Daring Bakers March 2013--Hidden Veggies

Hi everyone!!!
This month's challenge was really fun!!!
Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

I  decided that I wanted to base my recipe off of a red velvet cake that I had seen with beets in it. However, when I looked at the recipe, I thought it would be a little on the chocolate-y side, so I figured that I'd just turn it into a fudge cake. I then topped the cake with a not-too-sweet italian meringue buttercream! We even sent a couple of slices over to some friends of ours, and no one guessed that there were beets in the cake!!

(lovely decoration by my sister!)

Anyway, this was a really fun challenge and a really yummy cake!!!

Chocolate Beet Cake

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup pureed beets (one large beet was enough for me....I roasted it in the oven for about 30 minutes, in a dish with about 1/3 cup of water, then I just chopped it and blended until smooth)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 tsp vinegar (I used apple cider)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour (the original recipe called for 3/4c but I found the batter to be a bit thin)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. 
2. Stir together all of the wet ingredients and add the dry ingredients about 1/3 at a time, stirring after each addition. 
3. Pour into a greased 9 in cake pan and bake for 20-24 minutes, or until the cake tests done in the center. Remove and let cool completely before icing. 

Italian Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup room temperature sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring. Once it boils, stop stirring and insert a candy thermometer. 
2. While syrup is cooking, whip egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer to soft peaks. When the syrup reaches 238-240 degrees, pour into the egg whites with the mixer on medium speed.
3. Increase speed to high and beat until room temperature.
4. Add the butter 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time until it is all incorporated. I used the whole cup, but I think that 3/4 of a cup would work just as well and maybe the icing would hold up a bit better. 
5. Add vanilla, increase speed and beat until completely smooth. 
6. Refrigerate the icing while the cake is cooling. 

Again, this was such a fun challenge and I have truly enjoyed being a part of the Daring Bakers!!

Daring Bakers----Crackers and Flatbreads!

Good afternoon!!!!

 Sarah from All Our Fingers in the Pie was our February 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to use our creativity in making our own Crisp Flatbreads and Crackers! 

(source)


I've been a little absent from the blogging recently....apparently finishing up your senior year of high school requires a bit more concentration than usual. But, when I saw this challenge, I knew that I had to do it!!!! If you're wondering, I made cheese straws!!! I lightly adapted a smitten kitchen recipe and we all really loved how it turned out!!!! I didn't get a chance to take pictures....they were mostly gone before I got to a camera!Then, of course I dropped the remaining cheese straws and broke them! Anyway, we really loved this recipe, and thanks for the great challenge Sarah!

Cheese Straws
(we got about 36 cheese straws!)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour (plus some for dusting)
• 1 2/3 cup freshly grated Cheddar cheese
• 4 tablespoons room temp butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 teaspoons red pepper (we like spicy! feel free to use 1/2 tsp or less!)
• 1 tablespoon milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Combine flour, cheese, butter, salt and pepper in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse grains. Add the milk and then pulse until the dough comes together. 
3. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out into a rectangle about 1/8 in thick. Cut into strips (ours were about 1/8 in thick) and gently transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. 
4. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges of the cheese straws begin to brown. Let cool and serve!

Again, these were delicious and we loved trying out a new cracker recipe!!!!

See you soon!

Daring Bakers--Twelve Days of Cookies!

Good morning, everyone!!
Its time for another Daring Bakers challenge!!! This month we were challenged by Peta of Peta Eats to bake some yummy cookies! One of the recipes needed to be from the 12 recipes suggested by Peta, and the other could be a family favorite or just any other cookie, bar, or candy.

For the first part of the challenge, I chose to bake coconut chocolate cookies!!! Originally, the cookies were supposed to be like little drums, but due to our different flour, my first batch spread out like regular cookies, so we baked the second batch in mini muffin tins. Not as cute as the original, but still yummy!

Recipe (taken from Baking Glory)

Ingredients

Coconut Filling
• 6oz / 175ml Cream Cheese, softened
• ¾ cup Sugar
• 1 Egg Yolk (the only thing that I changed was to omit the yolk, and the filling still came out great!)
• 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 ¼ cup Coconut Flakes, unsweetened
Cookie Dough
• 1 ¾ cup All Purpose Flour (I ended up using about 2 1/4 cups and my dough still wasn't stiff enough)
• ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder, sifted
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 ½ sticks Butter, unsalted
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Egg

Preparation Instructions

Beat the cream cheese with the ¾ cup of sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, and vanilla extract and continue mixing for another minute.

Add the shredded coconut and continue beating until everything is well incorporated.

Preheat oven to 375° F / 190° C.

In a medium size bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. In the bowl of a mixer add the butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy, add the egg and beat until smooth.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until the mixture is stiff but still pliable.

Using a tablespoon, scoop some of the cookie dough into your hand. Flatten the dough into a circle that’s about 2in to 3in (5cm to 7.5cm) in diameter, add about a teaspoon of the coconut mixture into the middle of it and then fold the sides of the dough but do not seal it at the top.

Repeat this with remaining cookie dough.

Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake the cookies at 375° F / 190° C for about 18 to 20 minutes

Cool on a wire rack.

