I have been MIA... AGAIN... sorry
I have been in the kitchen though... More in the Kitchen than on the computer, which is why there is a lack of posting. I HAVE pictures and I HAVE made things with recipes to post, but finding the time to actually pots them... AND keep up with the other blog I started (which I have been MIA from also), AND working major hours, keeping the dogs and my boyfriend fed, and trying to keep up with housework (also failing at that too)
OMG. How do people do all this? I envy you if you can keep up with everything.
I will try and post later today, I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner as we speak, so I need to go check on my Pumpkin pies, and start getting the turkey in the oven...
HAPPY CANADIAN THANKSGIVING (weekend) everyone!!
I pinky swear i will be back a little later
PS... I got a new car!!!!!!!! SOOOOOO STOKED (so I've been driving alot also)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
September 2011 Daring Baker Challenge = FRESH, FLUFFY, FRENCH
I was so thrilled when the challenge this month was Croissants, As they are on my baking bucket list (see for yourself). So I finally had an excuse to make them. Although, it would've been easier in a cold-weather spell.... Can't wait to try this again in the winter, now that I have done it once, I can learn from my mistakes. Not that there were many mistakes, They tasted AMAZING.
Thanks for the great Challenge Sarah!
Blog-checking lines: The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!
In the recipe notes, Sarah included a link to a Julia Child video on YouTube, which was VERY helpful, and pretty entertaining. I had just watched Julie and Julia a few days before I got this challenge also! Great Timing.
As Usual, I'm going to send you to the Daring Kitchen website to find the pdf file of this months challenge. Sarah included a ton of step by step photo's that were very helpful.
My Croissants didn't last long at all. We ended up eating half of them right after they were done baking, and then the rest for breakfast the next morning. I can't wait to make these again! Again, Thanks Sarah for giving me a reason to finally make Croissants!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sourdough Bread ... finally!
(Originally posted on September 10/2011) *Updated on September 26/2011*
I feel like there should be a drum roll here... because I am finally posting something food related, and not something excuse related.
I even have 2 projects on the go right now... One I will tell you about, and the other you have to wait until the 27th because it is my Daring Baker Challenge...
On it's final rise in my oven right now, is another loaf of Sourdough Bread. One reason I was waiting a little bit to post about my sourdough, is I wanted to actually know what I was writing about. I have wanted to make Sourdough bread for a REALLY long time, but the whole making a starter process scared the pants off me. But It really shouldn't have. It is so easy.... Basically, making a starter is putting water and flour together. This helps the little wild yeast that is living on the flour to grow into a strong colony. If you can remember to feed your dog, you can remember to feed your yeast, its not hard at all.
While it isn't hard, and your labour will be greatly rewarded with possibly the best bread to ever come out of your oven (mine was), Sourdough isn't really an instant-gratification kind of food. You need a lot of Patience, and timing. The timing is what threw me off on my second loaf (I'll tell you about it,... in this post).
The boyfriend keeps asking me why I take on these "epic food projects." And the only thing I can say is that I like the challenge. It isn't like 100 years ago my great grandmothers had prepackaged dry yeast. And even if they had access to a jar of active dry yeast (like we do today) It isn't like they could just run to the grocery store to pick some up. (by the way, I guess I should explain, that all of my great grandparents homesteaded in Saskatchewan, and things were spread far apart, times were tough and they had large families)
Plus, why buy yeast, when you already have it there in your bag of flour.
Anyway, back to the bread...
Sourdough starters are easy, I will send you over to Food Wishes, and you can obsessively watch the videos he has posted like I did, for the instructions... which I followed exactly. Just make sure you go and get yourself some Bread Flour. I don't know if it makes a difference with the all purpose compared to the bread flour, But You will be using a lot of the bread flour so it makes the purchase worth it. plus, it is the same price as All purpose anyway. (side note: Has anyone used Barley Flour? There is some at one of the grocery stores here that is local, and I'm just curious if I can use it the same why as regular wheat flour?)
