baking

Feb

01

#MyBaristaMoment

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Cake & Coffee

I wandered the wide aisles of Smart & Final searching for inspiration on what to bake to go with the fabulous Ambiance coffee I’d chosen. I really love a good French roast and so I’d picked the biggest can of French Roast available on their shelves. I love a strong, dark brew that gets me going in the morning, but I’m also all about flavor and some strong or dark coffees can be bitter. The taste of Ambiance French Roast though is not bitter at all, it’s rich and velvety, almost nutty; smooth on your palate and has that rich zing that we strong coffee lovers crave. So what would compliment it best?

I’d thought to go traditional and make a coffee cake, but when I got to the market, I was overwhelmed by my choices. I bought a ton of stuff for possible recipes and headed home to ponder. Once home, I brewed a pot of the coffee I’d just bought and sat down to sip and think.

Pound cake goes perfectly with coffee

I finally decided on a rich, buttery pound cake. My grandmother Lupe used to make an incredible lemon pound that she served to me slathered in butter and raspberry jam and thinking about it made my mouth water. No one in the family remembered which recipe she used though so I searched the internet. A pound cake is basically this: a pound of eggs, a pound of butter (seriously); a pound of sugar and a pound of flour. It’s not for the faint-hearted or weight watchers. Eventually, I chose to adapt a Martha Stewart classic pound cake.

Start with some really great butter and eggs

Lots of butter

The thing to remember with pound cake recipes is that because you have a LOT of butter in it, you need to make absolutely sure that you cream the butter and sugar properly. If not, you end up with a greasy mess. Take the extra few minutes and really get that butter light and fluffy. Make sure you don’t take shortcuts and just dump it all in. It really does make a difference when you incorporate everything in small bits.

Butter & sugar

No where near whipped enough

I hand-whipped some heavy whipping cream, slowly added a bit of brown sugar (tablespoon) and a teaspoon of Amaretto liquor to top the slices with. Served with the dark French roast coffee, it was perfect. I’d thought about making a fancy coffee drink, but in the end I had it just as I do every morning: simple, strong with a hint of cream. It was perfect.

You need a lot of eggs

Seriously, a lot of eggs

Lightly beaten

There is nothing like the smell of a buttery pound cake

Classic Pound Cake (adapted from Martha Stewart)

• 1 pound (3 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 4 sticks softened unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 9 large, room-temperature eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter two 5-by-9-inch loaf pans.

Combine flour and salt in a bowl.

Cream butter and sugar with a mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy, for 8 minutes.

Lightly beat eggs and add to butter/sugar mixture in four increments, making sure each addition is well mixed before adding the next.

Once the eggs are fully incorporated into the mixture, add your flour and salt mixture in 1/2 cup increments, ensuring that it is all mixed in well before adding more flour.

Pour half the batter into another bowl and in one, add 1 tsp. Fresh lemon juice and the rind of that lemon. In the other, mix in three tablespoons sifted cocoa powder and a tablespoon of cinnamon. You can add more cocoa powder if you like. I wanted mine to be light.

Pour into greased loaf pans and bake at 325 degrees for about an hour or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let cool.

Serve plain, with fresh fruit or as I did with whipped cream and make sure to have it with a lovely cup of strong coffee.

Ambiance French roast coffee with a hint of cream & pound cake

For the cream:

1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. Amaretto
1 tsp. brown sugar (I like just a hint of sugar)

Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and whip it until blended. Slowly pour in the amaretto while whipping. Serve over cake and sprinkle it with a little cinnamon or cocoa powder.

Stiff peaks

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Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias #CBias. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Jan

29

Elmer’s Glue Science Project – Chemistry in Baking #GluenGlitter

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If anyone in my family is going to do a science project in my family and expect my help with it, it had better involve food. If it’s building stuff – they’d better call on Marissa who managed in one night to help Jasmine build a scale replica (no model kit) of the San Fernando Mission with some cardboard and crushed cookies. She’s talented.

Me, I cook or bake. It’s my therapy and something I love so science and chemistry related to food…that, I can do. When it came time for me to work on a science project – I picked baking.

