News You Can Use

Posted on November 13, 2011 by sparecake

Well hey now. I’ve been noticing over the last week that I’m edging pretty close to 100 posts, and I figured that if I’m ever going to set up an index for this blog, I had better do it before I have too many posts to handle. So, an hour of copying and pasting links, a few minutes of staring quizzically at help pages, and a few trips downstairs to work on some bread later, and it’s done! If you look under the header image, there are now categories of recipes that’ll lead you to pages of recipe links, saving you from endless scrolling back through the blog to find that one recipe you sort of vaguely remember might have existed at some point. I hope this helps make the blog more useful! Please, if you see any broken/wrong links at any point, let me know, and as always if you have thoughts on foods you’d like to see or any other suggestions, leave a comment!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Chocolate Orange Ravioli

Posted on November 11, 2011 by sparecake

The Jamie Oliver book I got the other week mentioned that you can make pasta from pretty much any liquid and flour. I liked the idea, and immediately started thinking of dessert pastas. Brilliant!

Ingredients:

  • 13.5 ounces all-purpose flour
  • 1 large egg
  • less than 3/4 cup orange juice + 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 2 dozen or so Hershey’s miniatures
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • cocoa powder and flour, for rolling
  • water for gluing

Start off by freezing the chocolate bars, unwrapped, for several hours.

Crack the egg into a measuring cup, and fill the remainder of the way up to 3/4 of a cup with juice.

Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor and, with the processor running, pour the liquid in. Continue processing until smooth and elastic, 2-4 minutes.

I found the dough very spongy at this stage.

Cover it and let it sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.

After the rest, pull off about a quarter of the dough, roughly a handful. Recover the rest and set aside. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to crepe thickness. Fold it in thirds like a letter.

Fold that in half the other way.

Roll out crepe-thin again, and fold the same way. Roll out a third time as thin as possible, and set aside.

Roll out a second portion of the dough the same way. After rolling out the second quarter of the dough, cover the first part you rolled out with a lightly moistened paper towel.

Roll out the next portion of dough using cocoa powder instead of flour.

Cover the second piece of dough that you rolled out with flour with a lightly moistened paper towel, and roll out the remaining portion of dough in cocoa powder.

Brush the first piece of dough you rolled in cocoa with a bit of water and place chocolate bars on it with over a centimeter between each.

This one's not actually brushed with water yet, I was just checking out how many would fit.

Take the first piece of white dough and press it over the chocolate, pressing it down firmly between the chocolate bars. Cut between each.

Trim the pasta down so that there isn’t a ton of extra around each chocolate, and press the edges shut firmly around the chocolate bar. Set prepared ravioli aside to dry slightly. Place a large pot of water on the stove to boil.

Do the same with the other half of the pasta, then put the first plate of prepared ravioli in the water. After dropping them in the pot, stir once to make sure they’re not stuck to the bottom then leave until they float. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside to dry. They cooked in 3 or 4 minutes for me. Boil the second plate of ravioli after the first.

The pasta rolled in cocoa stays nicely chocolate looking, which I had been unsure about. The chocolate in the middle is gooey but should stay inside.

Whisk together the orange juice and powdered sugar until a good pouring glaze thickness, then pour over the ravioli like pasta sauce.

…I don’t actually have any pictures of eating it like proper humans, which we did at work the day after I made it. At home, Kyle and I just dipped the ravioli in the sauce and ate them over the sink. Classy!

You can do pasta with, I think, pretty much any liquid you want, in about the same way. You can use other flours, too, but you’ll need at least some all-purpose so that you’ve got enough gluten formation.

Chocolate Orange Ravioli

  • 13.5 ounces all-purpose flour
  • 1 large egg
  • less than 3/4 cup orange juice + 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 2 dozen or so Hershey’s miniatures
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • cocoa powder and flour, for rolling
  • water for gluing

Unwrap and freeze the chocolate bars several hours before you want to start.

Crack an egg into a measuring cup, and fill the remainder of the way up to 3/4 of a cup with orange juice. Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor and add the liquid with the processor running. Continue processing until smooth and elastic, 2-4 minutes. Cover the dough and let sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.

After the rest, take one quarter of the dough and recover the rest. On a floured surface, roll the quarter of the dough out to crepe thickness. Fold it in thirds like a letter, then in half the other way. Roll out again, and fold a second time. Roll out a third time, as thin as possible, then set aside.

