Italian Wedding Soup

Posted on February 10, 2012 by sparecake

I never thought this would happen, but… I cooked with kale. And, at least with all the other things in this recipe, it was good! This makes a very filling, comforting soup, with enough for several days of leftovers.

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 quarts (10 cups) low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch dice
  • 1 tablespoon (about 3 cloves) minced garlic, divided
  • 1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves cut into thin strips
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 1/4 cups ditalini pasta (or other small shape – I used stars!)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. I forgot the spray and it wasn’t the end of the world, but it definitely would have been helpful.

Combine the chicken broth, water, carrots, 2 teaspoons of the garlic, and the kale in a large Dutch oven set over medium-high heat.

SO MUCH KALE

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the carrots are tender, about half an hour.

While that heats, combine the eggs, cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and remaining teaspoon of garlic in a medium bowl.

Add the pork and use your hands to stir until just combined.

Portion the mixture out into 1″ balls and place them on the foil-lined sheet.

Bake 18-20 minutes, until cooked through.

When the carrots in the broth mixture are tender, add the pasta to the soup, simmering until the pasta is tender.

The kale should have shrunk a good deal by now.

Stars!

When the pasta’s cooked, add the meatballs and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve garnished with more cheese, if desired.

A big bowl of cozy.

Highly recommended!

Italian Wedding Soup

From Tracey’s Culinary Adventures.

  • 2 1/2 quarts (10 cups) low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 carrots, cut into 1/2-inch dice
  • 1 tablespoon (about 3 cloves) minced garlic, divided
  • 1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves cut into thin strips
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 1/4 cups ditalini pasta

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil, and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine the chicken broth, water, carrots, 2 teaspoons of the garlic, and the kale in a large Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the carrots are tender, about half an hour.

While the broth and veggies heat, combine the eggs, cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and remaining teaspoon of garlic in a medium bowl. Add the pork and use your hands to stir until just combined. Portion the mixture out into 1″ balls and place them on the foil-lined sheet. Bake 18-20 minutes, until cooked through.

When the carrots in the broth mixture are tender, add the pasta to the soup, simmering until the pasta is tender. Add the meatballs and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve garnished with more cheese, if desired.

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Lemon-Cream Sandwich Cookies

Posted on February 8, 2012 by sparecake

When I first saw this recipe, I was really excited because I could actually taste what they would turn out like. If anything, the real thing was even better, despite a few changes I made based on what was available in my house. You may notice in the pictures, there are fewer and fewer cookies as time goes on, because they are gooood.

Ingredients:

Cookies:

  • 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
  • 7 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • zest from 1 lemon
  • 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
  • 1 1/3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:

  • 1 stick salted butter, softened
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Cream together the stick of butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the yolks one at a time, beating between each.

Beat in the extract and zest, followed by the flour and salt, until fully incorporated.

You can either spoon the dough onto the lined cookie sheet, or pipe it through a piping bag with an extra large rosebud tip. The dough is the consistency of soft clay, so takes a bit of muscle to squeeze out of the bag until the heat of your hands warms and softens it a bit.

The original recipe said to space them out pretty widely because they spread, but I didn’t have much of a problem even though mine were quite close together. Bake 8-10 minutes, until just beginning to brown.

Remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

When the cookies have cooled, make the frosting. Beat the butter until it becomes creamy, then add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until stiff but workable. I ended up using about 2 cups. Add the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time until you’ve got a good flavor.

Spread a spoonful of frosting on half the cookies, then press other other half of the cookies on to make sandwiches.


Eat at room temp, but store in the fridge. Share one with your coworker who claims to hate lemon desserts, listen to him ask for more.

I love lemon desserts almost as much as I love chocolate, and these cookies are a perfect example of why!

Lemon-Cream Sandwich Cookies

Adapted from Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Cookies:

  • 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
  • 7 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • zest from 1 lemon
  • 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
  • 1 1/3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:

  • 1 stick salted butter, softened
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Cream together the stick of butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the yolks one at a time, beating between each. Beat in the extract and lemon zest, then the flour and salt, beating until fully incorporated.