We started out planning. I discussed the important project with my two grandchildren, Jasmine and Aiden. We had most of the stuff required, so we didn’t need a list – just a beautiful Saturday in L.A. and a ride down to Walmart. From Eagle Rock, the closest Walmart is in Duarte (Store #2401), about twenty minutes away. The day was gorgeous and at first, the freeway was clear sailing but as soon as we hit the 210, traffic.

Neither Anabel (the kids other grandma) nor I had been to Walmart before so we were both overwhelmed by its size. I don’t know about others, but the store in Duarte is HUGE, seriously massive. I almost forgot why we came once I walked in. I didn’t know which way to turn and I could tell Anabel was feeling the same. Thank goodness for my sensible and pragmatic granddaughter who said, “Grammy, Elmers…” Um yeah.

We wandered and easily found the Elmer’s glue and supplies including the Elmer’s tri-fold board I needed for this project. I also picked up some clear glue and of course, glittery pens. I was a little disappointed not to find more Elmer’s project products there, but it was too late in the day and the stores too far spread apart to try and visit another. In any case, we’d easily found what we came for.

With the science project supplies in our cart, we had time to wander and wander we did. Anabel kept repeating, “wow, so cheap” whenever she found something she liked. I made my way over to the cooking stuff and drooled over pots, pans, cutlery and more for the better part of an hour. I fell in love with the Paula Deen line of cookware in robin’s egg blue. Whatever her current health/fan issues are, her line of cooking products is stunning. More and more things found their way into our collective shopping carts. Clothes for the kids found their way in there as well. Jasmine found some super cute little Hello Kitty pants with glitter on them and Aiden, his favorite carpenter jeans.

Robin's egg blue roaster. I'm coming back for this.

 

We left Walmart, tired, happy and with considerably more than what we had went in for. I ended up buying some ricotta and lasagna makings (check out upcoming post for my Lasagna Margherita) as well as sparkling water and a few other goodies. Anabel left with a cart full of stuff too and a plan to come back. My daughter-in-law’s response was “I should never let you two shop together” as she shook her head when we walked in with Anabel’s purchases. Good thing mine were still in the car and she didn’t see what I took home.

*Note: I would have taken photos of the full shopping carts but ran out of batteries halfway through the store. Next time I go to Walmart, I’m taking an extra battery!

Chemistry in Baking Science Project

Use the muffin recipe below as a starting point (Beard, 1972), or pick your favorite muffin recipe and make a “half batch” of 6-8 muffins. Note: The recipe shown below will make 6-8 muffins. You can “halve” your own recipe by dividing the required amount of each ingredient by two. Be sure and note the ingredient amounts you use!

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 to 1 tablespoon sugar (to your taste)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/8 cup melted butter

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in the mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and the beaten eggs, the milk, and the melted butter. Stir to a smooth batter. Fill well-buttered (or paper-lined) muffin pans about two-thirds full. Bake at 425°F for 15–20 minutes, or until nicely browned and baked through.

Tip: do your best to start each muffin off with the same amount of batter. You can use a teaspoon to move small amounts of batter between the different cups in a pan to get the muffins equalized. On the other hand, you don’t want spend too much time on this, because the baking powder starts working as soon as it touches liquid.

Remember to use oven mitts when putting the pans in the oven and when taking them out again.
Place the muffin pan on a cooling rack for a few minutes, and then tip the muffins out. Let them cool for a few more minutes before handling (or sampling!) them.

Make one half batch following the recipe above, and then three additional half batches, substituting the following amounts of baking powder:

no baking powder,
1 teaspoon baking powder, and
3 (or even 4) teaspoons baking powder.

Remember to keep track of which batch is which!
Compare the four different half batches of muffins:

Measure the height of each muffin in each batch and compute the average height for each batch. Note: if one muffin is much smaller than all the others, don’t include it when calculating the average height.
If you have a kitchen scale, you should also measure the weight of each muffin.
More advanced students can also calculate the density of each muffin (see the Variations section, below).
Slice some representative muffins from each batch so that you can compare the texture.
Although it is definitely not the case for most chemistry experiments, for this one it’s OK to do a taste test!
Tip: for obvious reasons, it’s important to do the size and weight measurements before the taste test!

We made three versions of the muffins, one with no baking powder which came out flat and dense; the next with the correct amount which came out lovely and a third which had considerably more. While fluffy, it tasted of soap and was “nasty” according to my granddaughter.