Get yourself a plastic or glass container with a lid. (I use a Ziploc large entree semi-disposable). Grab a whisk, and some warm (not hot, or your yeast will die before they ever get to colonize your container), and your bread flour. Now watch Day one of Chef John's instructions... then the next day, watch Day 2 ,and keep going. Until the first loaf of bread is baked.
Smell your starter everyday. I know its weird right? But after a few days of feeding it everyday, it starts to smell just like sourdough. Which is kind of a little mini-reward, because you know it is working. As time goes on, it starts to get a little more of an alcohol smell to it. After the first week of your starter, you can put it in the fridge, and then just feed it once a week instead of everyday. My yeast get fed on Mondays (usually).
So to actually make the bread:
Dump your active starter in a large bowl, add in a cup of warm water and a cup of bread flour, and whisk just like feeding the starter. Cover with plastic wrap and poke a few holes. Let it sit at room temperature for about 8 hours, maybe more, maybe less. This is to make "the sponge". I usually do this at 6:30am just before I go to work on Friday, and then it has about 10 hours while I'm gone to sponge-ify.
So when I get home from work and relax a little, my sponge has usually more than doubled, and looks like a giant pale sponge.
Now is where the work comes in... Make sure your starter container is clean. Knock the bubbles in the sponge down, so it looks like pancake batter again. Pour this all back into your starter container. (here is the foodwishes link for you to watch)
Measure out 2 cups of Sponge into a large mixing bowl, add in 2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of sugar, and 2 tbsp of Olive oil. Stir this all together, and then stir in 1 cup of flour. Once it is all combined, stir in another 1/2 cup of flour. The dough will still be sticky at this point, but turn it out onto a surface, with another 1/2 cup of flour and work it in. You will be kneading for a long time to help develop the gluten, This is the part that sucks, but just look at it like a work out. You know you are done needing when you can tear off a little piece of dough, stretch it, and it doesn't break. My first loaf, I probably kneaded for 40 minutes, just trying to get more and more flour in. All total you want to try and get 2.5-3 cups of flour into the bread. I haven't been able to get to the 3 cups, I usually just knead for about 30minutes, and get about 2.5 cups in. Just follow whatever your gut tells you to do.When you can poke your finger into the ball of dough, and the dough springs back, with hardly any imprint of your finger being there, then you are pretty much there. Chef John's instructions and videos really help, and I would definitely go back there and bookmark it whenever you have a bit of a question as to what to do next. I haven't tried any different recipes than his with my starter yet, but I know his videos work!
Put your dough ball in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stab a few holes in it. I usually put it in the oven, but that is just because I grew up in a house with cats, who liked to get into everything ,and rising dough is much safer in the oven... You can just leave it on your counter though.
So this is where timing is so important. You kind of need to know your schedule of the next 2 days before you start making sourdough bread. You also need to know how long your yeast takes to rise. Its not hard, you just need to pay attention. I have found that you can make the first 2 rises (your sponge and your dough) fit around your schedule a little bit, but don't screw with the last one. My sponge gets about 12 hours, and my dough gets about 12 hours. The first one, while I'm at work, and the 2nd while I am sleeping. Then when I get up on Saturday morning (which is usually early, despite my best efforts of trying to sleep in on my day off, because the dogs need to go out to pee), and then I "punch down" my dough. Except you don't really punch it, just kind of push on it to deflate it.
Then stretch it into a square/rectangle shape, roll it into a loaf shape, and put it on a sturdy baking sheet that you sprinkled with some cornmeal.
Brush the top with a little water, and I cover with a damp tea towel in the oven. Chef John says you don't have to cover it, but I do anyway.
So now, you just have to wait until your loaf has doubled in size... Mine is usually about 4-6 hours. but it could be longer. Just listen to the yeast. Also, Don't push this rise too long. I did, I went out shopping, and forgot I was busy with the sourdough project, So when I baked it, it was sooooo deflated. It still tasted great, but it wasn't as pretty, and it looked more like sourdough Biscotti, than sourdough bread.
