Tiramisu. Oh, I’ve made it before. I’ve made it more than once. It is simple, easy and delicious. Tiramisu is a piece of cake when you use store-bought lady fingers, a cream mixture of store-bought mascarpone cheese and sugar, and brewed coffee. This challenge uses nothing store-bought. This challenge is so much more than store-bought. This challenge is a challenge. A devilishly delicious and decadent challenge.
The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.
As is my habit with Daring Bakers challenges, I waited until the last minute to make this dessert. Thankfully I read through the recipe on Monday of this past week and realized that I would need at least 4 days from start to finish to complete it. Each component requires your attention and an overnight chill. Conveniently, the components can be prepared and chilled for a few days in advance. So I made a plan for how to get this done without going crazy.
There are times in my life, for reasons unknown, that I just crave something. There isn’t always a good or rational reason for the craving. It just happens. Last weekend I was craving cake donuts. I was really craving blueberry cake donuts from Lone Star Bakery in Round Rock, Texas. But seeing as how I live about 500 miles from there now I would have to settle for these homemade donuts. Maybe settle is not the right word. To “settle” implies that I was accepting something less. These were no bakery donut, but I would not classify them in the “settling” category. These were some yummy donuts.
I found these donuts to be very simple and delicious. The texture was delicate and sweet. I liked the coating of cinnamon sugar and the contrast of soft donut to crunchy sugar. The slight nutmeg flavor is perfect.
This recipe is from allrecipes.com and I followed it word for word. Well, I guess I refrigerated the dough for more than an hour. It was more like 2 hours. But I don’t consider that a modification. I consider it more like bad planning. With the good results I got with the increased chilling, you could probably make the dough the night before and use it in the morning. I love things you can make ahead of time.
Cinnamon Sugar Cake Donuts
Ingredients
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 quarts oil for deep frying
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup white sugar
Directions
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, salt, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Heat oil in a deep heavy skillet or deep-fryer to 370 degrees F (185 degrees C).
On a floured board, roll chilled dough out to ½ inch thickness. Use a 3 inch round cutter to cut out doughnuts. Use a smaller cutter to cut holes from center.
Fry doughnuts in hot oil until golden brown, turning once. Remove from oil to drain on paper plates.
Combine the remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ½ cup sugar in a large re-sealable bag. Place a few warm donuts into the bag at a time, seal and shake to coat. Enjoy with a nice cup of coffee.
This past weekend we went to Boerne, Texas to attend the wedding of a good friend from our days at Baylor Law. The wedding was beautiful and we had such an incredible time with friends. I was more sore after a night of dancing in some hot 2 1/2 inch heels than I was after a day of skiing the weekend before. Is there something wrong with that?
Having so much fun with our friends made me sad to live so far away from those people, but also so very happy that we still enjoy each others company and keep in touch despite the distance.
When you travel, you are often required to eat what is quick and convenient. Our day of travel on Sunday found us having breakfast at Starbucks, and lunch at the McDonalds in the DFW airport. Here are my reviews of both of these fine food establishments.
Starbucks: On Sunday morning we headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Amarillo. We decided to pick up coffee and breakfast at Starbucks on the way to San Antonio. I was just going to get a cappuccino and a muffin, but then I noticed that they also offered breakfast sandwiches and wraps. I’ve seen these before, but never at a time when I needed breakfast so I had never thought to try them.
There are about 5 different options, including the Huevos Ranchero wrap that Ben ordered and said was “OK”. I had the Turkey Bacon Breakfast Sandwich which is an egg white, white cheddar cheese, and turkey bacon on a whole grain english muffin. It wasn’t bad, but not great either. The bacon was kinda crispy, the egg wasn’t too rubbery, the cheese was warm and melty, and the muffin was pretty tasty with nice crunchy egdes. It wasn’t the best breakfast sandwich I’ve ever had, but it wasn’t the worst. It didn’t leave me feeling overly full , but it didn’t leave me unsatisfied either. I think it is the perfect size for pre-travel breakfast, and it wasn’t too greasy. No one wants to get on a plane after having scarfed down a short stack, eggs and sausage. And no one wants to be the person sitting next to that person either.
