Search This Blog

Monday, April 26, 2010

How Risks Can Lead to Reward: A Delicious Tale

There is nothing in this world quite like the first bite of a crunchy, melty, gooey, chocolately s'more. Except for maybe the next bite, not to mention the second s'more. But that's besides the point, which is this: s'mores are delicious. And after having made an absurdly over-sized batch of marshmallows, I figured some of those should have the privilege of being displayed in their proper place between a graham cracker and a piece of Hershey's chocolate. However, I had to take it one step further. Many moons ago I saved a recipe for s'mores bars because really, how could you go wrong? And on surveying said recipe, I was disappointed to see this last looming ingredient: 1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff, not melted marshmallows. Why not melted marshmallows? What would happen? You guys, I have a confession. I do not understand marshmallow chemistry. I'm sorry, science has never been my strong point. So I looked for other s'mores bar recipes, and while there's a slight tweak here and there, they all specify no marshmallows. But by gad, I had marshmallows and I wanted to use them. So I did. And they were delicious.


Granted, the marshmallows did melt and become very sticky and kind of chewy, but these were SO GOOD that I didn't care. In fact, I really liked the weird texture of my melted marshmallows; it gave a little character to the s'mores bars. If you have the option between marshmallows and marshmallow fluff without having to make a special trip the the store, I would probably recommend the marshmallow fluff. Really though, these were amazingly delicious anyway.

Smores Bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 King size or 3 regular Hershey's bars
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff (or about 15 marshmallows cut in half if you want to stick it conventional methods)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*F and grease an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Slowly add this to the butter mixture.
4. Press half the dough into an even layer covering the bottom of the greased pan.
5. Place the chocolate on top, arranging it to cover as much of the surface as possible.
6. Spread the fluff on top of the chocolate, using a greased spatula to smooth the top. (Or, if you decided to go the devil-may-care route, place marshmallow halves on top of the chocolate, covering most of it.)
7. In sections at a time, flatten the remaining dough and place it on top of the marshmallow, covering completely.
8. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned.




My brother's birthday (22! happy birthday George!) is this week and I might have a couple things planned, so stay tuned listeners. It's about to get intense.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Here's to Fulfilling Promises

A short while ago (a very short while, this is only post four after all) I said I would post an original recipe which I did not steal - nay, borrow - from another blog. So here it is.


Yes, it is oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough, but also no, it is not just oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough. When I first really got into baking as a hobby, I made primarily healthy stuff because my mom and brother are chronic exercisers, and biking on junk food is the most uncomfortable feeling. I adapted a lot of recipes by replacing butter with bananas and that sort of thing, and one thing led to another and then to healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! I'll be honest with you though, dear readers, these don't taste like the sweet, gooey oatmeal cookies that are essentially butter meets sugar. These are chewy, banana-y, cinnamony, chocolatey-sweet little mounds of satisfaction. They are the lovechild born of a granola bar/cookie romance, and so I deem them granola cookies.


Granola Cookies
an original Table 7 recipe

3 over-ripe bananas (the browner, the better)
2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mash bananas in a big mixing bowl with a fork and mix in rolled oats and applesauce.
3. Add vanilla and cinnamon, stirring to combine.
4. Add pecans, coconut and chocolate chips.
5. At this point, you can either let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes or add about 1/4 cup of whole wheat or all purpose flour to make the dough stick together.
6. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten slightly with a fork (these cookies won't spread so feel free to place them right next to eachother).
7. Bake for about 12 minutes or until slightly browned.

These cookies are extremely versatile and pretty much impossible to mess up. You can replace the pecans, coconut and chocolate chips with whatever you want, and last time I made these, I used a little applesauce, yogurt and some milk instead of the 3/4 cup applesauce. You can add peanut butter. If you want them sweeter, you can add some honey or agave nectar or whatever. Seriously you guys, anything you want! (Just make sure your dough holds together so your cookies don't fall apart!)


