Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins August 5, 2008

So, I needed to use up the buttermilk I had in my fridge as well as the extra blueberries I had bought (why can’t I pass up blueberries??).

I made a few changes to the recipe (swapped out WW Pastry Flour, removed the cinnamon, and switched from orange to lemon zest).

While these weren’t bad, I think they could have used something. Maybe a little more salt next time? Or more zest? Maybe I’d even add a little agave nectar or honey to sweeten it up a little more. But really, these are pretty healthy so I’d like to try to tweak them a bit to see if I can make them taste a little better.

http://marthastewartliving.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=94ed9fb82b484110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&rsc=header_1&autonomy_kw=buttermilk+blueberry

Ingredients

Makes 12.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (MY CHANGE)

3/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk, plus about 2 tablespoons for tops

2 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups blueberries (about 1/2 pound), picked over and rinsed

2 1/2 teaspoons coarse sanding sugar

Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in center. Lightly coat a standard muffin tin with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cornmeal, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and zest.

In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg yolks, and butter. Stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until just blended. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until just stiff. Gently fold whites and blueberries into the batter until just combined.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each cup three-quarters full. Bake 12 minutes. Remove from oven; gently brush tops with buttermilk, and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Continue baking until tops are golden and a cake tester inserted in a muffin center comes out clean, 6 to 8 minutes more. Let muffins cool slightly, about 10 minutes, before turning out of tin.

Ice Cream August 3, 2008

Things have been busy around here, so I’ve taken a bit of a baking hiatus. But that’s about to change since I’m getting some time off!

Also, there are visitors this weekend and I have a new Kitchen Aid Ice Cream attachment to test out. I’ve decided to play around with my own combo…vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered pretzels. I’m using the ice cream recipe from Cook’s Illustrated and I bought some dark choc covered pretzels at Trader Joe’s. I considered making those myself…then realized that I am still supposed to be working through next week.

Overall, I think the ice cream turned out well–definitely extremely decadent. I think I might play around with some other recipes to find something that is a little lighter. I also think that a swirl of caramel would be great with the vanilla ice cream and choc covered pretzels. Mmmm-mmm-mmmmm.

1 1/2	cups whole milk
1 1/2	cups heavy cream
3/4	cup granulated sugar
4	inch piece vanilla bean , slit lengthwise and seeds removed, pod reserved
4	large egg yolks

1. Heat the milk, cream, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the vanilla seeds and pod in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally to break up the vanilla seeds, until steam appears and the milk is warm (about 175 degrees), about 5 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks until pale yellow then add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until combined. Whisk half the warm milk mixture into the beaten yolks, 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. Whisk the milk-yolk mixture into the warm milk in the saucepan; set the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until steam appears, foam subsides, and the mixture is slightly thickened or an instant-read thermometer registers 180 to 185 degrees. (Do not boil the mixture, or the eggs will curdle.) Immediately strain the custard into the bowl s; cool the custard to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until an instant-read thermometer -registers 40 degrees or lower, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours. 3. Pour the custard into the ice cream machine canister and churn, following the manufacturer’s instructions, until the mixture resembles soft-serve ice cream. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, press plastic wrap flush against the surface, cover the container, and freeze the ice cream until firm, at least 2 hours. (The ice cream will keep for up to 2 days.)

Berry Layer Cake June 12, 2008

I made the berry layer cake in the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. It was just like the asian style cakes and it was delicious. I used strawberries, whipped cream, and also pastry cream in the layers. This should be just like the geniose cakes in the Cake Bible, I think. The only thing was that my mixer was so full that I didn’t get all the way to the bottom when scraping so there were some hard floury bits. oops. I’ll have to try this with mangos sometime soon.

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies June 6, 2008

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/carrot-cake-sandwich-cookies?autonomy_kw=carrt%20cake%20cookie&rsc=header_8

If I judge these cookies on the speed they disappear when I take them into work, these cookies were really great. I liked them without the cream cheese frosting as well.