McDonalds (@ DFW): When we arrived in Dallas it was 2 o’clock. We were hungry, and since our plane left in 30 minutes, we were not about to stand in line at the Chili’s and miss our flight. McDonald’s it is!
I was more than a little disappointed in the situation here. NO salad. NO grilled chicken. NOT well stocked in the kitchen, I see. So, I ordered a cheeseburger Happy Meal…and I didn’t even get a toy. Come on! That is why you get the Happy Meal. Toys make people happy. No toy = no happy.
The burger was what you’d expect from a simple McDonald’s cheeseburger. Plain bun, small patty, yellow cheese that is only partially melted, a splat of ketchup and mustard in the center of everything with 3 pickles (without seeds…interesting). It was, however, comforting. It brought me back to being a kid except that I actually liked the mustard on this burger.
After my last simple oatmeal cookie recipe, I felt this was a great contrast. This cookie has a little bit of everything: whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, peanut butter, molasses, chocolate chips, pecans, toffee bits and coconut. These cookies are not for wimps! They are delicious and full of goodies.
I found the recipe on allrecipes.com and added a few other ingredients. They are called ‘winter energy cookies’ on the site. I left out the wheat germ and the raisins since I didn’t want to go buy anything to complete the recipe. I used half butter and half shortening. I was so happy to be able to add what was left in my bags of toffee, pecans and coconut. It feels good to empty those bags and throw them away. I hate to have those mostly empty bags taking up precious space in my cabinets! Our kitchen in not exactly what you could call “spacious”. I do love my kitchen though. It requires almost no movement to move from fridge to counter to oven! A little kitchen has its perks.
I liked these cookies quite a bit, and I think you could add or take away based on your personal preferences. Dried cranberries and white chocolate chips with pecans and coconut might be my next trial.
Hearty Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from allrecipes.com
Ingredients
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup shortening
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup pecans, chopped
¾ cup shredded coconut
½ – ¾ cup toffee pieces
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F
Cream the butter, shortening, sugar, molasses, and peanut butter in a large bowl. Blend in the eggs and vanilla.
Mix the both flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, until evenly blended.
Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, etc. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Shape dough into balls, about golf ball size. Place on greased cookie sheets, and flatten slightly with your palm.
Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. When done, the tops will still be soft to the touch. Cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.
This past few days I have been hearing a lot about Mardi Gras. I have seen many blog posts featuring Mardi Gras recipes like King Cake and Gumbo. The recipe websites that I frequent like allrecipes, epicurious and myrecipes also have little sections devoted to this day and time of year. Why not jump on the bandwagon?
I was feeling very ambitious as I began looking for recipes and was set on making a King Cake. Unfortunately, I didn’t think that I’d have time to make one after work unless I wanted to be up until the wee hours of the morning since the dough has to rise for about 2 hours. I should have made it anyway because with just two people, I had a much better chance of getting the baby and being Queen for a day!
I settled on jambalaya. Jambalaya is a Creole dish with Spanish and French influences. These cuisines were meant to be combined. I have only been to New Orleans once. I went with a couple friends in college the year before Katrina. We ate great food. There is something wonderful about the flavors and ingredients that they use that is just incredible. I wanted to go to Emeril’s Delmonico, but we were college students on a college students budget. We did eat beignets at Cafe du Monde and got powdered sugar all over ourselves as we drank chicory coffee. I loved every minute of that trip.
This dish is very simple and quick. There is no seafood in this jambalaya, but you could easily add shrimp to the mix during the last 5 minutes or so. I would decrease the sausage to 1 pound if you decided to add about 1/2 pound of shrimp. Another ingredient that is common in jambalaya is tomatoes. There are none here, but I will consider adding a can of chopped tomatoes with the juice next time I make this.