Roll out a second quarter of the dough the same way, then cover the first rolled out piece with a lightly moistened paper towel. Roll out the third quarter using cocoa powder instead of flour, then cover the second piece of rolled out dough with a lightly moistened paper towel. Roll out the remaining quarter of the dough in cocoa powder.

Lightly brush the first piece of cocoa-rolled dough with water. Place frozen chocolate bars at least a centimeter apart on the dough, then cover with the first piece of flour-rolled dough. Cut off excess pasta to the sides of the chocolate, then press together the edges around the pasta to close. Set aside the ravioli to dry.

Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Make the second two pieces together to create a second batch of ravioli. Boil the first batch of ravioli until they float, 3-4 minutes. Remove the pasta from the water with a slotted spoon and allow to dry.

Whisk together the 1/2 cup orange juice and the powdered sugar, then pour like pasta sauce on the raviolis.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Yeasted Thanksgiving Corn Bread with Cranberries

Posted on November 9, 2011 by sparecake

Several weeks ago I had lunch with my grandfather’s cousin. She gave me Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which is pretty cool! This is the first bread I made from it, based on the broa, a Portuguese corn bread. I don’t have a cast iron pan, which is what the bread is supposed to be cooked in and would have improved the texture, but it was still really good.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 1/2 tablespoon yeast
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • zest of half an orange
  • 1/2 cup cranberries
  • 3 tablespoons softened butter, lard, or bacon grease

Stir together the yeast, salt, and water in a large bowl. Add the cornmeal and flour.

Stir together until evenly mixed, but do not knead.

Cover and let rest until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), about 2 hours.

You can continue on with the recipe now, or cover and refrigerate up to 10 days before using.

When you’re ready to use the dough, grease a cast iron pan (or cake pan if you don’t have one) with the butter/lard/bacon grease. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then shape it into a ball in your hands by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four side, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Flatten the ball to 1/2″ thick with your hands.

Sprinkle the sugar and orange zest on the dough, and scatter on the cranberries.

Roll the dough up like a jelly-roll.

Shape the roll into a ball.

Flatten the ball to about the size of your pan and drop it in.

Allow the dough to rise for 40 minutes, or 80 minutes if it had been refrigerated.

Place a broiler tray in the oven and preheat the oven to 425. Just before baking, heat your pan over the stove on medium heat for one to two minutes to help the bottom caramelize. If you’ve only got a cake pan, not a cast iron, turn the stove only to low so you don’t burn the bottom.

Transfer the pan from the stove to the oven. While the oven door is open, pour 1 cup of warm water into the hot broiler pan. If you have a long oven glove, it’s best to wear that so that any steam created doesn’t burn your arm.

Check on the bread after 20 minutes and remove from the oven when it’s a rich yellow-brown. In a thick pan, this will probably take about half an hour.

Turn the bread out of the pan and slice, or just eat out of the pan.

This is one bread that’s better to eat within a few hours, texture-wise.

Zesty!

The way you work the fruit in means there are pockets that are sweeter than other parts, which I actually quite enjoyed. I’ll probably make this again for Thanksgiving!

I’ll be submitting this to YeastSpotting, hosted this time at the Tartine Bread Experiment.

Yeasted Thanksgiving Corn Bread with Cranberries

From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 1/2 tablespoon yeast
  • 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • zest of half an orange
  • 1/2 cup cranberries
  • 3 tablespoons softened butter, lard, or bacon grease

Stir together the yeast, salt, and water in a large bowl. Add the cornmeal and flour. Stir together until evenly mixed without kneading. Cover and let rest until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), about 2 hours. If desired, refrigerate now for up to 10 days.

Grease a cast iron pan with the butter/lard/bacon grease. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with flour, then shape it into a ball in your hands by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four side, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Flatten the ball to 1/2″ thick with your hands. Sprinkle the sugar and orange zest on the dough, and scatter on the cranberries. Roll up like a jelly-roll then shape into a ball. Flatten to the size of your pan, and allow to rise in the pan 40 minutes (80 if refrigerated).

Place a broiler tray in the oven and preheat the oven to 425. Just before baking, heat your pan over the stove on medium heat for one to two minutes to help the bottom caramelize.

Transfer the pan from the stove to the oven. While the oven door is open, pour 1 cup of warm water into the hot broiler pan.

Check on the bread after 20 minutes and remove from the oven when it’s a rich yellow-brown, likely half an hour.

Turn out of the pan, or just slice and eat right from the pan.

