butter into chunks and melt in a large saucepan over medium heat.  (I browned the butter and let it cool for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients.)  Remove from the heat and stir in the sugars, vanilla, and salt.  Add the egg and stir briskly.  Stir in the flour mixture just until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.  Stir in the walnuts, raisins and oats.  Let the dough stand for at least 1 but preferably 2 hours or (better still) cover and refrigerate overnight.

4.      Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

5.      For large cookies, scoop about 2 level tablespoons of dough and place the cookies about 3 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.  For small cookies, scoop 1 level tablespoon of dough.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes for large cookies, 10 to 12 minutes for small cookies, or until the cookies are golden brown on top.  Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.  Cool the cookies completely before storing or stacking.  May be kept in an airtight container for several days.

Flaky Pie Crust & Coconut Custard Pie

Flaky Pie Crust & Coconut Custard Pie - made April 27, 2011 from A Country Baking Treasury by Lisa Yockelson (book #97)

Remember when I said 90% of the recipes I make from Lisa Yockelson's cookbooks turn out great?  How I waxed poetical about her cookbooks I've collected over the years and love not only their variety but also their straightforwardness and simplicity?  Not to mention the delicious results that usually come from one of her recipes.  Huh.  Well, this might fall into the 10% category.  I don't know if it's me or the recipe or a combination of both. When you've been writing a baking blog for over a year and a half and baking for years longer than that, sometimes you want to try something different and sometimes you fail at it.  That's what this feels like.  I've mentioned before that I don't make pies very often, partly because I'm steadfastly devoted to apple pie, but also because I don't usually have the time or patience to deal with pie crust.  But since I did the Cooked Fruit Apple Pie, I felt somewhat better that I could make pie crust.

Should've baked a bit longer

So I didn't think it would be a big deal to try a different pie crust recipe, also from the same book I wanted to make the Coconut Custard Pie from.  And it wasn't.  I did find that I had to add more than a "few drops" of ice water to the pie dough as it was still too floury when I first started to roll it together.  I felt like I was handling it too much and it felt a bit fussy to keep gathering, chilling, rolling, chilling, rolling again, chilling again.  But it wasn't hard - you just have to have the time for it.  And overall, the pre-baked pie shell came out okay.  Wouldn't win any beauty contests but it was reasonably okay.  In hindsight, I should've baked it a tad longer than the recipe said to but since I was baking it further with the custard filling, I thought it'd be okay to take it out after it had baked as long as the recipe decreed.

The custard filling couldn't have been simpler to put together.  Only it turned out there was too much of it to bake in my pie shell so I poured the overflow into a small ceramic pie dish sans crust since I'd run out of pie dough already.  I baked this exactly as long as the recipe said to and it passed the knife test for doneness.  So far, I've followed the recipe to the letter.  So it's a bit disappointing that I didn't like this better.  I love coconut, I'm good with pie.  'cept I don't really like custard-y desserts in general (with the notable exception of creme brulee).  I do remember making a coconut custard pie in culinary school and liking that a lot more, just like I like CIA's pastry cream recipe better than any other I've tried.  I remember thinking the CIA coconut custard pie was like that pastry cream but with coconut in it - maybe that's why I like it so much.  I'm going to have to dig out that recipe and try making it for comparison.  It's not that this one was bad but it wasn't very sweet and while it wasn't runny, I think the texture could've been a bit firmer.  Which probably means I should've baked it a little longer.  Live and learn.  Failure's good for the soul and all.  Although I know this'll bug me until I can turn out a better coconut custard pie.

Flaky Pie Crust

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size chunks

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 extra-large egg yolk, cold

2 tablespoons ice-cold water, or more as needed

1 extra-large egg white, for waterproofing

1.      Stir the flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl.  Add butter and, using two round-bladed knives, cut into the flour until reduced to small bits.  The mixture should look like coarse cornmeal.  Sprinkle with sugar and stir in with a few brief strokes.  Blend together the egg yolk and water in a small mixing bowl.  Pour over the flour mixture.  Quickly combine to make a firm but pliable dough.  Add additional droplets of ice-cold water if the dough seems too dry or crumbly.  Turn out the dough onto a large sheet of waxed paper, shape into a rough, flat disk and wrap with the paper.  Refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes.

2.      To roll out the pie dough, teat off two long sheets of waxed paper at least 17 to 18 inches long.  Place the dough in the center of one sheet of waxed paper and top with the remaining sheet.  Gently press the top sheet.  Using short, quick rolling motions, roll the dough to a scant ¼” thickness (approximately 13 inches in diameter).  Transfer to a cookie sheet and chill for 20 minutes.

