English Muffins (Easy!)

As part of my continuing quest to bake without turning on the oven, I decided to make English Muffins this Sunday . . . I've always wanted to try them, I had a brand-new cast iron skillet, and I thought they would be a nice treat for John, who'd gotten back from Nashville late Sunday night.

I used a recipe from King Arthur Flour. The dough mixed up easily in the KitchenAid . . . I didn't have bread flour (just A.P.), and subbed in a couple ounces of whole wheat flour for part of it, but it came together as a lovely, springy (though somewhat wet) dough. I gave it a first rise, rolled it and cut it (using one of Meme's old aluminum tumblers).

I put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, covered with plastic, and left them in the fridge overnight for a slow second rise.

Sunday morning, I took them out and let them come up to room temp (and get a little puffy!) while I had my coffee. I heated up my gigantic skillet over medium heat . . . then plopped the little dough circles on. They cooked about seven minutes on the first side, five on the second. They didn't stick at all -- in fact, I flipped most of them with my fingers. I was really impressed by how much they looked like proper English muffins: Brown on the top and bottom, creamy on the sides. Next time I make these I'll use a bigger cutter, as they were pretty small, but otherwise I can't think of a thing I'd change.

Fresh English muffins with butter and honey . . . just a lovely thing to have on a Sunday morning.

Chocolate Peppermint Meringues, Part the Second

Our Story Continues . . .

So, I left the cookies in a turned-off oven to dry overnight. When I got up in the morning, they were still a bit chewy around the middle. Pooh. So I turned the oven to 200 for a half hour, then turned it back off and let them sit around while I ate breakfast and went to the gym. When I got back they were just about perfect! Not quite as shatteringly dry as one might get in, say, December, but pretty darn good.

So I went to whip up the ganache. I'd been frustrated in my efforts to find "pure peppermint oil" (it was not at any of the four stores -- including Penzey's and the fancy chocolate shop -- John and I went to), so in the end I used peppermint extract. I used the microwave to melt the chocolate (as I always do) and think I let my impatience get the better of me . . . the chocolate heated too much and got a bit grainy. But as the chocolate layer was so thin, and delicious, I don't think it mattered all that much in the end.

Boy, were these good! When I make them again I'll use a pastry bag and make a point to make them a bit smaller, but otherwise I wouldn't change a thing. The cookies peeled off the foil like a dream, stayed stuck together, and tasted just like mint chocolate chip ice cream. I went the rustic route, so mine wouldn't have won any beauty contests, but with a little more attention they could really be showstoppers. Certainly everyone at the shindig I took them to gobbled them up and raved.

Go check out some of the other baker's creations!

Chocolate Peppermint Meringues, Part the First

I've been a bad SMSer! It's been miserably hot here in Richmond, and I just. Have. Not. Felt like turning on the oven. Or really doing much of anything besides misting myself with water and sitting under fan. So it was a surprise, to say the least, to idly click over to Sweet Melissa Sundays today and discover that I'm hosting this Sunday! I'm alleviating my guilt by splitting my post into two (2) parts.

In the first part, I'll write out the recipe and share my thoughts on the meringue-making process. Tomorrow I'll post again with thoughts on the ganache and sandwiching processes, as

well as the final product.

So, the recipe, on page 230-231, is:

For the Meringues:

1.5 oz. bittersweet chocolate

2 Tbs powdered sugar

5 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

pinch cream of tartar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Peppermint Ganache:

4 oz. semisweet chocolate

2 Tbs heavy cream

3 drops pure peppermint oil

Preparation:

Position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven. Preheat to 200F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment or foil. Fit a pastry bag with a 3/4 inch round tip.

Chop the chocolate finely by hand (yield about 1/3 cup). Process in food processor with the powdered sugar until it is a fine powder, being careful it doesn't melt.

Combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a pot of simmering water and whisk constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the whites are warmed to the touch. Transfer to a mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Starting on low and

gradually increasing to high, whip until the meringue is cool and holds stiff, ossy peaks. Add

vanilla, then fold in the chocolate dust mixture. Fill the pastry bag and pipe into 2 inch wide mounds on the cookie sheets. Bake for an hour and 15 minutes, rotate pans, then reduce temperature to 175 and bake for another hour . . . until completely dry, but not browned.

Remove to rack to cool completely.

Combine chopped chocolate (the 4 oz of semisweet) and cream in a medium bowl . . . set over simmering water to melt the chocolate, then whisk until smooth. Stir in the peppermint oil. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Peel the paper or foil away from the meringues. Spread about 3/4 tsp. ganache on the flat sides of half, then sandwich together with the rest. Chill about 15 minutes before serving. Will keep

at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. Do not refrigerate or freeze.

My experience:

(And apologies for the weird posting order . . . I never have been able to get blogger to post my pictures in any kind of sensible way. And moving them around seems to require an act of God.)

Anyway! I've enjoyed mint meringues for many years, as they are a Christmas treat favored by my Aunt Linda. She makes hers with mini chocolate chips, sometimes colors then green (for Christmas!), and was kind enough to pass along her recipe, which does not include any fol-de-rol with water baths and whatnot. Additionally, the baking time on hers is far shorter . . . she puts the cookies in a 300 degree oven, bakes for 30 min, then turns the oven off and leaves them to cool overnight. (In fact, I've also enjoyed a variation called "Forgotten Cookies" that were just put into a 300 degree oven, turned off, and left to dry overnight.)

So I'd be interested to hear from people who did the meringue whisking thing . . . especially how it compares with the more basic meringue cookie. Is there a difference in texture? Does it make it more foolproof? It did occur to me that maybe the slight cooking removes any trace of food-borne bacteria? Someday when I'm not under the gun like this I might do a side-by-side comparison, just for kicks.

As it was, the egg whites whipped up beautifully, even without the tartar. I added a wee pinch of salt because I like salt, and was duly impressed with the whipping action on the KitchenAid. Folded in the chocolate dust (which I should have processed more). I then used a spoon to plop the cookies onto their prepared sheet (wishing I'd bothered with a pastry bag, as I do think that makes things quicker and less messy), popped them into the oven, let them cook for 30 minutes, then switched the heat off so they can enjoy their beauty rest. I'll be back in the morning with a report on how the finished product turned out!

SMS No-Show, and Could someone turn down the heat?

Chestnut-honey madeleines was the recipe this week, and they sounded wonderful! Unfortunately, it's been just scorchingly hot, the ac has been running non-stop, and the last thing I want to do is crank up the oven. All I feel like making is ice cream. Go take a look at some of the lovelies baked by other SMSers.

A couple other things I've cooked

Garlic Scape Pesto. Weird, yes? The garlic scapes (and the recipe for the pesto!) came in the Dominion Harvest box . . . they're apparently the green tops of garlic bulbs. They're pretty sharp, but good. We ate it over pasta one night and have been putting it on pita chips ever since.

Brunch for Kenny and Rebeca: Frittata, salad, Billy Bread.

Curried fried rice, from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. (Not the greatest picture, but I really liked it! Rice, coconut milk, sugar snap peas, and other goodies.)

Chocolate Orange Macaroons

This week's Sweet Melissa Sunday challenge was hosted by BlueTreeGreenHeart. Chocolate Orange Macaroons -- yum!

Here are the very simple ingredients: Coconut, chocolate, orange zest, sugar, and egg white.

(I also added a pinch of salt for good measure.)

The method couldn't be easier: Mix by hand, bake until golden.

Don't you want one right now? John said they were the best of the things I've made so far for SMS. I read previous posts and sprayed my foil with Baker's Joy, so there was no problem getting them off the cookie sheet. I loved the way the bottoms got caramely and crunchy while the inside was moist and chewy. And I think the orange zest really brought it ll together nicely.

Another win! (And something I'll probably make again.) Go check out the baker's links for more!

