Jumbo & Jaden: Round 5

As you can obviously tell, things are looking a little different around here. That’s because I’ve been restless lately. Actually, this has been going on for quite some time. It’s affecting all areas of my life so it was only a matter of time before the blog was shuffled around too. Back in January the restlessness was making it difficult for me to blog and I felt like it was a huge effort to put together a semi-coherent post. Around that time my favourite Steamy Kitchen blogger wrote a post about food blog writing tips. I left a comment on that post saying I was looking forward to hearing more of her tips as I could use them to jumpstart my writing again. Not long after that, on a chilly winter’s day, a package arrived for me from the ever amazing Jaden. It was a little bottle of saffron to give me the boost I needed to get back into the swing of things. It’s taken me far too long to get this post up, but that little gift really did get me back into blogging mode. It didn’t take care of the rest of my life, (you can’t win ‘em all) but it did manage to refocus my blogging. Thanks Jaden!

So without further ado, welcome to another round of the Jumbo & Jaden Project! Can you believe I’m at round 5? What started as a joke is slowly building into an obsession of mine. I can’t help it, I love everything that Jaden makes and it only seemed right that I make one of her dishes with my new spice, especially since saffron isn’t a spice that I’ve used very much in my cooking. But I love trying new things though so I quickly perused Jaden’s archives for a saffron recipe and the first one to catch my eye was a beautiful Sweet Yogurt Sundae with Saffron and Pomegranate.

It was also around that time that I had been waxing poetically, (or something like that) about how kiwi and pomegranate should always be photographed together because they’re Fruitywood superstars. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to prove this as Jaden’s recipe calls for both of them. Off I traipsed, in search of the necessary ingredients, hitting up my favourite Chinatown locations for cheap goods. But where were the pomegranates? They were nowhere to be found. I checked no less than 7 different grocers for pomegranates and left each one empty handed. The last fruit stand that I ventured to had pomegranates, 3 of them to be exact, but they were the most pitiful looking pomegranates I’d ever seen in my life. Nevertheless I picked each one up, turned it over, examined it and tried to decide if I could salvage enough of the seeds to make the Yogurt Sundae. At some point I realized this was ridiculous and that I would be better off pairing my pretty kiwi with a fruit that was fresh and tasty instead of mediocre and past its prime. I settled on mango as a suitable alternative. For the rest of the recipe I followed Jaden’s directions and the end result was delicious.

Of course I still had plenty of saffron leftover and was itching to use it again. I considered doing another Jaden recipe but thought that might be overkill, (although I will definitely be making her Persian Sour Cherry Saffron Rice at some point) so I turned to epicurious.com and came up with Arroz con Pollo, a traditional Spanish style chicken and rice dish. I had never had it before either and in my never ending quest to try new things, I thought I’d give it a whirl. I was not disappointed. This dish is packed with flavour, so much so that my camera couldn’t handle it and this picture was the best I could do. But don’t take my word for it, make it yourself and enjoy the fiesta in your mouth. Hasta luego!

Arroz Con Pollo (From Gourmet, January 2001)

1 (3 1/2- to 4-lb) chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons paprika
2 cups long-grain white rice
1 1/4 cups dry white wine
1 (14-oz) can diced tomatoes including juice
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon crumbled saffron threads
1 bay leaf (not California)
1 cup frozen peas (not thawed)
1/2 cup pimiento-stuffed green olives, coarsely chopped

Garnish: chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet (at least 2 inches deep) over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken on all sides, about 12 minutes total. Transfer chicken with tongs to a plate.

Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet and add onion, bell pepper, and salt to taste. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 7 minutes. Add garlic, paprika, and rice, then cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add wine and boil, uncovered, 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with juice, chicken broth, saffron, and bay leaf. Nestle chicken in rice, adding any juices from plate.

Cook, covered, over low heat until chicken is cooked through, rice is tender, and most of liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peas, olives, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover skillet and let stand 10 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

Technorati Tags:

Saffron + Yogurt + Mango + Rice

Making it Right

It’s always interesting to hear how someone makes a dish that is considered a national specialty. When I try out recipes found online and in magazines and books I often wonder how authentic the recipe is or how much it has changed from its origins. I don’t necessarily mind the change if the end product still tastes good, but I wonder what someone who grew up on the stuff would think of the bastardization that has occurred. As I told you a couple days ago, while revealing too much about myself, I started Chef Training in January. Many of the comments on that post asked to know more about the experience, so here’s a little story for you. One of the chef’s is from Switzerland and as such has very firm beliefs about a dish that originated there, rösti, (many consider it a national dish). Let me back up even further and say that Chef Swiss has a very dry sense of humour that I find hilarious. He also has a habit of going off on tangents about topics that he really likes. Rösti is one of those topics. During a lecture on potatoes he got sidetracked with rösti and spent the next 15 minutes telling us exactly how it should be cooked. He was so passionate about it that I was convinced I had to try making it at home, and I did. So here’s my attempt at rösti, with Chef Swiss’s valuable nuggets of information thrown in.

