Category: Uncategorized

Scenes from Holiday Baking #1

I’ve decided to interrupt my regularly scheduled TJ Tuesdays for the next month-and-a-half or so to bring you a weekly dose of what holiday baking looks like in our house.  I’ll give you a hint, you will not find Betty Crocker in any of these pictures.  In the Misanthropic Household, holiday baking is not a frilly-apron and hot cocoa sipping type of a affair (though, there is listening to holiday music…but only after Thanksgiving).  Nay, it is a full-throttle high-precision assault that leaves no stick of butter unused and no Kitchen God un-decorated.  Planning begins in August with delivery and shipping complete no later than the second week of December.

In this spirit, I thought I’d show some pictures of what happens along the way.  We’ll start with naked paper towel rolls.

Into which went 12 batches of 2 different kinds of sable cookie dough.  Wrapped-up tightly, they’ll reside in the freezer until I’m ready to bake them off later this month.

For the first time this year, I’ve also decided to quantify the process. I know that not tracking sounds completely antithetical to my color-coded and task-listed process.  However, until now, I’ve purposely stayed away from the accounting of every pound of nuts and every trip to the grocery because I feared knowing my consumption would interrupt the creative process.  This year though, we’re keeping track because I think it would be fun to know just how many eggs are cracked in the name of holiday treats.

The tally to posting (can’t say to-date because even as I write this, I’ve already moved on in a way that includes nearly 75 ounces of heavy cream.  Moo.):

  • 3.5 lbs unsalted butter
  • 12 eggs
  • 1 lb chocolate
  • 1 lb pecans
  • 1 ish lb dried sour cherries

Want to play along at home?

Want to win a prize?

In the comments below, take a guess at the final butter poundage.  Technically I could calculate this out now but that wouldn’t be any fun.  Instead, I’ll update the number of pounds used on a weekly basis so that we’re all surprised in the end.  Operationally, final butter poundage is defined as the total pounds of butter utilized in the making of the nine holiday treats I have planned.  I will not reveal either the specifics of the treats or the total number of batches at this time.  However, you already know the total of the first two. I’ll give you another hint: only one of the nine different goodies does not include butter as an ingredient.  Informed risk takers can extrapolate as desired.   Anything else I make along the way will not be included (so take out like 20 lbs for Thanksgiving).  To make things fair, you can only cast your speculation between now and next Monday, November 19 at 11:59 PST.  The person with the closest guess gets a box of said goodies. If you already happen to be on the goodie-recipient list, I’ll throw in a dozen or so extra of whatever you would like.  Winner will be announced on Tuesday, December 4th.  Vaya con sprinkles!

P.S. Not that it matters to anyone but me, but I’ve also thrown the gauntlet at myself.  This year I’ve challenged myself to not eat any of what I make.  Not in the baking, not in the leftovers.  Let’s see if I can make it happen.

 

 

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

And now ladies and gentlemen, we’ve entered the time of year where my trunk is full of butter and my pictures are dark because things get baked at strange times.  That’s right folks, it’s go time, the big show, the superbowl of hostessness: holiday baking.  I apologize if things get a little nutty around here.

Before we descend into the madness, I’ve got a little fall hug for you.  I’m a bit of a pumpkin late bloomer.  And, to be honest, I usually like my gourds leaning in the savory persuasion.  But, these looked too good to resist.  The recipe comes from the fantastic blog, Two Tarts.  Not too sweet, and perfectly spiced, these muffins are autumn in a cute little wrapper.

I made a couple of little tweaks to the original…but really, just tiny ones.

If you like this, you might like these

Pumpkin Saffron Macarons

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting/Filling

Soundtrack

The second presidential debate.  How about them binders?