Spoon the dough onto the lined cookie sheet or pipe it through a piping bag with an extra large rosebud tip, leaving space between them. Bake 8-10 minutes until beginning to brown. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely.

When the cookies have cooled, make the frosting. Beat the butter until it becomes creamy, then add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until stiff but workable. Add the lemon juice one tablespoon at a time until you’ve got the level of lemon flavor you like.

Spread a spoonful of frosting on the bottom of half of the cookies, then press other other half of the cookies on to make sandwiches.

Eat at room temp, store in the fridge.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge

Posted on February 6, 2012 by sparecake

A super easy chocolate thing you can handle even in your post-football funk. It only takes about 5 minutes of hands-on time, so you can get back to moping in darkened rooms, or whatever it is you’re up to.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup maple syrup

This was probably the first time I’ve ever bought real syrup, as opposed to the “pancake syrup” with 2% actual syrup in it.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and microwave for one minute.

Stir for one minute, then microwave another 40 seconds. Stir for another minute, then microwave again as needed. Mine took about 2 minutes of actual microwaving – the chocolate continues to melt from its own heat as you stir.

Once evenly mixed, line a small dish with parchment paper. Pour in the mixture and gently smooth the top.

Refrigerate for several hours (at least 3) until hard.

Cut into pieces as desired, and enjoy.

Simple! Slightly more solid texture than normal fudge, but you wouldn’t really notice if you weren’t looking for it. The maple flavor is pretty minimal. All and all, grand if you like peanut butter and chocolate.

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge.

From AllRecipes.

  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup maple syrup

Combine all the ingredients in a large microwave safe bowl and microwave for one minute. Stir for one minute, then microwave another 40 seconds. Stir for another minute, then microwave again as needed, stirring frequently to prevent burning the chocolate.

Once evenly mixed, line a small dish with parchment paper. Pour in the mixture and gently smooth the top. Refrigerate for several hours until hard. Cut into pieces as desired, and enjoy.

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Chicken Parm-asagna

Posted on February 3, 2012 by sparecake

You have no idea how pleased I was with this idea, only to have a coworker shoot it down. Well, bite me Jeremy, this business is BRILLIANT.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 pound uncooked chicken tenders
  • 1 -2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 15 ounces ricotta
  • 9 lasagna noodles
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 24 ounce jar plain or 3 cheese pasta sauce

Begin boiling the water for the pasta and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta according to package directions.

Next it’s on with the most fun part! Lay the chicken out on a cutting board between pieces of saran wrap or parchment paper and beat with a meat tenderizer, hammering the chicken until quite thin.

Beat two of the eggs together in a small bowl. Spread the bread crumbs in a shallow dish or pie plate. Run the pieces of chicken through the egg, then the bread crumbs, coating both sides. Cook on a flat pan over medium heat until lightly browned on each side.

Set the chicken aside.

Stir together the ricotta, herbs, and remaining egg.

Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce over the bottom of a 9X13″ dish. Lay down three noodles, then the chicken.

Spread another layer of sauce on the chicken, then the parmesan cheese.

Add the second layer of noodles, then spread the ricotta evenly over them. Top with a bit more sauce.

Add the top layer of noodles, a last layer of sauce, then sprinkle with the cheddar cheese.

Bake for half an hour, then let sit 5 to 10 minutes before eating.

I love this! I will eat it all the dang time!

I like chicken parm… I like lasagna… it’s a beautiful combination!

Chicken Parm-asagna

  • 1 1/2 pound uncooked chicken tenders
  • 1 -2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 15 ounces ricotta
  • 9 lasagna noodles
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 24 ounce jar plain or 3 cheese pasta sauce

Boil the water for the pasta and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta according to package directions, then rinse with cold water.

Lay the chicken out on a cutting board between pieces of saran wrap or parchment paper and beat with a meat tenderizer, hammering the chicken until thin. Beat two of the eggs together in a small bowl. Spread the bread crumbs in a shallow dish or pie plate. Run the pieces of chicken through the egg, then the bread crumbs, coating both sides. Cook on a flat pan over medium heat until lightly browned on each side. Set the chicken aside.