To begin with, it’s pronounced Rrrrr-eush-ti. Roll the r, that o with the dots sounds like ‘eu’ and then add a ‘sh’ sound before the final ‘tea’. Chef Swiss had the whole class trying to roll their r’s and would simply sigh and shake his head in frustration when most of the class failed epically. Next, before he could explain how to properly make rösti, he had to emphasize what it was not.

What rösti is NOT:

-Hash browns

-Latkes

-Pancakes

-Pizza of any sort

-French fries

-Heavy and flat

And do NOT serve rösti with ketchup, (I think Chef Swiss thinks ketchup should be outlawed altogether, but it should especially never be served with rösti). Certain regions of Switzerland may opt to add bacon or onion to the grated potato or serve it with a bit of melted cheese or a fried egg on top but those are regional twists and the traditional rösti is just potato.

So without further ado, here is how you make rösti:

Boil potatoes in skin until tender. Remove from boiling water and cool overnight in the fridge. The next day, remove the potatoes from the fridge, peel them and grate coarsely with a box grater. While grating you must hold the grater above the bowl so that the potatoes fall lightly into the bowl. The potatoes are not to be smushed down by holding the grater against your counter or cutting board. Season the grated potatoes with salt and black pepper. No white pepper. No nutmeg.

Take a non stick pan and melt enough butter to coat the bottom. Drop the potatoes lightly into the pan and let slowly fry over medium heat while giving the pan a shake. Once the potatoes start to colour, you can shape the potatoes around the outside of the pan so that it’s a nice circular shape. Do not push down on the potatoes in the middle, they are to be light and fluffy. Once the potatoes start to dry out a bit, add little balls of butter around the edges and let it melt underneath. After about 10 minutes, when the bottom is browned and will hold together, flip the rösti over and once again add little butter balls around the edges of the pan and let them melt into the middle. The rösti is done when the outside is browned and crispy, but the middle remains soft, light and fluffy. Plate and serve as is.

Technorati Tags:

Potatoes + Rosti + Breakfast

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Apparently I didn’t get the memo that it’s meme time. I’ve recently been tagged not once, not twice, but thrice. At first I thought I’d let it slip by because I’ve responded to similar memes in the past, but when I looked in my archives for when that was, I also discovered that I need to organize my archives better because I never actually found what I was looking for. Nevermind that though, since I’ve been tagged by Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar, Mrs Presley of Good Eats ‘N Sweet Treats and Bron of Bron Marshall Classic and Creative Cuisine, I came to the conclusion that I must seem awfully secretive if all three of these ladies want to know more about me. Well, you must give the people what they want, (even if it’s actually very boring) and so if that means revealing some secrets, then that’s what I’ll do. Two of the memes called for disclosing 7 things about me, the other only asked for 5 so I’m splitting the difference with 6.

1. I have a fondness for trying the unknown. This led me to a love of desserts with red bean although I had never made any for myself until recently when I attempted red bean buns. They turned out decently, but not the same as my favourite Chinese Bakery. Next up I want to try making sesame balls, but that requires deep frying so I don’t know how soon it will happen.
2. I wish the whole world could live in jogging pants.
3. I look at the clock every day at 11:05. Sometimes I catch it in both the AM and PM, sometimes only once a day, but at least once.
4. I wear running shoes all through winter, (even if there’s a foot or two of snow) but having cold and wet feet makes me want to cry.
5. I’m pretty good at reciting the alphabet backwards.
6. Alright, here’s a big one to end things off, I’ve been keeping this quiet but if you must know: I started Chef Training in January.

Sweet Bun Dough (Adapted from Happy Home Baking)

143g milk

35g egg
25g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g instant yeast
38g butter (unsalted)

Place milk, egg, followed by caster sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast into the bowl of your stand mixer. Use the dough hook and knead for 8 mins before adding the butter. Continue to let the mixer do the kneading or take it out and continue by hand if you feel so inclined, about another 10 minutes until dough is smooth.

Place the dough in a clean, oiled bowl and let it proof at room temperature, covered with cling wrap. Let proof for 60mins or until almost doubled in size.