3.      To line a rimmed pie pan, peel off the top layer of waxed paper from the sheet of pie crust.  Cut strips of dough about 1/3 inch thick from the outside of the circle of dough.  Lightly brush the rim of the pie pan with cold water, press the strips onto the rim, and lightly brush with cold water.  Invert the circle of dough onto the bottom of the pan and peel off the waxed paper.  Press the dough lightly on the bottom first, then up and against the sides.  Press the overhang of dough onto the rim and cut off the overhang using a sharp paring knife.  Flute or crimp the edges decoratively.

4.      Prick the bottom of the pie shell with the tines of a fork.  Refrigerate, loosely covered for about 30 minutes.  For longer storage, wrap in a sheet of plastic, slide into a large plastic bag, and seal, and refrigerate or freeze.

5.      To completely pre-bake a pie shell, line the well-chilled pie shell with a single length of aluminum foil.  Fill with raw rice, dried beans or pie weights.  Preheat the oven to 425⁰F with a cookie sheet on the lower third level rack.  Bake the pie on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes, remove the foil and rice, reduce the oven temperature to 375⁰F and continue baking for 10 to 12 minutes longer, or until baked through and a medium-amber color.

6.      To waterproof a pie shell, remove the shell from the oven a few minutes before it finishes baking.  Lightly beat an egg white until frothy.  Brush the inside of the pie shell up to the decorative rim with the beaten egg white, using a soft pastry brush.  Return to the oven for 1 to 2 minutes longer to finish baking and to dry the egg wash.  The pie shell is now ready to be filled.

Coconut Custard Pie

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

1 cup heavy cream, at room temperature

1 cup light cream, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure coconut extract

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1 fully-baked, 9-inch pie shell

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1.      Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until combined.  Whisk in the sugar, heavy cream, and light cream.  Blend in the coconut and vanilla extracts.  Stir in the coconut.

2.      Pour the filling into the baked pie shell and sprinkle the nutmeg evenly over the top.  Bake in a preheated 425⁰ oven for 10 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 325⁰F, and continue baking for 35 minutes longer, or until the filling has set and the top is a light golden color.  A knife inserted 2 inches from the center of the pie will withdraw clean.

3.      Transfer to a cooling rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Poached Salmon "au Printemps"

Poached Salmon "au Printemps" - made April 27, 2011 from Cooking for One by Mark Erickson, CMC and Lisa Erickson

I love salmon.  Due to my limited cooking skills, the most I usually do to salmon is salt and pepper it, lay some lemon slices over it and shove into a 350 degree oven to bake until done.  This time, however, I decided to spread my culinary wings to try this recipe, from the same cookbook that showed me there's nothing frightening about making homemade tomato sauce.  At first glance, I almost passed over this recipe as it looked too complicated and too involved.  You had to make something to poach the salmon in, you had to make a sauce for it then you had to add some garnish.  Sounded like a lot of bother for a piece of salmon I'm going to consume in one meal.  But that's the point of Cooking for One.  The authors, a husband and wife team who also graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, postulate that there's no reason single cooks shouldn't be able to prepare and enjoy tasty, healthy meals for themselves.  Okay then.  Onward.

As with all my cooking endeavors, I end up having to psych myself up to do it then once I do, it turns out to be no big deal.  The hardest part of the recipe for me turned out to be figuring out what a shallot was.  Fortunately, they sell them at Trader Joe's and even more fortunately, they're clearly marked as shallots so I could safely purchase them without asking the Trader Joe people embarrassing questions like "what's a shallot?" (In case you're wondering, it's a smallish type of onion.) Once I had all my ingredients lined up, I prepped everything before I turned the stovetop on.  I find that for someone like me who doesn't cook very much, there's less stress if you prepare everything ahead of time (mise en place).  Translated: I don't freak out as much.  Even if there were three distinct things to do: prepare the poaching liquid, do the beurre blanc and chop the printemps garnish.  For those of you who've had high school French, you might remember "printemps" means springtime.

