Chellisms

Drunk Baking

I have to admit that I was a bit jealous when I read Tammie's post about all of the holiday candy making that she did over the weekend with her family.

Her post prompted me to e-mail mom and Ashley and set-up a baking day of our own. On the agenda we have, 3 batches of each of the following:

Pioneer Woman's Rum Cake

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls, we are making 1 batch of these as it makes 7 pans

Pioneer Woman's Chex Mix

Peppermint Bark

Pumpkin Bread

English Toffee

Cookie Dough Balls

Divinity, plain and cherry

Peanut Brittle

Fudge

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Crunchies, this one will need a walk-through for anyone other than Ashley, Deb and I but they are so yummy. Edit: These are actually called Rosettes and the directions with purchasable tools can be found here. My recipe is a bit different but you will have to wait for that.

 

These are just most of the ingredients. I still have to grab the dark rum, milk, 2 lbs of white chocolate, more chocolate chips and a couple of odds and ends.

We are calling it drunk baking because, well, Ashley plans on being drunk while she bakes. I like to bake, Ashley not so much. I figure she can just sit at the bar and watch. And drink.

Drunk baking, it's what we do best. I hope.

Recipe Wednesday: Chef Pete

This week is a bit different, rather than a recipe I have a person. One of my favorite people, Chef Pete. You might recall Chef Pete by a slew of other names Pappy Pete, Petey Poo or maybe my personal favorite Rumproast.

Chef Pete started attending cooking school in August. Not a community college course but a full-fledged-cost-more-than-my-last-car-twice-over cooking school. Oh, and he still works full time during the day as an engineer.

The girls and I have reaped the rewards several times as he often gets to bring home his cooking triumphs but this week my mom and I were invited to a night of cooking at the school. Ashley was kind enough to keep the ladies for me as the evenings festivities began at bedtime and Tim had to work and missed out.

The food was great. Crepes stuffed with asparagus, sauteed onions and spinach and covered in a cream sauce. Wasn't sure I would like them but they were yummy. Crepe Suzette that may have induced an orange-y sugar coma that was to die for. French Toast with strawberry coulis, and fresh whipping cream. Fresh made sausage, it looked good but I can't wrap my head around a meat grinder. Eggs made to order. Two types of quiche, Eggs Benedict, eggs florentine, bacon, fresh fruit and so much more.

It was so good.

 

I think he likes working the flambe station, or maybe just yelling flambe!

Recipe Wednesday: Cinnamon Muffin Melt Knock Off's

When Ashley came out in April she made the mistake of introducing my mom and I to Tastefully Simple. That was really an evil thing to do. Online food products? How evil-ly delicious.

I secretly like to call them Tastefully Expensive...

So, my pocketbook and I have this love hate relationship with Tastefully Simple. I love some of their products but my pocketbook weeps when it is time to checkout. I figure if I can find a way to re-create a few of their items at home then I can stock up on the ones that I can't and absolutely love. Last time my mom and I placed an order, my mom ordered the Cinnamon Muffin Melts. They were super yummy, but at $5.99 for a mix that makes a dozen muffins that is a bit steep for me.

Ashley googled around a bit and came across this recipe, we decided to try it out and see how it compared.

Cinnamon Muffin Melt Knock Offs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour   

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 large egg

3/4 milk

1/3 cup unsalted butter

For Rolling:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1  teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. 

2. Mix dry ingredients together, set aside. Beat egg and milk together in small bowl, set aside. Beat softened butter until light and fluffy. 

3. Alternate adding in egg and flour mixtures, mixing after each addition.

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan, filling each cup 2/3 full.

5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes, turn pan over onto a wire rack removing all muffins then turning them over with tops up. Let them cool enough so they may be handled. 

6. Melt the remaining butter. Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.

7. Once muffins have cooled dip all sides in melted butter then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on wire rack to finish cooling.

8. May be served warm or cool. Store in an airtight container.

Note: I noticed something along the way with this recipe, in the original recipe it says the tops should turn golden brown when done. After 22 minutes at 350 degrees mine were as pale on top as when they went in but the sides were browning and the toothpicks were clean. Could it have been my oven? Quite possibly, yes. My suggestion would be not to trust the color of the muffins as a sign of doneness, the color in the pics is simply the cinnamon sugar mixture.