Posted in Bread | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Frozen Custard

Posted on November 7, 2011 by sparecake

I just got a Jamie Oliver cookbook and I’m totally excited about a ton of it. After making the cranberry bundt I posted last week, I had a bunch of egg yolks left over and custard seemed like a good first move. As an extra bonus, vanilla beans were on a big sale!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons whole milk
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 6 tablespoons superfine sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 8 large egg yolks

Prepare the vanilla bean by cutting down the length of it, opening it on one side. Scrape the seeds  out and put them in a saucepan.

Add the milk, cream, 4 tablespoons of the sugar, and the scraped-out bean in the pan.

Heat until just boiling, then remove from the heat and let cool for several minutes.

In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a large bowl until pale.

Remove the vanilla bean from the milk mixture. Ladle a bit of the warm milk into the yolks, whisking as you do so.

Continue ladling the milk into the yolks, whisking all the while.

Pour the mixture back into the warm pot and cook gently on the stove, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

That's what cooking with real vanilla looks like!

After several minutes, the mixture will thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon, at which time you should take it off the heat immediately. You can eat it warm or cold as is, or chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator and then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the ice cream maker’s instructions.

On the other hand, if you cook it a bit too much, the egg will start to scramble.

Take it off the heat immediately, and either transfer it to a cool pot or put the bottom of the current pot in a bowl of ice water for several minutes. Allow the custard to cool briefly, then strain the egg chunks through a sieve and the remaining mixture will be fine.

I froze mine in an ice cream maker with a big spoonful of fudge sauce, and it was super good!

Delightful!

Frozen Custard

From Cook with Jamie.

  • 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons whole milk
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 6 tablespoons superfine sugar
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 8 large egg yolks

Cut open the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds. Put the seeds, bean, milk, cream, and 4 tablespoons of the sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk together the yolks and remaining sugar until light yellow. Ladle a small amount of the milk mixture into the yolks, whisking as you add it. Continue adding the milk to the yolks until fully added, whisking the whole time.

Pour the mixture back into the warm pot and return to low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove immediately from the heat. Serve cold, warm, or chill and then freeze in an ice cream maker.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Olive Oil Cranberry Bundt

Posted on November 4, 2011 by sparecake

November 15th is National Bundt Day! Leading up to that, the Food Librarian has been posting a bundt a day since October 15th. She’s also going to send an ‘I Like Big Bundts’ pin to everyone who makes a bundt and sends her a picture of it before November 24th, so if you’ve got time in the next few weeks, try this one out and send her a picture here!

I was looking for a fall-feeling recipe, (and hoping for a break from apples,) and this cake hit the spot! I’ve apparently never tried raw cranberries before, but EWWRG they are awful! I tried one before making the cake and got really concerned that I had misunderstood and the recipe wanted craisins. All’s well, though, as they become delightful once they’re baked into the cake. They’re a nice bit of tartness in a lovely fluffy bundt.

No need for craisins!

Ingredients:

  • 6 egg whites (save the yolks – I’ll be posting a custard recipe soon!)
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup chopped cranberries

Halves was as "chopped" as seemed necessary to me.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9″ bundt pan. I just got an oven thermometer this weekend. And got some jeans hemmed for the first time. I feel so oooold!

I am super suprised to find out our oven's actually fairly accurate, at least at the front!

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff.

Beat in the sugar until fluffy, then mix in the olive oil.

Not as green-yellow as I expected.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Alternate adding the egg mixture and the buttermilk to the flour mixture, mixing after each addition. Adding about a quarter each time seemed good.

Fold the cranberries in, then pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for an hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then flip out on a wire rack to cool completely/until you’re hungry.

Jamie Oliver book open in the background as I figure out custard...

For once, I didn’t think this needed any frosting or glaze, but if you need something sweet a dusting of powdered sugar will probably do nicely.

It’s got quite a nice flavor from the olive oil, and almost enough sugar to keep me awake until mid-morning snack. I mean…until my nutritious lunch? Sure…

Olive Oil Cranberry Bundt

From AllRecipes.

  • 6 egg whites
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup chopped cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9″ bundt.

Beat the egg whites in a large bowl until stiff. Beat in the sugar until fluffy, then mix in the olive oil.

In another large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Alternate adding the egg white mixture and the buttermilk, one quarter at a time, to the dry goods, beating after each addition.

Fold the cranberries into the batter, then pour into the pan.