So when your loaf is finished rising, Brush the top with water (or use a spray bottle, like Chef John says... I just haven't remembered to pick one up whenever I'm at a store that has spray bottles). Get a pan with some water in it, and put it on the lower rack in your oven. Put the bread into the oven cold. Then turn the temperature to 400F (John said 425, but this is a higher altitude, and so I think you should lower the temperature of the oven and lengthen the cooking time.... don't hold me to that, I'm not an expert on the difference altitude makes in baking, I just know it makes a difference)
Every 10 minutes, open the oven, brush (or spray) with water, and rotate pan, if needed. I usually do this every time, just to keep everything as even as possible.
Let your bread cool, and then ENJOY... (seriously, you will enjoy)
One last little hint. In Chef John's sourdough series, at the end, he says that your first loaf probably won't work. Mine did, BUT because I was worried it wouldn't, and I didn't want to lose all my faith in my sourdough abilities, I added in about 1 tsp of active dry yeast when I made the dough... just to make sure I got a loaf of bread. All my loaves since then haven't worked just fine without the extra yeast. But if you want to ensure you end up with bread your first time out too, then add a little more yeast just to cover yourself if your homegrown yeast colony doesn't want to be bread yet.
I feel like there should be a drum roll here... because I am finally posting something food related, and not something excuse related.
I even have 2 projects on the go right now... One I will tell you about, and the other you have to wait until the 27th because it is my Daring Baker Challenge...
On it's final rise in my oven right now, is another loaf of Sourdough Bread. One reason I was waiting a little bit to post about my sourdough, is I wanted to actually know what I was writing about. I have wanted to make Sourdough bread for a REALLY long time, but the whole making a starter process scared the pants off me. But It really shouldn't have. It is so easy.... Basically, making a starter is putting water and flour together. This helps the little wild yeast that is living on the flour to grow into a strong colony. If you can remember to feed your dog, you can remember to feed your yeast, its not hard at all.
While it isn't hard, and your labour will be greatly rewarded with possibly the best bread to ever come out of your oven (mine was), Sourdough isn't really an instant-gratification kind of food. You need a lot of Patience, and timing. The timing is what threw me off on my second loaf (I'll tell you about it,... in this post).
The boyfriend keeps asking me why I take on these "epic food projects." And the only thing I can say is that I like the challenge. It isn't like 100 years ago my great grandmothers had prepackaged dry yeast. And even if they had access to a jar of active dry yeast (like we do today) It isn't like they could just run to the grocery store to pick some up. (by the way, I guess I should explain, that all of my great grandparents homesteaded in Saskatchewan, and things were spread far apart, times were tough and they had large families)
Plus, why buy yeast, when you already have it there in your bag of flour.
Anyway, back to the bread...
Sourdough starters are easy, I will send you over to Food Wishes, and you can obsessively watch the videos he has posted like I did, for the instructions... which I followed exactly. Just make sure you go and get yourself some Bread Flour. I don't know if it makes a difference with the all purpose compared to the bread flour, But You will be using a lot of the bread flour so it makes the purchase worth it. plus, it is the same price as All purpose anyway. (side note: Has anyone used Barley Flour? There is some at one of the grocery stores here that is local, and I'm just curious if I can use it the same why as regular wheat flour?)
Get yourself a plastic or glass container with a lid. (I use a Ziploc large entree semi-disposable). Grab a whisk, and some warm (not hot, or your yeast will die before they ever get to colonize your container), and your bread flour. Now watch Day one of Chef John's instructions... then the next day, watch Day 2 ,and keep going. Until the first loaf of bread is baked.
Smell your starter everyday. I know its weird right? But after a few days of feeding it everyday, it starts to smell just like sourdough. Which is kind of a little mini-reward, because you know it is working. As time goes on, it starts to get a little more of an alcohol smell to it. After the first week of your starter, you can put it in the fridge, and then just feed it once a week instead of everyday. My yeast get fed on Mondays (usually).