Remove dough and punch down. Divide dough into 9 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Flatten the balls, place about 1 T of sweet red bean paste in the middle (I bought mine, but if you want to make your own, here’s a recipe for it) and close the dough around the past. Place them seem side down and let the buns proof for the second time, about an hour, covered lightly with cling wrap.

Bake on a baking sheet in pre-heated oven for 25-30mins or until golden on top.

Technorati Tags:

Red Bean + Sweet Buns + Bread + Baking

When You Try Your Best but You Don’t Succeed

Way back in July I told you a little story about making pierogies and then renaming them Pockets of Goodness in the hopes that a misguided Ukrainian Princess would finally embrace her culinary heritage and enjoy a bite. At the time, I was not able to rush my pierogies over to the castle quickly enough for the Princess to try some but I vowed that one day I would convince her of the awesomeness of pierogies. So when Zorra announced that she was hosting an event called A Heart for Your Valentine whereby bloggers create edible hearts for their valentines I saw it as a perfect opportunity to win the Princess over. You see, Princesses love pretty things like hearts so surely she’d love pierogies in the shape of a heart. Right? Wrong. I’m going to forewarn you, this story does not have a happy valentine type ending. You might want a box of tissues before you continue reading.

Last time I made pierogies I thought the perfect trick would be to rename them Pockets of Goodness to distract from what they really were, with the rationale being that you can’t hate something you’re never tried. But I decided I would be better off changing both the name AND the shape of the pierogies, especially if the shape-to-be was a heart. Then I could call them Yummy Hearts and they’ve got it all; new name, new shape, same great taste. Of course I had to pair the Yummy Hearts with bacon, because every good Princess loves bacon and I personally believe that everything is better with bacon. So with the combination of hearts and bacon it seemed as though the stage were set for the Princess to experience a pierogi epiphany whereby she would finally realize that she’s been mistaken all these years and that pierogies are in fact delicious.

I waited until I knew the Princess would be at the castle and then I delivered the Yummy Hearts on a silver platter, complete with bacon. The Princess looked at the platter and this is the conversation that ensued:

Princess: Those are pierogies.

Me: No they’re not, they’re heart shaped and pierogies aren’t heart shaped.

Princess: So the shape determines what it is?

Me: Yes, of course. If those were half moon shaped then I could understand your concern, but they’re not, they’re hearts. And look, there’s bacon!

Princess: They’re pierogies.

Me: No, they’re Yummy Hearts.

Princess: I can’t eat them, they’re pierogies.

Me, (trying to hold it together): No, no, no! You have to try them, just one bite.
Princess: I’ll eat the bacon.

Me, (getting desperate): Just a tiny bite, I promise it will be good. You’ll like them. I wouldn’t lie to you Princess.

The Princess then proceeded to eat the bacon and replace the dome on the silver platter. I couldn’t even convince her to take a little nibble. She won’t eat the pierogies and the Princess may just break my heart.

Potato and Cheese Perogies (Adapted from Bozena Srubarek, Business Class Catering, Toronto via Foodtv)

Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour (500 ml)

1/2 tsp salt (2 ml)

2 large egg yolks

2 tsp vegetable oil (10 ml)

1/2 to 3/4 cup hot tap water (125 ml to 175 ml)

Potato Cheese Filling

2 medium potatoes, peeled, cut in chunks

1T sour cream (15 ml)

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated (250 ml)

salt and pepper, to taste

Dough

Place flour on counter or wooden board. Sprinkle salt on top of flour. Make a well in centre. Place egg yolks and oil in well. Using the tips of your fingers, stir in circular motion, working from middle of flour mixture out and adding water with other hand, a little at a time, as you go. You have added enough water when dough begins to hold together and so just slightly sticky. Form into ball, scraping up and adding any bits that stick to counter

Knead dough, adding a little more water if necessary, 20 to 25 times or until soft and elastic. Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill at least 1 hour or overnight.

Potato Cheese Filling

Add potatoes to medium pot of boiling salted water. Cook until soft. Add sour cream, yogurt or milk. Mash with potatoes masher or ricer. Stir in cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Assembly

To fill perogies, divide dough into 3 to 4 pieces. I used a pasta machine to roll out the dough, but the original recipe tells you to do the following: Using hands, shape into logs about 1- inch in diameter. Slice each log into pieces 1-inch wide. Dust each piece lightly in flour. Using hands, shape each piece into a round disc, then pull gently as you would pizza dough to make the disk thinner. When dough is thin, place a rounded tsp. of filling in centre. Using your fingers, gently pull dough over filling to form half-moon shape. Pinch edges together carefully but tightly, crimpling as you go, to seal. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

To cook the perogies, bring large saucepan of salted water to boil. Reduce heat so water simmers and does not boil rapidly. Add perogies, one at a time, taking care not to over crowd the pan. Cook uncovered, 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and gently with wooden spoon to loosen from sides of saucepan. Drain.