Bake for one hour, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Posted in Breakfast, Dessert, Snack | Tagged , | 4 Comments

White Chocolate Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies

Posted on November 2, 2011 by sparecake

For those of you that aren’t huge fans of white chocolate: don’t give up on these! Ted, who I made the cookies with, and Jeremy, the coworker who brought in the cast iron cornbread, both claimed to hate white chocolate, yet both really liked these cookies.

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick softened butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 cups white chocolate chips, divided
  • 1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter (reserve 2 tablespoons to add to melting white chips)
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup broken pretzel pieces
  • extra sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Melt 1 cup white chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons peanut butter in a double boiler until melted.

Add the melted mixture and the remaining peanut butter to the butter mixture and blend. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Put the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Add to the peanut butter/sugar mixture and blend until just combined, then pour in the pretzels and remaining cup of white chocolate chips and stir in.

taste test

Scoop the dough into small balls, with a cookie scoop if you have one.

Flatten with the palm of your hand until dough is roughly 1/2″ thick, then sprinkle lightly with sea salt.

Bake 12-15 minutes, until the edges have started browning and look crisp. Let cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and cool on a cooling rack…or just eat.

Once again, rubbish white balance.

I hear, from my coworkers, that these go well with tea. Thanks to all that peanut butter, they’re fairly filling, for a cookie. Yum!

White Chocolate Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies

From Picky Palate.

  • 1 stick softened butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 cups white chocolate chips, divided
  • 1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter (reserve 2 tablespoons to add to melting white chips)
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup broken pretzel pieces
  • extra sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease or line two or three baking sheets with parchment. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

In a double boiler, melt 1 cup of white chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons peanut butter. Beat the melted chocolate, along with the rest of the peanut butter, into the creamed butter. Add the egg and vanilla and beat.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, then add to the peanut butter/sugar mixture and blend until just combined. Pour in the pretzels and remaining cup of white chocolate chips and stir in.

Scoop onto the prepared baking sheets, then lightly press with the palm of your hand to flatten to 1/2″ thick. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Bake 12-15 minutes until golden on the edges, then let cool 10 minutes on the pans before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Sloppy Joes

Posted on October 31, 2011 by sparecake

First non-apple post in ages, and I forgot to put it up this morning!

I got this recipe from Cooking Light, where it was written kind of stupidly. Once you get around that, though, it is actually a tasty recipe, so I’ll try to write it a bit more coherently. This makes enough for 4 sandwiches, but I might have some sort of side ready, as it’s not a suuuuper huge amount of food.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • a heaping 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (or just a heaping 1/4 cup) ketchup
  • 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 8 ounce can no-salt-added tomato sauce
  • 4 buns

Combine the ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, and tomato sauce in a small bowl. Stir together and set aside.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. While it heats, grate the carrot and chop the onion, if it’s not pre-chopped. Add the carrot, onion, and beef to the pan.

Cook 6 minutes or until the beef is browned and the vegetables tender. Add the garlic powder, chili powder, and pepper and cook one minute.

Add the ketchup mixture and stir to evenly coat the beef mixture.

Simmer 5 minutes or until thickened. While the sauce thickens, toast the buns if you want to. I made more cool rise bread for buns.

And then it’s dinner!

Sloppy Joes

From Cooking Light.

  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • a heaping 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon (or just a heaping 1/4 cup) ketchup
  • 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 8 ounce can no-salt-added tomato sauce
  • 4 buns

Combine the ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, and tomato sauce in a small bowl. Stir together and set aside.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. While pan heats, grate the carrot and chop the onion. Add the carrot, onion, and beef to the pan.

Cook 6 minutes or until the beef is browned and the vegetables tender. Add the garlic powder, chili powder, and pepper and cook one minute.

Add the ketchup mixture and stir to evenly coat the beef mixture.

Simmer 5 minutes or until thickened. While the sauce thickens, toast the buns if you want to. Serve as sandwiches.

Posted in Dinner | Tagged | 1 Comment

Apple Danish

Posted on October 28, 2011 by sparecake

I had some ups and downs with this recipe (I MASSIVELY screwed up the dough at first due to lack of adequate recipe reading), but in the end it was so good I would have been very happy with it if I had bought it at a bakery. You can do most of the work at night and then it’s really easy to finish the next morning for brunch.

