Sunday Sweets

yes, yet another day of baking sweet things. sometimes it’s a challenge to find new things for erik’s lunch desserts (and since he has become so much more willing to coddle his newfound sweet tooth it means i’m baking every weekend). but no complaints on this end (well unless you count my rear end because i can’t seem to stop myself from sampling). since i made him try out some brown sugar blondies, i think they’ve become his favorite sweet thing that doesn’t contain chocolate. i ran across this recipe over on Baking Bites and this particular blondie contains three of erik’s favorite things: coconut, maple syrup, and of course, the fact that it is a blondie. i’m not one to deny erik lunch dessert perfection so here these are. slightly gooey, buttery, and just plain nice to eat.

Maple Coconut Blondies
recipe from Baking Bites

You Need:

1 stick butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff, no imitations please)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut

preheat the oven to 350. foil-line (with overhangs) and grease an 8×8 or 9×9 square baking pan. in a bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, syrup, vanilla and egg. add the flour and salt in and incorporate all of it. stir in the coconut. spread the batter in the pan and bake until a tester comes out clean.

baking music: selections from Ryan Adams’ Heartbreaker have been running through my head …

saturday baking

there are SO MANY banana bread recipes. i used to use one that i found in an older Southern Living cookbook, but it always came out sort of dry and crumbly. i had exactly 2 almost totally black bananas on hand and only wanted one loaf. thankfully, google came up with this recipe from The Fresh Loaf when i searched “banana bread, 2 bananas.” it autofilled it for me, too, so apparently that gets googled a lot. this is a nice, moist loaf to which i added chopped pecans. perfect on a cold saturday afternoon (and yes, i did put some butter on my slice). oh caloric bliss!

2 Banana Banana Bread
recipe from The Fresh Loaf blog

You Need:

1/2 stick softened butter
2 bananas
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

preheat the oven to 350. in a bowl, mash together the banana, butter, sugar, and eggs. in another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. mix in the pecans. grease a standard sized loaf pan. pour your batter in. bake until a tester comes out clean.

i thought this loaf came out just nice and not dry at all, even without creaming the butter or adding any oil. it has a nice even banana flavor and it tastes fantastic warm.

recipe update

i actually took a picture of this recipe (because it’s something i only sort of blogged a year or so ago and i actually make it more than a few times a year). i really like the heat of the chili pepper flakes and the nice flavor that the white wine gives it. plus it’s incredibly filling with the rice. i highly suggest you incorporate it into your menu. it’s so time convenient and really delicious.

soupy stuff

sometimes i get tired of chicken, beef, pork, chicken, beef, pork. i’ve been throwing some vegetarian meals and a little breakfast in there once in awhile just to fill out my weekly menus, but i’m kind of burned out on same old, same old. i purchased some kielbasa before going on vacation (i had fully intended to make a Delish.com recipe of kielbasa and cabbage soup but flaked out for some reason i don’t remember anymore). it’s been a “gloves and heavy coat” kind of cold lately, too, and i thought, wow some potato soup would be really good right now. toss some kielbasa in there and there you go. good Tuesday night meal. most of the recipes for kielbasa potato soup ask you to blend it to make it creamy, but i wanted something hot and chunky … this is what i came up with

Potato Kielbasa Soup

You Need:
yukon golds, diced
carrots, diced
onion, chopped
butter
olive oil
chicken stock
milk
kielbasa, chopped into small pieces

heat some butter and olive oil in a pot. saute your onion and carrots until the onions are softened. add the diced potatoes. cover with stock, some salt, and pepper. cover the pot and let it simmer until the yukons are fork tender (they won’t be mushy which is what i wanted out of this soup). in a separate pan, brown the kielbasa in a little cooking spray, or some oil. add the sausage to the pot along with a little milk. let it simmer for 10 minutes or so longer. adjust your seasonings. serve with some crusty bread.

feel free to thicken this up by pureeing some of the potatoes if you really want to. you can even add celery and corn to the vegetable mix. maybe a sprinkling of sliced scallions on top for color.

cooking music: a winter mix that i made for a friend (my copy, which i test drove before sending it to her)

pan de muerto

i seem to remember making pan de muerto, once, with my friend Katie, for a Spanish class extra credit project. my mom was most definitely NOT a yeast baker so from what i remember, it was a bit of an ordeal when we did it. now, i don’t like anise seed, so that was definitely not going to be a part of any recipe i found for pan de muerto. thankfully, over at Mexican American Border Cooking had a really good looking recipe for the bread. and it was wonderful. exactly as i remembered it tasting. think, a nice, only slightly sweet yeasty bread to enjoy with a hot cup of fresh coffee … if you’re not aware, by the way, pan de muerto is a traditional treat for the holiday dia de los muertos, or the day of the dead, my second favorite holiday. alongside placing your loved deceased ones favorite foods and photographs on an altar, you place sugar skulls and marigolds and bake a loaf of this lovely bread to celebrate. it’s a wonderful holiday, a true celebration of life, and i haven’t properly celebrated in years. it was a nice trip home so to speak, making this…