Stir together the ricotta, herbs, and remaining egg.

Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce over the bottom of a 9X13″ dish. Lay down three noodles, then the chicken. Spread a layer of sauce on the chicken, then top with the parmesan cheese.

Add the second layer of noodles, then spread the ricotta evenly over them. Top with more sauce. Add the top layer of noodles, a last layer of sauce, and sprinkle with the cheddar cheese.

Bake for half an hour, then let sit 5 to 10 minutes before eating.

Posted in Dinner | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Cinnamon Hearts

Posted on February 1, 2012 by sparecake

Happy February, everyone! Since Valentine’s is getting close, I thought I’d give you a recipe that might be nice to make on the day. Y’know, to eat with your Ben & Jerry’s on the couch alone in the dark watching awful movies? Perfect!

These hearts are from breadworld.com, which has super reliable recipes. They thought it should have raisins, which seemed weird to me so I replaced it with chocolate. Much better.

Romance-y?

Ingredients:

Dough:

  • 4 1/2 – 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 envelopes yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 large eggs

Cinnamon Filling:

  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup finely chopped milk chocolate

Glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the first cup of the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Heat the water, milk, and butter until very warm (120-130 degrees) in another bowl.

Gradually add the liquids to the flour mixture while stirring. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed, or stir thoroughly.

Add the eggs and second cup of flour, beat another two minutes.

Add another 2 1/2 cups of flour while stirring, and as much of the remaining half cup of flour is needed to make a soft dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

While you wait, you can chop of the chocolate in a food processor. It’s not necessary, but using frozen chocolate will prevent the heat from the food processor from melting the chips at all. Stir the chocolate together with the cinnamon and sugar and set aside. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and roll each out to a 12X10″ rectangle.

Brush with the melted butter, then sprinkle with the chocolate mixture.

Roll up each tightly like a jelly roll and pinch seams. Mark each roll into 16 even pieces. It’s easiest to start by marking a line in the middle, then the quarters, and continuing until you’ve make 15 lines.

Cut at the marks, cutting 3/4 of the way through the first mark, and all the way through the second, to create two attached pieces.

Fan the two parts out to create the top of the heart, and nudge the bottom towards a point if necessary to create the bottom. Repeat with the remainder of the roll.

Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake 15-20 minutes, until browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Let cool completely, otherwise the glaze will run off when you put it on.

To make the glaze, whisk together the ingredients and drizzle over the hearts.

They’re delicious, and kind of cheerful. The glaze dries, so they’d be easy to give to someone for Valentine’s, if you wanted!

I’ll be submitting these to yeastspotting!

Cinnamon Hearts

Adapted from Breadworld.

Dough:

  • 4 1/2 – 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 envelopes yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 large eggs

Cinnamon Filling:

  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 1 cup finely chopped milk chocolate

Glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine 1 cup of the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Heat the water, milk, and butter until very warm (120-130 degrees) in a medium bowl. Gradually add the liquids to the flour mixture while stirring. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed, or stir thoroughly. Add the eggs and second cup of flour, beat another two minutes. Add another 2 1/2 cups of flour while stirring, and as much of the remaining half cup of flour is needed to make a soft dough.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Stir together chocolate with cinnamon and sugar and set aside. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and roll each out to a 12X10″ rectangle. Brush with the melted butter, then sprinkle with the chocolate mixture. Roll up each tightly like a jelly roll and pinch seams. Mark each roll into 16 even pieces. Cut at the marks, cutting 3/4 of the way through the first mark, and all the way through the second, to create two attached pieces. Fan the two parts out to create the top of the heart, and nudge the bottom towards a point if necessary to create the bottom. Repeat with the remainder of the roll.

Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake 15-20 minutes, until browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the glaze, whisk together the ingredients until smooth. Drizzle over hearts.

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Hawaiian Bread

Posted on January 30, 2012 by sparecake

For some reason we were talking about Hawaiian rolls at work the other day, and I decided to try them. I changed the recipe a bit, taking a hint from tennis rolls, and came up with something that was quite popular when I brought it back to work.

