Apple Upside-Down Cake

Posted on October 21, 2011 by sparecake

The second recipe I made to help get rid of the huge bag of apples I brought back from NH was apple upside-down cake. I’m horrible at cutting evenly, but once you’ve got the apples prepped, this cake comes together pretty quickly and easily.

Ingredients:

Topping:

  • 2 medium apples
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 2 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup

Cake:

  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 2 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 large apple, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Lightly grease a 9″ cake pan with sides at least 2″ tall. Line the bottom with parchment and re-grease.

Slice the top off one of the two medium apples, leaving the stem attached if there is one. Set aside, then peel and slice the remainder of that and the other medium apple into 1/4″ thick wedges. Place the apple top stem-down in the middle of your prepared pan, and arrange the apple wedges in a ring around it.

Set the pan aside and prepare the rest of the topping by combining the butter, sugar, cider, cinnamon, and corn syrup in a pot over low heat. Stir until the sugar and butter are dissolved and evenly mixed in.

Pour 1/2 cup of the mixture over the prepared apples in the pan, and set the rest aside.

To make the cake, beat the oil, brown sugar, boiled cider, eggs, spices, and salt together for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Mix the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl, and stir it into the batter until just blended. Fold in the chopped apples and if you’re using nuts, throw them in too.

Spoon the batter over the apples in the pan, gently spreading it to cover the apples evenly.

Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. I somehow failed at this test, as the middle of mine turned out to be still somewhat undercooked when i flipped it, so…be careful? Make sure you’re stabbing all the way in, not just stopping on an apple chunk right below the surface.

It _looked_ cooked...

After removing the cake from the oven, run a thin spatula or knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the sides of the pan, then allow it to cool for five minutes. After the brief cool, flip the cake out onto a serving plate, apple-side up. Scrape any sauce remaining in the pan onto the cake.

Reheat the reserved topping and pour over the cake. If the butter has separated and isn’t stirring back into the mixture, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does melt back in.

I realized in time that this cake was nearly the size of all my biggest plates, so I cut it roughly in half and put it on two plates before pouring sauce over it so that I didn’t just end up making a ridiculous mess all over the counters. Not as grand looking, but…prudent, with the plates I’ve got to work with.

Not the most attractive thing I’ve ever made, but apple and brown sugar is a hard to deny combo. If you’ve got a large serving plate, go to it and find out for yourself how good this could look!

Apple Upside-Down Cake

From King Arthur Flour.

Topping:

  • 2 medium apples
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 2 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup

Cake:

  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 2 tablespoons boiled cider or thawed apple juice concentrate
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 large apple, peeled and finely chopped
  • 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9″ round cake pan with 2″ or taller walls. Line with parchment and re-grease.

Slice the top off one of the two medium apples, leaving the stem attached. Set aside, then peel and slice the remainder of that and the other medium apple into 1/4″ thick wedges. Place the apple top, stem down, in the middle of your prepared pan, and layer the apple wedges in a ring around it. Set the cake pan aside.

Prepare the remainder of the topping by combining the butter, sugar, cider, cinnamon, and corn syrup in a pot over low heat. Stir until all ingredients are dissolved and evenly mixed in. Pour 1/2 cup of the mixture over the prepared apples in the pan, and set the rest aside.

To make the cake, beat the oil, brown sugar, boiled cider, eggs, spices, and salt together for 2 minutes at medium speed.

Mix the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl, and stir it into the batter until just blended. Fold in the chopped apples and nuts.

Spoon the batter over the apples in the pan, gently spreading it to cover the apples evenly.

Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Run a thin spatula or knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the sides of the pan, then allow it to cool for five minutes. Flip the cake out onto a serving plate, apple-side up. Scrape any sauce remaining in the pan onto the cake.

Reheat the reserved topping and pour over the cake. If the butter has separated and isn’t stirring back into the mixture, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does melt back in. Serve warm or room temperature, and with whipped cream if desired.

