I Dub Thee Oven

We got a new stove last week. After 9 months and 5 maintenance requests, our manager (aka manager of procrastination) finally fixed our oven handle. By replacing to whole oven... Don't get me wrong I'm as pleased as can be. It's clean, all four burners work, and its not 50 years old. Give or take. Oh yeah, and there's an oven handle! Woohoo! Well done Mrs. Manager, you've managed to fix one of the 8 things wrong with this apartment. Now we must wait another 2 months for you to address the other problems.

In the mean time, lets make some granola!

I'd like to think that my granola making skills have improved a lot since my first batch. Not that it's hard. Oh no, it's real simple. But I'm always testing out the ratio of wet ingredients and possible flavor possibilities. This has become my delicious default.

Maple syrup, nuts, brown sugar, and a little bit of cinnamon.

 Then adding whatever dried fruits I've got on hand. My roommates always ask me to make it, because it makes our apartment smell like pure happiness. That and to mask the smell coming from the trash.

I consider this the ultimate nibble food. But add and/or eat it just as you would any other granola.

Maple Pecan Granola
1/4 cup oil (use whatever you have, I used olive and still turned out great)

1/2 cup applesauce

2/3  cup maple syrup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet with oil.

In a large bowl, combine first five ingredients and mix well. Add oats and pecans, then mix well. Let sit for about 5 minutes, then transfer to the baking sheet. Bake granola for about 40-45 minutes, stirring avery 15 minutes, until granola is golden. Remove and allow to cool completely on baking sheet.

Enjoy! And store in a sealed jar or container.

French Toast (Pour Une)

True or False:

I can speak french. -False (although I wish were true). 

I love french toast. -True

You would think that after 3 years of french in high school, I would have some fluency in the language. Yeah, that's what I thought too. But for some reason, each year the school would change the teacher and each thought it better to start at the beginning. So by the time I was in french 3 we were still reading out of the french 1 book. Sad, I know.

 But I won't let my terrible luck or inability to learn a language interfere with my willingness to make something delicious on a Saturday morning. Egg, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla. We're prepping the pool for some very lucky last pieces of sourdough bread, folks.

 Let them soak. You have to wait a bit...

 And like magic their done! But not really, fry them a pan first. Just a suggestion.

 Saturday bliss, man.

No french speaking required.

French Toast (for one)

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 slices sourdough bread (or any stale bread of your choosing)

2 tbsp butter

In a shallow bowl, combine first four ingredients and mix well with a fork. Lay both slices (if possible) in the bowl and soak for 1-2 minutes each side. In the meantime, melt the butter in a non-stick skillet. Once it begins to bubble, add the moist bread slices and cook each side for about 1-2 1/2 minutes or until a brown crust forms (you want it to be long enough to cook the center, but short enough not to dry it out).

Serve with berries and syrup (of course). Feel free to top with powdered sugar and if you have the patience, take a pretty picture! Then, by all means eat it.

Edible Chocolate Pillows of Peanut Buttery Goodness

There's cocoa. There's peanut butter. And one's inside the other.

A little kinky, no?

Oh well... It's all love in the end.

These little suckers, were a wee-bit tedious to make I'll admit. But then again I wanted them to be peerrrfect. I had been eyeing over the recipe for a few months (I'm busy, okay), waiting and planning for the right time to make them, and finally I decided superbowl sunday would be a great time to test them out on my fellow hungry college peers.

Needless to say, they were a hit. What was priceless was their reaction to finding peanut butter fluff in the middle. Crunchy peanut butter no less. "Well done...well done," was one of my more entertaining reviews. And let's face it, between eating these and watching the superbowl, there was more enthusiasm for the cookies. Well, that and the puppybowl.

After a day's worth of snacking, these pillowy treats are the cherry on top right before your food coma. How appropriate. Just don't sleep on them.

Peanut Butter Pillow Cookies
Get the recipe here!

Note: My only adaptation was replacing half the oil with butter, which is why mine turned out flatter. Also I used 1/3 cup less sugar in the filling. Still turned out delicious!

Pizza #1

Homemade Pizza that is. I am happy to report that this attempt did not fall under the failed list and was achieved with a good amount of confidence. I like to think I've come quite a ways since my first baking days. A year or two ago my thoughts going over a pizza or bread recipe would have been like this:

- What the heck is yeast?

- Knead for how many minutes?! How do I even knead? 