How did these stack up against the real TS Cinnamon Muffin Melts? Let's just say that I will not be buying the boxed mix anymore, this recipe is wonderful. I would rather spend my Tim's hard earned money on the Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam instead...

Recipe Wednesday: MIA Edition

Okay, so I have missed two Wednesday's in a row. Last week was California's fault and this week I have no excuse other than I have yet to go to the grocery store since returning from California and no recipes have struck my fancy.

I did pick up a new cookbook at the library this week, Chocolate Epiphany. After thumbing through it I think it might be a bit beyond my reach, but we shall see. Maybe next week we will have something chocolate-y, this week I am just trying to get back into the swing of things.

Recipe Wednesday: Banana Nut Bread

I haven't actually made anything for Recipe Wednesday in weeks, right after Ashley got here the weather was really cool and we baked a ton. Today it was close to 90 and there was no way I was turning my oven on.

With the weather being warm off and on I bet your bananas are ripening faster than you had anticipated. What great timing that todays recipe includes ripe bananas. It will also be our last recipe from The Martha Stewart Baking Handbook, maybe not forever but at least for this summer.

Banana Nut Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/3 cups vegetable oil

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups ripe mashed banana (about 3 medium)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)

1 cup (about 4 ounces) walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped (optional)

nonstick cooking spray

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Spray two 9-by-5 inch loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray, set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the eggs, sugar and vegetable oil on medium-low speed until combined. Beat in the flour mixture. Add in vanilla, banana, buttermilk and optional coconut and nuts. Beat just to combine.

4. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean, about 60 to 65 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove loaves from pans to cook completely. Bread can be kept well wrapped at room temperature for up to a week or frozen for up to three months.

Notes:

As you can see from the pics I made my two loaves into three, one standard size and two minis. Why? I only have one standard size pan and didn't feel like trekking to my moms house to borrow another. I had another one at some point, it might still be in Hawaii. Or California. Or a highway in Oregon.

I dislike coconut. Tim dislikes nuts. He dislikes bananas more but I didn't remember that until after the fact and besides, all I had were almonds. Ashley thought almonds in banana bread might be odd. I think she is odd.

Oddness aside, the bread was yummy and we all enjoyed it (except Tim, but he doesn't count) for breakfast and look forward to eating the two loaves that I stowed in the freezer as soon as we work our way through the 8 dozen english muffins that someone thought were a good idea. Ahem...

Habanero Hot

It isn't exactly Wednesday and this isn't exactly a recipe but that isn't going to stop me.

Two weeks ago we made salsa, when I went to grab some last week it was gone. Tim took it all to work and shared it with the guys. That's great, I am glad that they liked it. But now my local grocery stores have removed the jalapenos from the produce department because of the salmonella outbreak and using canned is not the same.

What's a girl to do?

Use a habanero instead, of course!

The salsa isn't quite as pretty. It doesn't have the green that the jalapenos usually add to the salsa. Man does it give it some bite. Ashley and I made it tonight and we only added in one habanero, we made it the same as the original salsa recipe except in place of the jalapenos we tossed in a roasted habanero.

Yummy!

Recipe Wednesday: Cornbread

This has to one of my favorite cornbread recipes ever. Surprise, surprise it comes from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook.

I promise that I will return the book shortly and then we will be done with it, it has to be back to the library on the 15th and I haven't bought it yet so you should be safe.

Cornbread

1/3 cup vegetable shortening, plus more for the pan

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal

1 cup milk

1 large egg

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Coat an 8 inch square (or round) baking pan with vegetable shortening. Set aside.

2. Melt butter in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat; add corn. Cook, stirring occasionally, until corn has softened and some of the kernels have begun to turn light golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the cornmeal. Using a pastry blender, cut shortening into mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add milk, egg and cooled corn. Stir to combine but do not overmix.

4. Transfer batter to the prepared pan and bake until the top begins to turn golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Serve warm with butter and honey.

Notes: There is no milk shown in the ingredients picture, yeah, I know. I forgot to get it out and didn't realize it until too late. I did however remember to add it in when I made the cornbread.

I didn't have any vegetable shortening, I used butter flavored shortening instead and it came out perfectly. So good that I keep using the butter flavored and have neglected to add the other to my shopping list.

Recipe Wednesday: Old Fashioned Berry Layer Cake

Ever since I checked out Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook from the library this recipe has been on my radar, but I had to wait until there were enough people around to enjoy it. I couldn't make it and then eat it all myself. Or could I?