The flavors are great and not overpowering or too salty. I did not use the cloves because I thought I had some, but I was wrong. I am sure that would have been a great addition, but it was just fine without it. The moisture is just about perfect. I did add another 1/2 cup of chicken broth after about 20 minutes of cooking because it looked like it would be a bit dry.
1 ½ to 2 pounds kielbasa or other fully cooked smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon (or more) cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups long-grain white rice
6 ½ cups canned low-salt chicken broth
Directions
Heat oil in heavy large pot over high heat. Working in batches, add chicken and cook until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch. Transfer chicken to platter.
Reduce heat to medium-high; add onion, bell peppers, parsley and garlic to pot. Sauté until onions are tender, about 5 minutes.
Add sausage, bay leaves, chili powder, thyme, cayenne pepper and cloves; sauté until spices are fragrant and flavors blend, about 5 minutes. Add rice; stir to coat.
Pour broth over rice mixture in pot. Add chicken; press to submerge in liquid. Bring to boil.
Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until liquid is absorbed, rice is tender and chicken is cooked through, about 35 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Season with salt, pepper and more cayenne pepper, if desired. Serve hot.
This past weekend Ben and I went to Angel Fire, New Mexico and spent all day Saturday skiing. That’s right. I skied for the first time in 10 years. And get this, I did not fall, even once. Maybe that is because I played it safe and stayed on greens and easy blues. I was pretty proud of myself, regardless. Even Ben, the man who owns his own skis, said I did a “very good job”. This means quite a bit to me.
Here we are before the day began. The weather was great, and the snow was the best Ben has ever seen by New Mexico standards. I had such a great time! Who knew that I would ever get a renewed love for skiing? This statement will come back to bite me sometime soon, but I must say this…I like to snow ski. If Ben hadn’t encouraged me to try it again, I don’t know if I would have. Thanks, Ben!
Speaking of Ben…his favorite cookie is the classic oatmeal raisin. I have become enamored of this cookie as well during our 7-year relationship. The hearty oats in the butterery dough with tart, sweet raisins is delicious and utter perfection. I made a few hundred of these cookies as favors for our wedding in 2006. My lovely and incredibly helpful aunts and cousins from California came in about a week before the wedding and helped prepare the 250 packages of cookies in cute cellophane bags and tie them with blue and brown ribbon and a “Carrie & Ben” hang tag. I found them to be adorable, but I don’t know if people even noticed them. Oh well. I guess there are things you make for your wedding that you put incredible blood, sweat and tears (or butter, eggs and flour) into that no one really notices…
Back to the real subject here, cookies! Sometimes you want a plain and simple oatmeal cookie. No extras, nothing to take away from the pure goodness of the oats, butter and warm brown sugar. These cookies fit perfectly in that simple, no frills category. I used a recipe from allrecipes.com with one change; I used half butter and half shortening. I think it yields a more sturdy cookie while maintaining the lovely butter flavor. These cookies are incredibly easy and crazy good. The amount of salt in this recipe surprised me a bit, but it was wonderful against the sweet sugar. A little salty-sweet is great in a cookie.
Soft and Simple Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups quick cooking oats
Directions
In a medium bowl, cream together butter, shortening, white sugar, and brown sugar.
Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla.
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
This salad was a big hit at the Superbowl party I brought it to last weekend. It is technically a salad, but a lot of us ate it like a dip with tortilla chips instead. I ate mine over a little mound of crushed chips. The chips add a nice crunch and saltiness. The flavors in this salad are very refreshing. It was a good complement to the heavy chili and queso at the party. The black beans and avocados are healthy and substantial and give the salad some weight that makes it an appealing thing to even the manliest of men. I made mine a few hours before serving and it was great; not soggy at all. I ate some the next day after it had been sitting in the fridge all night, and it was still delicious. The avocado was still green and creamy without any nasty, slimy, brown spots. I really liked the dressing. The addition of lime juice, cilantro and cumin makes the ranch dressing so much tastier. I am thinking about mixing some more of it up just to have on hand. Adding some minced jalapeno might be nice too.