We baked them in a marked tin.

I changed up the instructions a bit. We only made three parts of this batter. We used the original recipe and left out the baking powder till the end.

This is our board.

Once the batters were split into three sections, we kept no baking powder in one batch; 1 teaspoon in another; and 4 tablespoons in the last. We used the Tri-fold board from Elmer’s and wrote our conclusions in glitter pen. We also glued the best representations of our project onto the board. We used glue both inside the cupcake paper and outside of it to make sure it stuck. Jasmine decorated the writing (which she thought was too plain and too much like her matter of fact, analytical Grammy) with glitter.

The perfect muffin.

The grandkids and I sure had a lot of fun with this project. It sparked a lot of discussion about the chemistry of cooking and baking while we worked on it. It was relatively easy and fun and I think we’ll be doing a lot more cooking experiments because of it.

No baking powder = hockey puck.

 

The fluffy ones tasted like soap!

*This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias” all opinions are my own.

For more photos of our shopping trip, visit our Google + page:

Dec

12

Childhood Memories with Duncan Hines

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This is our grocery store haul.

When I was a kid, those red boxes of Duncan Hines cake mix were like the Holy Grail.  My mom didn’t cook or bake, but my grandmother and Aunt Jessie did.  They mostly baked from scratch, but there were a few recipes that they used boxed cake mix for.  For me and my sisters, when we weren’t at Grandma’s house we relied on boxed cake mixes (when we could afford them) to satisfy our sweet tooth.

I won my first baking contest with a boxed mix.  We had moved yet again and on the block we lived on was a small community center, library (I adored that library!) and park.  I don’t quite remember how I found out about the baking contest, but I was determined to enter it.  I was ten years old.

I somehow talked my mother into letting me buy a Duncan Hines cake mix (yellow cake) and used what we had in the kitchen to bake a pineapple upside down cake.  I carefully pressed in the brown sugar and added rings of pineapple and maraschino cherries to my buttered pan, then poured in that lovely golden cake batter.  I remember the looks on the judges faces when they ate my cake and somehow, a ten year old kid with a boxed cake mix beat out experienced bakers and grownups.  I went home with the blue ribbon!  My Grandma Lupe treasured that ribbon and kept it till the day she died.

Now I’m teaching Jasmine and Aiden to bake, and while we often bake from scratch we also use boxed mixes and dress them up.  Recently, Foodbuzz, Comstock and Duncan Hines offered me an opportunity to try out some of their new products and I jumped at it.  Jasmine, Aiden and I excitedly went to the market, used our coupon plus some of our own money because they saw a bunch of other stuff, and came home with way too many baking goodies.

We made a plain  yellow cake, marbled with a little chocolate batter topped chocolate frosting which was what Aiden wanted and the next day, made brownies with a filling of Comstock cherries.  They went fast. The kids were wired for sound with all that sugar but they had a blast.  There is nothing like seeing the faces of two little kids excited about cooking or baking.

I loved taking a step back in time to my share my childhood memories of baking from boxed mixes with my grandchildren.  They had just as much fun and excitement as they do when we measure out flour, cream butter, and other “from scratch” stuff.

 

*Note: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received free samples from Duncan-Hines and one from Comstock in the form of coupons.  Duncan-Hines also provided a few extra coupons to give out to family and friends which we decided to use as Christmas stocking stuffers.

 

Oct

30

Pan de Muertos

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Each October, about this time of the month, I start baking the bread known as pan de muertos. It’s traditional, sweet, delicious with coffee and we only make it at this time. I make several loaves of it from about October 28-November 2nd. Four go with me to the Dia de los muertos ceremony I attend each year in Lincoln Park. I bring other things with me too, to put on my altar and share with the other danzantes, but the pan de muertos is always front and center.

During the ceremony, after the danza we eat and share a meal with friends and family. It is thought that our ancestors (the dead) are visiting and eating with us, so we make their favorite foods. The bread is usually decorated with dough shaped like bones (disfuntos) to represent the departed. Sometimes, you shape a teardrop as well to represent your sorrow. I never add the teardrop. I prefer to remember my dead in happiness, free of the pain that plagued them in their last years.