Ingredients:

Dough:

  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Filling:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 2 cups finely chopped tart apples

Glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Heat the milk in the microwave or on the stove until warm, about 110 degrees. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk. Add the salt and 2 cups of flour and beat for two minutes. Beat in the eggs and butter, then stir in 4 more cups of flour, half a cup at a time and beating well after each addition.

Spread the remaining half cup of flour on a clean flat surface, then turn the dough out onto it. Knead until smooth and elastic, about five minutes.

Put in a large bowl and cover with a towel. Set in a warm place and leave to rise for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

After rising, roll out the dough into a 10X22″ rectangle.

Chop the apple and stir together with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and sugar.

Spread half the melted butter over the dough then spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a centimeter clear space around the edges. Wrap the remaining butter and put it in the fridge.

Roll the dough up, rolling a long side so it stays wide.

Move the roll onto a parchment-lined pan, curving it into a C.

Cut slices at 1-2″ intervals, cutting halfway through the log. Once sliced, the log will curl more and you can bring it around to a ring. Why do that? Because it made me really happy to look at it!

Cover the dough loosely and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, it will have leaked a bunch of juice. It’s like when you make pie filling, fruit and sugar = liquid. Remove the danish from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the apple juice that leaked out of the danish into a small bowl. The danish is solid enough that it shouldn’t budge while you tilt the pan. Remelt the leftover butter and stir in half of the apple juice. Stir together the butter and juice, then brush over the surface of the danish.

Bake 25-35 minutes, until browned.

Spread some foil on the counter and place a cooling rack over it. Transfer the danish to the rack. The apple juice stuff that’s leaked out and cooked and is left in the pan is basically candy at this point, so enjoy that but then get your pan under hot water pretty fast before the stuff turns rock hard.

Whisk together the powdered sugar with 3-4 tablespoons of the remaining apple juice, adding as much as necessary to reach a drizzle-able consistency. Drizzle over danish and enjoy!

It’s suuuper delicious!Yum!

I’ll be submitting this to YeastSpotting.

Apple Danish

Adapted from Paula Deen’s website.

Dough:

  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Filling:

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 2 cups finely chopped tart apples

Glaze:

  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Heat the milk in the microwave or on the stove until warm, about 110 degrees. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk. Add the salt and 2 cups of flour and beat for two minutes. Beat in the eggs and butter, then stir in 4 more cups of flour, half a cup at a time and beating well after each addition.

Spread the remaining half cup of flour on a clean flat surface, then turn the dough out onto it. Knead until smooth and elastic, about five minutes.

Put in a large bowl and cover with a towel. Set in a warm place and leave to rise for 40 minutes or until doubled in size.

After rising, roll out the dough into a 10X22″ rectangle.

Chop the apple and stir together with the brown sugar, cinnamon, and sugar.

Spread half the melted butter over the dough then spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a centimeter clear space around the edges. Wrap the remaining butter and put it in the fridge.

Roll the dough up, rolling a long side so it stays wide.

Move the roll onto a parchment-lined pan, curving it into a C.

Cut slices at 1-2″ intervals, cutting halfway through the log. Once sliced, bend the log into a ring.

Cover the dough loosely and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove the danish from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the apple juice that leaked out of the danish into a small bowl. The danish is solid enough that it shouldn’t budge while you tilt the pan. Remelt the leftover butter and stir in half of the apple juice. Stir together the butter and juice, then brush over the surface of the danish.

Bake 25-35 minutes, until browned.

Spread some foil on the counter and place a cooling rack over it. Transfer the danish to the rack.

Whisk together the powdered sugar with 3-4 tablespoons of the remaining apple juice, adding as much as necessary to reach a drizzle-able consistency. Drizzle over danish.

Posted in Brunch | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Paper Bag Apple Pie

Posted on October 26, 2011 by sparecake

While I am getting towards the bottom of my giant bag of apples from NH, there’re still enough for a few more recipes, including this one, an apple pie you bake in a bag.

(I didn't end up needing one of the big ones and one of the small ones.)

I’ve never been super confident when making pie crust (I usually just buy them), so I was relieved that this pie has a streusel top, so at least I only had to make one crust. The bottom crust turned out to be pretty easy, actually, and the coworkers I shared the pie with thought it was good. Success!

Ingredients:

Crust:

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces
  • 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Filling:

  • 3 1/2 to 4 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and sliced; enough to make 8 cups sliced apples
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons boiled cider, or apple juice concentrate
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Streusel topping:

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into pats

Start the crust by whisking together the flour and salt. Work the shortening in with a pastry blender or your fingers until well combined. Work the butter in until the mixture is unevenly crumbly, with some butter pieces still a bit larger than others.