Ingredients:

  • 2 packets active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup pineapple juice
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • the zest from 1 orange
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 6 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm water. Let stand 10 minutes until creamy. Beat in the eggs, pineapple juice, remaining water, sugar, orange zest, vanilla, and melted butter.

Stir in the flour gradually.

Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for one hour. Lightly grease three cake pans. Deflate the dough and turn out onto a well floured surface. Sprinkle the top with flour as well, so that you can handle it without it coating your hands. Divide into three portions. You can do one single loaf per pan, or divide it into smaller buns, that will grow together while they rise and cook, but be able to pull apart to eat.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then bake loaves 25-30 minutes, until the browned and hollow sounding when tapped. Cool on wire racks.

This bread is great with some butter or some cheddar cheese. It’s not as sweet as I expected, although some of my coworkers thought it was nearly sweet enough for dessert. To each their own?

I’ll be submitting this post to yeastspotting!

Hawaiian Bread

Adapted from Allrecipes.

  • 2 packets active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup pineapple juice
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • the zest from 1 orange
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 6 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm water. Let stand 10 minutes until creamy. Beat in the eggs, pineapple juice, remaining water, sugar, orange zest, vanilla, and melted butter.

Stir in the flour gradually.

Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for one hour. Lightly grease three cake pans. Deflate the dough and turn out onto a well floured surface. Sprinkle dough with flour. Divide into three portions and place in prepared cake pans.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then bake loaves 25-30 minutes, until the browned and hollow sounding when tapped. Cool on wire racks.

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Biscuits

Posted on January 27, 2012 by sparecake

Last month when I made char siu bao, the recipe I used was mostly from The Daring Kitchen. I decided to join their bakers, and this was my first month. Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

The first thing to learn from this recipe is that apparently what America calls biscuits, the rest of the world calls scones. Strange. The second thing that only I learned, is that adding cheddar and parsley to the recipe makes biscuits that very strongly remind me of frozen/microwave spinach souffle, which I haven’t had in years but like to a weird degree.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons fresh baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons frozen grated butter (or a combination of lard and butter)
  • 1/2 cup cold milk

To make cheddar/parsley biscuits, add:

  • 2 tablespoons dried parsley
  • 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • an additional 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. This recipe makes very small batches, so if you don’t feel like doubling it you can get away with just using a toaster oven.

Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Sifting three times will prevent chunks, but more importantly in this case it will also help your biscuits stay light, fluffy, and airy.

Rub your frozen grated butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the butter is in small pieces resembling bread crumbs. Follow with the parsley and cheese as well, if using.

Add the milk and stir until just combined. Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface.

Fold the dough once or twice, gently.

Pat out to about 3/4″ thick.

Cut out biscuits with a well-floured biscuit cutter without twisting the cutter as you do so. Transfer biscuits to a parchment-lined pan. Repat the remaining dough to use up the scraps.

2" cutter vs 1"

Bake for 8-10 minutes. These rise surprisingly fast! Take them out when browned and the sides have set.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Because of the small batch size, this is a great recipe to play around with!

Basic Biscuits

From Daring Bakers.

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons fresh baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons frozen grated butter (or a combination of lard and butter)
  • 1/2 cup cold milk

To make cheddar/parsley biscuits, add:

  • 2 tablespoons dried parsley
  • 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • an additional 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat  oven to 475 degrees.

Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Rub your frozen grated butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the butter is in small pieces resembling bread crumbs. Stir in the parsley and cheese as well, if using. Add the milk and stir until just combined. Refrigerate for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface.

Fold the dough once or twice, gently. Pat out to about 3/4″ thick. Cut out biscuits with a well-floured biscuit cutter without twisting the cutter as you do so. Transfer biscuits to a parchment-lined pan. Re-pat the remaining dough to use up the scraps.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, removing when browned and the sides have set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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Filled Sweet Rolls

Posted on January 25, 2012 by sparecake

Here’s a recipe for a lightly sweet roll, filled with your choice of sweet topping. Not shockingly, I went with chocolate, but you could use jelly or perhaps a fruit pie filling if you’re somehow not in the mood for chocolate.