The only change a made was soaking the raisins (well worth it I think). Next time, I think I’ll change the cream cheese frosting by not adding as much butter. I’d like a stronger cream cheese flavor.

Also, these were great even though I froze them for a few weeks before baking them. I just scooped and flattened them out a bit. A few of them totally melted when I baked them…not sure why. They might have been the last few a scooped out that didn’t have a lot of carrots/oats.

Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies May 20, 2008

We’re looking for the perfect peanut butter cookie. Something with a fine texture — soft and crumbly. I also would like a ribbon of peanut butter or peanut butter chunks in it (I love Reese’s peanut butter chips but would rather have something with natural ingredients), although this is not necessary. Is there anything from the Martha Stewart cookie book that looks like it might work as a starting off point? 

Lemon Bars May 18, 2008

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_23697,00.html

Everyone at the BBQ really liked these lemon bars. I decreased the sugar in the filling to 2.5 cups because some of the comments said it was too sweet. I think I could have decreased it even more if I wanted to. Or maybe added a little more zest. I also did not cool the crust before pouring in the filling.

One annoying thing was that when I dusted them with powdered sugar, the sugar just soaked in. So they weren’t as pretty as I would have liked. Maybe next time I’ll do a glaze with the sugar and lemon juice instead.

Overall, definitely worth making again. Especially in the summer. Doesn’t hot weather just seem to go so well with lemon bars?

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Ina’s Lemon Bars

For the crust:
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For the filling:
6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup flour
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on. For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature. Cut into triangles and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Baking Class #6 – Pate a Choux May 18, 2008

Today’s class was on pate a choux. My partner and I made garlic gougeres and swans. That’s right…swans! I think they were the fanciest things I’ve ever made. Some of them came out very pretty. And some not so much. But it was pretty cool to make! You just pipe out the pate a choux body shape and neck shape and use creme mousseline (pastry cream with whipped cream folded in) to stick in the wings and neck in. This is a prettier version of what they looked like: http://l.yimg.com/www.flickr.com/images/spaceball.gif.

I really liked the cheese puffs and want to have a party so I can make them as an appetizer!

All the creme puffs, éclairs, and everything else was really good. The thing I love about French pastries is that they aren’t too sweet. Very rich, but not overly sweet.

Banana-Walnut Chocolate-Chunk Cookies May 15, 2008

Martha Stewart’s Cookie page 170

These cookies were a big hit at work today. They are a cross between chocolate chip cookies and banana bread. While they were very delicious, I had a bit of an issue with just how soft they were. There was a lot of butter in them (a stick and a half) and I wonder if a little less would make these cookies a little more chewy. But it might just be the banana that makes the texture what it is. Of course, maybe its just me. One of my co-workers did mention that he loved the soft texture of the cookies.

And one nice thing about them was that they have pretty healthy ingredients (if you ignore the extra butter). It’s made with some WWF, oats, and bananas. And there is only a cup of sugar total (1/2 white and 1/2 light brown).

 

Cracked Wheat Loaf May 15, 2008

Page 290: The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

I love bread! How do I know this? Because there is nothing left of this loaf of bread. I made it on Sunday. I didn’t share. Yum! Instead of using regular WWF, I used White WWF. It made the bread look like it wasn’t wheat and probably gave it a more mellow taste. I will definitely try this again with the regular WWF. Yum!

Baking Class #5 – Custards May 12, 2008

Class #5 was about custards. We made baked custards (flan, creme caramel, pots de creme, and creme brulee). I’ve actually done (more than?) my share of custards before. But everything was yummy and RICH. We also did ice cream. My group did mint chocolate chip–my favorite! We just put a ton of mint leaves in the cream when we were boiling it. It turned the creme a light green color. At the end, we just added some chopped up chocolate. I definitely need to get an ice cream maker! I think I’m going to try the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment…