Tasty Alchemy

Baking with Julia / Pizza Rustica

April 3, 2012 – 9:24 pm

Sweet crust in a savory pie was unexpected. I had not anticipated that the latest recipe in the Tuesdays with Dorie / Baking with Julia adventure would have the kind of identity crisis I would expect from say, a mashed potato cupcake. The sugar crust really threw me. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, my tastebuds just didn’t know what to make of it. There was silky ricotta, salty proscuitto, herbs, and then a rush of sugar from the bottom and top crusts. It was madness.

It was then, mid-bite in my second piece of pizza rustica, because another slice was necessary, that I came to realize something about myself. I like my food categorized and easily referenced: are we talking about something sweet or savory, is it a breakfast food or something more appropriate for a mid-afternoon snack? I have a bit of a type A streak apparently when it comes to food. I’d like to think each of us is type A about something. Just nod and agree. It makes me feel better if we’re all in this together.

The dough came together well but did not roll. I ended up pressing it into the pan, and the lattice was a little tricky. The pie baked well, and the mixture of egg and ricotta made the filling puff up perfectly. The sugar had its place, as now that I think about it, the sweetness brought out more subtle flavor from the ricotta. I had a piece for lunch and for dessert. There, classification problem solved.

For the recipe, please visit the blogs of our hosts this month, Emily of Capital Region Dining and Raelynn of The Place They Call Home.

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Cake Chocolate

Bittersweet

March 26, 2012 – 10:00 am

Life seemed to take on a bit of a frantic pace as the final days of maternity leave came to a close. All the ‘need-to-dos’ and emotions began to close in and it all started to feel overwhelming, so I did what I normally do when faced with too much to do in too little time: I made cake, and not just any old cake, but a dreamy, dense Guinness chocolate cake.

Nigella Lawson’s recipe did not disappoint. The result was a rather wet and rich cake with a hint of bitterness and an abundance of chocolatey goodness. The icing was a simple combination of cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar and heavy cream. The cake, when frosted, resembled the frothy head of a pint of Guinness. I enjoyed a slice (or three) with a cup of afternoon coffee. I’ve also been known to consume unhealthy amounts of cake for breakfast, Guinness cake included.

Be careful of the bake time: the cake transitions from a runny center to overbaked in just a few minutes. I’m not sure how long it keeps because it did not last more than 24 hours in my kitchen.

Click HERE for the recipe.

Tags Cake, Chocolate, Guinness, Nigella Lawson | Permalink | Comments Off

Baking with Julia Cookies

Baking with Julia / Rugelach and Lessons Learned

March 6, 2012 – 8:53 pm

Who doesn’t love rugelach (except my husband)? Creamy puffy dough surrounding a medley of toasted nuts and dried fruit then flocked with cinnamon and sugar. Um, yes please, and thank you. Our latest recipe from Baking with Julia is graciously hosted by Jessica of My Baking Heart and Margaret of The Urban Hiker. We all encourage everyone to buy the book, and in doing so we limit the publishing of the recipe to this week’s hosts. Check out their fab blogs for it.

I’ve come realize that being a new parent is about managing expectations. What once took an hour now takes two or three, and a baking project that would normally take an afternoon now spans three days. I halved the recipe and decided to go with the apricot lekvar and a filling of figs, apricots, raisins, and toasted macadamias, almonds and walnuts.

Day One: Apricot lekvar, food of the gods. I had no idea how luscious the combination of apricots, brown sugar, lemon juice and almonds would be. I started eating it by the spoonful and chased it down with a glass of pinot grigio. I’m doing a happy dance in my chair just thinking about it.

Day Two: Cream cheese pastry. It came together so well and easily. Any leftovers are slated for mini cinnamon rolls.

Day Three: Rolling and assembly. I seriously need to practice my rolling skills. Even after forming my piece of dough into what I thought was a pretty nice rectangle, when I started rolling it, it took on a strange shape. Try as I might, I just could not work it into a good rolled rectangle of appropriate size. Because of this, my two pieces of pastry were about 12″ x 4″. No big deal, right? Wrong. When it came time to roll up the goodies, it really did not roll at all. Each log looked more like a ‘U’ than anything else. Operator error, but I was determined to make the best of it. Turns out only a few pieces opened up during baking, but most of my rugelach was not all that pretty to look at.