The recipe I followed was pretty vague on rolling out the dough. I ended up with some really thick rolls that I think weren’t proportionately ideal, so I’ll try to write this so yours end up a bit better.

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of warm milk
  • lemon zest from 1 lemon
  • 2-3 drops lemon juice
  • 1-2  tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
  • 1 cup chocolate chips or other filling

Combine the yeast, sugar, and milk in a large bowl. Stir in the yolks, salt, and lemon zest and juice. Add the flour and stir until the dough mostly sticks together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

Clean, dry, and lightly grease your large bowl and put the dough in it, turning to grease all sides of the dough. Cover and let rise 40 minutes in a warm, draft free place. Knock down the dough, then let rise a further 20 minutes.

Turn your dough back out onto a clean surface and roll out to about 1/4″ thick. I went with 1/2″ thick, and it was too much dough! Cut into 2 or 3 inch squares.

I can't eyeball sizes to save my life!

Put a tablespoon or so of filling in the middle of each and pinch the dough shut around it, then smooth to roughly ball shaped.

Put them seam side down on parchment lined baking sheets.

Brush tops with melted butter, then set aside any leftover butter. Let rise twenty more minutes and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.

Remelt the remaining butter if necessary, then brush the buns again and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Although, as I’ve said, mine were a bit too bready, they were still quite tasty and satisfying. I’m sure with a slightly thinner roll, they’d be perfect!

I’ll be submitting this post to yeastspotting!

Filled Sweet Rolls

From Sandra’s Easy Cooking.

  • 5 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups of warm milk
  • lemon zest from 1 lemon
  • 2-3 drops lemon juice
  • 1-2  tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
  • 1 cup chocolate chips or other filling

Combine the yeast, sugar, and milk in a large bowl. Stir in the yolks, salt, and lemon zest and juice. Add the flour and stir until the dough mostly sticks together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.

Clean, dry, and lightly grease your large bowl and put the dough in it, turning to grease all sides of the dough. Cover and let rise 40 minutes in a warm, draft free place. Knock down the dough, then let rise a further 20 minutes.

Turn dough back out onto a clean surface and roll out to about 1/4″ thick. Cut into 2 or 3 inch squares. Put a tablespoon of filling in the middle of each and pinch the dough shut around it, then smooth to ball shaped. Place seam side down on parchment lined baking sheets.

Brush tops with melted butter, then set aside any leftover butter. Let rise twenty more minutes and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Remelt the remaining butter if necessary, then brush the buns again and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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Tea Eggs

Posted on January 23, 2012 by sparecake

Happy Chinese New Year! Aspiring Bakers‘ theme for this month is Auspicious Dishes for CNY hosted by Wen of Wen’s Delight (details here), and a search for suitable recipes turned up Tea Eggs. I was curious and concerned in equal measure, and pretty much had to try it!

Ingredients:

  • 6 eggs
  • water
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup brewed black tea
  • 2 star anise, broken into individual pieces
  • 1 cinnamon stick

You start off by just making regular hard boiled eggs. If you don’t have a favorite technique, might I suggest mine? Put all the eggs you want to boil in your pot then cover with enough water to have about a centimeter of water on top. Put over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the water’s really boiling well, turn off the stove and put a lid on the pot. Let rest for 12 minutes, then quickly fish the eggs out from the water, and cool them in ice water to prevent them cooking any more inside. I boiled a few extra along with the ones for the recipe to save for breakfast the next day.

For this recipe, you don’t need to get your eggs all the way cold, just cool enough to handle. Grab your cooled eggs one at a time and just bang them all over with a spoon to crack the shell. You don’t want to remove big chunks of shell, but you need some deep cracks for this to work.

If you haven’t already, make your half cup of tea.

The only cup of tea I've ever made, backed by my standard enormo-mug of water.

Reheat the water you boiled the eggs in and add the salt, soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, and tea.

Once the water is boiling, add the eggs and reduce the heat to keep the water at a simmer. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding more water if the eggs are no longer covered. Turn off the heat and let the eggs sit in the liquid until ready to eat. The longer you leave them, up to overnight, the stronger the flavor and color will be, but you can eat them straight after the simmering, which is what we did.