So to actually make the bread:
Dump your active starter in a large bowl, add in a cup of warm water and a cup of bread flour, and whisk just like feeding the starter. Cover with plastic wrap and poke a few holes. Let it sit at room temperature for about 8 hours, maybe more, maybe less. This is to make "the sponge". I usually do this at 6:30am just before I go to work on Friday, and then it has about 10 hours while I'm gone to sponge-ify.
So when I get home from work and relax a little, my sponge has usually more than doubled, and looks like a giant pale sponge.
Now is where the work comes in... Make sure your starter container is clean. Knock the bubbles in the sponge down, so it looks like pancake batter again. Pour this all back into your starter container. (here is the foodwishes link for you to watch)
Measure out 2 cups of Sponge into a large mixing bowl, add in 2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of sugar, and 2 tbsp of Olive oil. Stir this all together, and then stir in 1 cup of flour. Once it is all combined, stir in another 1/2 cup of flour. The dough will still be sticky at this point, but turn it out onto a surface, with another 1/2 cup of flour and work it in. You will be kneading for a long time to help develop the gluten, This is the part that sucks, but just look at it like a work out. You know you are done needing when you can tear off a little piece of dough, stretch it, and it doesn't break. My first loaf, I probably kneaded for 40 minutes, just trying to get more and more flour in. All total you want to try and get 2.5-3 cups of flour into the bread. I haven't been able to get to the 3 cups, I usually just knead for about 30minutes, and get about 2.5 cups in. Just follow whatever your gut tells you to do.When you can poke your finger into the ball of dough, and the dough springs back, with hardly any imprint of your finger being there, then you are pretty much there. Chef John's instructions and videos really help, and I would definitely go back there and bookmark it whenever you have a bit of a question as to what to do next. I haven't tried any different recipes than his with my starter yet, but I know his videos work!
Put your dough ball in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stab a few holes in it. I usually put it in the oven, but that is just because I grew up in a house with cats, who liked to get into everything ,and rising dough is much safer in the oven... You can just leave it on your counter though.
So this is where timing is so important. You kind of need to know your schedule of the next 2 days before you start making sourdough bread. You also need to know how long your yeast takes to rise. Its not hard, you just need to pay attention. I have found that you can make the first 2 rises (your sponge and your dough) fit around your schedule a little bit, but don't screw with the last one. My sponge gets about 12 hours, and my dough gets about 12 hours. The first one, while I'm at work, and the 2nd while I am sleeping. Then when I get up on Saturday morning (which is usually early, despite my best efforts of trying to sleep in on my day off, because the dogs need to go out to pee), and then I "punch down" my dough. Except you don't really punch it, just kind of push on it to deflate it.
Then stretch it into a square/rectangle shape, roll it into a loaf shape, and put it on a sturdy baking sheet that you sprinkled with some cornmeal.
Brush the top with a little water, and I cover with a damp tea towel in the oven. Chef John says you don't have to cover it, but I do anyway.
So now, you just have to wait until your loaf has doubled in size... Mine is usually about 4-6 hours. but it could be longer. Just listen to the yeast. Also, Don't push this rise too long. I did, I went out shopping, and forgot I was busy with the sourdough project, So when I baked it, it was sooooo deflated. It still tasted great, but it wasn't as pretty, and it looked more like sourdough Biscotti, than sourdough bread.
So when your loaf is finished rising, Brush the top with water (or use a spray bottle, like Chef John says... I just haven't remembered to pick one up whenever I'm at a store that has spray bottles). Get a pan with some water in it, and put it on the lower rack in your oven. Put the bread into the oven cold. Then turn the temperature to 400F (John said 425, but this is a higher altitude, and so I think you should lower the temperature of the oven and lengthen the cooking time.... don't hold me to that, I'm not an expert on the difference altitude makes in baking, I just know it makes a difference)
Every 10 minutes, open the oven, brush (or spray) with water, and rotate pan, if needed. I usually do this every time, just to keep everything as even as possible.