 

Old Fashioned Berry Layer Cake

Cake

Unsalted butter, for pans

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

6 large whole eggs, plus 4 large egg yolks, all at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Topping

1 quart (4 cups) heavy cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (optional)

1 pint small strawberries, hulled

1/2 pint blackberries

1/2 pint raspberries

1/2 pint golden raspberries

1/2 pint blueberries

fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9 by 2 inch round cake pans, set aside.

2. In a large bowl sift together flour and cornstarch, set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attached combine the whole eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Beat on high speed until thick and pale, it should hold a ribbon like trail on the surface when the whisk is raised. This should take about 5 minutes, scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

4. Add flour mixture to the egg mixture. With mixer on low speed beat until just combined. Add oil in a steady stream, mixing until just combined. Remove bowl from mixer. Using the whisk fold the mixture several times.

5. Divide the batter between pans and smooth tops. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the cakes are springy to the touch and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

6. Immediately invert cakes onto a wire rack. Then re-invert cakes and let them cool completely with the top sides up.

7. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attached combine heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Scrape in the vanilla seeds from the vanilla bean if you are using it. Starting on low speed and gradually increasing to medium-high, whip until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes.

8. Using a serrated knife, trim the tops of the cakes to make level. Slice each cake in half horizontally into two layers. Place one of the bottom layers on a serving plate. Spread a quarter of the whipped cream over the layer, arrange a quarter of the mixed berries on top. Repeat with remaining cake layers, cream and berries. Garnish top with mint leaves (optional). Serve immediately.

 

Notes: The whipped cream portion of this recipe easily makes double what you need. Even with me putting a ton on and then maybe nibbling from the mixing bowl I still wound up dumping half of what I made. Sure, I probably could have eaten more straight from the bowl but I like the way my pants fit.

When I originally read this recipe I must have had blinders on. I think I glanced at it and saw 6 eggs and some berries and scoffed. No big deal. Dudes. 10 eggs. Yikes. I did have issues finding the berries. I could not find blackberries or golden raspberries. Small strawberries were a no show, but that was just aesthetics.

I thought the cake was a bit egg-y. Go figure, right? The other cake eaters laughed at me and said it was psychological. Pete thought it was a bit dense, which I agreed with but it didn't detract from the flavor. Home made whipped cream is always yummy. I hate blueberries and am not wild about raspberries either.

Overall this cake did not live up to my expectations. Was it good? Yes. Was it great? Meh, not really. A change in berries/fruit might help improve my opinion. Ashley and I decided that next time we would use strawberries and bananas. You can't save the cake as the cream makes the cake soggy so the bananas shouldn't have too much of a chance to turn brown.  

Recipe Wednesday: Salsa!

A couple of weeks ago we made guacamole, today I had a taste for salsa. This is my mom and/or dad's recipe, I am not sure which one of them claims it but whomever it belongs to it is one of my favorites.

That hairy arm is not mine but I couldn't seem to get it out of the picture. It kept popping in every time I tried to get a shot.

Salsa

8 to 10 tomatoes

4 to 6 jalapeno peppers

1/2 medium white onion

handful of cilantro

6 cloves of garlic

1 habanero/scotch bonnet pepper (optional)

salt

food processor or blender

1. Clean all produce. Cut tops from jalapenos. 

2. Roast tomatoes and jalapenos in oven on a jelly roll pan covered in foil or on the stove top in a covered pan until the skins of the tomatoes are bubbled and the jalapenos are bubbled and dark but not burnt.

3. Peel tomatoes and jalapenos. At this point you can also core the tomatoes. Cut your onion in half. Peel garlic cloves.

4. Place cored tomatoes, 2 jalapenos, onion, garlic cloves and cilantro in the food processor/blender and process until desired texture is reached. 

5. Add in a pinch of salt, more or less to taste. For more heat add another jalapeno one at a time, blending after each addition. Feel free to add in more garlic, cilantro or onion as well. If the salsa is too thick add in a bit of water, about two tablespoons at a time. Please remember when adding in the peppers that the longer the salsa sits the hotter it gets.*

6. The habanero. That baby is hot! If you decide to use it I suggest that you roast it in a separate pan or after the tomatoes and jalapenos. Do not add this in until last, very rarely (read almost never) does this salsa need it. If you did buy the habanero and the salsa is perfect without it then you freeze it and save it for something down the road. Or if you are my father feel free to add it in with all 6 jalapenos and then wonder why no one eats it with you.