I followed the recipe almost faithfully but I did substitute corn kernels for the peas, simply because I don't like peas, springtime or not.  Once I had everything prepped and my mise on place was completed, this recipe turned out to be pretty easy to put together.  I let the salmon sit in the heat of the poaching liquid for the requisite 5 minutes but it turns out that wasn't long enough and my salmon was still pink-raw in the center so I had to warm it up further before I was satisfied it wasn't sashimi.  The sauce was really good and I have to admit, the whole dish really did feel like it was flavored with springtime.  The lemon and chives in the beurre blanc and just the general lightness of the dish (despite the heavy cream) added to that impression.  Another keeper recipe from this book. This beats my old salt, pepper and lemon trick with salmon any day.

Poached Salmon

1 piece salmon fillet, about 5 ounces

Salt and freshly ground pepper as needed

½ teaspoon unsalted butter

1 ½ teaspoons minced shallots

1 sprig thyme

2 tablespoons white wine

¾ cup homemade chicken stock

Beurre Blanc

1 tablespoon dry white wine

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

½ teaspoon lemon juice

Printemps Garnish

1/3 cup shelled green peas, blanched if fresh or thawed if frozen

1 hard-boiled egg, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice

2 teaspoons chopped chives, cut into ¾-inch pieces

1.      Season the salmon with salt and pepper and set aside.

2.      Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat.  Add the shallots and thyme to the skillet and cook, stirring, until the shallots are translucent, about 1 minute.  Add the wine and stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 minute.

3.      Turn the heat off and add the salmon.  Cover the skillet and let the fish cook until it is just barely opaque in the center, about 5 minutes.  Remove the fish from the skillet and set it on a warm plate, loosely covered to keep warm while preparing the beurre blanc.

4.      To prepare the beurre blance, return the skillet to medium-high heat and let the cooking liquid reduce by half, about 4 minutes.  Strain through a fine sieve.  Return 3 tablespoons of the poaching liquid to the pan.  Add the white wine and heavy cream.  Simmer until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.  Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the butter, about 1 teaspoon at a time.

5.      Taste the sauce and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Add the peas, egg and chives to the sauce and return the saucepan to very low heat to gently warm it.  Place salmon in a deep plate and spoon the sauce over and around the fish.  Serve immediately.

Butter Layer Cake

Butter Layer Cake - made April 25 & 26, 2011 from Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yockelson (book #96)

I love this book.  As the title implies, it's organized by flavor so whether you want to bake something based on chocolate, caramel, butter, peanut butter, spice, cinnamon or whatever, you need only turn to that chapter to find something that catches your eye.  More importantly, I think I have a 90% success rate with the recipes in this book and with Lisa Yockelson's recipes in general.  They're straightforward to make, not overly complicated and just come out well.  Whether you're a novice baker or a master pastry chef or in between, this book is on my top 5 list of recommended baking cookbooks.

I don't usually do a lot of layer cakes.  They look pretty and can be baked for just about any occasion.  But they're harder to portion out and put in care packages or give away to people as part of a goodie bag.  Plus you typically need all the formalities of a plate and a fork to eat a two- or three-layer cake properly.  Fortunately, I've still got ties to my old office and one of my ex-coworkers is usually willing to meet me for a baked-goods dropoff so I can continue my baking experiments without consuming (too much of) what I make.  I know this recipe looks long with the cake, the filling and the frosting but you can make the cake and filling ahead of time and frost shortly before serving so it's not too bad if you plan ahead.

Bowl of Cream Cake Filling

The filling is essentially pastry cream, similar to what we used to make at CIA, which I love and could probably eat with a spoon like pudding without the bother of putting it in a cake.  I like to use both vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste for something like this, both for the extra vanilla boost and because I like how the vanilla seeds look in the pastry cream.  As far as cream filling goes, this was okay.  It's not quite as good as the CIA pastry cream I use for Basque Cake but it was still good.  If you make it ahead of time and refrigerate it, just warm it up slightly (15-20 seconds) in the microwave to make it easier to spread between the cake layers.

As you can tell from the pictures, this isn't one of the most professional looking cakes I've ever made.  At first glance, it's hard to distinguish between the layers because the cream filling is a similar color to the yellow cake.  Even though I cleaned the knife between cuts, some of the chocolate frosting still mingled with the cake part.  Similar to the red velvet brownies, that's because I have a tendency to pull the knife up after I cut down.  I should just pull it out horizontally once I've sliced down instead of automatically going back up vertically.  Although I think there's still the problem of the frosting ending up in part of the cake on the downstroke of the knife.  Regardless, this was still a pretty yummy cake.  The cake itself was moist, the filling adds to the moistness and the chocolate frosting complemented both quite nicely.  There was just a little too much frosting (to me), hence why it's so thick on top.  If you wanted to skip the cream filling, you can just use the frosting between the layers.  There should be enough.