I combined many different recipes to come up with this salad. A lot that I looked at use chips or cornbread as a layer in the salad, but I am not a fan of soggy bread in anything besides stuffing at Thanksgiving. So, I left the chips out, and served them on the side instead. If you want to add chips, cruch up about 2 cups and use half as a layer in between the corn and lettuce layers.
Mexican Layered Salad
Ingredients
2 – 3 heads of romaine, chopped
1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
3 grated carrots
3 – 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
2 avocados, cut into 1/4 inch chunks and tossed with about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
6 – 8 green onions, chopped
1 large can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans whole kernel corn, drained
2 cups shredded cheese, a combination of cheddar and monterey jack is great
1 1/2 cups ranch dressing
3/4 teaspoon cumin
3 – 5 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Tortilla chips for serving
Directions
In a small bowl combine tomatoes and scallions.
Combine romaine, cabbage and carrots in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine dressing, cumin, lime juice and cilantro. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
In a trifle dish, layer half of the beans, then half of the corn.
Top half of the lettuce mixture and press down.
Top with half of the tomato mixture, then half of the avocado.
Sprinkle with half of the cheese, then drizzle with dressing.
Repeat layers again, pressing down as needed.
Top with cheese, then cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 1 hour. Can prepare 1 day ahead.
Our good friends Tim and Jackie had us over for the Saints v. Colts game Sunday night. There was so much food! The spread included black bean chili, queso, chips & salsa, veggies, layered Tex Mex salad, hot wings, and cookies. This is one of the main reasons I love the Superbowl.
I brought the yummy layered salad and these cookies. I made plain sugar cookies using left over sugar cookie dough that I’d stashed in the freezer, and some chocolate sugar cookies. Both recipes come from the Joyofbaking.com.
The chocolate dough was easy to prepare and easy to cut out. They baked up pretty evenly and tasted good. I did find them a bit drier than the plain sugar cookie, but still tasty. I made sugar cookie helmets honoring both teams, and chocolate cookie footballs.
It can be a meat lovers delight, a vegetarians dream, or you can combine your meat and veggies and create an omnivores dilemma! Get it? Anyway…I know Sarah does.
It can be made with a red pasta sauce, a creamy white bechamel, or a fresh basil pesto sauce, and others.
It can be prepared in advance, frozen and baked later.
It can feed a crowd, or it can feed a couple for days and days!
It can be enjoyed warm with oozing cheese, or cold from the fridge.
I love lasagna. This lasagna is a delicious veggie combination of mushrooms and artichokes in a rich bechamel sauce. Ben and I really enjoyed it, and brought a plate to our neighbor who also was pretty complimentary of the dish. The only criticism he gave was that it should have had a garnish of cilantro instead of parsley. He puts cilantro on everything. I think he might eat it on his cereal…
My iPhone is incredible. Epicurious has an app that I just love. I am able to search for a recipe while at the grocery store, get a shopping list, email the recipe to myself and have it waiting for me when I get home to cook. Modern technology is one of my best friends. That is how I found this recipe. Here is the link. I made a few changes to the recipe based on the time I had to make this meal and what I had at home. I used canned artichoke hearts instead of frozen since I did not have time to let them thaw. I also used regular lasagna noodles because I had some in the pantry. I used shredded mozzarella instead of sliced. I substituted vermouth with dry white wine that I had left over from another recipe. Despite the substitutions this lasagna was delicious and we enjoyed it for a few days. It was great reheated, and cold as well. This is something I would make again and serve at a dinner party or bring to a pot-luck.
Mushroom and Artichoke Lasagna
Bon Appetit, February 2002
Ingredients
Filling
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans of artichoke hearts, drained, coarsely chopped
1 package lasagna noodles, prepared according to package directions to al dente
1 pound (4 cups) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
Directions
For filling:
Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and garlic; sauté until mushrooms release juices and begin to brown, about 7 minutes. Add artichokes and wine. Cook until liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
For béchamel sauce:
Melt butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour; stir 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until sauce thickens and lightly coats spoon, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 cups Parmesan. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg.