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

adapted ever-so-slightly from Two Tarts

Ingredients

  • 1/2 C toasted pepitas
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp cloves

For the filling

  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup sugar

Directions

  1. If your pepitas aren’t toasted, drop 1/2 C into a pan over medium heat.  Shape pan occasionally and cook until nuts become fragrant.
  2. Whip together cream cheese and powdered sugar using a hand-mixer.  Set aside bowl in the fridge to firm-up.
  3. Mix the sugar, oil, pumpkin, and eggs together very well in a large mixing bowl.  Then plop the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spices on top of this blended wet mixture.  Stir well to incorporate and fully mix everything together.
  4. Line muffin tins with paper cups, or lightly oil them. Spoon about 1-2 Tablespoons of batter into the bottom of each muffin.  We used a regular dinner spoon – heaping – to do this.  Make sure this batter is spread thinly and evenly across the bottom of each muffin tin. Whacking the pan flat on the counter a few times to is effective.
  5. Distribute a spoonful (approx 1 Tablespoon) of the cream cheese filling in each.
  6. Finally, evenly distribute the remainder of the batter over the top of the cream cheese.
  7. Sprinkle pepitas on top pressing them in slightly.
  8. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Let cool before you eat them, unless you are ready to deal with molten cream cheese!

 

TJT#10

I have a rule: the shorter the skirt, the flatter the shoe.  Of course, short is a relative term.  For me and age appropriateness, short equates to just above the knee.  And, at about and inch-and-a-half, these little ladies are perfect.  The designer is Dana Davis and I admit, the only place I’ve ever seen her shoes is via the Gilt.com sample sales.  I bought these about a year ago.  And, if this brand ever comes up again, I’d snatch up another pair in a heartbeat.  Tights by Target.

 

Love and politics

TD and I had our first date a few days before the 2000 Gore-Bush election.  Somehow, during the course of that very first tete-a-tete, we found ourselves going through the election booklet item-by-item [we broke all kinds of first date rules–and it was fun].  Guess what happened?  We disagreed. On just about everything.  And, it was totally and completely okay. For both of us.

I wouldn’t call either TD or I particularly political in general.  But, we both take our rights as citizens and voters seriously.  Having different political viewpoints, in my opinion, helps to inform each of our decisions.  Hearing TD’s educated perspective always broadens my own.  Every once in a while, it even changes it.

What we didn’t know on that first date 12 years ago was that we had started a tradition that will endure until death-do-us-part.  You see, that first act basically guaranteed we will each vote in every election just so the other doesn’t get a leg-up.  The first date also started the tradition of reviewing the voting booklet, making our cases (and listening to the other’s) and then, voting together.

Which brings me to today’s post.  Last election, we did the first two steps together but, because of his travel schedule TD voted absentee and I voted in person.  It wasn’t nearly as fun.  So this year, I registered absentee so we could once again be united in our discourse.  And, because we are we, we made a dinner out of it.

The original plan was to make a carbonara recipe we’d perfected (according to us) some years back.  However, earlier in the week, we  watched an episode of Anothony Bourdain’s No Reservations that involved a particularly (food) pornographic dish of cacio e pepe.  There just happens to be a porn-related proposition on the California ballot this year, so cacio e pepe it was.

First step (per TD’s request) was to make the parmesian-reggiano bowls for the simple pasta.  I’m sure there is a recipe out there on how to do it officially, but here is what I do.  Smallish frying pan (8-10 inches) + heat+ grated parmesan.

Oil the outside of a small bowl.  Once the parmesan  is golden and will hold together (test be lifting an edge with a silicon spatula), flip the whole mess over the bowl.  Let cool.  That’s it.

Owl Gore presided over the event (at first I named him Owl Green but then realized Owl Gore was more likely to annoy TD).  Lest you think I was attempting to create a partisan atmosphere, allow me to point out that TD was more than welcome to bring along his own glitter encrusted moniker (insert stripper joke here).

Cacio e pepe is an incredibly simple but satisfying dish.  Because it is simple, each ingredient is important.  Use a high quality pecorino and freshly ground peppercorns.  Oh, and fresh pasta if you can find it.  I also like to use a single pot.  In this case it’s a dutch oven.  The water will take longer to bowl but the vessel will hold its heat well and do most of the work for you with the sauce.

Once the pasta is cooked al dente (be sure to reserve at least a cup of the pasta water), dinner is about 5 minutes away.  Strain the pasta, set aside.  Add butter, oil and pepper to the pot.  Stir until fragrant.

Add-in reserved pasta water (use more than you think you’ll need).  Bring to a boil.

Add pasta.  Then sprinkle your grated pecorino and parmesan while vigorously tossing the mixture.

And serve.  While lovely, this dish was lacking in color.

So, a little arugula salad and the last bottle from the case  Concha y Toro Carmenere that followed me home from Chile nicely rounded-out our festive meal.

Our votes cast, all that is left to do is wait.

Soundtrack

DJ TD again on the ones-and-twos.

Cacio e Pepe

adapted from Saveur, April 2010

Serves 4 (we halved the recipe and it worked well)

Ingredients

  • 1 lb pasta (usually spaghetti or bucatoni, we used a linguetinne because that is what we could find fresh)
  • 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 TBS unsalted butter
  • 2 tsp freshly cracked pepper, plus more for garnish
  • 1 C finely created Pecorino Romano
  • 3/4 C finely grated Cacio de Roma (can substitute Parmesan)

Directions

  1. Bring salted water to boil.  Add pasta and cook until al dente.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta water,  Drain pasta.
  2. In the same pot if large enough, or in a heavy saucepan, heat oil and butter.  Add pepper, cooking until fragrant (1-2 minutes).
  3. Ladle 3/4 cup pasta water into pot/skillet, bring to a boil.
  4. Transfer pasta to pot/skillet and spread evenly.
  5. Sprinkle 3/4 cup each of the Pecorino Romano and Cacio de Rom over pasta and toss pasta vigorously to combine until sauce is cremy and clings to the pasta without clumping.  Add remaining pasta water if necessary.
  6. Transfer to plates and sprinkle with remaining cheese and a good spritz of pepper.

 

Black Widow Sundaes

While in Hong Kong a couple of years ago, I fell in love with the warm black sesame mochi often served as dessert.  I loved the combination of just barely sweet but incredibly rich nuttiness and chewy glutenous rice. Kind of like a heated Abba Zabba.  Sort of.  The thing is, these little treats always look slightly evil to me. Like maybe something a giant hairy black spider might lay.  Creepy. And yes, completely unappetizing.

So, when thinking of a final scary treat for the month of October, these came to mind.  Alas, mochi are a step or 27 above my technical skill level.  But I tell you what isn’t: ice cream.  I found this recipe on the blog Just One Cookbook.  It all starts with black sesame seeds.

I found these at Whole Foods.  What I couldn’t find without ordering online was black sesame paste.  No worries though, the Blogess at Just One Cookbook gives an easy recipe for sesame paste from scratch.

Once you are armed with both your black sesame seeds and your black sesame paste, you do a little grinding.  I find using a pestle and mortar very satisfying.

Both the paste and ground sesame seeds are added to a mixture of honey, sugar and eggs.

Once combined, heated milk is slowly incorporated (don’t want to scramble those eggs).

Next, the whole lovely mess is heated and stirred until thickened.

Into an ice bath.  Behind the scenes, I was whipping some cream with a sprinkle of salt.

I’ve made ice cream a dozen or so times using varying methods and this one was new.  The now softly peaked whipped cream is folded into the sesame mixture.

Then everything is cooled in the fridge for a few hours. Only when the mixture is completely chilled is it time to fire-up the ice cream maker.  Yes, ours is orange.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows TD.  At this point, the custard was a beautiful dark grey color–really lovely, but not evil enough for my purposes.  So, I added three drops of black gel food coloring.

After about 20 minutes of churning, you’ve got soft-serve, so into the freezer to harden.

No self-respecting ghoulish sundae would be complete without a a sauce.  Here I just added a little bit of sugar and lemon juice to a pint of fresh raspberries.  Blackberries would be good too.  Or fudge.

And that my friends, is how you make a black widow sundae.  Rubber spider definitely required.  Unfortunately, good photography appears to be optional.  My apologies!

The fruit sauce with the nutty ice cream turned out to be a delicious combination.  Black sesame ice cream tastes very close to peanut butter so the bright fruit note was a nice contrast.

Soundtrack

My Halloween playlist.  Dude, you already knew I was a nerd.

