Corked Breton Galettes

Corked Breton Galettes - made dough October 31, 2019 from Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan

I'm a book nerd. I borrow from two digital libraries (ebooks and audio books) and belong to a brick and mortar library where I borrow print books. I also have a kindle unlimited subscription on amazon. Being an (ex) Finance nerd, it's a matter of pride and thrift to make sure I read enough kindle books to more than pay for the monthly membership fee.

One of the great things I discovered is that there are some cookbooks available as kindle unlimited borrows. Including this one by Dorie Greenspan. Any longtime readers of my blog will know I went through an overly acquisitive phase of buying baking books and topped the 200 mark at one point. I've donated a lot to my local libraries, especially before I moved, but I still have a fair number. I won't let myself buy any new ones until I use more of my existing ones so I was thrilled to find this on kindle unlimited. The thrill of finding new recipes without the guilt of buying a new baking book is a win-win.

The book itself contains some recipes that are a trifle too exotic for my taste buds. If you consider exotic to be jam and jelly. Which I do. Fortunately, this cookie is adaptable to any filling you choose and I chose Nutella. Or the Costco brand hazelnut spread which, to me, tastes just as good and doesn't contain palm oil.

One of the best tricks I picked up from reading Dorie's Cookies (and yes, I read it like a book from cover to cover) is to slice cookie logs into thick slices and bake them in muffin tins. That will be give perfectly round cookies. Since my cookie logs end up being more square sided than round logs, this was a good trick.

And I have to say, this dough comes together beautifully and is one of the best cookie doughs I've worked with. It's pliable, not sticky or dry and crumbly. Seriously, this dough was great to work with and easily shapes into a log.

The taste itself was basically of a light, airy butter cookie with a hazelnut spread filling. I think I baked it a minute too long as I like my cookies a little more dense but this wasn't cakey. Just airy. These are good for afternoon teas and, if you want to dress them up a bit more, you can sprinkle the tops with toffee bits, mini chocolate chips, toasted nuts or toasted coconut or even drizzle with caramel.

2 1/4 cups (306 grams) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons fleur de sel or 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large egg yolks, room temperature

Filling
Nutella, cookie butter, dulce de leche, jam, your choice

1. Whisk flour and baking powder together.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar and salt together on medium-low speed until smooth. Add the yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition until fully incorporated.
3. Add the dry ingredients all at once and pulse until the risk of flying flour passes. Mix on low speed, scraping bowl as needed, until the flour is incorporated. Turn the dough onto a work surface, press and gather it together and divide in half. Shape each piece into a log about 6 inches long and a scant 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs and freeze for at least 1 hour or refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray regular muffin tins.
5. Cut logs into slices about 1/3" thick. Drop one slice into each muffin tin. Bake the galettes for 18 to 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately press an indentation in the center of each cookie. You can use a wine cork, a tart tamper or the rounded side of a teaspoon. Cool the cookies in the tins then pop them out when cooled to room temperature.
6. Spoon filling of choice into indentations.

Instant Pot Spicy Sweet and Sour Chicken

Instant Pot Spicy Sweet and Sour Chicken - made October 30, 2019 from Aunt Bee's Recipes

Last week the temps dipped to the teens. And, somewhat oddly, when I checked my weather app when I woke up one morning, it showed 17 degrees as the current temp then promised to drop another 2 degrees at sunrise which was in an hour. Erk. Normally I try to go for a walk in the morning. Yeah, didn't go that morning but waited for the afternoon.

However, cold weather did give me an excuse to break out my Instant Pot. I hadn't used it in awhile since my recipe ADD led me down other cooking paths. But it was just as easy to use as ever.

What made it easier is the directions are for using frozen chicken breasts so you don't even have to plan ahead. Other than shopping for the ingredients. But if you already have chicken breasts lurking in the freezer, haul them out and drop them into the Instant Pot. Then add the rest of the ingredients and walk away for 40 minutes.Voila, dinner.

As the title says, this is a bit spicy. At least for me. However, not set-your-mouth-and-hair-on-fire spicy but just a nice heat, thanks to the red pepper flakes. If you want it more bland, omit the red pepper. But I have pretty bland taste buds and if I don't find it too spicy, it likely won't be too spicy for a normal person.

Overall, I liked the flavor of this dish. As in, it actually had flavor, which isn't something I can always claim when I cook. But this made me feel like I'm getting better at cooking. Even if "cooking" just meant throwing ingredients in the Instant Pot and letting it do its thing. If you're busy and tired from a long day at work, this is a perfect dish to make since it requires such little effort and is pretty tasty too. The nice thing about using the Instant Pot is, even starting with frozen chicken breasts, the chicken came out tender and moist. Smothered in sauce and paired with rice, it makes for a great, easy-to-make dinner.