Technorati Tags:

Pierogies + Bacon

Time to Make the (Oddly Shaped) Donuts

Peabody and Helen are hosting an event called Time to Make the Doughnuts. I’ve never made donuts before, (coincidentally, Mom has made donuts on numerous occasions, but of course, like owning goats, that was before my time) but I knew I had to participate as these girls are not only fellow Daring Bakers, but two of my favourite bloggers in general.

I chose to make baked donuts, but please hear me out on this one. If I had a deep fryer, I would have made traditional fried donuts, but unfortunately I don’t. Therefore, if I were to make fried donuts there is always the possibility of my burning down the kitchen. Actually, the thought of burning down my godawful cave of a kitchen was almost enough to tempt me into frying, but then I considered how long it took my landlord to fix my shower and I knew that if I burned down the kitchen I might never have one again. It wasn’t the fear of calories or fat that scared me away from fried donuts, but the fear of losing what meager kitchen I have.

Furthermore, I’d like to take this opportunity to let you know that diets are for suckers and if you’re on one, I don’t want to hear about it. I hate when people refuse my baked goods because they’re on a diet and I especially hate it if you tell me you’re fat. It’s never attractive to hear anyone say they’re fat. So long as you exercise and aren’t morbidly obese, a few extra pounds are not worth worrying about. So don’t tell me about your carrot stick and grapefruit diet or all the delicious foods you’re not eating because you’re worried it will go to your stomach or hips or behind. Don’t tell me how after eating one cookie you have to go to the gym because you feel disgusting. I don’t want to hear it.

Back to the donuts. Do you ever do something even though you know it’s not a good idea? That’s what happened to me while making these donuts. When I rolled them out, I rolled them too thin and I realized this immediately, with plenty of time to correct the situation, but did I? No. Instead, I knowingly made it worse. I took two thin donuts and stuck them together. Even as I did it, I knew that it was a bad idea. I knew they would separate while rising and baking, but I ploughed ahead. I decided to further mess things up by cutting out enormous centres. The recipe warns to make sure the donut holes are large enough that they don’t bake shut. This does not mean they should almost be the size of the donuts themselves. Ugh. These donuts had such potential. I’ve seen other bloggers experience success with them and I was looking forward to showing off some beautiful donuts. Sadly this is not the case. Because of preventable errors on my part, I got some seriously weird looking donuts. The donuts holes turned out to be the best part. I dipped them in butter and then rolled them in cinnamon and sugar. Since my larger donuts didn’t lend themselves very well to rolling due to their bizarre shapes, I tried to coat them a few different ways. One of them was dipped in butter and coated in cinnamon sugar, but that was a pain, so I switched to a cinnamon glaze which was messy and then simple powdered sugar which was the easiest, but least tasty.

Baked Doughnuts (from Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks)

Don't over bake these, if anything, under bake them a bit - they will continue baking outside the oven for a few minutes. You want an interior that is moist and tender - not dry. Also, be sure to cut big enough holes in the center of your doughnuts - too small and they will bake entirely shut. Remember they rise, and they rise even more when they are baking. These really need to be made-to-order, but you can make and shape the dough the night before if you want to serve them for brunch. Instructions: after shaping, place doughnuts on baking sheet, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Pull them out an hour before baking, and let rise in a warm place before baking.

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour (alternately, white whole wheat might work - haven't tried it yet)
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments - if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don't have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat immediately if not sooner.

Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen medium doughnuts.

Technorati Tags:

Doughnuts + Baking + Cinnamon + Donuts

Lasagna to Soothe the Soul

Thanks to everyone who voted for me in Culinate’s Death by Chocolate contest. I didn’t win, but I was in the top ten, so that’s not too shabby. Congrats to Not Eating Out in New York and her Pain with Chocolate, which was the grand prize winner, I know she’ll have an amazing time in Napa. She’d better!