At our Aztec dance ceremonies, the smells of food mix in with the burning copal resin, the charcoal filled heaters that surround the circle, the scent of the last jacarandas and night-blooming jasmine of the season, and L.A. traffic. The smells rise up in a cloud thanks to the copal and from a distance, you can see the hazy, otherworld quality of it as you hear the drums at least two blocks away. In the circle, the smell is intense and after the hard dancing is over, you wander round snacking on posole, tacos, chicharrones and other dishes people have brought. I wrap myself in a serape and sip at ponche or champurrado and eventually wander back to my altar and sit down with a little pan de muertos and music.

I don’t know where the tradition comes from. Some say our dia de los muertos ceremonies go back to Aztec times honoring Mictlantecuhtli, the spirit of the dead. After the conquest, it got mixed up with Catholic tradition and became intertwined with All Soul’s or Saint’s Day, November 2nd. I like imagine the original pan de muertos was probably something like the modern day candy we call alegrias, made of amaranth and honey, but the Spanish and French brought dairy, yeast, flour and European baking to Mexico, so pan de muertos is rich in eggs, anise and orange flower water; a bread soft, sweet and mildly spicy that melts in your mouth when it is fresh out of the oven. Dipped in coffee or Mexican chocolate, it’s perfection and absolutely sublime. That each taste of it is a prayer in memory for loved ones lost, makes it all the more special.

Pan de Muertos

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 package dry active yeast
1/4 cup very warm water
1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
zest of two oranges
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons milk, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sugar

Dissolve yeast in water, then add one cup of the flour. Stir to make a soft sponge, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled.

To the yeast mixture add the remaining flour mixed with salt, sugar and the cooled butter that has been mixed with eggs, anise water, orange blossom water and orange rind. Mix well and turn out on a board floured with the remaining 1/2 cup flour. Dough will be soft, so keep hands floured and knead lightly. Pat into a greased bowl and set in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours to rise.

Shape into a round loaf, saving some of the dough to form the knob and four bone strips.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for about 30-45 minutes. Brush with orange flower glaze then dust with sugar.

Orange Glaze

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons orange-blossom water
2 tablespoons grated orange peel for zest

In a small saucepan over a medium flame add orange juice, cinnamon, and 1/4 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and remove from flame. Set to the side.

If you can’t find orange blossom water, you can substitute fresh orange juice.

If you want a less sweet version, you can make an egg wash and brush the loaf before it goes into the oven with it, then dust with sesame seeds. This is also very traditional.

Oct

11

What To Do with Fresh Pumpkins

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SDC12110

October brings many things and is also a month of memory for me.  My grandmother Lupe for whom this blog is in honor of was born in October so this month always makes me think of her.  It is also the time in Los Angeles, when pumpkins make their way into the markets for Halloween.  More and more I see the heirloom ones, all knobby and in a beautiful array of colors popping up everywhere.  I love the Cinderella pumpkins for all their squished beauty and wish I had had one as a child to dream about turning it into a magic coach to take me to the ball.  The one’s I gravitate most to in the stores though are the big regular Halloween pumpkins.

When I go to the market with the grandkids, they see jack-o-lanterns and I see pies, pasta, ravioli filling, grilled pumpkin in salads, soups, empanadas, muffins, and more.  The season is brutally short though.  I can never find a single pumpkin past Halloween and I wonder where they go.  Solution:  buy them all at once!

As money allows, I tend to buy up as many big pumpkins as I can and fill the freezer.  There are a TON of recipes on the internet for things to do with pumpkin and it just makes sense to me to put up a little money upfront and a lot of work in order to have pumpkin in my pantry and freezer all year round.  Why buy canned when you can preserve your own?  It’s economical and it makes sense, especially if you love to cook.

My favorite thing to do with pumpkin is make empanadas.  The filling is simple and delicious.  I’m sure there are many different ways to do it, but this is mine.

Cinnamon-Steamed Pumpkin for Empanadas

1 large pumpkin
Water
2 cinnamon sticks

In a large stock pot with a steamer basket, add just enough water to come below the steamer basket.  Add the cinnamon sticks and turn on the heat to low.  Add chunks of un-peeled pumpkin to the steamer basket and cover.

