Christmas sweets 12.30.13

Richardson’s Candy Kitchen.  A box of dark chocolate treats including chocolate covered orange rind, crystallized ginger chocolate bark, and various caramel and nut truffles.  

The penguins are chocolate covered caramels.

I did make the waffles.  You have to mix seltzer water into the dry mix.  I found the waffles come out better if you let the batter sit for 5 minutes after mixing in the seltzer.  The waffles were delicious. I also bought a box of Krusteaz Belgian waffle mix and will try that one next.

Who doesn't love some King Arthur flour for Christmas.

Cannele people 12.21.13

I have this really cute Wilton silicone mold for gingerbread people.  I think it’s the perfect size for canneles.  So I made these yummy treats.  Traditionally there is a special mold used which is greased with beeswax.  I used coconut oil to grease the mold. It gave the best shiny exterior over vegetable shortening and using no grease.  The recipe is trying to reproduce the taste and texture of canneles made at Clear Flour Bakery in Brookline.  

Biscotti 12.11.13

This is the recipe from Gisslen, but I accidentally added about twice the proper amount of salt.  L  I weighed the salt in grams, but I forgot that my scale is inaccurate with small gram measurements. The cookies lost all their sweetness and staled very fast (in about a day).

5 oz eggs

9 oz sugar

0.25 oz (7.5 g) salt  (about 1 ¼ t)   Taste the egg mixture.  Maybe this is too much salt? Try only ¼ t next time.

1 t vanilla

1 t orange zest

14 oz pastry flour

0.35 oz (10 g) baking powder (about 2 rounded t)

5 oz blanched almonds

Whip eggs, sugar, salt over simmering water until eggs are light and fluffy.  Mix in flavoring, then stir in dry ingredients until just combined.  Mix in almonds. Form into logs and egg wash. Bake 325 about 30 minutes or until light golden.  Slice diagonally when cool.

Apple Pie 12.3.13

I use the baking illustrated recipe for the crust and the filling.  In culinary school, we used 100% granny smith apples.  Another similar recipe used granny smith and Cortland apples (with Granny Smiths sliced and Cortland apples cut into chunks). 

Pie Dough (top and bottom of a 9 in pie)

12.5 oz AP flour

1 t salt

2 T sugar

½ c shortening

6 oz butter, cubed

6-8 T ice water (I think I used 8-9 T with the flour I used)

Apple filling (for 9 in pie)

3 ½ lb apples (about 7 apples)

1 T lemon juice

1 t lemon zest

5.25 oz sugar

¼  t nutmeg

¼ t cinnamon

1/8 t allspice

¼ t salt

1 egg white

Cut apples and toss with half of the sugar; macerate 30 minutes.  Mix softened apples with lemon, remaining sugar, and spices.  Mound apples in bottom crust and assemble the pie.  Cut vent hole in top of crust.  Brush with egg white.  Bake 450 for 25 minutes or until crust is golden.  Bake at 350 until apples are cooked, about 15 more minutes.

I used 6.5 lb apples for four 8’in pies.  I should have used 2.5 lb for each 8’in (3 lb apples for  9 in)

For the crust to come out perfect, I had to make sure not to bake on the top rack in the oven, especially when on 450.  

Yard House 11.14.13

Yard House, 200 Legacy Place, Dedham, MA 02026

Chocolate Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice cream!

Granola Bars 11.6.13

I wasn’t happy with how these came out.  They still taste off and are too sweet.  When I used the optional corn syrup, they tasted better, but staled out very fast.

2 ½ c granola

1 ½ c rice

½ c nuts

½ c peanut butter

1/8 c honey

¼ cup agave (or corn syrup)

½ c brown sugar

1/8 t salt

Crispy Rice method.

My next try will be to use oat flour as a binder, so I don't' have to use as much sweetener.

Pumpkin Pie 11.5.13

I tried a crust recipe from the Gisslen book.   I think I added too much water (or maybe I overmixed it) because the dough was gummy. (makes four 10 oz crusts)

1 lb 4 oz pastry flour

14 oz butter

6-8 oz ice water

2 t salt (optional)

1 oz sugar (optional)

The pumpkin filling is my favorite.  I love the stove top cook method.  And the balance of spices is just right for me.

16 oz pumpkin puree

7 oz brown sugar

2 t ground ginger

2 t ground cinnamon

½ t grated nutmeg

¼ t ground cloves

½ t salt

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

4 large eggs

Cook pumpkin, sugar and spices on stove top until shiny (about 5 minutes).  Then add milk and simmer.  Temper eggs.  Combine all ingredients.  Pour into par baked pie shell.  Bake at 400 about 25 minutes, or until center of pie is set.

Black & Orange 10.30.13

Black & White cookies with orange food coloring in the white icing.  The cookies came out good, but the icing was too thick. I like them with extra lemon, so this version has double the amount of lemon extract.  I made these mini cookies; each cookie is two portions from a #60 scoop.

16 oz cake flour

½ t bak pwder

½ t salt

8 oz butter

12.25 oz sugar

2 large eggs,

½ t vanilla extract

½ t lemon extract

1 c milk

Cream butter and sugar.  Add eggs, and extracts.  Alternate adding dry ingredient with the milk.              

Pumpkin Spritz 10.28.13

It’s the regular spritz cookie recipe with some orange food coloring and green jimmies. I always worry about underbaking these, but they turned out fine.

1 ½ c butter, softened

6 ¾ oz (1 cup) granulated sugar

1 egg

2 T milk

1 t vanilla

1 lb 5/8 oz AP flour (add up to ½ c for easier shooting)

1 t baking powder