But it really didn’t matter, because what these babies lacked in presentation they more than made up for in taste. Oh, the pastry! The cream cheese made it so rich and wonderful I almost couldn’t stand it. The texture was amazing, too. And the fruit! And nuts! And the carmelized sugar on the bottom of each piece just sent my tastebuds into orbit. As of this writing I’ve already eaten four large pieces. I just can’t quit it. I’m thinking about the remaining pieces sitting on my kitchen countertop sitting all by their lonesome, thinking rugelach would make an excellent dinner, too. They really should go to the neighbors, but in all eventuality will end up in my tummy. A definite redo.

Tags Apricots, Baking with Julia, BWJ, Figs, Nuts, Raisins, Rugelach | Permalink | Comments (8)

Frozen Quick Breads

Cranberry Orange Scones

February 23, 2012 – 10:28 am

This is the post that almost wasn’t. I made the scones over a week ago and am only now putting fingers to keyboard. We are still navigating the sometimes zombieland that is baby bootcamp. The ‘adult time’ after Little Bit goes to bed usually finds me not blogging and recipe-testing as planned but under the covers by 8:30. Even at three months postpartum, sleep is still a hot commodity. The hubs and I sleep whenever we can. We are sleep opportunists in this household. When faced with the choice of food or sleep, these days it’s sleep. None of my mommy friends did an adequate job of warning me just how much I’d miss sleep. Maybe they did this on purpose because they didn’t want to bum me out. . .

That’s why scones are the absolute perfect thing to make with a little one - you can whip them up in no time, the dough can adapt to endless flavorings and they always taste better than the ~~rocks~~ scones you get at Starbucks (or many bakeries for that matter). Scone dough is easy to work with, too. Throw the ingredients into a food processor or for a little arm workout use a pastry blender. I’ve done it both ways and prefer using a pastry blender unless the recipe calls for buttermilk. In my experience, I yield a more uniform buttermilk scone dough using the processor.

The dough freezes well, too; after cutting, simply pop what you want to save into the freezer on a parchment or wax paper-lined sheet pan. Once the dough freezes, double wrap in plastic and freeze for up to three months.

Don’t forget the last step of brushing the tops with an egg wash and sprinkling them with sugar . Your scones will turn out a nice golden color with a little crunch.

Cranberry Orange Scones
Adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar or large crystal sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup cold buttermilk*
1 egg lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and position an oven rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Place flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, orange zest, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the food processor and process to blend. Add the butter and pulse a few times until it is cut into medium-sized pieces. Add the dried cranberries, then pour in the buttermilk and pulse about 20 times or until the dough begins holding together in large clumps. Scrape dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead the clumps together to make one large piece of dough. Like pie crust, you want the butter to be cold in order to produce a tender and flaky crumb. After kneading, if you feel the dough getting too sticky, pop it in the fridge for about 20 minutes to firm up the butter before baking.

Form the dough into a circle roughly 7 inches in diameter. Cut dough into 8 equal wedges and move them to the baking sheet spaced about 2 inches apart.

Brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle each with turbinado sugar. Bake for approximately 14 – 17 minutes (a few more if the dough is frozen, just watch it) or until the tops are golden brown. Transfer scones to a rack and let cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*Make your own buttermilk by adding one tablespoon of vinegar or fresh lemon juice to a measuring cup and pouring enough milk until it reaches the one cup line. Let stand for about 5 minutes and boom – no more storebought buttermilk for you!

Tags Buttermilk, Cranberry, Orange, Scones | Permalink | Comment (1)

Baking with Julia Chocolate Pies & Tarts

Baking with Julia / Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

February 21, 2012 – 1:18 pm

The idea of these tartlets is decadent: a rich chocolate crust combined with a velvety chocolate custard dotted with chocolate pieces and biscotti. This is the kind of tart you bring out with a bottle of champagne to celebrate something like a new job, girls’ night out, or in my case, Little Bit sleeping through the night. This is our second recipe from Baking with Julia, and I couldn’t be happier that it includes chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate.

The dough came together well in the food processor, and I enjoyed finishing it up by hand. Rolling it was a different story. Maybe I refrigerated it too long and didn’t let it sit out long enough to soften before rolling, but it crumbled easily. I gave each piece a light knead to increase its temperature a bit, and that helped.

The tartlet rings sat full of dough and promise on the jelly roll pan. I played around a little bit and added sea salt and caramel bits to the custard along with the biscotti and chocolates. The custard looked alarmingly chunky, like rocky road ice cream on steroids. I even omitted half of biscotti and it still looked I put everything but the kitchen sink in there. They needed an extra couple of minutes to set and came out looking as chunky as they went in.