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Cast Iron Cornbread

Posted on October 19, 2011 by sparecake

Currently at work there are 3 of us that work in a tiny, windowless room with no supervision. The work’s mind-numbing and easy, leaving plenty of free time for two of us to pressure the third, Jeremy, into making food for us. Jeremy was nice enough to not only bring in a full pan’s worth of cornbread to share, but also took pictures and wrote up a guest post! The cornbread was delicious enough that we didn’t leave him any to bring back home, and the pictures are even more thorough than I usually manage. Without further ado, here’s Jeremy’s post:

Cast Iron Cornbread

This recipe is an adapted version of a recipe given to me when I bought the bag of corn meal from the Grist Mill at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate. I have made it several times with little changes in cook time, pan, and ingredients.

The biggest thing you’ll notice is the absence of milk. I have replaced this with a single can of creamed corn to give more corn flavor and to keep the finished product moist. You can include a cup of frozen corn if it strikes your fancy.

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup cornmeal
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 14.5 oz can of creamed corn
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Bacon Grease (optional)

The first step is to assemble all of your ingredients.

Here are the dry goods measured and waiting.

Melted butter can be substituted with any liquidated cooking fat (Oil, Shortening, Lard).

Preheat oven to 425 deg. F. Grease your baking dish (this recipe fits perfectly in 10″ cast iron skillet).

I’m particularly proud of my well seasoned 10” cast iron skillet , which was rescued from a rusty grave at the bottom of a garage. The bucket o’ bacon grease is standard in any southern kitchen, IMHO.

Use a paper towel to spread a healthy layer of bacon grease on the pan (or you can spray Pam on your baking dish if you hate your taste buds).

Sift dry ingredients.

Sift them dry dudes. Please note I use a metal strainer for this task. I got bad hand cramps last time I tried to use my old squeeze handle model. I got fed up and threw it away. This works faster and is easier to clean anyway.

Add wet ingredients.

Put the wet on the dry.

Mix without overworking the batter.

Pour into prepared dish.

Spread that batter evenly, but don’t mind if its sloppy, the rustic look is good.

Bake 25 min, until golden brown.

Put in your preheated oven and wave goodbye.

Hello again golden brown and delicious friend.

Let cool for 10 – 20 minutes and serve warm with butter or honey.

Here is a close up of the dark brown crust underneath that can be seen when the finished cornbread pulls away from the edge of the pan.

Cast Iron Cornbread

From Jeremy.

  • 3/4 cup cornmeal
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 14.5 oz can of creamed corn
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Bacon Grease (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 deg. F. Grease 10 inch baking dish.

Sift dry ingredients.

Add wet ingredients.

Pour into prepared dish.

Bake 25 min, until golden brown.

Let cool for 10 – 20 minutes and serve warm with butter or honey.

Posted in Bread | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Apple Cheddar Coffee Cake

Posted on October 17, 2011 by sparecake

While I was home last week, I raided the orchard behind the house. My suitcase on the way back to DC weight about a million pounds, but it’s totally worth it to have some produce that’s not awful for a change!

I have a ton of apple recipes to try, for some reason mainly from King Arthur Flour. The first is an apple cheddar coffeecake I made straight off the plane. The cheddar and apples go well together, and both go well with the brown sugar streusel.

Ingredients:

Topping:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 stick butter, softened

Batter:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour (I finally bought this! Go me.)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 cups diced cheddar cheese (I think I would have liked grated better – the texture of chunks of melted and reformed cheese was a bit weird?)
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped apple

The topping comes first – blend together the dry ingredients then mix the butter in with your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Make the batter by mixing together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, beat the oil, sugar, and eggs for 2 to 3 minutes, until very light.

Mix the buttermilk and the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, alternating halves at a time, stirring only until blended.

Fold in the cheese and apples.

Pour half the batter into a bundt pan, then stir in one third of the topping mixture with a fork.

Spoon in the remaining batter, and stir in another third of the topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Be sure you’re not stabbing right into a cheese pocket when you test.