Let your bread cool, and then ENJOY... (seriously, you will enjoy)
One last little hint. In Chef John's sourdough series, at the end, he says that your first loaf probably won't work. Mine did, BUT because I was worried it wouldn't, and I didn't want to lose all my faith in my sourdough abilities, I added in about 1 tsp of active dry yeast when I made the dough... just to make sure I got a loaf of bread. All my loaves since then haven't worked just fine without the extra yeast. But if you want to ensure you end up with bread your first time out too, then add a little more yeast just to cover yourself if your homegrown yeast colony doesn't want to be bread yet.
**NOTE**
I finally added a few photo's from my iPhone on September 26/2011
Sorry for the wait!
Sorry for the wait!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Pumpkin Pie
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September 1st, we had a party at work. It was my friend's last day, and so we all pitched in to make something for him. I was in charge of dessert. And I asked him what he wanted... Pumpkin Pie.
I said a little secret "YES!" to myself, because homemade pumpkin pie is on my cooking/baking bucket list, and I finally had an excuse to actually make it. I have honestly never had a homemade pumpkin pie. Always store bought. I would like to actually make my own pumpkin puree at some point too, but the middle of summer isn't really pumpkin season, so that will have to wait for another time.
I made Vodka pie crust, The Cooks Illustrated recipe, that Smitten Kitchen posted. It was awesome. I will definitely make it again (hopefully for apple pie if I can go rob my grandma's apple tree!). Although, i might just use all butter instead of mixing in some shortening with it. Butter is better!
I followed the pumpkin pie recipe that came with the can of pumpkin puree, But for my second pie (because it makes 2), I used Maple Syrup and brown sugar to taste instead of just brown sugar. The Maple Syrup pie was AMAZING!!! I am the official thanksgiving and Christmas pumpkin pie baker now... no more store bought!
My photos will show the process a little better than I can explain them, and for the pie crust, head over to the Smitten Kitchen, because she has step by step instructional photo post, and It is very helpful!
It was super late when I finally finished making this pie, And I totally spaced and forgot to take a picture of the pie when It was all done baking... oopsie.
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| My pie crust! |
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| Pumpkin cutter crust embellishments ;) |
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| Pies baking in the oven.... which I really need to clean... :( |
Pumpkin Pie, Like the Sourdough bread... MUCH easier than I expected.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
a letter to my blog
Dearest Blog;
Ok, I'm a bad food-blogger
I havn't forgotten about you
I just havn't found any time to spend on you
I'm trying to soak up as much summer as I can...
But soon, it will be winter again and I will have tons of inside time when I will actually want my oven to be heating up my house.
Pinky swear
Plus, horse show season is winding down, so work should get less crazy too *keep your fingers crossed*
Do blogs even have fingers to cross? whatever, this one does! and they are crossed.
I have stacks of recipes to try out.... AND a pretty new iPhone to take pictures with when my camera is being uncopperative...
It will happen, I will write more often than once a month.... soon... very very soon
Ok, I'm a bad food-blogger
I havn't forgotten about you
I just havn't found any time to spend on you
I'm trying to soak up as much summer as I can...
But soon, it will be winter again and I will have tons of inside time when I will actually want my oven to be heating up my house.
Pinky swear
Plus, horse show season is winding down, so work should get less crazy too *keep your fingers crossed*
Do blogs even have fingers to cross? whatever, this one does! and they are crossed.
I have stacks of recipes to try out.... AND a pretty new iPhone to take pictures with when my camera is being uncopperative...
It will happen, I will write more often than once a month.... soon... very very soon
Saturday, August 27, 2011
August 2011 Daring Baker Challenge - Candylicious!
August 2011 Daring Baker Challenge
Oy.... This was definitely the wrong time of year to try and temper chocolate. Everyday that I got the chance to try, it was hotter in my kitchen than the temperature I was supposed to get the chocolate down to. I have no idea how anybody without air conditioning did it, because I sure didn't.
I will definatly be trying this for Christmas though. and I would also like to thank not only the hosts of the challenge, but all my fellow daring bakers, for the inspiration, and great lessons this month. Very inspiring.
This month has been a little crazy, and today is no exception, so I am going to slap this post together. If I don't write it now, it will not get done...
