The Russians

When someone in my family needs vodka, or to call out a hit, we turn to The Russians. When one of The Russians needs a birthday dinner, they turn to my family. For the Russian Daughter's birthday back in mid-August, my mom and I cooked up a Greek feast, which is every bit amazing as it sounds. In preparation, we bought two containers of Grandma's hummus from the farmer's market and 3 jumbo-sized bags of jumbo-sized fresh pita, made Greek salad (complete with olives and feta), spanikopita, vegetable moussaka, grilled chicken, falafel, and for dessert, the Russian Daughter requested cannoli (not entirely Greek, but delicious nontheless). So allow me to present: the cannoli.


This recipe caused me stress. I must admit that I've never fried anything before on my own, and nobody with any experience was at the house to assist. It's probably by some miracle that I didn't burn the house down... I got off to a bad start: the oil needs to be about 375 degrees, and I misread the thermometer and thought the oil was ready when it was only 275. Into the trash go the first 3 cannoli shells. A bummer, really, because we were expecting nine people and the recipe makes 12 shells, which meant I couldn't screw up again. But I did. Luckily, you can buy boxes of six empty cannoli shells from the grocery store (thank god!). Following recipe courtesy of my... great grandmother? (Mom, can I get confirmation on that?)

Cannoli

For the dough:
1 3/4 cup flour, divided
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp wine vinegar (this really makes the recipe!)
3 tbsp water
1 egg
2 tbsp soft butter

For the filling:
4 cups (2 lbs) Ricotta
1 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp vanilla
6 tbsp grated semisweet chocolate
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Add the sugar, salt, and cinnamon to 1 cup flour. Make a well and add the vinegar and water. Beat in the egg, then the butter. Add remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time until dough is solid and lifts out of the bowl. Knead on a lightly floured surface until soft and smooth, about 8 minutes. Refrigerate 1 hour to overnight.

Heat oil in a very large pan (or a deep frier if you have one) to 375 degrees F. Divide the dough evenly into 12 balls and roll each one into a very flat (1/16" or so) circle. Roll each circle once before forming to make ovals. Roll each oval, one at a time, onto a 6" by 1" (in diameter) cannoli tube and fry 2 minutes, turning once. Cool on newspaper for a few minutes before removing the tubes to use again. After you've fried all of the shells, set them aside to cool completely while you make the filling.

Cream the ricotta for about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat for an additional 4-5 minutes. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

To fill the cannoli, put the ricotta mixture in a very large ziplock bag and seal, then cut off one corner (or if you have some kind of jumbo-sized piping bags, that would work too). Fill both sides of each cannoli, then if you want, you can dip each end in melted chocolate and then chopped pistachios. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

These are best made the day of because after that, the shells tend to get soggy (but they're still good!).

Familial Bonds

My brothers and I have an understanding. For gift-giving holidays, they bequeath to me those items of a food-making nature, and rather than expressing my thanks with a Thank You card, I respond with something of a more practical nature (food, I make them food with my new food-making appliances). For my birthday this year I received from them knives of the utmost sharpness; a sleek, black crock pot for lazy - I mean busy - chefs; and (this post brought to you by) a bundt pan which bears a strong resemblance to that opera house in Sydney, Australia (you know the one). The bundt pan surrendured a peanut butter-banana cake with the sharpest corners I've ever been able to eat:

I used this recipe but instead of the accompanying chocolate frosting, I smothered my cake in a simple ganache.

Peanut Butter Banana Cake

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with a splash of vinegar)
3 medium bananas, mashed
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk to the batter, then stir in bananas (and walnuts, if using).

Pour batter into a greased bundt pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.



Chocolate Ganache

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

Heat chocolate chips and heavy cream in a double boiler, whisking constantly, until chocolate is completely melted. Let cool to room temperature or slightly warmer, then pour over the top of the cake.

Yum.

And yummm.

And have I mentioned, yum?

Up next: When Russians invade!

Why Sometimes You Should Listen to Your Mother

(Sometimes, mom, I said sometimes!) My mother had been systematically weaseling the words "tiramisu brownie" into our conversations for a while when a long-ago friend of her's brought his family over for a visit. Needless to say, my mom jumped at the opportunity to convince me to make this dessert for them. I was reluctant because 1) I had yet to really enjoy tiramisu at any point in my life, 2) I hadn't planned on baking that day and I like a little time for some forethought, and 3) my mother hadn't bought exactly the right ingredients for the job, some major ones were missing completely, others were slightly different, and I was on the verge of throwing a very toddler-esque fit. My mom is a "throw what you have into a bowl and bake" kind of a cook, but I get my method from my very neat, very organized, must-do-things-the-right-way-the-first-time father. Yikes, bad combination. Luckily my mom convinced me to improvise where I needed to and just get the damn things done already, which is where the listening-to-your-mother part comes in: sometimes they know what they're talking about. So I gathered my head and screwed it back on as straight as I could, and got to work.


The original recipe came from this book (which I didn't read. I tried, it's just not my cup of tea):

which called for cutting the brownies into strips, dunking them in a coffee mixture, and layering with the mascarpone mixture a la Legit Tiramisu. I, however, was freaking out enough as it was (not to mention we didn't even have the right ingredients for the dunking) and decided to make the brownies, soak them in weak coffee, and just bury underneath a layer of mascarpone. It worked out quite well.