Instead of jetting off to Napa, I’ll be here, wallowing in misery. Usually to ease my sorrow I would drown myself in chocolate, but given the current circumstances, chocolate can’t console me, it only serves as a painful reminder of what I’m missing out on. So I’m turning to good old fashioned comfort food to make me feel better, something with lots of carb-goodness: lasagna with homemade noodles. Lasagna was always a dish I used to get excited about when I found out we were having it for dinner. When I was little we didn’t have it all that often and it was usually reserved for a Sunday dinner as it takes a little extra time to prepare. I could never resist the smell of lasagna as it baked in the oven and was impatient as ever to eat it. I hated waiting and the fact that it couldn’t be served directly from the oven. I was repeatedly told that the lasagna was too hot to eat right away and even though I was made to wait for a while before it got to my plate, I would always burn my mouth on the first bite. That never slowed me down though, I think I stuffed myself silly every time I ate lasagna, (who am I kidding? I still do) and never turned down seconds or thirds or fourths. Given the amount of lasagna I would eat in one sitting, you’d think I’d get sick of it but I still couldn’t wait to have the leftovers again for lunch the next day.

Now that I make my own lasagna I can have it whenever I want and often make up a big tray and freeze (enormous) individual pieces to heat up when I get a craving. I don’t follow a recipe for the filling, it generally varies depending on what I have on hand. I like to make up all the components and then put it together assembly line style. My latest and greatest lasagna discovery is to use homemade pasta instead of storebought noodles. Yes, it takes considerably more time to make your own, but I like playing around in the kitchen, it’s fun for me. I also like rolling the noodles super thin and making as many layers as will fit in my pan. For this lasagna I got 6 layers of noodles alone. That’s awesome! I’ve gotten even more than that, but in that case the filling I’m using between pasta layers is pureed. This time around I used a filling that consisted of tomato sauce, cottage cheese, beef seasoned with ginger and garlic, onions, green and red peppers and mozzarella cheese. Someday I’ll have to post about the seafood lasagna that I make which uses a white sauce and is fantastic. Until then, I’d be happy to hear what you like in your lasagna and if anyone needs me, I’ll be finishing off the pan of lasagna and then rolling myself to the couch.

Fresh Pasta (from Giada DeLaurentiis’ Everyday Pasta)

3 cups all purpose flour, (I used 00 flour and since I’ve started using it in my pasta, I like it a whole lot more)

4 large eggs

1 T kosher salt

1 T olive oil

Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor. In a small bowl lightly beat the eggs. Add the salt and olive oil to the eggs and stir to combine. Add the egg mixture to the food processor with the flour and pulse to combine, scraping down the sides if needed. Continue with the machine running, until the liquid is evenly distributed, about 1 min, (I didn’t let it run that long). The dough should stick together if pinched between your fingers and be cornmeal yellow in color. Some of the dough will be clumping together but it will not form a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gather the dough into a ball and knead until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes before rolling and shaping as desired.

Technorati Tags:

Lasagna + Pasta

Spicing Up Chocolate with Cinnamon

Today is the last day of voting so if you haven’t yet done so, get yourself over to Culinate and enter the Death by Chocolate contest to win a trip for 2 to Napa Valley and then vote for me so that I can meet you there! Just click on the pretty chocolate button. Once you’ve done that, come on back to read about Cinnamon Squares.

Although chocolate as the main event is awfully nice, it’s just as sweet as an accent feature. Such is the case with Dorie Greenspan’s Cinnamon Squares, which get a double hit of chocolate; layered in between the batter and then slathered on top as a frosting. The smell that wafts from the oven and fills every corner of the house, (or tiny apartment…) while this cake is baking is simply intoxicating. The second I caught a whiff of the heavenly aroma I began to salivate. When the timer buzzed I went to check on the cake and grew weak in the knees as I opened the oven door, the smell was overwhelming. For a split second I had a crazy thought of sticking my fist into the pan, pulling out a handful of cake and shoving it into my mouth. I shook my head to clear out the crazy and realized that would be a disaster on so many levels. I then calmly removed the cake, put it on a rack to cool and left the kitchen to try to busy myself with thoughts of something other than cake.

As many tools, pans, gadgets and gizmos that my kitchen has, it’s lacking an 8x8 baking pan, which is what this recipe calls for. As I always do when a recipe is supposed to be baked in an 8x8 pan, I made it in my 9x9 pan, (bad baker, very bad!) which means that it wasn’t as tall as it should have been and isn’t as tall as the Cinnamon Squares made by Nicole over at Baking Bites or those made by Helios from Tales from a Veggie Kitchen, (who also added cardamom to the swirl) but I’m sure it was just as melt in your mouth good.