I also had a complete camera fail while I was trying to get pictures of my failed chocolate experiences.... so I repeat... Oy
Blog-checking lines:
The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!
Okay, so the chocolate portion of my challenge was a failure... except that I had an excuse to eat a lot of chocolate.But the second part... AMAZING. and I will be making it again and again... and it doesn't matter how hot your kitchen is, it will still turn out.
SPONGE TOFFEE!... I used the recipe from Wilde in the Kitchen... It was incredible... Still not quite like a crunchie bar, but the closest that I have ever tasted.
I attempted to make Chocolate covered cherries... but the whole chocolate part experience I talked about... left me with cherry brandy and some drunk cherries... and the will to try this again when the weather gets cooler, and my kitchen isn't 40degrees.
I'm sorry, this is all the time I have... I will try and find the time to come back and edit this like a proper blog post, but I can't promise anything. Hopefully things will calm down again soon!
Even if i failed this challenge, i still consider it a Win just because of the sponge toffee.... I'll share the whole sponge toffee experience when i get a chance too.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
updates... and a Sourdough bread recipe comming soon!
I promise I've been busy in the kitchen.... I just haven't been busy taking pictures. My crappy camera's lens is being super high maintenance and doesn't want to open half the time, so I gave up on it. Sorry, can't get a new one for a while, so I'll try and make due with my phone's camera, and the few times I can bother tinkering with the lens
I started a Sourdough starter last week, and every day I enthusiastically stirred and fed it, and This morning (my only day off for 2 weeks), I finally got to bake my homemade Sourdough...from Scratch.
AND OMG
AMAZING
I seriously wish I could bake that bread every time we ran out of bread. It is the best loaf of bread I have ever baked... EVER
Seriously
I got a few pictures before my camera told me the freshly charged batteries in it were dead (lies... they are working just fine in my cordless mouse now)
I'll write an actual post about the bread and share the recipe with you as soon as I get a few moments to actually look at the pictures.
The bread was seriously worth all the effort put into it.... Serious... I ate half the loaf today by my self, and had to stop myself so there would be enough left for the Boyfriend when he got home from work.
I also made corned beef with fresh green beans, steamed cabbage, and some boiled potatoes... Delish. One of my favourite meals that my mom always made, whenever she found Corned Beef on sale... I understand why it is so expensive, because it is soooooooooooooo good. I'm slightly tempted to go stock up while it is on sale here.
Mostly though, we are both to tired after work to cook, so we end up getting rotisserie chickens from the grocery store... or ordering pizza.
Although, on my last weekend, I roasted 2 chickens... one with a lemon shoved into its "cavity" and some fresh sage from my garden... and the next day, I roasted the one that I soaked in brine for 24 hours... Both were delicious.
I will be back with an actual recipe again soon... pinkie swear.
I started a Sourdough starter last week, and every day I enthusiastically stirred and fed it, and This morning (my only day off for 2 weeks), I finally got to bake my homemade Sourdough...from Scratch.
AND OMG
AMAZING
I seriously wish I could bake that bread every time we ran out of bread. It is the best loaf of bread I have ever baked... EVER
Seriously
I got a few pictures before my camera told me the freshly charged batteries in it were dead (lies... they are working just fine in my cordless mouse now)
I'll write an actual post about the bread and share the recipe with you as soon as I get a few moments to actually look at the pictures.
The bread was seriously worth all the effort put into it.... Serious... I ate half the loaf today by my self, and had to stop myself so there would be enough left for the Boyfriend when he got home from work.
I also made corned beef with fresh green beans, steamed cabbage, and some boiled potatoes... Delish. One of my favourite meals that my mom always made, whenever she found Corned Beef on sale... I understand why it is so expensive, because it is soooooooooooooo good. I'm slightly tempted to go stock up while it is on sale here.
Mostly though, we are both to tired after work to cook, so we end up getting rotisserie chickens from the grocery store... or ordering pizza.