At least for me, the point was how they look, which depends entirely on your spoon-cracks. They create a kind of marble look as the tea mixture seeps in.

I had expected the eggs to get really unpleasantly rubbery, which they didn’t. They tasted salty, but with a flavor I can’t really describe. Not unpleasant, just…unusual. I’m glad I tried them out, so at least now I know!

They didn’t even kill my roommates!

No one could figure out anything it tasted like.

Yay for trying new things! Happy New Year!

Tea Eggs

From About.com.

  • 6 eggs
  • 3 1/2 cups cold water, or as needed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup brewed black tea
  • 2 star anise, broken into individual pieces
  • 1 cinnamon stick

Place eggs in pot and cover with enough water to have a centimeter above the eggs. Place over high heat and bring to a full boil. Turn off the heat and quickly cover pot. Let sit 12 minutes, then remove eggs and run under cold water until cool enough to handle. Hit eggs all over with the back of a spoon to crack.

Bring the water back to a boil, adding the salt, soy sauce, tea, star anise, and cinnamon stick. Return the eggs to the water, then turn heat down to a simmer. Simmer 2 hours, then turn off heat. Leave eggs in water until ready to serve.

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Salted Caramel Butter Bars

Posted on January 20, 2012 by sparecake

Another episode of Game of Thrones watched, another dessert made at Ted’s. While making this we watched the fourth episode, which, ridiculously, was also how many sticks of butter goes into this dessert. We were actually going to cut the recipe in half, but I forgot to cut most of the ingredients in the first step in half, so…that was a no-go. I wasn’t that upset, though, as this stuff is gooooood!

Ingredients:

Crust:

  • 1 pound (4 sticks) butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla
  • 4 cups flour

Filling:

  • 1 bag (14 oz.) caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped
  • 1/3 cup milk or cream or half and half
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. This is one where having a KitchenAid is going to serve you well. Add the 2 tablespoons vanilla and beat until combined, followed by the flour.

Lightly grease a 9X13″ pan and press 1/3 of the dough into the bottom to form the bottom crust. If you’re doing a half recipe, use an 8X8″ pan. If you’re doing the full recipe at the house of a friend who doesn’t have a 9X13″… use what you can find!

Put the bowl with the remaining dough in the fridge, and the crust in the oven for 20 minutes. Take the baked crust out and set aside to cool for roughly 15 minutes.

While the crust cools, combine the caramels, milk, and remaining vanilla in a pot over the stove on low heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until evenly melted together. Pour over the crust.

Sprinkle the salt over the caramel, being quite generous.

I think a bit more would have been ok. Sea salt and caramel just work so well!

Take the remaining dough out of the fridge and crumble it, or break it in bits and drop on, over the caramel.

Bake again, a further 25-30 minutes until the filling is bubbly. Don’t wait for the top to brown or the caramel will get harder than you want.

Let cool, then cut out squares to serve. Or, y’know, don’t wait and just scoop out gooey deliciousness!

This business is fabulous! Not shocking, when you consider the ingredients list.

Salted Caramel Butter Bars

From The Merlin Menu.

Crust:

  • 1 pound (4 sticks) butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla
  • 4 cups flour

Filling:

  • 1 bag (14 oz.) caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped
  • 1/3 cup milk or cream or half and half
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the 2 tablespoons vanilla and beat until combined, followed by the flour.

Lightly grease a 9X13″ pan and press 1/3 of the dough into the bottom to form the bottom crust.

Put the bowl with the remaining dough in the fridge, and bake the crust for 20 minutes. Remove the baked crust from the oven and set aside to cool for 15 minutes.

While the crust cools, combine the caramels, milk, and remaining vanilla in a pot over the stove on low heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until evenly melted together. Pour over the crust. Generously sprinkle the salt over the caramel. Take the remaining dough out of the fridge and crumble it over the caramel.

Bake again, a further 25-30 minutes until the filling is bubbly. Don’t wait for the top to brown or the caramel will get harder than you want. Let cool and cut into squares.

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