Butter Layer Cake

Shortening and bleached all-purpose flour for preparing the layer cake pans

2 cups unsifted bleached, all-purpose flour

¼ cup unsifted bleached cake flour

1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ pound (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

6 large egg yolks

2 teaspoons intensified vanilla extract

¾ cup milk blended with ½ cup light (table) cream

Cream Cake Filling, for assembling the baked cake layers

Buttery Chocolate Frosting for spreading on the baked cake layers

1.     Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease two 9” round cake pans with shortening.  Line the bottom of each pan with a circle of waxed paper, grease the paper, and dust the insides with all-purpose flour.  Tap out any excess flour; set aside.

2.     Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg onto a sheet of waxed paper.

3.     Cream the butter in the large bowl of a freestanding mixer on moderate speed for 2 minutes.  Add half of the granulated sugar and beat for 1 minute; add the balance of the sugar and continue beating for 1 minute longer.  Add the egg yolks and beat for 2 minutes on moderate speed, or until the mixture is creamy-textured.  Blend in the vanilla extract.

4.     On low speed, add the sifted ingredients in three additions with the milk-light cream mixture in two additions, beginning and ending with the sifted mixture.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl frequently with a rubber spatula to keep the batter even-textured.

5.     Spoon the batter into the layer cake pans, dividing it evenly between them.  Smooth over the batter with a rubber spatula or flexible palette knife.

6.     Bake the layers for 30 minutes or until set and a wooden pick inserted 1 inch from the center of each cake layer withdraws clean.  Each baked layer will pull away slightly from the sides of the cake pan.  Cool the cake layers in the pans on racks for 5 to 8 minutes.  Invert each layer onto another rack, peel off the waxed paper round, then invert again to cool right side up.  Cool completely.

7.     Have the cream filling and frosting at hand.  Tear off four 3-inch-wide strips of waxed paper.  Place the strips in the shape of a square around the outer 3 inches of a cake plate.  Center one cake layer on the plate (partially covering the waxed paper square; at least 1 inch of the strip should be visible.)  Spread the filling on the cake layer in an even layer, using a flexible palette knife.  Carefully place the second layer on top, then ice the entire cake in drifts of frosting.  When the frosting has set, in about 45 minutes, gently slide out and discard the waxed paper strips.

8.     Cut the cake into slices for serving.  Serve the cake very fresh; within 2 hours of filling and frosting.  The cream-filled cake is fragile and must be refrigerated after 2 hours.  Refrigerate any leftover cake.

Cream Cake Filling

½ cup heavy cream

½ cup milk

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Pinch of salt

3 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoons unsalted butter, softened

1.     Combine the heavy cream and milk in a small 1-quart saucepan (preferably enameled cast iron) and heat until warm.  Set aside.

2.     Sift the granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a small (5-cup) heavy saucepan.  Whisk the sugar-cornstarch mixture well to combine it; it must be thoroughly blended if the cream is to thicken properly.  Slowly blend in the egg yolks.

3.     Place a fine-meshed sieve over the saucepan and dribble in about 1 tablespoon of the cream-milk mixture and immediately stir it in.  Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the liquid in this way to avoid shocking the egg yolks.  Add the remaining liquid in three more additions, mixing well. 

4.     Bring the filling mixture to a boil slowly, over gentle heat, stirring constantly all the while with a wooden spoon.  Do not use a whisk.  Do not beat the mixture.  As soon as the thickened cream comes to a low boil, regulate the heat so that it bubbles gently for about 1 minute and 30 seconds. 

5.     Press the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, using a rubber spatula.

6.     Slowly stir in the vanilla extract and butter.

7.     Immediately press a sheet of plastic wrap directly over the surface of the cream.  Cool.  Refrigerate the cream in an airtight container for at least 6 hours before using.  The cream can be made one day in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

Buttery Chocolate Frosting

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

Large pinch of salt

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

4 1/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons unsifted confectioners’ sugar

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

1.     Using an electric hand mixer, blend the butter, melted unsweetened chocolate, salt, vanilla extract, half the confectioners’ sugar and all of the milk in a large mixing bowl.  Blend in the remaining confectioners’ sugar and continue beating the frosting on moderate speed for 1 to 2 minutes, or until very smooth.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl once or twice with a rubber spatula to keep the frosting even-textured.  Raise the speed to high and beat for 1 minute. Use the frosting immediately.