Although, on my last weekend, I roasted 2 chickens... one with a lemon shoved into its "cavity" and some fresh sage from my garden... and the next day, I roasted the one that I soaked in brine for 24 hours... Both were delicious.
I will be back with an actual recipe again soon... pinkie swear.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Strawberry Infused Vodka
I have been meaning to post about this for a really long time... I just keep forgetting to take pictures of the finished product.
It is another Shutterbean.com Recipe too.
Strawberry Infused Vodka
It is genius.
You take fresh strawberries, a clean jar and vodka, and mix them all together. Then you let the Vodka have its way with the Strawberries for about 4 days. Then strain everything through a coffee filter.
The Vodka kind of sucks the souls of the strawberries out. All the strawberry essence gets captured by the vodka, and the berries end up looking like zombie berries that will get you wasted! (but not in a nice way, they just kind of taste like straight vodka)
Seriously delish!
I've had trouble actually getting pictures of the drinks I have made with this, because I end up drinking them before I remember to take a picture. But my mom won this Ice-shot glass kit, and gave it to me, so I made Ice shoot glasses just to take pictures of this Vodka in.
SOOOOOO YUMMY. But the glasses melted so fast, that it was hard to really take my time to get some good shots.
THANKS Again Tracy for another awesome Recipe!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Shutterbean's Cinnamon Buns
I saw that Tracy at Shutterbean.com made these Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls, and I HAD to make them as soon as I saw. Literally went to the grocery store right after reading her post, just so I could make these Cinnamon buns. Seriously.
And Seriously worth it!
The secret is the Cream Cheese... rolled into the dough, makes it light and layer-y and soooooo YUMMY. I'm even writing this recipe into my hand written recipe book as "Shutterbean's Cinnamon Buns" (Dear Tracy, you are awesome and your blog inspires me every time I read it.. Thanks)
So Mine are not as pretty as Tracy's but they totally tasted amazing! Beware when you are rolling the dough out once you've done the cream cheese step though... I made a HUGE mess... (lots of extra flour sprinklings saved the day though) I think I might have been a little too cream-cheese-happy though.
For the recipe, head over to tracy's blog (link at the top). Or just scroll down, I'm going to copy and paste it, but PLEASE go check her out, she is funny, and her photos are amazing. I have a blogger crush on her I think.
Cream cheese smoothed out on rolled out dough
Folded up and ready to roll again
They were messy, (but yummy... just clean your counter ASAP... trust me)
Covered in plastic wrap, ready to rise again. ( I should've made 9 instead of 8... they would've fit in my pan better)
MMMMMmmmmm
CREAM CHEESE CINNAMON ROLLS
For the Dough:
- 1 1/4-oz. package active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp. plus 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp. light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 3/4 cups flour, sifted, plus more for kneading
- 3/4 tsp. fine salt
- 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan
For the Filling:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. fine salt
- 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
- 2 tbsp. maple syrup
- 4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
- 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
For the Icing:
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
Make the dough: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a hook, combine yeast, 1/2 tsp. of the sugar, and 1/4 cup water heated to 115°. Stir to combine and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add remaining sugar, milk, light brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Beat on low speed until thoroughly combined, 1 minute. Turn mixer off and add the flour and salt. Mix on medium speed until the dough just comes together. Turn mixer speed to high and knead dough for 4 minutes. Add the butter and continue kneading until dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from the mixer, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place. Let the dough rise for 1 1/2–2 hours, until it has doubled in size.
Meanwhile, make the filling: Combine the sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in a large bowl; stir to combine. Stir in the maple syrup. Set filling aside.
Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a heavily floured surface. Gently knead the dough until it's no longer sticky, adding more flour as necessary, about 1 minute. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10" x 10" square. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese with a rubber spatula until it's smooth and spreadable. Spread the cream cheese evenly over the dough square; then fold square into thirds as you would fold a letter to fit it into an envelope. Take the open ends of the resulting rectangle and fold into thirds again, to make a smaller dough square. Invert the dough so that the seam is face down and, using the rolling pin, gently roll into a 10" x 20" rectangle.