Depending on how big your chunks are (I tend to cut the pumpkin into quarters because it’s easier) the steaming can take anywhere from 20 minutes if you have small bits to a few hours with the big pieces.

Keep adding water as it evaporates – that’s important.  You want to keep the cinnamon steam going.

Steam until the pumpkin flesh is translucent and soft.

Once it cools you can just scoop along the rind with a spoon and get all the pulp into a large mixing bowl.


Pumpkin Empanada filling

Not measured, everything is to taste for me with this.

Pumpkin pulp
Sugar – to taste
Cinnamon – to taste
Dash Ginger
Dash Mace

Mash the pumpkin pulp until is is smooth.  Add sugar, powdered cinnamon, ginger and mace to taste.

That’s it!  Simple, delicious and it fills the empanadas nicely.  You want to be sure to strain it though and not get the residual juice into your empanadas or they will be soggy.  I use the juice for liquados or put it into cakes, etc.  It freezes nicely too.

Oct

09

A Pumpkin, Some Figs & Some Apples Walk Into a Bar: A Day of Baking Empanadas

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SDC12153

Well, they didn’t walk in and there was no bar, it was empanadas.  I had about 12 pounds of figs left from the last few days of fig harvest on our tree, bought some apples and a nice sized pumpkin the other day at the market.  As soon as I saw the pumpkins, I knew empanadas were happening.  I didn’t count on there being apple and fig ones too but the pumpkin ones were a no-brainer.  Grandkids were coming for the weekend and there was going to be an empanada bakeathon in my kitchen.

A couple of days ago when I bought the pumpkin it was cold.  In fact, I was wearing my Ugg boots and sweater on that market trip.  Even last night when I cooked down the pumpkin it was a bit chilly.  I couldn’t sleep so for some crazy reason, I hopped up at 1a.m threw the whole basket of figs into a pot with some cinnamon and sugar and turned it down to simmer then finally snuggled in with Jasmine, Aiden and Ozzy and eventually slept.  I woke bright and early and got the kids breakfast, took the dog out and surveyed my figs which had cooked down perfectly while I was in dreamland.  When I went to the fridge to get the butter for the masa, I saw the apples and they ended up on the chopping board.  I’m a little obsessed about baking.  Then it hit me that the sun was blazing and I had an oven pre-heating.  Fun.  Oh well – empanadas were happening.

We baked all day.  Empanada after empanada was rolled, filled, pinched, poked, egg washed and baked.  Jasmine turned out to be quite the expert at rolling and forming them.  I’m so proud of her.  Her little rounds fell off her rolling pin in perfect circles.  She is SUCH a baker!  Aiden on the other hand, hmmm.

Aiden decided to take a mixing bowl, fill it with Maseca (corn masa), cinnamon, sugar, salt, milk, warm water, some butter and some mace.  Then he mixed it all up, asking me every so often to taste; which I did reluctantly.  I deserve the Grandma of the Year Award for that one.  When he’d decided it was perfect, he dipped corn tortilla chips in it, pronounced it his gourmet dipping sauce and asked, “I’m a weely good chef, aren’t I Gwaaaamy?”  I said yes, choked down a few more of those chips with as little of the “dipping sauce” as possible and tried to foist the rest off on my son Phillip who wasn’t having any of it.  Wimp.

By the time Marissa got here to pick up her kids the house was filled with the smell of baking, she had two very exhausted kids (they’ll be asleep before they get home) and a basket full of empanadas to go.  I get the messy kitchen and a sad-eyed dog who’s just lost his litter mates (my grandkids).  Sorry Ozzy, it’s going to be a long, lonely week till they’re back again for Wepa Weekend with Grammy.

Empanada Dough

4 cups of flour
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup of butter
Warm water
Egg wash

Mix the dry ingredients well, then cut in the butter.  Add the eggs and enough warm water to mix the dough into a smooth ball.  I add it about 1/4 cup at a time.  You don’t want to work the dough too much, just enough to get it smooth and elastic.  It seems to vary each time I make it depending on the weather or the flour’s absorbency.  My grandmother did the same, worked the water in bit by bit rather than a set amount.  Kinda like pie dough.