Pan De Muerto
recipe from Mexican American Border Cooking

You Need:

1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
half a stick of butter, cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package of yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 eggs
2 1/3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

scald your milk in a pot. add the butter, salt, and the 1/4 cup sugar. stir it altogether and let it cool. stir the yeast into the water in the bowl of your mixer and let it sit. add the milk mixture. separate the egg and reserve the white. add the yolk and the other egg along with 2 1/3 cups flour. stir it altogether until it forms a sticky dough. on a floured surface, mix your dough until it comes together and knead it for about 10 minutes. place in a greased bowl, turning it over so that it gets greased on top. cover and let it rise for about 2 hours. it took me 2 hours – i don’t know if it will for you, but let it rise until doubled in size at least. after it has risen, punch it down and knead it a little. remove 1/2 cup dough and set aside. divide each of the leftover pieces into three equal pieces. form them into ropes, about a foot long. braid the ropes, pressing the ends together to adhere them. shape this braid in a circle and press the end to make it stick together. shape the leftover piece of dough into “bones.” place these criss crossed on top of the wreath. cover the bread and let it rise for another half hour, until it has puffed up again. preheat your oven to 350. beat the egg white a little and brush it over the bread. mix the 2 teaspoons of sugar with the cinnamon. sprinkle this on the bread. i sprinkled it all over – “bones” and all. bake for about 35 minutes. it will get really nice and deep brown.

halloween goodies

first, spryte’s pomegranate margaritas minus the rosemary because we didn’t have any fresh …

next, velveeta dip and chip. can’t go wrong with melted cheese and tortilla chips and margaritas.

Velveeta Dip and Chip

You Need:

velveeta, cubed
onion, chopped
tomato, chopped
jalapeno, chopped
lime juice
cilantro, chopped

saute the onion and jalapeno in a little bit of oil. add in the tomatoes and velveeta. squeeze lime juice over everything. melt the cheese on medium-low heat stirring constantly until the cheese is all melted. sprinkle cilantro on top.

 

main course (which came much later because our good friend and favorite person, Tim, dropped by for the weekend) consisted of a veggie laden pizza for Tim (who is a vegetarian) and an Italian sausage, provolone and spinach sauce-less pizza for myself and erik.

Italian Sausage, Provolone, and Spinach Pizza
recipe from Real Simple magazine

You Need:

pizza dough
olive oil
italian seasoning
provolone and mozzarella cheese
italian sausage, casings removed
spinach, chopped
onions, sliced thinly

heat the oven to 425. brush a pizza crust (fitted onto a greased, sprinkled with cornmeal pizza pan) with olive oil. sprinkle italian seasoning and kosher salt all over the crust. put in the oven and bake until golden brown. meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan. cook the italian sausage until the pink is gone, breaking up into small pieces. add the spinach to the sausage and cook down. layer the cheeses on the crust. arrange the sausage and spinach on top. sprinkle the onion slices on the pizza. bake again in the oven until the cheese is melted. there isn’t a picture. we ate it. the pizza i mean, not the picture.

cravings, satisfied

erik still says i don’t make enough mexican food, but it seems lately that’s all we’re eating. this morning, i wanted breakfast tacos and went in search of a simpler tortilla recipe. the one on Homesick Texan’s blog always made me give it the side eye and just stick to my usual manner of making tortillas but i take back that side eye. because that recipe is freaking awesome. the tortillas were nice and fluffy and perfect for our papas con huevos.

Homesick Texan’s Flour Tortillas
her recipe says it is from The Border Cookbook, by Cheryl and Bill Jamison

You Need:

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegetable or canola oil
3/4 cup warm milk

in a saucepan, set your milk to warming (don’t scorch or scald it). dump the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. mix together. drizzle the 2 teaspoons of oil over the flour. mix in. pour your milk over the flour mixture and mix it together until it forms a dough. cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest like 10 minutes or so. get your comal or cast iron skillet heating. tear some dough off into about 7 balls (recipe says 8 but my balls were uneven so i only got 7). shape them into small flat disks. on a floured surface, roll out into tortillas. cook one at a time on your comal/skillet.

my weekend baking, i’m happy to report, has gone much better this weekend than last. i haven’t had one mishap yet (keyword being yet. i’m still baking pan de muerto tomorrow). ever since Pioneer Woman posted this recipe for Tres Leches cake and since Tres Leches is one of my favorite types of cake ever (second only to a good Italian Cream cake), i’ve had a wicked craving for it. i promised my friend Son i would make a cake in honor of his birthday so duh, let’s make a tres leches cake. i previously used a really, really good Alton Brown recipe for the cake but i really think i like this cake base better. it’s not dense, it’s really spongy and soaks up all that milky goodness to the last drop. it doesn’t make the cake a goopy mess either, just a soft, moist, milk laden, not overly sweet beauty of a cake.