Let the cake cool in the pan for ten minutes, then turn out onto a serving plate. At this point, I began wishing I had greased the pan.

Sprinkle the remaining topping over the cake while still warm, and serve.

Yum!

Apple Cheddar Coffeecake

From The Original King Arthur Flour Cookbook.

Streusel:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 stick butter, softened

Batter:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 1/2 cups diced or grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped apple

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan.

Prepare the topping by blending the dry topping ingredients then rubbing in the butter with your fingers or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

To make the batter, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the oil, sugar, and eggs for 2 to 3 minutes, until very light.

Mix the buttermilk and dry goods into the egg mixture by alternating halves. Beat only until just combined. Fold in the apples and cheese.

Pour half the batter into the bundt pan, then stir in one third of the topping into the batter with a fork. Pour in the remaining batter, and mix in another third of the topping. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool the cake for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a serving plate. Sprinkle remaining topping on the cake while still hot.

Posted in Breakfast, Brunch | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Caramel Crunch Cheesecake

Posted on October 14, 2011 by sparecake

The last of the recipes I made from the Orville Redenbacher cookbook (after the cherry coffee cake and the chicken pot pie) requires Orville Redenbacher caramel corn. It’s kind of hard to find except at WalMart (whose site will tell you if it’s in stock near you), and there are no WalMarts in DC, so I asked my mom to grab some of the caramel corn at a WalMart near her and hold on to it until I visited. The box comes with two packages of popcorn and two packs of caramel. Once you’ve popped the popcorn, you put it back in the microwave with the caramel on top and nuke it again, then stir it all together. Somehow the popcorn doesn’t burn during the second cook, and it comes out quite tasty.

Ingredients:

Crust:

  • 1 bag popped Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Caramel Microwave Popping Corn, unpopped kernels discarded
  • 3/4cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Filling:

  • 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups sour cream

To make the crust, finely crush all but 1 ½ cups of the prepared popcorn in a food processor, setting aside that remaining bit of popcorn for later.

Stir the crushed popcorn together with the remaining crust ingredients until evenly mixed. The book only called for a teaspoon of cinnamon, but I don’t think you’d even be able to taste that. The tablespoon was good.

Press the crust mixture into the bottom and an inch up the sides of a 10” spring form pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, blend together all the filling ingredients except the sour cream until smooth, starting at low speed on your blender to avoid a mess. Fold in the sour cream until blended, then spoon the filling into the crust.

Forgot to take a picture until pretty late in the game...

Bake 60 minutes, still at 350. Don’t expect the cake to be firm now, that’s not how cheesecakes work. Turn off the oven and crack the door open. (A wooden spoon handle makes a suitable door-jam.) Leave the cake to cool completely in the oven, about 1 ½ hours.

Lightly crush the remaining popcorn, then sprinkle it over the top of the cheesecake. Mom crushed it with a meat tenderizer, but that mainly seemed to just flatten the popcorn? Crumbling by hand, a handful at a time, may be more effective.

Loosely cover, and refrigerate overnight.

This was a really nice cheesecake. I really liked the crust, and the filling was smooth and tasty like you want in a cheesecake. I would definitely make this again. As you can probably see, we lined the bottom of the pan with foil, since sometimes that makes it easier to remove a cheesecake. Not this time – I’d avoid that step.

Caramel Crunch Cheesecake

Adapted from Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn Cookbook.

Crust:

  • 1 bag popped Orville Redenbacher’s Gourmet Caramel Microwave Popping Corn, unpopped kernels discarded
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Filling:

  • 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 ¾ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 cups sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Measure out 1 ½ cups of the prepared popcorn and set aside. Crush remaining popcorn finely in a food processor. Combine the crushed popcorn with remaining crust ingredients, mixing until moistened. Press the crust into the bottom and an inch up the sides of a 10” spring-form. Bake 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine all filling ingredients except sour cream and beat n low speed until smooth. Fold in the sour cream until just blended, then pour filling into the baked crust. Bake 60 minutes, then turn off oven and crack door open. Let cool in the oven until completely cool, about 1 ½ hours.