Turn the dough so that the short sides are parallel to you. Brush the top of the dough with half of the melted butter. Drizzle the reserved filling over the dough, leaving a 1" border at the edge farthest away from you. Lightly press the filling into the dough. Using your hands, lift up the bottom edge of the dough and roll it forward into a tight cylinder. Place dough cylinder, seam side down, on a cutting board and, using a thin, sharp knife, trim off the ends; cut cylinder crosswise into 8 equal-size slices. Nestle the slices, cut sides up and evenly spaced from one another, into a buttered 9" x 13" light-coloured metal baking pan. Cover pan with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to let rise for 2 hours. (Alternatively, the rolls may be refrigerated overnight.)
Heat oven to 375°. Uncover the rolls. (If refrigerated, let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.) Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the rolls comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
Make the icing: While the rolls are baking, whisk together the sugar and buttermilk in a small bowl until smooth.
Transfer the pan of cinnamon rolls to a cooling rack; brush with remaining melted butter. Let cool for 5 minutes. Dip the tines of a fork into the icing and drizzle all over the rolls. Serve immediately.
I added in raisins and cut up apple, Just to make them a little more different from the cinnamon buns I usually make
My dough was a little moist in the beginning, so I added about 1/4 cup of Coconut flour to help thicken everything up... worked perfectly. Maybe the difference in Altitude? This has happened to me before, and my mom always blames the Altitude here.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Baked Eggs
Today, was the first day I have really felt like being in my kitchen for over a month now. Grocery shopping this morning was actually fun, and didn't feel like a chore. It's hard finding a balance with working all the time, catching up on sleep, spending time with the Boyfriend (just because we sleep in the same bed, doesn't mean we get to spend a lot of time together), and finding time to do some hobbies... I miss being a kid.
So today, I got to sleep in... Except that I didn't actually get to. The dogs got me up at 7 (woo, an extra 30 minutes of sleep) to go outside, and then I couldn't really fall back asleep, so I came online and checked email, facebook, and some blogs.
Tracy over at Shutterbean.com posted this amazing Cinnamon roll recipe. Which my taste buds decided I NEEDED to make today... (and I did, I'll write that post up as soon as I can).
And then I found a recipe for Baked Eggs somewhere... I forgot to bookmark it, or write it down (printer is out of ink, so I penned it out instead)
So guess what we had for supper tonight. Delicious Baked Eggs!
Seriously, you should make these, they are yummy, and very filling... and have lots of veggies, if you are so inclined.
BAKED EGGS
For 2 people you will need:
2 baking dishes (I Bought little square ones at Superstore for $5 each)
Spinach (you can pre-cook it, and squeeze out excess liquid, or just use it fresh like I did)
Heavy Cream
Mushrooms
Bacon (cooked, drained and cut into pieces - whatever size you want)
Bell pepper, (cut into stripes, or small cubes)
Tomato (cut into wedges)
Cheese (I used the Italian shredded mix that has mozzarella, provolone, Emmental and parmesan)
salt and pepper to taste
and of course, 4 eggs
Spray your baking dishes with cooking oil (or butter them)
Make sure your oven is preheated to about 350F
Line the bottom of the dish with spinach, I ripped mine apart with my hands, to make it easier to eat.
Add in some mushrooms and the bacon.
Crack 2 eggs into each dish
Arrange bell pepper and tomato around the eggs
Pour in about 1TBSP cream into each dish
sprinkle with salt and pepper, if so desired.
Stick in the oven until the whites of the eggs are starting to set (5 minutes? you'll have to watch them)
Open the oven and sprinkle the cheese on top (as much or as little as you like)
Turn the oven to broil, to get the cheese bubbly on top.
Remove before your cheese burns, but after the eggs are cooked.
Serve with Toast (if you want)
Prepare to be full!
*I tested this recipe for my own lunch, and undercooked the eggs the first time around... and burnt my cheese top, so make sure you keep an eye on it while it is in the oven... Just pretend you are a kid again, and those are your mom's cookies baking in there.*
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