Pioneer Woman’s Tres Leches Cake

You Need:

1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk

1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup cream

1 pint of cream
3 Tablespoons sugar

fruit to top it with, if you want. i like slices of strawberries and kiwis

preheat the oven to 350. spray down a 9×13 pan well. in a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. set aside. in the stand mixer, whip the egg yolks together with 3/4 cup sugar until the yolks are pale and fluffy. stir in the milk and vanilla. scrape the egg mixture into the flour mixture and incorporate it well. clean your mixer bowl out. or just get another one out, it’s up to you. start whipping the egg whites until soft peaks form. add 1/4 cup sugar and keep whipping until the whites are stiff. they’re going to be nice nice and glossy and when you hold the bowl upside down, they won’t move. you don’t want them TOO whipped. fold the egg whites into the cake batter. pour this into the prepared pan. bake 35-40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. turn the cake onto a foil lined jelly roll pan (the cookie sheets with the lip on it). let it cool for a bit. in a bowl, mix together the evaporated milk, the sweetened condensed milk, and the 1/2 cup cream. pierce the cooled cake well all over with a fork. pour the milk mixture onto the cake, even the corners. i didn’t need to use all of the milk mixture, by the way. let it sit, covered in the fridge for about 30 minutes or so, so that the milk gets all soaked up. whip the pint of cream with the sugar. frost the cake. top with your fruit slices.

(as you can see i did not have any fruit on mine today. usually i do but the grocery store was not carrying either kiwis or strawberries. and yes, i cut an uneven piece here).

the masa king

the masa gods have spoken and they choose erik. seriously. i can’t make masa-based things to save my life but every corn tortilla-puffy taco shell whatever he touches is pure gold. i think he can break my gordita failure streak and we will be attempting this soon, but for now, here’s erik’s puffy tacos…

Puffy Tacos
recipe from The Tex Mex Cookbook by Robb Walsh (which is an indispensable cookbook in my home and was given to me by my wonderful, bestest friend, Joy)

You Need:

2 cups masa
1 1/2 cups water*
1 teaspoon salt
oil for frying

ground beef
onion, chopped
garlic cloves, minced
jalapeno, chopped up
cumin
chili powder
salt and pepper

refried beans
cheese
chopped onions, tomatoes, jalapenos and cilantro, sour cream, other things of a taco topping nature

*erik says the amount of water called for on the masa bag is a big fat liar. he says he uses a 50/50 combination of masa and water and says it works out well. so we’re guessing he’s using 1 1/2 cups of water. you’ll know if the texture is right because if it’s too dry, they won’t form into balls and if it’s too wet (as mine are always wont to be) they stick to the freaking plastic wrap when you press them. this is why i don’t make corn tortillas from scratch. far too much stress. geez. food shouldn’t be this difficult.

so, combine the masa, salt, and water. mix well. line your tortilla press with plastic wrap. roll your masa into balls, place in your press, and press out tortillas. meanwhile, in a pot or something semi deep. heat up some oil (enough oil to make it an inch deep in the pan). this would be a good time to use a thermometer and check your oil because it HAS to be at least 375. it takes a little bit of time to get it up that high so this is also a good time to get your beef done. in a little bit of oil, erik sauteed onion, garlic, and jalapeno until the onion is translucent. add the ground beef and cook, breaking up into pieces. season with salt, pepper, chili powder, and cumin. cook the beef until all the pink is gone. when your oil has come to temperature, CAREFULLY slip a tortilla into the oil. it should start to puff up very quickly (mine never do – they just lay there but his puffed right up!). use a spatula to flip a little bit of oil onto the top of the tortilla. also use the spatula and press it the middle of the tortilla to crease it a bit. fry for 2-3 minutes, then remove from the pot and drain well on a paper towel lined platter. repeat all this frying with the remaining tortillas you pressed out (there should be quite a few of them with 2 full cups of masa. i think we made 8 and still had a ball of masa leftover for 4 tortillas for erik to eat his scrambled eggs with this morning). serve immediately, with some refried beans smeared on them, some ground beef scooped on top, and whatever taco fixings you like.

this is the delicious puffy taco.