Lightly crush the reserved popcorn, and sprinkle over the top of the cake. Loosely cover, then chill the cake in the refrigerator overnight.

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Wordless Wednesday: Topsfield Edition

Posted on October 12, 2011 by sparecake

(Back with recipes when I get back to DC!)

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Chocolate Marshmallow Cake

Posted on October 10, 2011 by sparecake

This recipe is supposed to be baked in a 1 1/2 pint (3 1/3 cup) bowl, making a smallish rounded cake. I really wanted to make a jack-o-lantern cake for my birthday party, but needed party-sized, not small, so I tripled the recipe. That turned out to be overkill, and filled much more than the bowl I had expected to use, so I’ll just share the recipe at the original size, and let you multiply as you wish. With the tripled amount of batter, I used both a 2.5 quart bowl and a springform with the same diameter as the top of the bowl.

Ingredients (for one batch):

cake:

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 8 ounces superfine sugar (if you can’t find superfine, blend regular sugar in the blender in small batches)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 ounces semisweet chocolate
  • 5 ounces buttermilk
  • 6 ounces self-rising flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch salt

frosting:

  • 6 ounces white marshmallows
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 2 egg whites
  • 2 tablespoons superfine sugar

additionally: 2 ounces grated milk chocolate to decorate (if not making a jack-o-lantern – candy corn, a candy pumpkin and 2 oreos if you are)

Cream the butter, vanilla, and sugar until light in color and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Melt the chocolate over low heat, then stir in the buttermilk gradually until well combined. Set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Alternate adding small amounts of the flour mixture and the chocolate mixture to the butter, beating between each addition.

Pour the batter into a greased 1 1/2 pint bowl and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in the bowl, then turn out onto a rack to cool competely.

For my tripled batch, the portion I baked in the springform was done in an hour, the stuff in the bowl took two. This didn’t make the most even cakes for me, but would probably cook faster and more evenly in the smaller, intended size.

With a bit of evening, the parts came together acceptably, though.

To make the frosting, heat the marshmallows and milk on the stove over medium-low heat.

Once the marshmallows have melted, set aside to cool slightly.

Clearly, some food dye was added.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the marshmallows, then set aside for ten minutes.

Spread the frosting over the cake and sprinkle with chocolate shavings, or create a candy face.

Spooky? Goofy? …goofy.

Chocolate Marshmallow Cake

From perfect Chocolate.

cake:

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 8 ounces superfine sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 ounces semisweet chocolate
  • 5 ounces buttermilk
  • 6 ounces self-rising flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • pinch salt

frosting:

  • 6 ounces white marshmallows
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 2 egg whites
  • 2 tablespoons superfine sugar
  • 2 ounces grated milk chocolate for sprinkling

Cream the butter, vanilla, and sugar until light in color and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.Melt the chocolate over low heat, then stir in the buttermilk gradually until well combined. Set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl. Add small amounts of the flour and chocolate mixtures to the butter, alternating and beating after each addition.

Pour the batter into a greased 1 1/2 pint bowl and bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in the bowl, then turn out onto a rack to cool competely.

For the frosting, heat the marshmallows and milk on the stove over medium-low heat. Once the marshmallows have melted, set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the marshmallows, then set aside for ten minutes.

Spread the frosting over the cake and sprinkle with chocolate shavings.

Posted in Dessert | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Two Easy Desserts

Posted on October 7, 2011 by sparecake

My birthday was recent-ish, and two of the desserts I made for the party were super simple. They both basically just require dumping things in a pot/bowl and stirring, with fabulous results.