Once you have a nice smooth ball, cover it with a damp cloth.  I tend to prefer flour sack because it’s what my grandmother used and it works really well.  It keeps the dough from drying out and since I usually make tons of empanadas whenever I make them, the dough tends to sit for a long time.  Every time the towel dries I just sprinkle a little more water on it.

Form small balls of dough by pinching off a piece.  I say about the size for tortillas.  Keep those covered under the damp cloth as well.  Roll the each ball out to about a 4-inch diameter.  We like our empanadas big here but you can do them smaller.

Scoop a bit of filling into the center, then brush a little water on the edges of the dough.  Fold over.

Press down with your fingers all around the semi-circle then fold the dough over and pinch. Keep doing that all the way around.  It gives the empanadas a double seal and helps keep the filling in.

Take a fork and poke a few air holes into the center of the empanada, then brush with egg wash and place on a greased baking sheet.  Repeat until your baking sheet is full.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.  I go by smell so I never time them.  You want the empanadas golden brown.

Try to wait at least 20 minutes for them to cool or you’ll burn your tongue on the hot filling.

You can fill empanadas with pumpkin, cherries, pineapple, apples, pretty much anything.  Ours were filled with pumpkin, apples and a fig jam.  Some of them were a combination of fig jam and apple and some plain.

Buen provecho!

Sep

15

Squash Flower Pudding (budin de flor de calabaza)

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I was lucky enough to get into the market early this morning just as the produce guy was putting out a large box of the beautiful orange squash blossoms I’d made quesdillas with the other day. As he opened the box, I could already taste the budin. I bought half the box and gently carried them home and put them in water, covered the delicate blossoms so they wouldn’t wilt and set about assembling my ingredients.

A budin is a pudding, but not that chalky chocolate pudding in cup stuff that I see my grandkids eat on occasion. A Mexican pudding is often savory, always delicious and usually contains ingredients maybe unfamiliar to the American kitchen. This is REAL Mexican food. We are so much more than tacos… oh well that view is rapidly changing so I won’t start ranting mid-post.

Squash flowers need to be used the same day they are bought. They are incredibly delicate and tend to wilt almost immediately. In the grocery store plastic bags from store to home, they can get slightly bruised so they usually sit very carefully on my lap on the way home. It’s important to have all your ingredients together if you’re working with them so that they don’t have time to wilt on you.

Delicate squash flower blossoms

Making the budin is easy, almost effortless to me. It’s a great recipe to listen to some boleros while cooking and just zen out. The brilliant orange of the blossoms mingled with translucent strips of sweet onion give the dish texture but it is oh so light. Like eating a very savory, silky cloud. Que rico! Writing about it makes me want to make another one because of course there’s no more. Squash flower season is very short. A couple of weeks in the spring and another couple at the end of summer signaling the start of autumn. They don’t preserve well that I know of so squash flower budins aren’t made very often and they get gobbled up so fast it’s ridiculous. Make sure to hide yourself an extra slice – it will go fast.

Budin de flor de calabaza/Squash Flower Pudding

6 cups of squash flower blossoms, cleaned and chopped
1 cup of rice flour
1 can of evaporated milk
2 cups of water
1 golden onion, halved then thinly sliced
1/4 cup of butter
4 eggs, beaten
Salt to taste
1 tsp Knorr Suiza
1 1/2 cups of grated Monterey Jack cheese (Note: sometimes I use Comte or Manchego)

Mix the rice flour with the evaporated milk and water in a mixing bowl until smooth, then pour into a heavy pot and heat on low flame stirring constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In a skillet, fry the onion slices in butter until translucent then add in the chopped flowers. Saute about two minutes and add salt and Knorr Suiza. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Mix the flowers and onions into the rice flour mixture until well blended. Mix in the eggs and incorporate well.

Pour into a greased non-metal baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the budin has risen and a knife pulls out clean.

The budin will sink a little as it cools so don’t worry. That’s normal.

Serve with a little creama Mexicana and a salad. Buen provecho!

Sep

07

Fig and Custard Tart

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I have the little fig tree that could growing in our backyard.  This place we moved into had been left in disrepair and the yard was buried under 6 foot tall weeds and dry brush.  My son Phillip and my roommate David took turns with the weed whacker and one day, we found a fig tree.  It was small, literally buried under weeds, bone dry and yet it was brimming with little green figs.  My heart stopped.  I LOVE figs.