All in all, these coconut cookie s were fabulous and we all really enjoyed them!!!

Next up, I made two versions of pb cookies. My dad's birthday was this month, and he requested peanut butter!! The first recipe that I made was a traditional peanut butter cookie recipe, and the next, was a peanut butter cookie with peanut brittle that I found here. And here are the recipes:

Peanut Butter Cookies w/ Peanut Brittle (I halved the recipe and got 8 cookies)

Ingredients:
Brittle: 

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Cookies:

• 6 T room temp butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 T corn syrup
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/16 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 recipe peanut brittle

Directions:

1. First make the brittle but pouring the sugar into a heavy bottomed saucepan and melting over medium heat, being careful not to stir too much in the beginning so that the sugar doesn't crystallize. Once it is more melted, start to stir so that it doesn't burn. Cook until deep amber, about 3 minutes. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in nuts, immediately pour onto a well-greased baking sheet. It will start to set really quickly so try to get it as thin as possible. 
2. Then, start on your batter by creaming the butter, sugar and corn syrup together for  2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat in the peanut butter, then the egg and beat for 30 seconds on high. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium-high for 3 minutes. During this time, your batter should double. 
3. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix no longer than 1 minute just until dough comes together. 
4. Crush half of your brittle by putting it in a ziploc and rolling with a rolling pin. Then add to your cookie dough, mix on low for 30 seconds. 
5. Using a a1/3 cup measure (I didn't fill mine up all of the way), portion out dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet at least 4 inches apart and refrigerate for at least an hour. 
6. Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 16-18 minutes. They should still be soft in the middle. 

These tasted best on the second day because the texture of the brittle really came through by then!!! These were probably everyone's favorite of the three that I made and were really, really delicious!!! 

Finally, the traditional peanut butter cookies were delicious too!!!! I just used a recipe that was in our family Better Homes & Gardens cookbook....basic cookies, so I'm not going to share here but I really , really enjoyed this challenge and making two cookies that were so unique and different!!!

Can't wait til next month!

Daring Bakers October....Mille Feuille!

Hello!!

Hope everyone is having a nice Saturday so far! If you remember, a couple of months ago I said that I had joined the Daring Bakers club and made the cappuccino eclairs. Well, I haven't been able to do any challenges since then, so when I read what this month's challenge would be, I absolutely had to do it!! We're making mille feuille, also known as napoleons or custard slices, which are basically layers of puff pastry, custard, and an icing.

  Our October 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Suz of Serenely Full.
Suz challenged us to not only tackle buttery and flaky puff pastry, but then take it step further and
create a sinfully delicious Mille Feuille dessert with it!

Well, since I'd never made puff pastry or anything like this before, I didn't want to stray too far from the traditional dessert, but instead of a regular vanilla creme patisserie, I decided to incorporate a local fruit that is in season right now, the delicious passionfruit! I got three of the fresh fruit, boiled them with the milk and sugar for the creme, and then strained out the seeds to make a delicious, beautiful creme patisserie! Here's my full recipe:

Passion Fruit Mille Feuille

For the pastry:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water 

        beurrage:

•     14 tablespoons room temp butter
• 3 1/4 tablespoons flour

Pastry Directions:

1. Cut the 1/4 cup of butter in to the 1 3/4 cups of flour and salt until the mixture resembles dry crumbs. 
2. Add the water to this mixture, kneading on a lightly floured surface for about three minutes or until the dough is smooth.
3. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. 
4. While the dough is chilling, combine the room temp butter with the small amount of flour. Place between two sheets of plastic wrap and work into a 4in square. Chill for 10-15 minutes until the butter slightly firms up. 
5. Roll the chilled dough into a 6 inch square, place the beurrage in the middle, with each corner of the beurrage touching the center of one of the sides of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the beurrage and seal the edges. 
6. On a well-floured surface, roll the dough until it is a rectangle with about 1/4 in in thickness. Fold the right side towards the middle, and the left side over that, so you have a thin rectangle with three layers. Repeat the folding process, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for thirty minutes. 
7. Do two more folds and chill for 30 minutes.
8. Do the final two folds and chill until needed. (Note: If your kitchen is really warm, like mine, you might want to just do one fold at a time and refrigerate)

For the Pastry Cream:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 whole passionfruit
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pastry Cream Directions:

1. Combine 1/2 cup of the milk with the cornstarch, whisk until fully incorporated.
2. In a medium sized pot, combine the rest of the milk, the sugar and the pulp of the passionfruit (including the seeds!). Bring to a boil, remove from heat, pour mixture through a strainer to remove seeds and set aside. 
3. Add yolks and then the whole eggs to the milk/cornstarch mixture, whisk to combine. Pour in about 1/3 of the warm milk mixture, always whisking in order to prevent the eggs from cooking. 
4. Bring the remaining milk back to a boil, add egg mixture, whisking as you pour. Cook, whisking constantly, over medium heat until it thickens. 
5. Beat in the butter and vanilla until incorporated, whisk until cream is smooth.
6. Pour into a bowl, place plastic wrap on the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate overnight so that the cream will thicken. 