I really wanted to love the tartlets. Every ingredient that went into them was delicious and I expected something equally if not more delicious from their combination. They tasted good, the neighbors liked them and, it was the richest dessert I’d eaten since Christmas, but I wasn’t in love. It’s probably just me, but I realized in making them that I prefer my chocolate tarts with no embellishment to the custard. To me, the chocolate bits, biscotti and caramel pieces got in the way of the flavor and texture I was truly after: a simple yet velvety chocolate tart. Plain jane I know, but nothing beats that kind of creaminess, except maybe if served with a glass of bubbly while Little Bit sleeps through the night.

For the recipe, do yourself a favor and buy the book or check out this week’s hosts for the recipe: A Whisk and a Spoon, Spike Bakes, Good Eats and Sweet Treats, and Cookbookhabit.

Tags Baking with Julia, Biscotti, BWJ, Chocolate, Tart, Tartlets, Tartlettes | Permalink | Comments (12)

Frozen Savory

Sausage & Mushroom Mini Quiches

February 13, 2012 – 10:24 am

During my last trimester of pregnancy I was advised by several friends and family members to make as many freezer meals as possible in preparation for the hard work of babycare ahead. The idea was that my husband and I would just pop something in the oven and voila, dinner is served with ease and no fuss.

All good in theory, however my freezer stash quickly became a repository for dozen upon dozen of scones and chocolate chip cookies. In retrospect, I really should have listened to the advice given, as several weeks postpartum saw me quickly consume between diaper changes and nursing sessions many a lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, butterscotch scone and chocolate chip cookie.

Thankfully, in a moment of clarity I made ahead and froze several dozen mini quiches that proved to save many a protein-starved day. These little numbers are a cinch to make and even easier to eat. Can they truly be called a quiche if they don’t have a crust? I don’t know, but they taste good. They make a great appetizer, or you can be like me and call 5 or 6 of them dinner.

Mini Mushroom & Sausage Quiches
Adapted from Eating Well

8 ounces sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled into bits
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced scallions
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
5 eggs
3 egg whites
1 cup whole milk
Pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preheat to 325°F and position oven rack to the center. Lightly butter or coat a nonstick muffin pan with cooking spray.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Add oil to the pan. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until golden brown, about 7 minutes. Transfer mushrooms to the bowl with the sausage and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in scallions, cheese, salt and pepper.

Whisk eggs, egg whites and milk in a medium bowl. Divide the egg mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of the sausage mixture into each cup.

Bake until the tops are just beginning to brown, 20 – 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Place a rack on top of the pan, flip it over and turn the quiches out onto the rack. Turn upright and let cool completely.

To freeze, double wrap individually or in batches in plastic. Thaw in refrigerator. To reheat, remove plastic, wrap in a paper towel and microwave on high for about 45 seconds until heated throughout.

Tags Eggs, Mushroom, Quiche, Sausage | Permalink | Comments (2)

Baking with Julia Yeast Breads

Baking with Julia / White Loaves

February 7, 2012 – 7:47 am

While I enjoyed my fair share of calories on Super Bowl Sunday, I spent the majority of it waiting for bread to rise. Some may say that’s as much fun as watching paint dry, but I beg to differ. Take a few innocent-enough looking ingredients like yeast, water and flour, mix them together just so, and after about an hour of various chemical reactions, presto! you have a good chunk of bread dough ready for baking.

I am excited that my very first Tasty Alchemy post is devoted to not only the beautiful simplicity and complexity of bread baking but to the first recipe from the Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking with Julia bloggers group! For the past couple of years I had followed the Tuesdays with Dorie group as they baked their way through the author’s book, Baking from My Home to Yours. I decided to join the group’s ranks as they take on Greenspan’s Baking with Julia and look forward to many delicious months of trying out the recipes.

Full disclosure, I am not a fan of white bread. I much prefer the full and nutty flavor of whole wheat breads, but Dorie was right: these loaves do pack good flavor and texture. The addition of a few tablespoons of butter adds a level of richness that I hadn’t expected. This bread begs to be made into croque monsieurs, but since most of my days are spent caring for an 11 week-old infant, my weekday meals are usually prepared in 5 minutes or less. The loaves make great cinnamon toast and a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

If you are interested in the recipe, click here. Better yet, buy the book.

Tags Baking with Julia, BWJ, Tuesdays with Dorie, TWD, Yeast Breads | Permalink | Comments (14)