2 1/2 pounds frozen boneless chicken breasts
1 medium onion, quartered and sliced
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water
sesame seeds and green onion for garnish

1. Place chicken in Instant Pot along with sliced onion.
2. Stir together vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, lemon or lime juice, sesame oil, black pepper, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes.
3. Pour mixture over the chicken and onion. Place lid on Instant Pot, with pressure release valve set to closed.
4. Press Manual and set time for 40 minutes. Allow to complete cycle and pressure release naturally. Remove lid and turn Instant Pot off. Remove chicken from the sauce.
5. Combine cornstarch and water and stir into sauce to thicken. Turn Instant Pot to saute and stir until sauce is thickened. Brush over chicken and broil in oven for 1-2 minutes. Pour remaining sauce over chicken.

Grandma's Brownies

Grandma's Brownies - made October 18, 2019 from https://ulasngerti.blogspot.com/

Before I get into this brownie recipe, given it's the day after Halloween and some of you might have leftover candy you want to use up, here's a post I did several years ago that curated some of the recipes you can throw those leftover chocolate bars into. This particular brownie recipe isn't dense enough to really take a chunky Snickers bar but you could always press leftover M&Ms on top of the frosting.

After my last cupcake fail, I needed something a little more surefire of success. Fortunately, brownies are easier to bake successfully at higher altitudes since they don't need to rise (and it would be preferable if they don't) and don't rely on chemical leavening. This recipe doesn't even have any.

Despite that, when I first tried the taste test piece, I was a little ambivalent about the texture on this one. It was moist like any good brownie should be but it wasn't quite as dense as I wanted. It's still more dense than a cake so it's not quite cakey but it isn't as fudgy as my go-to recipe for frosted fudge brownies.

It isn't that I didn't like it but I don't know if I loved it. Fortunately I baked it to take to my niece and her roommate as I was doing a quick trip to visit. So I packaged up most of them to give away. I did set aside - ahem - a couple of pieces for me to snack on during my extended layover though.

It was a good thing I did as it turns out I liked these just fine the next day. Still moist and they seemed to have gotten fudgier overnight. Or else they were just the best option while sitting at the airport waiting for my flight.

Regardless, thumbs up on these. The frosting isn't that thick and it does set quickly so work fast to spread it evenly over the brownie.

3 sticks (24 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup milk
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
3. Whisk together cocoa powder, flour and salt in a bowl. 
4. On low speed, alternately add dry ingredients in three additions and milk in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined; do not overmix. 
5. Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with offset metal spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool for 30 minutes before frosting.
6. Make frosting: in a saucepan over medium heat, add the butter, milk and granulated sugar. Bring to boil, whisking to combine, and boil for one minute. Remove from heat; stir in salt and chocolate chips. Whisk vigorously until smooth then immediately pour onto warm brownies, spreading before frosting sets. Cool for at least an hour before cutting and serving.

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes

Death by Chocolate Cupcakes - made October 15, 2019 from Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay

Every once in awhile, the baking gods like to mock me. As in with a baking fail. Bastards. I had just finished re-reading this book, the first in the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries by Jenn McKinlay. It was a re-read because the first time I read it, I hadn't been tracking my reads on Goodreads yet and while most of the rest of the series was duly logged, this one wasn't. That kinda bugged my sense of series completion since I knew I had already read the first one and it seemed like cheating to backdate that I'd read it, especially since I can't remember when I had first read it and, to be honest, I didn't remember the story that clearly. So I read it again. Problem solved.

As with most culinary cozy mysteries, recipes are included. This one was in the back of the book and I had some milk to use up so it seemed like a good one to try. I haven't been making a lot of cakes since I moved to a higher altitude but I have noticed some recipes are affected more than others. I'm going to assume this is one of the affected ones. The recipe said this made 12 cupcakes. I filled 12 cupcake liners plus 1 extra. 9 of the 13 cupcakes overflowed. Oops.

That's common with high altitude baking as the cakes puff up quickly before their structure is set then sink in the middle. Joy. You know all those food blogs that have perfect looking desserts? Yeah, this isn't one of them. But all was not lost as, despite their sad appearance, these actually tasted quite good. Chocolate flavor was on point because I used a high quality cocoa powder (Droste and Valrhona). The texture was cakey, maybe just the tiniest bit on the dense side but not too much and only because I probably could've baked it an extra minute. I did forget to add the chocolate chips to the batter though but I think it still turned out okay. When it comes to cake, I like mine pretty plain so nothing interferes with that cakey texture.

I didn't frost them with the ganache as listed. They looked kinda sad already and truthfully, I didn't want to waste the heavy cream. Good thing I care more about flavor than appearance.

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Portion into cupcake liners. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center of cupcakes comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

Dark Chocolate Ganache
2 cups dark chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Place chocolate chips in large bowl. Pour cream into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the cream boils, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 1-2 minutes then stir with a whisk until smooth. 
2. Stir in the vanilla until well blended. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the ganache and allow to cool to room temperature. Dip tops of cooled cupcakes into the ganache and allow to dry.