The first of the two recipes is chocolate caramels. This makes kind of a large amount of caramel, so I might not make it if you’re just sitting home by yourself for a week, but they’re quite delicious if you’ve got some friends to share with.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 2 cups sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup corn syrup
  • 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, grated or finely chopped
  • 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated or finely chopped
  • 6 tablespoons butter

I saw the “2 cups sweetened condensed milk” and groaned hard, as most cans of the stuff are 14 ounces, so buying a second can for just 2 ounces seemed stupid. I bought two 14 ounce cans, though, and measured them out into a measuring cup, and only came to 22 ounces or so, not 28. After grumping about feeling scammed, I was at least glad I’d gotten two cans. I…guess there’s something different about fluid ounces and weight ounces? Anyway, the moral of the story is to buy two cans and measure.

Before starting, lightly grease a 9X13″ pan.

In a saucepan over low heat, combine all the ingredients.

Stir constantly until everything is melted and combined.

Once all the ingredients are melted, raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil, still stirring. Once it has reached a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and insert a candy thermometer. Cook, still stirring, until the candy reaches 235 degrees.

This will seem to take a very long time, but all you have to do is stand there and stir. If you bring your laptop/tv/ipod into the kitchen, you’ll be fine.  Once the mixture reaches 235, pour it into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Mine pretty much spread itself fine.

Leave it to cool until firm, then cut with a sharp knife.

This was a bit less than half of them. Cutting decisively makes less ugly ones.

These are chocolatey and chewy in a pretty satisfying way.

The second recipe was a brown sugar fruit dip. Everyone loved it on fruit, and went on to discuss what else to eat it on like bread, raisin bagels, all manner of things.

Ingredients:

  • 2 8oz packages light cream cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Beat the cream cheese with a blender for two minutes, or until it’s all smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until evenly mixed. If you want to be classy, then transfer it to some nice bowls before you put it out with some sliced fruit.

Ooh boy, I took ONE picture.

It’s delicious!

Chocolate Caramel

From 1001 Chocolate Treats.

  • 3 cups sugar
  • 2 cups sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup corn syrup
  • 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, grated or finely chopped
  • 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated or finely chopped
  • 6 tablespoons butter

Grease a 9X13″ pan and set aside.

Combine all ingredients in a pot and place over low heat. Cook until all ingredients are smoothly melted, stirring constantly. Once evenly melted, raise the heat to high until the mixture boils.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and insert a candy thermometer. Cook, continuing to stir, until the temperature reaches 235 and then pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth the surface and let cook.

Cut with a sharp knife, and store in an air tight container.

Brown Sugar Fruit Dip

From Dine and Dish.

  • 2 8oz packages light cream cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix the cream cheese with an electric blender until smooth, about two minutes. Add remaining ingredients and blend until fully incorporated. Transfer to serving bowls and serve with sliced fruit.

Posted in Dessert, Party! | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Chicken Popcorn Pie

Posted on October 5, 2011 by sparecake

This is the second of 3 recipes I’ll be making this fall from the Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn Cookbook. (#1) It’s basically a chicken (or turkey, but I couldn’t find that at the store) pot pie with popcorn in the crust. The popcorn shrinks some while you’re preparing the crust, so it’s not huge chunks, and adds a bit of butter flavor. Coming from a brand name cookbook, this is a pretty easy recipe, and solidly tasty.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water
  • 3/4 cup diced celery (about 2 large stalks)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 bag popped light butter microwave popcorn, unpopped kernels discarded
  • 1/2 teaspoon sage
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 2.8 ounce cans French fried onions
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups cooked cubed chicken or turkey
  • 1 10 3/4 ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1 10 ounce bag frozen peas and carrots, thawed and drained

I was pretty pleased – when I was in Kansas City we saw a guy selling loose spices at the farmers’ market, and I got a bag full of sage for a buck. I wish that guy was in DC!

Put the water, butter, and celery in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, and cook for 7 minutes. If your chicken isn’t already cooked, get that done too.

Stir the popcorn, sage, pepper, and garlic powder together in a large bowl, then pour the celery mixture over it and stir well. The popcorn will shrink with the liquid.

Add one of the cans of onions and the beaten egg and stir well.

Press into the bottom and sides of a greased 8″ souffle dish and set aside briefly. I couldn’t find a souffle dish with high enough sides in the cabinet, so I went with a springform. It did fine.