Growing up, whenever we’d go to my Tia Luz’ house she’d have peaches and figs fresh from her trees and they were always so delicious.  Like eating warm candy when you picked them from the tree.  She’d always send my grandmother over baskets full of delicious black mission figs and whenever they’d show up, I’d be jumping up and down dying to get one into my mouth.

We weeded around the little tree, watered it faithfully and it astounded us with it’s bounty.  At first, it was giving about a pound a day which disappeared as soon as we’d pick them.  The following week it was giving about two pounds a day and I made jam.  Just the other day, I went out and picked at least ten pounds.  I sent five of those pounds to a friend in Chicago and we’re still brimming with figs.  More jam is planned.  I want to try a fig marmalade with lemon rind.  The grandkids were here and I felt like making pastry, so I thought, “why not a tart?”

My recipes called for custard with the tart but I wanted something lighter and then I found a Greek-based custard recipe here with one of my fellow Foodbuzz Featured Publishers.  It was almost what I wanted, but of course I changed it.  I can’t help myself.  Can never leave a recipe alone.

I used Julia Child’s perfect pie crust recipe because it’s my favorite flaky pie dough and is uber simple.  I didn’t use honey for the custard, I used a syrupy balsamic with agua de azahares (orange flower water) and tangerine zest.  I loved the tart but the next time I make it, I’ll slice the figs thinner like I would for a French Apple Tart.  I halved these and while it was good and everyone loved it, it was a little much.

Custard (adapted from Gastronomer’s Guide)

2 pounds ripe black Mission Figs, sliced
16 ounces of plain Greek yogurt
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
3 tablespoons balsamic cream plus more to drizzle on figs
Zest of two tangerines or oranges
1 tsp. Orange flower water

Mix together the yogurt, eggs and 1/4 cup of the sugar till well blended.  Add the balsamic creme, tangerine zest and orange flower water and mix.  If the mixture seems runny, don’t worry it will set just fine.

Pour the mixture into a pre-baked tart shell – I used a large oval baking dish so if you are using a smaller one you will have enough batter for two possibly.  Arrange the sliced figs all over the custard, slightly layering them.  Drizzle more balsamic cream over the figs and sprinkle with the remaining two tablespoons of sugar.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until the custard is set and the crust and figs are well browned.

Allow tart to cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving to give the custard time to set firmly and the juices from the figs to soak in.  Serve warm.

Sep

03

Call Me Crazy – Cream Puff Crazy

baked goods / Challenges / desserts / drinks / main dishes  Posted by / 1 comments

creampuffs

So there was this chocolate sauce just sitting in my fridge, left over from the eclairs.  The chocolate glaze was in there too.  Seriously, they were calling me, begging not to be left in there on their own.  Several times, i walked over and thought maybe I should make more eclairs.  Maybe creampuffs.  No, it’s too hot. Then today it got to be too much.  I finished the chapter in the book I was reading and headed for the kitchen .  I sat at the table with the recipe and my cup of coffee and decided to go for it.

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The chocolate glaze had hardened so I set it in simmering water.  I decided to do the same lavender-orange pastry cream since it turned out so delicious and decided at the last moment to pour a little lavender into the chocolate glaze.  I love lavender chocolate.

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The pâte à choux was easier to do work with this time.  I’m not sure why but it was.  In fact, the whole thing was so simple, I am worried for my hips.  I could easily make these all the time.

I piped big fat circles onto parchment paper covered baking sheets and set them to bake.  I know!  Baking again in August.  Crazy I tell you.  Estoy pero bien loca.  That means I’m pretty crazy in Spanish.

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The circles puffed beautifully, everything went like clockwork.  I decided to scoop the remaining chocolate sauce on the bottom of each cream puff, then load it with the cream and top with glaze.  They were delicious, rich and sinfully decadent.

I think I’m going to live to regret having these in my repertoire…you see my dilemna.

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Aug

31

Daring Baker’s Challenge – Eclairs in August

baked goods / Challenges / desserts / salsa / sauces  Posted by / 2 comments

 

Jasmine really loved the chocolate glaze.