Pistachio Linzer Thumbprints

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays entry is Pistachio Linzer Thumbprints, hosted by Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures. I dearly love linzertorte, and like pistachios quite a bit, so I was pleased by the selection. Unfortunately, I just could not find unsalted pistachios, so as suggested, I subbed hazelnuts.

(Also unfortunately, my camera was not in the kitchen and frankly, I just did not feel like finding it, hooking it up to my dying computer, plugging the old computer into a hard line for internets, etc. So just the two iPhone photos. Sorry.)

Anyway, this came together quickly in a food processor. It did fill the darn thing up so much that bits of dough went straight on the counter when I opened the machine up, but that's nothing new. It's a lovely food processor, but it does perplex me.

Also, the dough never did come together . . . . maybe could have used more liquid. But no matter! I just mashed it together and baked it and all was well. They were pretty crumbly, too, when I went to make the thumbprints, but I solved that by bracing the sides with one hand and pressing with the other. (Hence the slightly oval shape of many of the cookies.)

I ended up baking just 20 cookies, saving a goodly amount of dough in the freezer. (I did wish I'd had more powdered hazelnuts to dip the cookies in.) As a final change, I subbed blackberry preserves from our lovely CSA box for the raspberry. They were really quite tasty.

John told me twice that they were awesome, so I think we have another SMS success! Go to Tracey's blog for the recipe (and pictures of a properly made, pistachio-inclusive cookie). If you'd like total cookie madness, check out the full list of SMS bakers.

Butterscotch Pralines (and LOST)

This week's SMS assignment was to make Butterscotch Pralines. I've never made candy before because (1) I had an unfortunate accident with hot sugar when I was in the fifth grade, and (2) Most candy recipes say to make them on a cool, dry day. I lived my entire life in the Deep South, and I now make my home in Virginia. We get about five cool, dry days per year. But I do remember reading that pralines were originally a french candy more akin to a brittle but when made in the warm, humid climate of New Orleans, they turn into a deliciously creamy and slightly grainy confection. So the warm-ish, damp weather today (also the day of the LOST finale!) could only help. I hoped.

Here we are coming up to a soft ball. Having never cooked with sugar before I was surprised how the temperature stayed low for a while, shot up to about 230, then hung around there for quite some time before finally going up to 238. I'm sure there is a scientific reason for this.
After the sugars (and other things) were properly cooked, I transferred it to my mixer bowl, added butterscotch chips, and let 'er rip.
Once it was creamy, I added the bits of pecan. I didn't get a picture of this stage because the candy was really wanting to set up, and I just went ahead and scooped it while I still could.
I haven't had one of the candies yet (they're setting even as I type), but I did lick the bowl, and let me tell you, these are really delicious. One thing I might do differently next time is toast the pecans, but honestly, these are pretty close to perfect as they are. Thanks to Tess of the Cookin' Chemist for picking such a nice recipe!

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln . . .

So, the idea for this week’s SMS was to make pumpkin bread pudding, selected by the lovely Carmen of Baking is my Zen. It sounded like a really lovely, lightly spicy and creamy dessert. There was a delicious-looking sauce. The pictures people put up early looked lovely. I got ready to bake today and realized: You know what’s hard to find in May?

Pumpkin.

So hard, in fact, that I looked through the fruit, vegetable, and baking aisles at WM three times before I gave up and regrouped. After some hemming and hawing and looking through both pantry and cookbooks, I decided on chocolate bread pudding with chocolate chips and dried cherries.

It all got off to an inauspicious start at WF, where they did not have brioche at all. (This is central Virginia, after all, not Paris.) I settled for a big loaf of challah, which I reckoned would be a nice substitute, what with the egginess and butteriness.

(Yes, the wise woman would have bought the pumpkin while she was at WF. I am clearly not that woman.)

Also, the cinnamon sticks were a bit spendy, especially considering I have enough ground cinnamon to last until I’m fifty. Ditto whole cloves. And vanilla beans. So when the canned pumpkin just did not show up, I took it as a sign.