out of the ashes of failed baked goods …

comes more failed baked goods. it just wasn’t a baking weekend for me. a mexican chocolate cake with the chocolate pecan glaze that i ate (and almost had an entirely inappropriate reaction to) at Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe in Fredricksburg, Texas just last month was up on my list to try after a failed blondie baking session. i started a batch of these chocolate chip blondies (using pecans instead of macadamia nuts) and stupidly left the house to go give my brother a ride home from work while they were baking. i texted erik to watch them. when i got home, there was a brick of what was supposed to be buttery, chocolate chip blondies with a completely burned bottom and burned edges. “they were still gooey on the top! i didn’t think they were done!” he said. luckily enough, there was enough of the blondie in the middle of the pan that hadn’t been burned, so i crumbled it up, popped it in a freezer saver bag, and am currently planning on just using it as ice cream topping, or to incorporate with my favorite vanilla ice cream. let it never be said i am not resourceful. still, i needed a dessert for erik’s (and mine) lunches this week and ran across the chocolate cake while flipping through the book during breakfast. i froze on the page and immediately transported my memory back to sitting in the cafe stuffing that delightfully chocolatey, soft cake with that wonderful glaze shell on it and those delicious toasted pecans into my mouth … the cake was going well enough until i tried to get it out of the pan after waiting the appropriate amount of time for cooling. damn thing stuck to the pan. boo. so i’ve got large chunks of that chocolate cake sitting int its pan but you know, i think i’m just going to pack it in a small plastic container and send along a spoon to eat it with. it’s still delicious and cinnamony and deep dark chocolatey. i didn’t end up making that glaze but i’ve still included the recipe for it here. make it and tell me you had a better time of it.

Rebecca Rather’s Mexican Chocolate Fudge Pecan Cake
recipe from “The Pastry Queen” cookbook

You Need:

2 sticks butter
1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder (i used regular baking cocoa powder)
3/4 cup water
2 cups sugar (hey i didn’t say this cake was going to be low fat)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 Tablespoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Glaze:
1 cup pecans
1 stick butter
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

heat the oven to 350. grease and flour a tube pan or a bundt pan. i greased and floured a 12 muffin muffin tin and a tube pan. i’m planning on freezing the dozen cupcakes and eating the cake this week (and maybe sharing it with my mother in law. maybe). in a saucepan, melt the 2 sticks of butter. whisk the cocoa powder in until it’s smooth. add the water and keep whisking. whisk in the sugar, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. don’t boil this stuff. remove it from the heat. stir in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. whisk until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated. it will be slightly lumpy. pour the batter into your pan, or fill your muffin tins 2/3 full. bake for 40-45 minutes (if you’re baking the cake), or 20 minutes or so if you’re baking cupcakes. let it cool in the pan for about 20 minutes (for the cake), 10 for the cuppies. turn out onto a plate. if you’re doing cuppies and serving them as individual desserts, invert each onto its own plate.

for the glaze, toast your pecans in a 350 oven for 7 minutes or so, until they’re toasty and golden. chop them up. in a saucepan, melt the butter. add milk, cocoa, and powdered sugar. whisk it until smooth. remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, salt, and pecans. spoon this glaze over your cake or over your cuppies.

no picture, by the way. i tried, but the cake was all “noooo i’m hideous.” who am i to torture an already tortured … baked good?

a fresh look at pizza

it’s not just the greasy fast food it’s usually depicted as. i recently found a slew of new pizza recipes (sauceless ones!) in a recent issue of Real Simple and the one we tried last night really worked out well for me. since i’m so dissatisfied with my pizza sauce – and when i have time, if i survive flu season, i will be back to tinkering and trying new things to make me actually like my pizza sauce – i do a double-take when i see recipes that don’t include them. we made that lovely white pizza not long ago with the herbed ricotta that was really awesome and this tomato, scallion, and black olive pizza was one of those really perfect Friday night meals. we make so many different versions of pizza that i think it’s starting to become one of those meals that we really perfect and can execute well each time no matter what we do with it. i love the variations upon variations of pizza. here, i ended up including cheese even though the original recipe doesn’t because, well we love cheese in this house. even our Cracker-dog loves cheese. it’s his favorite meal. if you even say “cheese” he comes running and begging … so don’t be afraid to use cheese on this. don’t be a cheese hater. cheese never did anything to you.

Tomato, Scallion and Olive Pizza
recipe adapted from Real Simple magazine (i think)

You Need:
pizza dough
olive oil
like a 1/2 Tablespoon butter
italian seasoning
sea salt
1 1/2 tomatoes or 1 large tomato, sliced very thinly
scallions, green part, diced
black olives (we just used a small can of pre-sliced)
grated provolone
grated mozzarella

heat the oven to 425. roll out your dough on a floured counter and fit it onto a greased, sprinkled with cornmeal pizza pan. melt your butter with your olive oil and brush this onto the crust. sprinkle the italian seasoning and the sea salt all over the crust. bake it until it’s browned and mostly done to your liking. remove from the oven and sprinkle your cheeses on top. arrange the tomato slices first, then sprinkle with scallions and olives. bake this again until the cheese has melted and the crust has browned a deeper brown color.