For the chocolate sauce:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons flour

Directions:

1. Heat milk, butter and vanilla in a medium pot. 
2. Combine sugar, cocoa and flour, and when the butter melts, add the dry ingredients to the pot. 
3. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. 

Making the Mille Feuille:

• 1 batch pastry dough
• 1 batch pastry cream
• 1 batch fudge sauce
• 2 cups icing sugar 
• 2 egg whites
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. Roll the dough out into a 12x18 in rectangle and cut into 3 equal parts. 
2. Place one of the sections on a piece of parchment paper and refrigerate the other two, place paper on a baking sheet, top with another piece of parchment and a pyrex dish. 
3. Bake at 400 or about 15 minutes, remove the pyrex and top layer of parchment, bake 10 more minutes or until dough browns. Repeat for the other two sections. 
4. Once the pastry has cooled, place one sheet on a flat board or dish, spread with half of your chilled pastry cream, place another sheet on top of that, top with remaining cream. Place the last sheet of dough on the top of everything, place in the fridge. 
5. While the pastry is chilling, make the royal icing. Whisk the whites and the lemon juice until frothy, stir in the sugar. It should be thick enough to make trails across the surface. If not, whisk in a bit more sugar. 
6. Remove pastry from fridge, pour glaze on it. Immediately drizzle the chocolate sauce over the top and refrigerate for a couple of hours so that everything sets. 

August 2012 Daring Bakers--Filled Pate a Choux

Hey everyone!!!!! So, to begin my blog revamp I am super excited to say that I'm now a part of the Daring Bakers! whoo! There's a new challenge every month, and this month's happened to use pate a choux. If you remember, I have made eclairs before (check the recipe tab!) and enjoyed that, so I was really looking forward to trying something new with pate a choux. 

Kat of The Bobwhites hosted this month's challenge and encouraged everyone to get creative with the shapes and fillings of our choux. She made some cute swans, and here's the link. 

Yesterday, my sister and I made these and everyone loved them!!! We don't really have anything that we could have piped the swans with, so we just used some cookie cutters and made hearts and stars!Also, we had been wanting to try making faux caviar for a while and found a recipe here that didn't require any special ingredients, so we incorporated some chocolate "caviar" into the mix as well. Here's the recipe:

Cappuccino Cream-Filled Eclairs with Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate "Caviar"

For the cappuccino creme patissiere:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons very hot water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant cappuccino mix

1. In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup of milk and the cornstarch, stirring until smooth.
2. Heat the rest of the milk in a saucepan until boiling. Remove from heat.
3. Stir first the whole egg, and then the yolks, into the milk/cornstarch mixture. Add about 1/3 of the hot milk to that gradually, whisking the entire time. 
4. Put the saucepan back on the stove over low heat. Pour in the tempered egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly. Continue whisking until cream thickens and boils, to avoid lumps. 
5. Stir in the butter and vanilla.
6. Combine the water and cappuccino mix, stir into the cream. 
7. Pour cream into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the wrap touches the surface of the cream. Refrigerate. 

For the choux:

• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour
• 4 eggs

1. In a medium sized saucepan, combine water, butter and salt. Bring to a rolling boil, remove from heat. Dump in all of the flour at once and stir until it forms a smooth paste. Cook a little bit longer until the flour pulls from the edges of the pot. 
2. Dump dough into a bowl, work for a few minutes until it is cool enough to touch. 
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating a little bit after each addition. Beat until a smooth, thick paste forms. 
4. Preheat oven to 375, grease or line baking sheets. Spoon or pipe out paste into desired shapes, making sure to smooth down any edges before baking.
5. Bake until golden and puffy. 
6. Remove from baking sheets, let cool completely before filling. 

For the ganache:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 12 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 14 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons oil

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.
2. Heat until everything is combined. Pour into a container. 

For the chocolate "caviar":

• 2-3 cups oil (refrigerated overnight)
• 1/4 cup salt
• 3 oz hot chocolate (we made ours with milk and the ganache above) 
• 2 packs unflavored gelatin
• 3 tablespoons water

1. Combine the water and gelatin, stirring until there are no clumps of gelatin. Let sit while you prepare the hot chocolate.
2. Fill a large bowl with ice, add water till about 2/3 full. Stir in the salt. Pour the cold oil into another bowl, set inside the ice bath. 
3. Pour the hot chocolate into the gelatin mixture, stir until the gelatin melts. With a dropper, drop 2-3 drops of chocolate mixture into the cold oil to make a "caviar". Keep dropping the chocolate into the oil until the bowl is full. Let sit about 3-5 minutes, remove with a strainer and set finished caviar in another bowl. Repeat this process as many times as you can before your gelatin mixture gets too thick. 

For assembly:

1. Once pastries are cool, poke holes in each one that are large enough to pipe the cream into. Fill a pastry bag with some of the creme patisserie, and pipe it into each eclair until it is full but not stuffed. 
2. Once all eclairs are filled, drizzle some of the ganache on top, and then sprinkle with the "caviar".
3. Enjoy! :D

So there ya have it, our take on a "fun" filled choux! If anyone tries this, please let me know what you think!!!!

See ya later!