What I ended up doing was following the approximate portions provided in How to Cook Everything (Bittman) with some of the techniques in the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. I toasted about 8 ounces of challah cubes.

Then I cooked together a mixture of milk and cream totaling three cups with a bit of butter the size of a walnut and two ounces of bittersweet chocolate. After the chocolate melted I set it aside to cool for a bit before whisking it into three beaten eggs.

I layered the bread cubes in a dish with a handful of chocolate chips and a handful of dried cherries. (I put a layer of bread on top of this too.)

Then I strained the chocolate custard into the dish and left it to soak while I did the dishes.

It went into a water bath, then the oven for about 45 minutes.
It was good! I think the dried cherries really made it. Bread pudding is never going to look like much (as John helpfully observed), which is probably why it's usually served with a sauce of some kind. Oh yeah, I didn't do the sauce either.

SO! Basically I just made whatever I darn well pleased and called it a SMS entry. I probably wouldn't have made bread pudding unprompted, though, so that's got to count for something, right?

The Harvest

So, this year I'm trying Dominion Harvest, a local-food delivery service. You pay some money, they source and deliver food (mostly veggies, but also fruit, eggs, cheese, and herbs) right to your door. Mine arrived last night, and I'm pleased with it -- haven't had a chance to cook with it yet, but I did just have some feta as a little snack.


Look at the arty effect! There's lots of lettuce, some arugula, asparagus, eggs, sweet potatoes, green onions, strawberries, blackberry jam, parsley, and the aforementioned cheese. I'm really looking forward to the arugula, which I've never cooked with before. The company provided a suggested strawberry and arugula salad, which I think I'll try. I'm also hearing good things about arugula pesto. Maybe this weekend?

Peanut Butter Truffles!

I'm always wanting motivation to bake more, so I joined a baking/blogging challenge: Sweet Melissa Sundays. The idea is to prepare a tasty treat from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book and share experiences (and drool-worthy photos) about it. My first entry (which I really did do on Sunday, just didn't have time to blog about it then) was Peanut Butter Truffles, hosted by the lovely Mara of Love Your Mother Earth.

Here are all the wonderful components of the truffle: peanut butter and cream heating on the stove, chocolate waiting to be chopped, and butter. Later on I'll chop up some peanuts.

I've poured the hot cream over the chocolate. Doesn't look too promising.
But after sitting around for a few minutes, it whisks to a lovely smooth consistency. I then beat in the butter. It would have melted more quickly had it not been practically frozen when I put it in.

The rich, smooth mixture chilled in the fridge while we watched a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica and ate some pizza. (Also homemade because that's how I roll.) I couldn't take a picture while I was scooping and rolling the chocolate into little peanut-covered balls -- my hands got too messy for camera operations -- but don't they look nice sitting in the refrigerator?
They're delicious and rich. I do wish there was more of a peanut butter flavor, and also that I'd bought more heavily salted peanuts. And maybe chopped them a little finer. I took the good advice of several other folks and made half a batch, which translated into about 30 truffles.

Lots of fun!

A few things I've cooked, in no particular order:

Ice Cream in the KitchenAid Ice Cream Attachment. I've made several batches, and this was the easiest because it was not custard-based, so no cooking. I believe it included sour cream, sugar, lemon juice and zest. Recipe from Epicurious.

Fritatta. I make this once a week. At least.

Sesame noodles with tofu, which are just so delicious and a nice, light-but-filling thing for summer. This will return to the rotation soon.

No pictures!

It's been quite some time since I edited the blog, mainly due to a sad lack of picture uploading on my part, which I will try to remedy. It's not as if I haven't been taking pictures (mainly of my food) -- but I haven't found the patience needed to actually (1) transfer them to the camera, and (2) load them onto the blog. A blog without photos is a sad thing indeed.