Cinnamon Squares, (from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours)

For the cake
11/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
11/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or 1/2 cup store-bought mini
chocolate chips

For the frosting
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
21/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment or wax paper. Place the pan on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake: Stir 2 tablespoons of the sugar, 21/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon and the espresso together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, the remaining 11/4 cups sugar, the baking powder, salt and the remaining 1 tablespoon cinnamon. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour the liquid
ingredients over the flour mixture and gently whisk until you have a homogenous batter. Now, using the whisk or a rubber spatula, fold in the butter with a light touch, just until the butter is absorbed. You'll have a smooth, satiny batter.
Scrape half of the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the chocolate over the batter and dust with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Cover with the rest of the batter and smooth the top again.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the cake is puffed and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan; a thin knife inserted into the center will come out clean. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for 15 minutes before unmolding it onto another rack. Peel off the paper, invert it onto the first rack, and cool to room temperature right side up.

To Make the Frosting : Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and fit the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook, stirring gently and often, just until they melt. Be careful not to overheat the mixture so much that it thins out; the chocolate should be smooth, very shiny, thick and spreadable. (If it thins, leave the frosting at room temperature for a bit, until it thickens a little.)
Using an offset metal icing spatula or a table knife, spread the frosting in generous sweeps and swirls over the top of the cake. Allow the frosting to set at room temperature, then cut the cake into 9 squares, each about 21/2 inches on a side.

Makes: 9 servings

Serving: Serve the cake as is or, if you'd like, with whipped cream, crème fraîche or sour cream.

Storing: Wrapped in plastic, the cake will keep at room temperature for 2 days. It can be frozen for up to 2 months, but it's best to put the cake in the freezer unwrapped and then, when the frosting is firm, to wrap it airtight; defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

Vote for me in the Death by Chocolate contest

Technorati Tags:

Cake + Cinnamon + Chocolate + Baking + Dorie Greenspan

Now These Are Brownies!

Once again, most importantly, if you haven’t yet done so, get yourself over to Culinate and enter the Death by Chocolate contest to win a trip for 2 to Napa Valley and then vote for me so that I can meet you there! Just click on the pretty chocolate button. Once you’ve done that, come on back to read about Strawberry Banana Brownies.

After teasing you with Peanut Butter Blondies, I thought it was only fair that I post about some real brownies. Because talking about brownies while showing you blondies is just mean. It’s like when Mom says something like “I was going to get you (insert present here) but then wasn’t sure if you’d like it, so I got you nothing.” Inevitably, the present in question was something awesome like a cookbook and of course I would have wanted it! It really doesn’t even matter what it was, it’s a present, and who doesn’t like unexpected gifts? No one.

These brownies were my own concoction as I’ve had a craving for banana bread lately, but wanted something with more chocolate. It was then that I remembered a post I did a long time ago for the Brownie Babe blogging event about Banana Brownies. Although I’m sure those brownies were tasty, (they had cacao nibs in them, of course they were!) I didn’t want to make them again. As I’ve stated before, I generally don’t like to make the same thing twice unless it was really amazing and even then I’ll be tempted to change something about it to try to make it even better. Today, for example, I knew I had some dried strawberries in the cupboard that would be an excellent addition to any brownie. I also thought those strawberries would be particularly good if they were flamed in rum. This is a technique that I’ve been a fan of ever since I made a Dorie Greenspan recipe that required me to flame prunes in armagnac. Now I use it anytime I used dried fruit in a recipe. While I’m handing out tips worth their weight in gold, here’s another one that I learned from Dorie: whenever adding zest to a recipe, use your fingers to rub it into the sugar instead of just tossing it willy nilly into the batter. Two great tips in one post, what more do you want from me?

If you’d like some more white chocolate in your life, try these White Chocolate Almond Cookies, another recipe that came out of my Allrecipes.com Tried & True Cookies book. They were originally supposed to be White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, but all I had were almonds and seeing as though the batter called for almond extract anyways, I figured it would be a good swap. It was.

Bri’s Strawberry Banana Brownies

1 cup all purpose flour

½ cup cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 eggs

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

2 bananas, mashed

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 oz milk chocolate, chopped

½ cup dried strawberries, chopped

2 oz white chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan combine the dried strawberries with 1/3 cup water, bring to a boil. Watch to make sure the fruit does not scorch. When almost all of the water has been absorbed, removed from the heat, add a splash of rum and light on fire. Let the alcohol burn off. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, sugars, bananas, oil and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine. Stir in the strawberries and any remaining rum as well as the chopped chocolate.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake for 20-24 minutes until the top is dry and springy to the touch. Allow to cool in the pan before unmolding.

To top, melt white chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler and drizzle overtop of the cooled brownies.