Enjoy!

Notes:

Please remember when working with peppers to wash your hands with soap and water often. Do not rub your eyes.

When you make this salsa while the tomatoes and jalapenos are still warm it is a bit hard to tell what else it might need. I suggest that you err on the side of caution, stick it in the fridge and add to it in an hour after it has had a chance to cool down. Or ya know, have patience and let the tomatoes and jalapenos cool down first.

I don't know why the salsa gets hotter the longer it sits, it just does.

Storing Peppers:

Freezing roasted peppers: I roasted too many jalapenos this time out and wound up with leftovers. They will save in the freezer in plastic bag. Store in a plastic bag and thaw in hot water.

Freezing fresh peppers: Place peppers in boiling water for about 6 minutes. Remove peppers and place directly into ice water. Once the peppers are chilled remove from ice water, dry them thoroughly and place in an airtight container in the freezer.

Recipe Wednesday: Marble Cake with White Chocolate Glaze

This weeks recipe was picked by Tam, kind of. I gave her two options and she picked this one. Well, I gave her two categories and she chose cakes. I hope she likes it!

This is a Martha Stewart recipe from this book. I checked it out at my local library and have already renewed it once, I either have to renew it again or order it from Amazon.

Marble Cake with White Chocolate Glaze

1 stick or 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp., plus more for pan

1 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising or bread flour)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (I used kosher)

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temp.

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup buttermilk, room temp.

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder*

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water

White-Chocolate Glaze (recipe follows below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Generously butter a 9-by-5 inch loaf pan; set aside.

3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs in one at a time, beating until combined after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla. Add in half of the flour mixture and mix well, add in the buttermilk and mix well, add in the last half of the flour and mix well making sure to scrape down the sides. Remove one-third of the batter and set aside.

5. In a bowl mix the cocoa and the boiling water with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add the cocoa mixture to the reserved (1/3) cake batter; stir until well combined. I did the first part of this step prior to step four and then stuck the cocoa/water mixture into the fridge for a few minutes to cool off, see my thinking on this in the notes below.

6. Spoon the batters into the prepared pan in two layers, alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate to simulate a checkerboard. To create marbling, run a table knife through the batters in a swirling motion. Do not over swirl.

7. Bake, rotating the pan halfway though, until a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Turn out cake from the pan and cool completely on the rack. Pour glaze over cake, letting it drip down the sides. Cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

White Chocolate Glaze

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted, plus more if needed

2 tablespoons milk, plus more if needed

2 1/4 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled (not cold or hard)

In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar and milk. The mixture should have the consistency of thin sour cream. Add the melted chocolate and whisk until glaze is smooth. If it is too thin, add more sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; if too thick, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time. Use immediately.

Dudes! The piece missing on the top? And the side? I ate it them hot from the oven. Burned my tongue, now I lisp. Nom nom nom. Was good.

Notes:

There were a couple things that threw me off a bit with this recipe.The end of step 4 threw me until I made the cake, why do I only need to reserve 1/3 of the batter for the chocolate portion of the cake? Ah-ha! When you mix the reserved batter with the cocoa/water mixture and try to checkerboard the pan it is thin, way thin and wants to run everywhere. Hence, you need way more vanilla batter to hold the chocolate in place. I learned this the hard way as I didn't reserve 1/3 the batter, I reserved 1/2. That Martha, she's pretty smart and I should have followed her directions.

Now, I could be completely wrong on this next one but I didn't want to have to start over. Starting over irritates me. In step 5 Martha has you boil water and add the cocoa to it then add it to the reserved batter. Okay, lets think about this for a minute. That batter has eggs in it, right? When eggs get hot they scramble, right? After I mixed the water and cocoa it was still fairly hot, okay, it was really hot. I stuck the cocoa/water mixture in the fridge prior to adding it into the batter. Like I said before, maybe my thinking was skewed but better safe than sorry and maybe this counts as a Chellism, made sense to me.

This one is just a heads up. The cake tastes great with or without the glaze, if you are in a rush it isn't a must have. Also, if you choose to add the glaze do it while the cake is still on the cooling rack. Place a piece of foil or parchment under the rack first though as it will overflow and run down the sides. Transfer the cake to your serving plate before it sets though as the glaze will crack if you move the cake after it is set.