However! It's been an interesting nine months since the last post! Most interestingly, I got married on July 3 and began the adventure of being a wife. So far, so good, as they say; it's tremendously nice to have a buddy beside me who's happy to change cat litter, shovel snow, and cheer me up. Actually, I do have a picture to share, taken with my brand-new iPhone on the day we bought a pair of them as honeymoon gifts to ourselves. What a cutie!

Upon being married, I moved to lovely Carytown, Richmond's trendy/bohemian neighborhood. I also acquired John's two cats, bringing the total count to three. Three cats in a smallish apartment did not make for good times at first, but they reluctantly tolerate each other now, for the most part. Still lots of hissing!

Before and After

Welcome to my newest cousin, Celie Annalin!

American History 101

True quotations from a caller today:

"He came over on the Mayflower with Christopher Columbus."

"It all goes back to Rome."

"There was a Civil War and they was a Continental War.  I reckon George Washington was in the Continental War."

"Loretta Lynn was in the middle of this.  The Carter family, too."

More on the race . . .

So, by the numbers: I came in 7,109 of 26,242 overall finishers (about the top 25%); 391 of 2062 in my age group (about the top 20%); ran the second half very slightly faster than the first half (19 seconds faster, to be precise -- this is a good thing); and had a 9:09 pace overall (faster than my training pace).

May I say that I was really quite pleased with myself?

More generally, it was a great day to run. Everything went perfectly for me as far as getting there, parking near the start (my little secret!), watching the elite runners sprint off, and laughing at the costumed runners. The speedo-ed "Michael Phelps" certainly encouraged me to get past him, and some people I knew won first in the group contest with a great Ms. Pac-Man theme. The weather was perfect. The waves were nicely timed, so there weren't too many slow people to dodge. There were bands and spectators all along the course, and then there is the course itself, which is just one of those perfectly lovely places that makes me glad to live in Richmond.

Pictures later if I buy them!

56:55!

That, my friends, is my best-ever 10K time . . . all on very slack training, thank you very much.  The original plan was that this would be the year I really tried - the goal was a sub-55.  But what with the traveling to Alabama, getting sick, getting engaged, snow, and it just being too darn cold to get out of bed in the morning, I sort of didn't get started until two weeks ago.  My long run (on a treadmill) was a pathetic 3 miles.

The only theory I have was that the caffeinated Jelly Bellies I scarfed down before the race helped, as did predicting my time optimistically so I wasn't stuck running around slowpokes.  Anyway, yay me!  I'll have a more thorough analysis of splits, places, and all that later.

Got a shovel?

Oh, holy cow.  Will you just look at all the snow?  I'd guess about six inches, and it's still falling.  (It would appear to be the last gasp, though, according to weather.com.)  I've got some still-painful frostbitten fingertips and lots of lovely pictures.  I'm going to spend the rest of the day watching movies and baking cookies.  And hoping they cancel work tomorrow, because we really truly do not have a snow shovel, and how am I to get out of here?

Lucky 13!

All my readers know, but I wanted to make it official with a blog announcement as well as a gadget . . . John and I got engaged!  Ring pictures soon, I promise . . . Look, here it is!

A few words about the holidays

No, I haven't become one of those people who calls Christmas "the holidays" (which is disturbingly common, you know) but am referring to the Christmas-New Year's stretch. Which is two holidays, ergo, "the holidays."

Anyway, a few pictures, in no particular order. Two are in Baltimore, with random JS family members and their pets; two will be recognized by my faithful readers as being at Meme's house, or rather in her kitchen. We were all very tired on New Year's Eve, so we ate our chili and went to sleep without so much as a spoonful of ice cream (though I actually think she managed to get us to eat some of Bonnie's famous chocolate pie). The next morning I whipped up some tasty Morning Glory muffins . . . or rather reconstituted them from the mix I bought at Whole Foods. They were very tasty with apple butter.

Later that day a few Smiths came over bearing food - roast beef with assorted trimmings - and we had a lovely supper, after which we enjoyed the traditional New Year's Eve sundaes. Happy 2009 to everyone! It promises to be a terriffic year.