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Technorati Tags:

Brownies + Baking + Chocolate + Bananas

Brownies Must Contain Chocolate

Most importantly, if you haven’t yet done so, get yourself over to Culinate and enter the Death by Chocolate contest to win a trip for 2 to Napa Valley and then vote for me so that I can meet you there! Once you’ve done that, come on back to read about some Peanut Butter Blondies with Chocolate Chips.

I got this recipe from the Allrecipes.com Tried & True Cookies book, which I received about a year ago, or rather, I should have received over a year ago. In actual fact it didn’t make it into my possession until this past August. It got sidetracked at my brother’s house. I feared it had taken up permanent residence there too as every time they’d come to visit I’d remind them to bring my cookie book and they never did. Of course there were excuses about why the book never made the journey, the most popular being that the Baby Genius had stolen it and hidden it in his mountain of books, (and I do mean mountain, that kid loves to read). But I didn’t buy it. Baby Genius made me suspicious of this tale as well, when he informed me that he and Mom had made cookies for the car prior to coming to visit. I had a pretty good idea of the source of their recipe. Eventually though, after I pleaded for the return of the book and promised to bake cookies from it and mail them proof, I got it back. After the epic battle that it took to get my cookie book, you’d think I would have baked from it sooner. Instead, it sat on my shelf, mixed into my mountain of books and was forgotten for some time. I discovered it again when I went home a few weeks ago and have since put it to good use. These Peanut Butter Blondies with Chocolate Chips were the first recipe I tried and the results encouraged me to make lots more.

Originally these bars were (incorrectly) named Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies. I changed the name because it was just wrong. I started making these bars, as I often do, without thoroughly reading the recipe and therefore I was expecting, as the title would suggest, a brownie that had peanut butter in it. Well I mixed up the batter and as I looked at the final product before scrapping it into the pan to put in the oven, something didn’t seem right. That something, was the fact that I was looking at a pale batter without any chocolate in it. Someone had the nerve to call this bar cookie, a brownie, despite the total lack of anything chocolate. I remedied this error in two ways. First, I added a cup of chocolate chips to the batter before baking and second, I renamed them so that they wouldn’t fool anyone else. That made everything better.

The second recipe that I tried was for Coffee Liqueur Raisin Cookies. They were a very nice switch up on an oatmeal raisin cookie, although next time I probably would have added some instant coffee powder to the batter give it a more pronounced flavour. Mine may have been lacking though because I halved the recipe as the original made 7 dozen cookies and I didn’t need that many cookies in my life. I wanted 7 dozen cookies in my life, but I didn’t need them. It’s a never ending struggle of good versus evil.

Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies with Chocolate Chips, (Adapted from this recipe submitted by Missy to Allrecipes.com)

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C ). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together peanut butter and butter. Gradually blend in the brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture until well blended. Add in chocolate chips.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in preheated oven, or until the top springs back when touched. Cool, and cut into 16 squares.

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Cookies + Peanut Butter + Raisins + Blondies

Everyone Wins with Chocolate!

For your chance to win a trip to Napa Valley to eat chocolate and drink wine, and to help me win too, (everybody wins!) enter the Culinate contest and vote for me here. For a further explanation of what this is all about, keep reading…

When Culinate announced its Death By Chocolate contest I was all over it. I simply had to choose a blog entry that highlighted my love of chocolate and hope for the best. It seemed so easy, but what the folks at Culinate didn’t account for was my inability to make decisions. I started to go through my archives to look for my favourite chocolate post and realized very quickly that this was not going to be an easy decision. Most recently I made a Chocolate Mousse Cake for Dad’s birthday and it was certainly decadent enough to qualify. Then I stumbled upon a myriad of brownie posts, all of which celebrate the food of the Gods. But what about my chocolate ice creams? There’s been Chili Chocolate, Blueberry Chocolate and Chocolate Chai just to name a few. And on and on I scrolled through posts about chocolate. But I came no closer to making a decision on which one to use for the Culinate contest.

The only thing that became clear was that I was getting a serious craving for chocolate and that’s when my solution became clear: make a whole new post about chocolate. It was the perfect excuse to make all things chocolate, I had to do it. This meant that once again I had to decide which recipe to make and as I’ve made clear, I’m not good at that. So I cheated and made lots of chocolate recipes instead of choosing just one. Feast your eyes on Cat Cora’s Chocolate Crème Brulee, an adapted version of Alice Medrich’s Cocoa Brownies, (with dried strawberries and pear sauce) Bon Appetit’s Ultra Rich Hot Chocolate and Dorie Greenspan’s Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes, (with bonus M&M’s on top).