Black Sesame Ice Cream

from Nami of Just One Cookbook 

Ingredients:

  • 2 Tbsp. roasted black sesame seeds
  • 400 ml (roughly 1 2/3 cup) whole milk
  • 70g (2.5oz, roughly 1/3 cup) sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • 3 Tbsp. black sesame paste (or Homemade Black Sesame Paste) [TMH note–I used a mini-prep instead of a regular-size processor with good results]
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 200 ml (Take away 2 Tbsp. of 1 cup) heavy cream
  • Pinch of salt

Directions

  1. If the black sesame seeds are not roasted yet, put the sesame in a (non-stick) fry pan over medium heat and stir until they start popping. They will start releasing a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat and cool.
  2. Grind black sesame seeds very finely.
  3. In a small pot, bring the milk to a simmer and remove from heat.
  4. Whisk sugar and egg yolk together until pale yellow.
  5. Add in honey, black sesame seeds, and black sesame paste and whisk until well combined.
  6. Add the milk into the sesame mixture in a slow stream.
  7. Pour the mixture into the small pot over medium-low heat. Stir until the custard thickens and reach around 80C (176F) degree. Don’t exceed 83C (181F) degree since egg yolk will get cooked.
  8. Remove from heat and cool down the pot in a large bowl filled with iced water. Add vanilla.
  9. Clean the stand mixer bowl and now whisk together the heavy cream and a pinch of salt until peaks form.
  10. Add the whipped cream into the cooled sesame mixture. Fold in but do not over mix it. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours (or overnight) until completely cold.
  11. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions (usually about 25 minutes). Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and freeze it for several hours before serving.
  12. If you are not going to use ice cream maker, then transfer the mixture to a container and put it in a freezer. Stir every few hours (3-4 times) to break up the ice crystals until it’s completely frozen.

 

Sweet and salty

You didn’t think I’d do a month of Halloween treats and forget the caramel did you?  And, this isn’t just any caramel, this is Ina Garten’s fleur de sel caramel.  These little treats are very rich, just slightly chewy and have enough salt that they border on savory (think kettle corn).

While the sugar and water get to boiling, prepare the pan.  Cut the parchment so that it sits neatly along two sides and overhangs on the other two (enough to use the extra parchment to lift the finished caramel out of the pan).

This is a two-pan caramel recipe.  Sugar and water come together in one while heavy cream and butter are warmed in another.

Once the sugar and water reach a pale sunny blond…

In goes the dairy (be prepared for a little angry caramel for a few minutes).

Bring the whole mess up to 248 degrees.

And then into the prepared pan and into the fridge until completely cooled.

Now it’s time to really get to work.  This is a soft caramel and as such, imprints easily.  Like fingerprint easy.  To avoid mucking up the beautiful shiny caramel with my grubby fingers, I put on plastic gloves for this next part.

Tightly roll the caramel to halfway.

Cut into eight pieces.

Srinkle with fleur de sel.

Then repeat with the other half.  I wrapped each little piece in parchment (I cut a couple of 10X14 inch pieces into eight equal-sized parchment rectangles giving me 16 pieces total).  You could also use waxed paper or cellophane.  A few years ago I used this really cute waxed paper from The Container Store.

Over the years I’ve made these on-and-off for the holidays.  Something tells me they’ll making a comeback this year.

If you like this, you might like these

Salted Caramel Squares

Scratch Twix

Soundtrack

MJ in the house.

Fleur de Sel Caramels

Ina Garten

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 teaspoon fleur de sel, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Line the bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan (or loaf pan) with parchment paper, then brush the paper lightly with oil, allowing the paper to drape over 2 sides.
  2.  In a deep saucepan (6 inches diameter by 4 1/2 inches deep) combine the sugar, corn syrup, and 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue to boil until the caramel is a warm golden brown color. Don’t stir – just swirl the pan to mix. Watch carefully, as it will burn quickly at the end!
  3. In the meantime, bring the cream, butter, and 1 teaspoon fleur de sel to a simmer in a small pan over medium heat. Remove from the heat, set aside and keep warm.
  4. When the caramelized sugar is the right color, slowly add the cream mixture to the caramel – it will boil up violently. Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon and cook over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until the mixture reaches 248 degrees F (firm ball) on a candy thermometer. Very carefully (it’s hot!) pour the caramel into the prepared pan and refrigerate until firm.
  5. When the caramels are cool, use the parchment paper to pry the sheet from the pan onto a cutting board. Starting at 1 end, roll the caramel up tightly until you’ve rolled up half of the sheet. Cut the sheet across and then roll the second half tightly. You will have 2 (1 by 8-inch) logs. Sprinkle both logs lightly with fleur de sel, cut each log in 8 pieces. Cut parchment papers in 6 by 4 1/2-inch squares and wrap each caramel in a paper, twisting the ends. Store in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