Add the water one tablespoon at a time, stirring as you sprinkle. When the dough is moist enough that it holds together when squeezed, stop adding water and knead it three or four times to bring it together. I just did this in the bowl so I didn’t have to clean another surface, and it worked fine. Pat it into a thick disk, then roll the edge of the disk on a counter to smooth out the edges. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight. I did this much at 11:30pm, then got up at 5am to finish the pie so I could bring it to work. Oof.

When you’re ready to make the filling, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put all the filling ingredients into a big bowl and stir. I found out at 5am I didn’t have lemon juice, so ended up just replacing it with more apple juice concentrate, and nothing exploded, nor did the apples get overly browned.

If you do refrigerate the dough for more than half an hour, take it out about halfway through cutting apples, so it has 10 minutes to warm back up before you use it.

Microwave the filling uncovered for 5 minutes.

While the apples are in the microwave you can start rolling out the dough into a 12 1/2″ -13″ circle.

Rolling into a circle is a rough concept for me.

Lightly grease a 9″ pie pan and lay the crust gently into the pan.

Spoon/pour the filling into the crust.

Make the streusel topping by working together all the ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingers until crumbly. Don’t overwork or it’ll turn into a solid lump. Sprinkle the streusel over the filling.

Use your fingers to form a little moat wall with the edge of the pie crust, removing any huge extra chunks.

At this point, if you have a brown paper supermarket bag, put the pie in that and staple or paperclip the end shut. If you don’t have a bag, you can just staple two pieces of parchment around the pie. Please, please, don’t use wax paper. If you’re not aware, you’re not supposed to bake with wax paper. It isn’t meant to withstand high heat and will get fumes all up in your baked goods.

Bake for one hour.

Looks delicious!

Cut open the bag, lifting the flap you cut so that it’s aimed away from you so that you don’t get burnt by any steam that may be inside.

Remove the pie from the bag and cool for at least half an hour before slicing. After about half an hour it was still hot, but I had to go to work in the rain, so I (very loosely) wrapped it with foil, but poked holes in that and didn’t close the sides so that it could steam/cool without the top getting soggy. Carried the pie in one hand and an umbrella in the other for half an hour! Learned something about my own arm strength (–that I don’t have any in my right arm).

I really liked the crunch (and the sugaryness) of the streusel. I thought the filling was a bit too nutmeggy, but I was the only one that thought so, and I’m always strongly anti-nutmeg, so that’s probably just my problem.

If you think any of this pie made it back home…you are mistaken.

Paper Bag Apple Pie

Lightly adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Crust:

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces
  • 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Filling:

  • 3 1/2 to 4 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and sliced; enough to make 8 cups sliced apples
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons boiled cider, optional but tasty (I used some leftover frozen apple juice concentrate)
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Streusel topping:

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into pats

Make the crust by whisking together the flour and salt. Work the shortening in with a pastry blender or your fingers until well combined. Work the butter in until the mixture is unevenly crumbly, with some butter pieces still a bit larger than others. Add the water one tablespoon at a time, stirring as you sprinkle. When the dough is moist enough that it holds together when squeezed, stop adding water and knead it three or four times to bring it together. Pat it into a thick disk, then roll the edge of the disk on a counter to smooth out the edges. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight.

When you’re ready to make the filling, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Stir together all the filling ingredients in a large bowl.

If the dough has been refrigerated for more than half an hour, take it out about halfway through cutting apples, so it has 10 minutes to warm back up before use.

 Microwave the filling uncovered for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, roll out the dough into a 12 1/2″ -13″ circle. Lightly grease a 9″ pie pan and lay the crust gently into the pan. Spoon the microwaved filling into the crust.

Make the streusel topping by working together all the ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingers until crumbly and then sprinkling over the filling.

Use your fingers to form a little moat wall with the edge of the pie crust, removing any extra crust.

Place the pie in a brown paper supermarket bag or make a pouch out of two sheets of parchment. Either way, seal with staples or paperclips, then bake one hour.

Cut open the bag, avoiding any steam that may be inside.