Combine the cooked turkey, soup, peas and carrots in a medium bowl.

Spoon half of the chicken mixture into the crust.

Sprinkle half of the second can of onions over the chicken, top with the remaining chicken mixture, then sprinkle on the remaining onions, leaving a small open border between the onions and the crust.

Cover with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees, until heated through.

I am a master of food photography.

Easy enough!

Down Home Inside-Out Chicken Pie

From Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn Cookbook.

  • 1 cup water
  • 3/4 cup diced celery
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 bag popped light butter microwave popcorn, unpopped kernels discarded
  • 1/2 teaspoon sage
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 2.8 ounce cans French fried onions
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups cooked cubed chicken or turkey
  • 1 10 3/4 ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1 10 ounce bag frozen peas and carrots, thawed and drained

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8″ souffle dish.

Simmer water, celery, and butter in a small saucepan for 7 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine popped corn, sage, pepper, and garlic powder. Pour the celery brother over the popcorn mixture and stir to combine. Add 1 can of onions and the beaten egg, mix well.

Spoon the stuffing into the souffle dish, pressing evenly on bottom and up sides.

Combine turkey, soup, peas, and carrots in a medium bowl. Spoon half the mixture into the prepared crust and top with half the remaining onions. Repeat with remaining chicken mixture and onions, leaving a 1/2″ border between the onion topping and crust.

Cover and bake 35-40 minutes, until heated through.

Posted in Dinner | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Peach Bread

Posted on October 3, 2011 by sparecake

As far as I can tell, it is still as of this writing decent peach season in DC supermarkets.

Good thing, as I found this peach bread recipe that I bookmarked a few years ago, and wanted to check it out. This may look, at first glance, too similar to the apple bread we made when I was in Kansas City the other week, but it’s its own kind of good. The flavor of the peaches stands out a lot more than the apples did.

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup + 1/3 cup sugar, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk (I used skim, we survived)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 packet rapid rise yeast
  • 4-4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 peaches

Combine the water and yeast in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat the 1/4 cup sugar, butter, and salt in a large bowl until you can no longer see the sugar. Blend in the milk – it will stay a bit lumpy, that’s ok.

Add the egg and the yeast mixture and beat to combine. Beat in 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time.

I think this was after the second cup of flour.

Scoop the fourth cup of flour and pour roughly half into the bowl, and half out onto a clean counter or workspace. Stir the flour in the bowl into the dough mixture, then turn out onto the floured workspace. Knead for five minutes until smooth. I found the dough super sticky and added probably another 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of flour to get a workable dough. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl, flipping once so that the top gets greased too. Cover, and let rise for an hour.

The shine is from grease in the bowl, not a super moist dough at this point.

Towards the end of that hour, slice the peaches. There should be a sort of pointy line pushed out of the side of the peach, if you cut along that and go all the way around, they should pull apart pretty smoothly. Cut each of the resulting halves into 8 slices.

Toss the peach slices in a large bowl with 1/3 cup sugar.

Was wishing for a larger bowl as I did this.

By the end of your hour, your dough ball should be pretty big.

Knock it down, and then roll/pat/push/prod the dough to get it to fill the largest baking sheet with edges (ie jelly roll) you’ve got.

Layer the peaches over the dough and pour any juice from the bowl over the peaches.

Cover the bread loosely and let rise another hour.

Towards the end of that hour, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Uncover, and bake for 30 minutes. Check on it around 20 minutes, and if the surface looks like it’s getting singed, cover it with foil, then bake the remaining time.

Eat immediately or cool on a wire rack.

Yum! I’ll be submitting this to yeastspotting.

Peach Bread

Adapted from Cooking for @ssholes. (site has NSFW language)

  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup + 1/3 cup sugar, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup milk (I used skim, we survived)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 packet rapid rise yeast
  • 4-4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 4 peaches

Combine the water and yeast in a small bowl and set aside. Grease a large bowl.