TJT #8

I’ll admit, I love the color teal.   I also love aqua. And even mint. Alas, these colors are not always “in.”  In fact, I still think of those awful Laura Ashley puffy-sleaved tea-length bridesmaid’s dresses when I hear the color teal (I know you know what I’m talking about).   In the nicest way, of course.

Happily, teal is all over the place this fall.  So, I had to take advantage.    J.Crew, calls this color dusty jade.

Props for creativity, but, dusty jade=teal.

Is that a potato in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

Let’s see if you can figure out where I’m going with this.

Start: riced potato.

Mash.

Add shredded coconut.

Mash.

Two, yes 2 pounds of confectioner’s sugar (I know, just don’t think about it too much).

Patient folding.  More folding.  A lot of folding.

Into the fridge.

Pizza roller + ruler.  Yes, I  used a ruler.  I use them often when baking, they make me feel secure.

Back into the fridge,

A little chocolatey skinny dip.

And allow me to present:

The Needham.

So, I was sitting in traffic on PCH one weekend morning and in my channel surfing landed on a story on NPR about these candies.   Famous in Maine, they are a very much the homemade Mounds bar with a surprising ingredient: potato.  Intrigued, I tried them for myself.  And you should too.  They were fun to make and when I shared?  People lost their heads.  I’m not kidding.  Lost.  Heads.

The story behind them is also fun.  For the original broadcast, go here: Maine’s Needhams, A Sweet Treat of Earthy Potatoes.  Incidently, it wasn’t until I went to write this post that I realized the story was part of a larger series, Americandy, Sweet Land of Liberty.  I swear, my honeycomb post from last week was completely unrelated.  And yet, here it is again.  Coincidence? Karma?

If you like this, you might like these:

Coconut (Festivus) Cake 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bon Bons AKA Pete Schweedy’s Balls

Soundtrack

New Mumford and Sons

Needham Candies

adapted from food.com

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup mashed potatoes (not seasoned) (you could easily get this amount from a single large russet potato)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 (1 lb) packages confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 (7 ounce) bags flaked coconut
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 18 ounces (about 1 1/2 packages)  chocolate chips or chopped bittersweet chocolate
  • 1/2 paraffin wax block, the same paraffin you melt to use on top jam (2 1/2 by 2 1/2)

Directions:

  1. Pare, cook, and mash potato to make three-quarters of a cup. Add salt.
  2. If you are making recipes right after boiling the potato, use the still-warm sauce pan or dutch oven. The pan should still be warm enough to melt the butter off the heat.  If not, turn on heat to low and allow butter to melt.
  3. Turn off heat and add mashed potato, confectioners sugar, flaked coconut, and vanilla.
  4. Mix well and turn into a buttered 9X13 inch pan and spread evenly.
  5. Refrigerate to harden.
  6. When hard, cut into small squares.  A pizza cutter works wonders but a knife will work too.  Ruler optional. Cutting into 1-inch squares yielded about 117 pieces.
  7. Place cut squares back into the fridge until dipping.
  8. For the dipping chocolate, again use a double boiler or place a heat-proof bowl over a sauce pan of simmering water.
  9. Add paraffin and allow to melt.
  10. Add chocolate and allow to melt.
  11. Stir well to mix ingredients.
  12. Dip in the chocolate mixture (with a fork, toothpick, or cake tester–I found it worked best when I placed a square on the tines of an upside down fork, dipped everything, let the excess run-off and then gently slid off the back of the fork with a second fork).
  13. Place on waxed paper to harden.
  14. This halves easily.