cardamom

Aug

16

Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

desserts  Posted by / 5 comments

p8160024 Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Oh,…I looked out the window and what did I see,
Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.
Spring had brought me such a nice surprise, popcorn popping right before my eyes.
I can take an armful and make a treat, a popcorn ball that would smell so sweet.
It wasn’t really so… but it seemed to be… Popcorn popping on the apricot tree.

Aiden learned this song in his nursery class at Sunday School during church last week and he’s been humming it ever since.  Jasmine wanted to know the words, so I sang it to them this morning and spent most of the morning teaching them the words and finger motions to it.  Then all of a sudden Jasmine says, “Grammy, what’s a popcorn ball?” and I about died.  I couldn’t believe I had been so remiss as to not make popcorn balls with the grandkids. Yikes!  There was nothing for it, but get out the aprons and head for the kitchen.

I popped popcorn and tried to get shots with the camera while it was popping but didn’t really get good photos.  I did however, manage to decorate the just mopped floor and demonstrate to the grandkids why we must never take the lid off as a stray popcorn missile hit me in the arm with its heat.

p8160008 Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Once that process was done, we set the popcorn to cool in a baking dish and I went about making syrup, keeping the kids safely outta the kitchen.  I decided on a whim to flavor the syrup with cardamom and vanilla and it turned out really well.

Aiden was having a hard time waiting for the syrupy popcorn to cool but he spent the time decorating himself with butter. He was a shiny, greasy bundle of love by the time the popcorn was cool enough to mold.  We made a few popcorn balls and that was it, we were done.  We ended up with a few balls, lots of gooey caramel corn and two sticky, hyped up grandkids.  Now that’s a Saturday!

Cardamom-Vanilla Flavored Popcorn Balls

Ingredients:

A couple of apron-covered kids like these:

p8160005 Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Chefs J&A

Freshly popped popcorn, we used two cups un-popped for this recipe
Butter
Syrup (recipe to follow)

Add popcorn to buttered baking dish and set aside till syrup is done.

Cardamom-Vanilla Syrup

6 tbsps.of butter
1 c. corn syrup
3 c. confectioner’s sugar
3 tbsp. water
1 c. marshmallow cream
1 tsp.cardamom
1 tbsp.vanilla

In a saucepan, combine the butter, corn syrup, water, confectioner’s sugar and heat over a medium flame, stirring slowly but constantly.  Once it’s to a boil, add in the marshmallow cream and cardamom.  Lower the flame and keep stirring till well-mixed.

Remove from heat and add the vanilla.

Stir.

Slowly pour over the popcorn in the baking dish, mixing gently with a wooden spoon until the popcorn is thoroughly coated.

Add syrup to popcorn and let cool till it’s warm enough to work with your bare hands but not too cool.

Butter your hands so the popcorn doesn’t stick.  Mix all the syrup and popcorn well, then shape into balls of whatever size you like.  Let cool and wrap in plastic wrap.  That’s it!
Well, Jasmine wanted pink sprinkles on hers and I got to thinking about dipping them in chocolate but restrained myself (barely).

p8160022 Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree

Hard at Work

Jun

29

Daring Bakers Challenge #4 – Danish Braids

baked goods / Challenges  Posted by / 12 comments

dscf6728 300x225 Daring Bakers Challenge #4 – Danish Braids

When I first saw this challenge posted, my first thought was, “oh holy crap no, there’s no way I can make that, I’m skipping this month,” but then I shook myself off and started thinking about fillings. The fillings got me going and as I read through the recipe, it actually didn’t seem that hard. Watching the video helped immensely (thanks to our hosts for providing that link) and I found other videos on Youtube that helped as well. I was starting to get excited about this recipe.

I ran into a few small snags. One was the weather here in Los Angeles. It was so hot I was calling in it Hell A instead of L.A. I worried that my dough wouldn’t hold the butter so I kept putting it off, hoping for cooler weather. One morning I woke up and decided to head off to Silverlake for ingredients. I neglected to check the weather and only when I was there did I find it was 110 degrees! Still I was dressed for the weather and determined to get what I needed. It turned out to be quite the odyssey.

For my fillings I wanted one to have something to do with these amazing glazed, roasted figs I had found a few months ago at The Cheesestore in Silverlake. I was lucky and found the one package they had left which caused a bit of consternation. Would it be enough? I quickly decided that chopped Fuji apples would be great with the figs and Brie and would augment my small quantity of the figs. The second braid would be filled with brandied cherries and dark chocolate, a little homage to someone I care deeply about whose favorite cake is Black Forest. To find out more about my crazy day hunting ingredients in 100-degree weather, check out my L.A. Journal.

I also sweet-talked my brother into taking me on a separate day to the Indian store I love in Los Feliz. They have a huge selection of spices and I was happy to find several varieties of cardamom. The proprietress let me snap away pictures at will in the store and seemed to be amused by my desire to do so. I have to go back, I completely forgot rosewater to try my hand at macarons ala Pierre Hermes.

Finally, a cooler day arrived and I was eagerly anticipating my baking. I gathered up my ingredients and three teenagers (my niece Arielle, my nephew Jesse and their friend Debbie who are out on summer break) and set off for last minute ingredients. We put off the dough for one more day and hung out a bit until they went off to the movies. The next day my brother Jesse dropped three sleepy teenagers off at my house and left whistling. I dubbed them Daring Baker Dude and Bakerettes and put them to work. Arielle grated orange rind, Debbie handed me flour and Jesse did a last minute store run for more flour. They all got to sniff the cardamom that I had found in cheaply at an Indian store in Los Feliz and I got to give a little impromptu class on spices, dough, yeast proofing and other fun tidbits. I found I really like teaching teenagers to bake! It helps that they were into it, interested and eager to learn. (If my brother is reading this, it does not mean your kids can hang at my house all summer long).

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