Granted, they may not look like much, but they are DELICIOUS (if I may say so myself).

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Delicious Clouds of Pure Sugar

Nope, not cotton candy. It's so much better than that. It's homemade marshmallows:

Haha ohhh man... But no, seriously this time:

I'd been wanting to try homemade marshmallows for a long time, but when candy thermometers and gelatin are involved in my kitchen endeavors... well that changes things. After conquering yeast while making bageldogs, however, I had some faith in myself and decided to give these marshmallows from Ezra Pound Cake a try. And, in case you were wondering, it's true what they say: homemade marshmallows are way better than the store-bought variety.

For the first time I figured I'd stick to the basic vanilla flavor, but if I make these again I'm definitely breaking out the Bailey's. Or the Kahlua...


Marshmallows
adapted from Ezra Pound Cake

plenty of powdered sugar (for dusting)
3 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or flavoring of your choosing


1. Grease a 13 by 9 inch baking pan with oil or nonstick spray, and dust it thoroughly with powdered sugar.

2. Pour the cold water into a large bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Set it aside to soften.

3. Set a large saucepan on the stove with a candy thermometer clipped to the side. Add the granulated sugar, corn syrup, hot water and salt, and cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the sugar is dissolved.

4. Turn up the heat to medium, and bring the mixture to a boil (without stirring it!) until your candy thermometer reads 240°F. This takes a few minutes, so don't get distracted and forget about it like I almost did (twice).

5. When the sugar mixture reaches 240°F, take the pan off the stove and pour the sugar mixture over the gelatin mixture. Stir it to disolve the gelatin.

6. Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture on high speed until it’s bright white, thick and nearly tripled in volume.

7. In a separate bowl with clean beaters, beat your egg whites until they just hold stiff peaks.

8. Add the egg whites and vanilla (or whatever flavoring) to the sugar mixture, and beat until everything is just combined.

9. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and sift powdered sugar over the top of the marshmallow. I recommend laying a piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap directly on top of the powdered sugar at this point to create a seal and prevent the top of your marshmallow from drying out.

10. Pop the pan into the refrigerator, and let the mixture chill until it’s firm. This will take at least 3 hours, but you can leave it in the fridge for up to 24.

11. When your marshmallow is ready, run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen. Turn the pan upside-down on a large cutting board, and starting at one corner, use your fingers to loosen the marshmallow from the pan so that it falls onto the board.

12. Using a knife or scraper, cut the marshmallow into 1-inch cubes by pressing down rather than sawing back and forth.

13. Sift some more powdered sugar into a bowl and add marshmallows in batches, tossing them to evenly coat in sugar.


This makes a lot of marshmallows but fear not! they probably won't last very long. You can keep them in an air tight container at room temperature for about a week, or just eat them all immediately and suffer the consequences of sugar-overload before the sugar coma kicks in.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Better Than a Corndog, Dear Readers



Yup, it's a bageldog. Actually, 12 bageldogs, and right now they are lounging on the cooling rack before I formally introduce them to my freezer. Lately I've been dealing with the all too familiar "what's for dinner?" conundrum. Being a broke college student, I've been trying to spend less liberally, which generally entails driving to my parents' house for dinner (guess where I am now!). However, I decided the other day to cook up some food that I can stick in the freezer until I'm hungry, hot pocket style. So to kick off this phase, I give you the BagelDog from Food People Want. (One day I will post a recipe of my own that I didn't snag from another blog, but in the meantime... is anyone complaining?)

BagelDogs
from Food People Want
makes 12

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water
2 packages active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons table salt
5 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
12 quality all-beef hot dogs (I used Hebrew National)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 egg yolk plus 1 tablespoon water, lightly beaten
Sesame seeds, poppy seeds and/or coarse salt for garnish


Method:

Pour the water into a large bowl and sprinkle with the yeast. Let the mixture stand about five minutes or until foamy, then stir in the sugar and salt.