Ok, more about the actual contest: Culinate is offering a reader and a blogger the chance to win a trip for 2 to Napa Valley to attend the Copia Center’s annual Death by Chocolate Festival on Feburary 23, 2008, featuring a day of chocolate and wine tasting, demonstrations by pastry chefs, and other sessions with chocolate aficionados and experts. The contest includes daily drawings for cookbooks, additional festival tickets, and Valentine chocolates. The winner among readers will be chosen at random from all entries. Readers will vote for their favorite blog posts, and the winning food blogger will be selected by a panel of judges from the top 10 reader favorites. So what are you waiting for? Go sign up and get yourself in the running to win and then remember to go back on Monday to vote so that I can meet up with you there! I leave you with Cat Cora’s recipe for Chocolate Crème Brulee and a collage of some of my previous chocolate posts, enjoy!

Chocolate Crème Brulee (from Cat Cora via Foodnetwork)

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1 vanilla bean

4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

4 egg yolks

1 tablespoon sugar

4 to 6 tablespoons cane sugar, for topping

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Mix the cream and vanilla bean together in a double boiler. Heat the mixture for 10 to 15 minutes and stir in the chocolate. Remove the vanilla bean.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Slowly pour the chocolate cream into the egg mix, continuously whisking. Place the bowl over simmering water until the cream mix thickens and coats the back of a spoon, about 6 to 8 minutes. Pour into 4 (4-ounce) custard dishes. Place in a large baking pan and add enough water to come up halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake until the custard is set, about 1 hour. Remove from the water and cool. Cover and refrigerate. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar on top of each one and with a brulee torch, caramelize the top and serve.

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Cupcakes + Crème Brulee + Chocolate + Baking + Dorie Greenspan

Mom's Pretty Awesome Too

You might be thinking at this point that Dad and I rule the kitchen and that Mom can’t boil water to save her life. You would be wrong though. It seems as though my interest in baking and cooking has simply pushed Mom out of the kitchen. It wasn’t always like this. Before I was born, my parents had goats and rabbits and other assorted animals, (who knows what Dad would come home with?) and Mom made everything. Each week she made bread and yogurt and cheese and ice cream, (those goats sure did produce a lot of milk) and what’s more, it was really good! Or at least that’s what I hear, they got rid of the animals when I came along, only my brother and sister benefited from those, apparently I was too much to handle. But I certainly did benefit from Mom’s great cooking, which I experienced for years and years.

Then, when I was in second grade Mom went back to work. Her days in the kitchen began to dwindle after that, but her talent did not. When my brother would come home from University Mom always made sure to go all out, baking bread and making whatever he missed from home. Even when she wasn’t cooking a whole lot Mom would still bake birthday cakes and dessert on the weekends and was more than capable of making an amazing dinner.

In more recent years I’ve taken over all of the baking duties, making desserts for every occasion and then some. I haven’t given Mom the chance to do any baking even if she wanted to. Then I moved back to Toronto and all of a sudden I was getting emails with photo attachments of all of the things Mom was baking; angel food cake, sour cream apple pie, kiwi torte, a chocolate ice cream cake with cherries, kiwi ice cream… Kiwi ice cream?! Are you serious? I read about that and soon afterwards got on a bus and made the trek home. The ice cream alone was worth the trip, (and let me tell you, for the price of the bus ticket, that was no cheap ice cream).

So it seems that when Mom started working it was her job that prevented her from being in the kitchen as much as she had been and then when my love of cooking kicked into gear she didn’t have a hope of getting in there. I had effectively kicked Mom out of the kitchen. Now that I’m not there to impede her progress she’s back at it and making amazing things. This kiwi ice cream has quickly become a favourite of mine. I couldn’t stop eating it while I was home. I stole spoonfuls of it whenever I had the chance. I craved it when I woke up in the morning and needed a taste before going to bed. It was just that good.

Of course, while I was home, I had to make ice cream too. I made a basic chocolate ice cream and then added raspberry puree. It was alright, but Mom’s kiwi ice cream had mine beat hands down. I can’t wait until Mom’s retired. Then she’ll have way more time to make tasty treats like this. I’m a lucky girl to have such amazing parents.

Ben & Jerry's Kiwi Ice Cream

6 ripe kiwis
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups heavy or whipping cream

Peel the kiwis and mash them in a bowl until pureed. Stir 2 tablespoons sugar into the fruit, cover, and refrigerate 1 hour. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in 1 cup sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and whisk to blend. Stir in the kiwis. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following manufacturer's instructions.

Yield: 1 quart

Technorati Tags:

Ice Cream + Kiwi