Beat the 1/4 cup sugar, butter, and salt in a large bowl until you can no longer see the sugar. Blend in the milk. Add the egg and the yeast mixture and beat to combine. Beat in 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time. Scoop the fourth cup of flour and pour roughly half into the bowl, and half out onto a clean counter or workspace. Stir the flour in the bowl into the dough mixture, then turn out onto the floured workspace. Knead for five minutes until smooth. Add up to another 1/3 cup flour to get a workable, non-sticky dough.

Form the dough into a ball and place it in the greased bowl, flipping once so that the top gets greased too. Cover, and let rise for an hour.

During the hour, slice the peaches. Cut each peach in half and remove the pit. Cut each of the resulting halves into 8 slices. Toss the peach slices in a large bowl with 1/3 cup sugar.

Grease a large jelly roll pan.

Roll or press the dough to fill the pan. Cover the dough with the peaches, pouring any juice left in the bowl over the fruit. Cover loosely and let rise another hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake 30 minutes, checking at 20 for signs of burning and covering with foil if necessary.

Cool on a wire rack.

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Cool Rise Bread

Posted on September 30, 2011 by sparecake

After several months of making the same bread over and over, I remembered that switching things up once in a while isn’t an awful idea. After looking at two cool rise bread recipes, I messed with them a fair amount and came up with a really nice, super soft, lightly olive oil flavored bread.

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for spreading
  • 2 packets of yeast
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water

Pour the water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Stir, then let sit 5 minutes. Add the butter, olive oil, salt, sugar, and about 4 1/2 cups of the flour. Pour the other half a cup of flour out on your work surface. Stir the ingredients in the bowl together until mainly held together, then turn out onto the floured surface.

Knead together until it reaches about the texture of Blu-Tack – tacky, without being sticky – about 5 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes.

In that ten minutes, line a sheet with parchment. Pour a bit of olive oil on the sheet and spread it with a brush or paper towel to cover the parchment.

Shape the dough into a long loaf or several smaller rolls and place it on the greased parchment.

Grease another sheet of parchment or wax paper and press it on top. (You can use wax paper on top, as you’ll take it off before baking, but use parchment underneath, as you shouldn’t bake wax paper.) Place the loaf in the fridge for at least 2 hours, up to 24. I chilled mine 5 1/2 hours.

When ready to bake, remove the loaf from the fridge and place it on the counter/stove over the oven while the oven heats to 375. Toss the top parchment. Bake 20-24 minutes or until golden brown.

Aim for sliiightly browner than this, mine was a touch undercooked in the very middle.

Cool on a wire rack, and enjoy. Kyle liked this, said there was just the right amount (very little) of crunch to the crust. It’s soft enough that, in slicing it to be sandwich bread, you have to be careful not to squish the whole loaf. I’ll definitely be making it again, probably trying it as dinner rolls next time?

I made this again a week or two later as smaller rolls. They baked…for a longish time (I forgot them in the oven, so I really can’t tell you how long) and were crunchier. I haven’t been to Bertucci’s in years, but I think this is what their rolls smell like?

I’ll be submitting this recipe to yeastspotting!

Cool Rise Bread

  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for spreading
  • 2 packets of yeast
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water

Stir together the water and yeast, then let sit 5 minutes. Add the butter, olive oil, salt, sugar, and 4 1/2 cups of the flour. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of flour out on your work surface. Stir the ingredients in the bowl together until mainly held together, then turn out onto the floured surface.

Knead together until the dough reaches about the texture of Blu-Tack – tacky, without being sticky – about 5 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Line a sheet with parchment. Pour a bit of olive oil on the sheet and spread it with a brush or paper towel to cover the parchment. Shape the dough into a long loaf and place it on the greased parchment.

Grease another sheet of parchment or wax paper and press it on top. Place the loaf in the fridge for at least 2 hours, up to 24.

When ready to bake, remove the loaf from the fridge and place it on the counter/stove over the oven while the oven heats to 375. Remove the top parchment and bake 20-24 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack until ready to eat.

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