- Eh, I don't really want to use that much flour. (Although, I'm still this frugal)

- No dough hook... no hope.

But I can tell you now that what might seem like a hard and troublesome process is actually no trouble at all. 

Bloom your yeast for 5-10 minutes. Your water should be warm(warm to the touch, you don't need a thermometer). Not Scary at all.

Once your dough pulls away from the sides, turn it out onto a floured surface.

With your hands(thats right, you don't need stand mixer), knead that sucker for about 5 to 8 minutes until it forms a smooth, uniform ball.

Let the double in size in a warm place. The oven is my place of choice, along side a bowl of steaming water to help the rising process. Just DO NOT TURN ON THE OVEN.

Once risen, punch it in the face. 

 

Flatten out the portion of dough and spread it out to the desired size and thickness. I was able to spread mine out to the size a standard baking sheet by pressing out the edges with my fingers.

Top it with whatever you want. This one has sausage, pepperoncini, artichoke hearts, onions, red bell pepper, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and parmesan.

Basil would have been my garnish of choice, but the cilantro on hand end up mixing up the flavors and tasting great. I sprinkled the bottom and edges of the dough with cornmeal. My crust turned out thin and crispy with just 12 minutes in a HOT oven and it's pizza time my friends.  

Pizza Dough

from Cooking Channel

1 3/4 cups warm water (105-110 degrees, or warm to the touch)

1 envelope(2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast

2 tsp sugar

3 tbsp olive oil, plus more for greasing

3 1/2 - 4 cups white whole wheat flour (use bread flour if you have it, otherwise all-purpose will work)

2 tsp salt

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar and let bloom for at least 5 minutes. Mix in oil.

In a larger bowl, combine flour and salt. Gradually pour in water mixture, stirring with a spoon or wooden ladle. Once the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead up to 8 minutes or until it forms a smooth ball. 

Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place for 2 hours. Once doubled in size, give it a punch and divide the dough in half or quarters. You can wrap the remaining dough with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge or freezer. 

For Pizza:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Flatten out a portioned piece of dough(I used half) and place it on a greased baking sheet. Spread it out to your desired shape and size then top it with whatever you want!

Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on the size, until the edges are golden brown. Allow to cool slightly before eating.

Macarons. Totally Last Year (But Still Delicious)

Well I think I can safely say that the french macaron trend will stay on for bit longer. I like them.

I jumped on this bandwagon (as Joy would Say). Unlike cupcakes, which I haven't even made yet. Not that I have been planning on making them anytime soon. Im not sure why, but I have never caught on to the cupcake frenzy. Perhaps it's that fact that the sight of a full-out cake makes me drool as opposed to a bunch of mini cakes or maybe it's the annoyingly, copious amount of cupcake shows on TV(although... I'll still watch them if there is nothing else on). But enough of that! Let me tell you how I got my macaron on.

So apparently I am too lazy to take my hand held mixer out of the drawer, but not too lazy to beat egg whites by hand. I don't understand it, but it works for me. Beat them egg whites until they are frothy McFrotherson.

Add some sugar, and continue beating till you get a glossy and ribbony consistency.

At this stage you can choose to add or omit food coloring. I had some burgundy on hand and added little bits at a time. (Wanted to past the stage of it looking like Pepto Bismol)

Now this might be where it screwed things up a bit. See those chunky bits? My almond flour, was still like ground almonds than actual flour consistency. The heaviness of the almonds might of deflated my egg whites a bit which might of been why some of the cookies sunk when I took them out. So go ahead buy some almond flour from any grocery. But you can also try to make some yourself by putting a cup of whole raw almonds in a food processor and pulsing until you have small crumb. 

Pipe 'em! No piping bag? Use a sandwich bag and cut a tiny bit off one end. Voila! 

What is interesting about the process, is that you need to let the piped batter sit for about 15-20 minutes to form a skin before baking.

No, they were not as uniform or clean cut as the ones you see in a bakery. But not bad for a first try I think.

 Oh yeah, and I attempted to make homemade almond joys. But I'll share once they've been perfected.

Look at my pretties! Be warned this recipe makes A LOT. But then again, you're going to want to eat A LOT. I was in the kitchen from 10am to 6pm making food (and nibbling on chocolate chips and ganache). But I cannot think of a better way to end the year than to bake my heart out and make a delicious meal for my family when they come home from work.

The possibilities are endless with these. Any color, flavor, and filling will work. I filled mine with ganache and grape jelly. Then I ate them. A lot of them.