The Challenge: Chocolate Eclairs from Pierre Hermé’s book, Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé.

The Hosts: Tony Tahanand/Meetak

Many, many thanks to our wonderful hosts this month. What a wonderful recipe they chose and how supportive and marvelous they were. (Insert applause here).

Hurry up Autumn, I’m getting a little tired of baking in a 100 degree kitchen and worrying I’m going to drip sweat into dough or something. This month’s challenge was Pierre Hermé’s (swoons  because I worship the pastry laden, rose petal Isapahan ground he walks on) luscious chocolate éclairs.

Did I stay true to my idol’s recipe? Um well, I changed one little thing. The cream filling was not chocolate but something summery and lighter. Lavender-orange pastry cream. The rest was true to Mr. Hermé’s recipes (is it not wonderful that he is not only a pastry God but has the same last name as that vintage buttery leather 72k handbag on ebay)? I’m just saying. Pastry, Birken…ecstasy, heaven. Okay, okay get on with the recipe. No one cares about my obsession with Hermé, both the bags and the chef. And yes, I know the bag is Hermes but its close enough for me.

Marissa dropped the kids off early and we washed up and got ready to bake. The first thing we started with was the pastry cream. It turned out perfectly, smooth, thick and lucious until i put it into its ice water bath. I turned to grab ingredients for the chocolate sauce and Aiden took the opportunity to add about a quarter cup of ice water INTO THE CREAM! Yeah, so. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t. He’s three, he thought he was creating something wondrous and being helpful. I wanted to fix it, but I couldn’t. It was his little creation. So we had runny cream filling, so what?

 

This is when he did it

I took several deep breaths and moved onto the chocolate sauce, which was divine. Mmmmm chocolate. Jasmine and I made the glaze together. She looked at me and said, “Grammy, you’re going to put chocolate in chocolate?” and looked puzzled. When I said yes, she beamed and squealed something about chocolate and more chocolate. I agreed. Chocolate on chocolate is a marvelous thing. When it was all done, I reached for a bowl to pour it in and Jasmine quickly grabbed her favorite Barbie bowl instead. Beaming proudly, she said “Grammy that yummy chocolate can use my bowl.” So it was that Pierre Hermé’s sleek, sophisticated chocolate glaze ended up in a 99 cent pink plastic Barbie bowl. I won’t get into my militant feelings about Barbie because Jasmine can read now.

Next up the Pâte à Choux. Yeah oooooooooh. I was dubious about the whole cooked dough thing and I could tell Jasmine was too. She wanted to know why it wasn’t going straight to the Kitchen-Aid but I just shrugged and started heating the milk. When it was boiling, I handed her the cup of flour and nodded. “All of it Grammy?”, she asked. I nodded. She looked at me, her little eyes wide and then shrugged and dumped it in. Wow. I started stirred and we had a big lump of golden dough. I kept stirring to dry the dough and it did create a little crust on the bottom of the pan. Once it had been dryed enough, I transferred it to the Kitchen-aid and started mixing.

Now the crap part they don’t tell you about. Pâte à Choux is sticky, way sticky. Getting it into the pastry bag was a mess. Working with it was tough. I thought I had done something wrong, so I took a minute to chat online with a chef friend. “Is Pâte à Choux supposed to be stick?” Answer: “it has been every time I’ve worked with it” Great. Back to work. Aiden kept eating the sticky dough and I couldn’t get the gunk off my hands but managed to pipe some éclair-like blobs onto the baking sheet. I popped them into the oven and did the oven door wooden spoon trick later in the baking. They came out beautifully and puffed up proudly. Things were looking up.

 

Jasmine and Aiden were so excited they couldn’t stand it. I could barely fill the mini-eclairs and cream puffs fast enough. The lavender-orange filling was so good with all that chocolate. Marissa came home and ate several in quick succession and we both decided for the sake of our butts to take the rest of the platter over to That Yarn Store for David and the gang to munch on.

We had so much fun making these and I can’t wait till the weather is cool and we can do it again. Next time though, I’ll make cream puffs only. They held much more pastry cream and were easier to pipe.

 

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy?bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice?water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice?water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice?water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

[bNotes:[/b]
1) The pastry cream can be made 2?3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy?bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10-15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

 

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