Spread 2/3 cup béchamel sauce over bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Top with enough noodles to cover bottom of dish. Spread 1/4 of artichoke mixture over. Spoon 2/3 cup béchamel sauce over. Top béchamel with 1/4 of mozzarella.
Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons Parmesan. Top with enough noodles to cover. Repeat layering 3 more times, finishing with a layer of noodles, then remaining béchamel. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with foil and refrigerate.)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake lasagna covered with foil 1 hour (or 1 hour 15 minutes if chilled). Remove foil. Increase temperature to 450°F. Bake lasagna until golden on top, about 10 minutes longer.
This is the recipe I used to make the bird cookies for my sister’s baby shower that I was unable to attend. See here and here for the nitty gritty details of that debacle. I have been making decorated sugar cut-out cookies since college when I took a cookie decorating class at Central Market in Austin.
Decorated sugar cookies are time consuming, but they are pretty simple once you know a few tricks and they are a lot of fun to make. They are also very much worth the effort. I will write more on those tricks later. For now, you can satisfy your need for cookie decorating tips here at baking911.com. This is a good site, although a bit hard to navigate due to the amount of ads.
Some recipes that I have tried for sugar cookies are not meant to be a cut-out sugar cookie. For example, this cookie was delicious, but spread too much during baking to be a cut-out. A heart would end up looking an amoeba. No good. “I ‘heart’ you!” is not the same as “I ‘amoeba’ you”.
The dough for a cut out cookie has to be firmer so that it can stand up to rolling, cutting and baking without losing its shape. This usually means less butter and more flour. You also do not want a lot of leavening because decorating a cookie that had risen too much in the oven can be tough to decorate.
This cookie recipe was perfect for my bird cookies. The cutter I used is quite large, which can be troublesome when transferring a cut-out piece of dough to the cookie sheet, but this dough was so sturdy! I got the recipe from Joy of Baking. This site has a lot of delicious sounding recipes with the majority including pictures, which, in my opinion is very nice. I look at the site quite a bit but I haven’t tried many of the recipes. I plan to try more things from now on. Let me know if you try something delicious from the site.
I have made some lovely cookies in my time, but these birds are not the best. They are just OK. I used mini chocolate chips for the eye. My mistakes include:
Frosting them at 10pm
Using old gel colors (resulting in the neon hues)
Thinking no one would see them
Give yourself some time to decorate your cookies and make sure to let them set before trying to add more detail or transporting them. I also make extra cookies to practice with so that I can see what’s going to look great and what isn’t.
I usually like to outline my cookies first, then fill them with glaze. But I didn’t have the time with the birds which is why the one above is spitting up purple. Keep up with my blog for the secrets! I always use a glaze of powdered sugar, water or milk, corn syrup and almond extract. I also am committed to Wilton gel colors. They provide a vibrant color, so be careful! Pink can become PINK too quickly!
These cookies are what I aspire to create some day. Aren’t they beautiful? I really love the natural colors and details. The eggs are adorable. You can get all the details about these cookies here and about Eleni’s in New York who made them here. My neon pink birds will do for now! At least mine tasted good. That is one of the most important things isn’t it?
For Sugar Cookies: In a separate bowl whisk together the flour,salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.
Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter
and transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking. Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you may want to sprinkle the unbaked cookies with crystal or sparkling sugar.
Bake cookies for about 10 minutes (depending on size) or until they are brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling before frosting.
Tiramisu. Oh, I’ve made it before. I’ve made it more than once. It is simple, easy and delicious. Tiramisu is a piece of cake when you use store-bought lady fingers, a cream mixture of store-bought mascarpone cheese and sugar, and brewed coffee. This challenge uses nothing store-bought. This challenge is so much more than store-bought. This challenge is a challenge. A devilishly delicious and decadent challenge.