Then said goodbye to 2011

Macarons
from Food Network

Click here to get the recipe!

Caramel Coated Ginger Cake

I've got a To Do List. It's long and pertains solely to food. Go figure.

The list never actually gets done, it sort of just sits in my head and grows larger in size each day. But it's nothing to stress about, cause it's all reward in the end. Hence, the first product of my Christmas cravings: Ginger Cake. Including a few more To Do's that I  can check off.

#2- Open that dang jar of molasses and use it (for the first time might I add). Check

 #13- Make spices look like an awkward couple. Check

#4- Picture with neatly placed ingredients. Check

I just love the deep amber color and flavor that the molasses gives the cake.

Like a giant gingerbread cookie, allow the cake to cool.

 

In the mean time, make your caramel!

Check.

Pour, then let it ooze and be very generous with the caramel. The cake can handle it, can you?

The cake was moist and the caramel accented the ginger beautifully!

I'll leave you with this picture to drool over. Don't worry your not alone.

Ginger Cake
adapted from cookingchannel.com

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup molasses

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk (any fat content)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an eight inch pie pan and line with parchment paper (you could also use a cake or square pan).

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg until well combined. Set aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet in two batches, alternating with milk, until just combined. Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes.

Basic Caramel Sauce
makes just over 3/4 cup

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp water

1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)

1/2 cup, plus 2 tbsp-1/4 cup heavy cream

In a large sauce pan, combine sugar water and vinegar, and bring to a high boil over high heat. Allow mixture to boil for 2-5 minutes until it becomes a deep amber color, watch carefully to prevent burning. At this point whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream until combined and remove from heat. At this point the caramel is done, but you can add the remaining heavy cream, a tbsp at a time, until your desired consistency. Allow the caramel to cool for 5-10 minutes before pouring over the cake.

To reheat, simply microwave for 15 seconds or warm on stovetop on low heat.

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Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This was my Thanksgiving experiment recipe. Thanksgiving? Really, your still on Thanksgiving Molly?

Yes, I know it's Christmas time. But I just cannot get over how bomb this was. And besides, this would be absolutely perfect at any time of the season. I assure you.

If you don't feel like or have the time to make your own pumpkin bread you can buy some or substitute any day old bread you have on hand. But this was Thanksgiving and I was going all out. I made the pumpkin bread a day in advance, then cubed and toasted them for 15 min. I wanted to eat that bowl like it was popcorn.

But I resisted and began custard-ing. Like the pumpkin bread wasn't enough, I threw in the rest of the canned puree into the mix. Oooh yea.

Smush

Pour in the custard and let those cubes of pumpkiny goodness soak in even more pumpkiny goodness. We suffered some custard losses and I'm not going to lie, spilled some curses along with it.

 I added a sugar walnut streusel to top it off and it made for fantastic texture and crunch. Sorry though,  didn't get many spectacular pics of the whole finished product.

But I had some experimental eating to do.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

adapted from Epicurious

1 loaf or 8 cups 1/2 in-1in cubed pumpkin bread

1 1/2 cups milk(any fat content)

1 1/2 cups half-n-half

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp bourbon (I didn't have any on hand, but by all means add it if you do!)

Cinnamon Walnut Streusel

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice(optional)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 flour

1/2 stick(1/4 cup) butter

For the Streusel:

Combine walnuts, spices, sugar, and flour into a small bowl. Using your hands, cut in butter till the mixture resembles course meal. Set aside.

For Pudding:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10-in baking dish. Place cubed bread onto a baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes, tossing halfway through. Allow to cool.

In a medium sauce pan, combine milk, half-n-half, vanilla, and sugar and bring to a simmer. 

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, maple syrup, and pumpkin puree. Slowly whisk in hot milk mixture until well combined. Whisk in bourbon.

Put cubed bread and any crumbs into the greased baking dish. Gently pour the custard mixture over the bread. Press down on the bread with your (clean)hand to make sure every piece absorbs some of the liquid. Sprinkle on the walnut topping then cover with plastic wrap and let soak for at least 30 min(I made mine in the morning let it soak for up to 6 hours. Be sure to turn off your oven if your not using it for a while). 

Place baking dish into a 9x13 baking dish and put on the oven rack. Fill the larger one with hot water about half-way up the pudding dish and bake for about 1 hour, until slightly puffed and center wiggles a bit. Remove from the oven and the water bath. Allow to cool for at least 30 min.