Gradually add the flour, mixing until the dough comes together. Turn dough out onto a well-floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a ball and place it into a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to grease all sides (and hold onto that floured work surface, you'll need it again). Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and knead briefly to eliminate air bubbles and turn the dough out onto your floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rectangle until it’s about a 1/4-inch thick, adding flour as necessary to keep it from sticking. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut 12 1-inch pieces of dough.

Dry the hot dogs thoroughly. Starting at one end of a hot dog, wrap the dough around, overlapping slightly as you make your way to the other end. Tuck in the ends to keep them from unraveling. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet (you will need two of these) and repeat with remaining hot dogs and strips of dough. Cover loosely with kitchen towels and let stand in a warm place for about 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Fill a deep, heavy pot with water and add the baking soda, then bring to a boil. Working 2 to 3 bagels at a time, carefully drop the bageldogs into the boiling water. After 30 seconds turn with a slotted spoon and boil for another 30 seconds. Lift out of the water and dry each bageldog well on a kitchen towel before returning to the parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining bageldogs.

Brush the bagels with the egg glaze and sprinkle on your garnish of choice. Bake for about 35 minutes or until nicely browned and crusty. Make sure to check on the bageldogs every 5 to 10 minutes, switching out or turning the baking sheets as needed. Mine cooked quickly and very unevenly, and I had to rearrange the pans every few minutes. Serve warm or let cool on a wire rack.


Yeah, these were quite a bit of work, but it's raining out and they are well worth it! And as an added bonus, I had some leftover dough so I fixed up a couple of bagels topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and a little onion powder. My Jewish, New York mother approves, so you know these are good!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Introductory Post!



Well, hello there, blogosphere! Welcome to this first post of my food blog. I'm Julia, an avid baker, first time blogger. I've been baking for years but only recently decided that I wanted to start cataloging my culinary adventures, so here I am. Today I showed up at my parents' house for dinner, and my mom started in with the "do you feel like baking today?" routine. Did I feel like baking! She requested these Lemony Blueberry Streusel Bars from RecipeGirl which I've made in the past, to which I happily obliged. They are a tiny bit involved, but so incredibly worth it. The crust is buttery, sweet, and the slightest bit salty, while the filling is creamy and tart with delicious little bursts of blueberry flavor. Yum!



Lemony Blueberry Streusel Bars
RecipeGirl.com
Yields about 24 bars.

8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 large egg, separated
14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups room-temperature blueberries, washed and drained on paper towels

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9×13-inch metal baking pan with foil, leaving a 1-inch overhang on the ends. Spray foil with cooking spray- bottom and sides of the pan.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Using a pastry cutter (or your fingers), blend the butter completely into the flour mixture. Transfer 2 cups of the crumb mixture to another bowl and reserve for the topping.

3. Blend the egg white into the remaining crumbs and then press the mixture into the bottom of the pan to form a level crust. Use the bottom of a flat, wide glass to tap the mixture and even it out. (The crumbs stuck to the bottom of the glass, so now I just pour the mixture into the baking dish and press it flat with the palm of my hand).

4. Bake the crust 10-12 minutes, or until it starts to form a dry top.

5. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk condensed milk, lemon juice & zest, and egg yolk. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes to thicken.

6. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over hot crust and then drop spoonfuls of the lemon mixture over the blueberries. Spread gently with a spatula to distribute as evenly as you can. Bake until lemon mixture begins to form a shiny skin, 7 to 8 minutes.

7. Sprinkle reserved crumble topping over the lemon-blueberry layer, pressing the streusel between your fingers into small lumps as you sprinkle. Bake until filling is bubbly at the edges and the topping is brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

8. Let bars cool in the pan on a rack until just warm, about an hour. Carefully lift them out of the pan using the foil overhang and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove foil and cut into 24 bars when cool. (If you have time to chill the bars, they’re easier to cut cleanly when chilled).



If you, dear reader, are a fan of lemon and/or blueberry, I highly recommend you make these.