Baking Meetup #2 - Fall Desserts

Baking Meetup #2 - Fall Desserts
Here are the desserts we had for our second baking meetup. Besides the Apple Pecan Spice Cake that I brought, here was everyone else's contribution. Since it was a Fall theme, there were 2 pumpkin desserts. The Salted Caramel Madeleines are good for autumn and year-round. Everything was delicious and I enjoyed getting to try desserts I don't normally make myself.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Slice of Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake - made by Vikki (note: the frosting recipe below came with the original cake recipe. Vikki used a different recipe but I forgot to get a copy of that one so I'm including the original frosting recipe below)

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon fresh-grated nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter three 8-inch cake pans and fit each bottom with an 8-inch circle of parchment paper. Lightly butter the parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl; set aside. Combine the buttermilk, pumpkin and vanilla in a medium bowl and set aside. 
3. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth and light. Alternately add the flour and buttermilk mixtures, blending well after each addition.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the pans and bake until a toothpick inserted near the middle comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, about 35 minutes. Cool the cakes in the pans for 20 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and cool completely.
5. Trim the layers. Place one layer on a cake plate and top with one third of the frosting. Spread evenly. Repeat with the second and third layers.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon orange food coloring

1. Blend the cream cheese, butter, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla in a large bowl, using an electric mixer set at medium speed, until smooth. 
2. Add the confectioners' sugar and continue to beat until light and creamy, about 3 more minutes. Add the food coloring and gently stir until the color is uniform. Chill the frosting until ready to ice the cakes.

Salted Caramel Apple Madeleines

Add caption

inside the madeleine

Salted Caramel Apple Madeleines - made by Dawn
2 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cinnamon apple sauce

Salted Caramel
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
sea salt flakes

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 2 madeleine pans with Bakers Joy (or spray with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour).
2. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs with 2/3 cup granulated sugar until blended. Beat in applesauce and salt. Add flour and beat until blended with mixer on low. Gradually add butter until blended.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each shell indentation. Bake for 11-13 minutes.
4. Make the caramel: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt sugar while stirring constantly until a brownish liquid forms.
5. When sugar has completely melted, add butter and stir until well combined.
6. While still stirring, carefully add heavy cream. Once all the cream has been added, let the mixture boil without stirring for one minute.
7. Remove from heat. Stir in salt, transfer to a mason jar and let cool.
8. Dip madeleines into caramel sauce, place on wire rack to harder and sprinkle with sea salt.

Pumpkin Squares

Pumpkin Squares - made by Bonnie
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 13-ounce can milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 16-ounce can pumpkin puree

Topping
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter

1. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar and butter until crumbly, using electric mixer on low speed. Press into ungreased 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
2. Combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, salt and spices in mixing bowl. Beat well and pour onto crust; return to oven and bake for 20 minutes more.
3. Combine pecans, brown sugar and 2 tablespoons butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over pumpkin layer and bake another 15-20 minutes or until filling is set. Cool completely. Cut into squares and serve with whipped topping.

Apple Pecan Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Apple Pecan Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting - made October 12, 2019 modified from The Recipe Critic

For my second baking meetup (post to follow after this one), the theme was Fall Desserts. While that might mean pumpkin or pumpkin spice for some people, for me, autumn is about apples. That's when they're best in season. Although, truthfully, I eat them year round.

I decided to go with this sheet cake for Apple Pecan Spice Cake since I'd been traveling for the past few weeks, knew I was getting back late on Friday night before the Sunday meetup and I wanted something easy to shop for and make. Which this was.

Although I normally like baked goods to be served same day as much as possible, I made this the day before the meetup as I wanted the cake to develop its flavor overnight and I figured with the apples, there would be sufficient moisture to make sure the cake didn't dry out when consumed a day later. Fortunately, I was right. This cake was pretty moist and made a good fall dessert.

I feel like the only fail was the frosting. I followed the recipe to the letter but the frosting came out really soft, almost runny. I could've countered that by adding more brown sugar but I didn't want the frosting to be too sweet so I tried chilling it instead. Nope, that didn't work. Unlike frostings with confectioners' sugar that help the frosting to "set", brown sugar does not. Still, it wasn't too bad. Oh and I did modify the original recipe to add the pecans as a garnish on top of the frosting instead of incorporating into the cake batter. I'm not a fan of nuts in cakes or cookies or brownies themselves since the nuts soften and steam in baking. In my mind, softened pecan pieces would've detracted from the texture of the cake which was already "lumpy" with the apples. So I toasted the chopped pecans and sprinkled them over the frosted cake instead. It provided an added crunch and toasted pecan flavor that contributed to the fall dessert theme.

4 cups Granny Smith Apples, peeled, chopped into small pieces
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup golden brown sugar
1 cup pecans, lightly toasted, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine apples and sugar. Stir in oil, eggs and vanilla.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add the flour mixture to the apple mixture. Add milk and stir until just combined. 
4. Pour in to the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely.
5. Make the frosting: beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and free of lumps. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla and brown sugar. Beat for 5 minutes until light and fluffy and sugar has dissolved. Spread evenly on top of cake. Garnish with toasted, chopped pecans.