Remove the pie from the bag and cool for at least half an hour before slicing.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Apple Cheddar Pierogies

Posted on October 24, 2011 by sparecake

Apple cheddar everything is pretty much my life right now. Such a good combo! I’ve always liked the Mrs. T’s potato and cheddar pierogies, but thought adding apple might be even better. I’d say it was! The filling was tasty, and I liked the texture of the outside. The best thing about these is that you can make the filling and prep the dough beforehand, or get them put together but freeze them uncooked for later, so you’ve got plenty of options.

The amount of filling I made was about twice as much as I needed for the amount of dough I made. It was roughly four people’s worth of pierogies, plus the extra filling. I’ll cut the filling recipe in half below, so it should work out about right.

Ingredients:

Filling:

  • 1 1/2 large or 2 small russet potatoes
  • 1 large tart apple
  • 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Dough:

  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened and cut into small pieces

Also:

  • butter and onions for sauteing
  • sour cream and apple sauce on the side

Prepare the filling by bringing a large pot of water to a boil. While that heats, peel the potatoes and apple and cut into large chunks.

Off-white lumps.

Put the chopped pieces into the boiling water. The apples will probably float, while the potato pieces sink.

Boil until a fork slides easily into the potato pieces. This took about ten minutes for me. Drain, then return to the pot and add the cheese and butter.

Mash until smooth, then add salt and pepper to taste. Don’t be disappointed if you can only taste the potatoes until you add the butter and salt – they allow the other flavors to come through as well.

You can put this in the fridge until the next day, or go on and make the pierogies now.

To prepare the dough, mix the flour and salt. Beat the eggs and add to the flour and stir. Add the sour cream and butter and stir together, then turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead. The mixture was dry for most of the time I was kneading, but as the last bits got incorporated it became sticky. Continue kneading until it loses most of its stickiness.

Divide the dough into two even portions and form each into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for half an hour. You can also do this in advance and leave the dough in the fridge for up to two days.

When you’re ready to make the pierogies, put a pot of water on the stove on and bring to a boil. Roll one disk of the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8″ thick.

Cut out 2″-3″ circles with a biscuit cutter or glass. Place a small ball of filling on each circle.

This turned out to be more than I could fit when I sealed them.

Fold the dough over into a half-circle and crimp the open edge with a fork.

Freeze at this stage, or put as many of the pierogies you’ve made in the pot of water as fit without overlapping, and continue making more pierogies while they boil, using both halves of the dough. The pierogies will be done when they float, 8-10 minutes. Give them a quick stir once 2 or 3 minutes in so that you know they’re not stuck to the bottom.

Take out the pierogies as they are cooked and rinse them under cool water briefly. Set aside to dry slightly, and continue cooking more.

When you’re done forming additional pierogies, while you wait for more to boil, cut as much onion as you want into thin rings. Place in a pan on the stove over medium high head with a tablespoon of butter.

I'm not into it, so I just made a few for Kyle.

Saute until they are soft. Then add pierogies and pan fry until each side is browned, adding more butter to keep some in the pan at all times. If your pierogies have one dryer side, put them dryer-side down when you put them in the pan so any water on the other side doesn’t make the butter sputter and spit.

PLENTY of pierogies for Kyle and me...

Serve them with sour cream and/or applesauce.

The high life!

Apple Cheddar Pierogies

Filling:

  • 1 1/2 large or 2 small russet potatoes
  • 1 large tart apple
  • 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

Dough:

  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened and cut into small pieces

Also:

  • butter and onions for sauteing
  • sour cream and apple sauce on the side

To make the filling: Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Peel and roughly chop potatoes and apples. Boil until soft. Drain, then add cheese and butter. Mash until smooth, add salt and butter to taste.

To make the dough: Mix together the flour and salt. Beat eggs and stir into the flour. Add the sour cream and the softened butter pieces and stir together. Knead until all evenly combined and no longer sticky. Divide the dough in half and form into two disks. Wrap each in plastic and refrigerate at least half an hour, up to two days.

Preparing the pierogies: Heat a pot of water on the stove. Roll one portion of the dough out to 1/8″ thick. Cut out 2″-3″ circles and put small portions of the filling on them. Fold dough over to form half-circles, and seal shut by crimping with a fork. Boil prepared pierogies while continuing to make more. When pierogies float, take them out and rinse them under cold water, then set aside to dry.

Slice onion into rings and pan fry in butter until soft. Pan fry pierogies until browned on each side, setting aside pierogies and onions as done to make more room in the pan.

When all pierogies are cooked, serve with sour cream, prepared onions, and apple sauce.

Posted in Dinner | Tagged , , | 3 Comments