Tiramisu Brownies
serves a lot and at the same time, not nearly enough

For the brownies:
1 cup shortening
4 1-oz squares unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt shortening and chocolate together in a double boiler. Cool to room temperature. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with a mixer on high speed until light. Stir in sugar, then add chocolate mixture and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients over chocolate/sugar mixture, then mix well. Pour into a greased 9-by-13 pan (mixture will be thicker than your typical brownie batter) and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.


For the topping:
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups whipping cream
16 oz. coffee-flavored mascarpone cheese*
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup weak, freshly brewed coffee, cooled
2 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped or grated
chocolate shavings

*if you can't find coffee-flavored mascarpone, mix a teaspoon or two of instant espresso powder into plain mascarpone


Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and milk in a 2-quart saucepan until smooth and blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. As soon as mixture reaches a boil, remove from heat. Immediately refrigerate until cool (or put it in an ice bath to cool it down faster).

With an electric mixer, beat whipping cream at high speed until it forms very stiff peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator.

Mix the mascarpone cheese and sugar. Stir in the yolk mixture. Fold in the whipped cream.


To assemble:
Poke holes in the top of the brownie with a fork and pour the coffee evenly over the surface. Sprinkle with chopped/grated semisweet chocolate. Spread the mascarpone topping over the brownie and garnish with chocolate shavings. Store in refrigerator and serve chilled.

A Very Merry Unbirthday To Me!

Today is not my birthday (it's probably not yours either) so I'm celebrating my unbirthday in preparation for my real birthday TOMORROW! I turn the big 2-0, which means I am no longer a teenager but an actual adult (yeah, right) and should probably start acting like one (yeah, right). I'm kicking things off by sharing with you a brownie dressed up for grownups: the cream cheese brownie.


I found this recipe from Ev on the Run and have to make them every so often because they are just that good.

Cream Cheese Brownies

For the cream cheese filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the brownies:
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9×9 inch square baking pan.
Combine cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 egg in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Stir 1/3 cup chocolate chips into the cream cheese mixture. Set aside.

Place 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 25 seconds and then stir. Repeat until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.

Stir in 1/2 cup sugar and 2 eggs, then sift flour, baking powder, and salt over the chocolate mixture and mix until evenly blended. (Don't over mix!) Add the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and stir.

Pour half of the batter into the 9×9 baking pan. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the chocolate layer and top with remaining chocolate mixture (this doesn’t need to completely cover the cream cheese layer). Using a knife, swirl the top chocolate layer into the cream cheese to make a marble pattern.
Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until top is crinkled and edges pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool before cutting and store in the fridge. Makes about 12-16 brownies.


Go on, take a bite.

Now just wait for my next post, where brownies become so classy they're practically middle-aged...

Hey, It's You! Wow! It's Been Ages!

Yeah, I did it again. I'll be surprised if my blog isn't suffering from abondonment issues by now... At least I can say I treat my cat better (although it's not like my blog doesn't have plenty of food). Anyhow, remember this caramel butter I made so long ago? And how it came with a surplus of delicious caramel buttermilk that I came dangerously close to drinking straight up out of the jar? Let me spin a tale of self control: I did not drink the buttermilk; I saved it to make these little orbs of happily-ever-after:


The best part about these pancakes is that they are indeed pancakes, so they're really easy to make and super delicious. You can use any buttermilk pancake recipe and just sub your caramel buttermilk (because I know you all went and made caramel butter and have just been absolutely dying to find out what to do with the buttermlk...) for the regular buttermilk. Alternately (because maybe there might be just one or two people who didn't make any caramel butter), you can whisk a few tablespoons of caramel into the wet ingredients of your pancake recipe. If you don't happen to have a go-to pancake recipe, however, here's the one that I used:

Caramel Buttermilk Pancakes
serves about 4

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
more butter (caramel or otherwise) for frying

Preheat your oven to about 150-200F with a baking sheet in the middle to keep your pancakes warm between the frying and the eating.

Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Whisk the wet ingredients in a different bowl and then pour into the well. Mix until just combined (there will be clumps of flour that you need not worry about).

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add a little butter (you be the judge) and let it melt, covering the surface of the pan. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the middle of the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip and cook the other side until it is golden brown. Transfer your pancake to the baking sheet in the oven and continue the process until you run out of batter.




Next, smother in copious amounts of butter and syrup

and watch some X-Files (not pictured). Or if pancakes are too much trouble for you, cut out the middle man and just swig some caramel buttermilk.

Happy Accidents

Butter is one of those things that is so easy to make and so much better homemade. Even better, you can add stuff to it (garlic butter, anyone?). And if you're trying to make caramel whipped cream but for some reason it surpasses the whipped cream stage and moves right on into butter - like what happened to my boyfriend's dad and sister - it's alright because it turns out that caramel butter is awesome. It's not too sweet or flavorful, so you can use it on savory foods as well as sweet ones. Like a grilled cheese, for instance. The butter's just sweet enough to bring out the savory flavors without being gross. At the same time, though, it's sweet enough to put on toast with jam. Or pancakes. Man, I'm hungry...

Anyway, I had some cream that I wanted to use up because it was going to go bad one day if I didn't, so I threw it in my food processor and started whirring. Somewhere just before the whipped cream stage, I realized I had some caramel and I decided to throw that in for a happy-accident-reenactment of sorts. And lucky for you guys (is anyone even out there?) I thought to take pictures throughout the process, so here is a recipe with step-by-step photos:

Caramel Butter

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
about 3-4 tablespoons caramel



Put all of your ingredients in a food processor, blender, or bowl with a mixer. Keep in mind that the cream becomes foamy and expands as it is churned, so you need to leave extra room in your processor/blender/bowl. This is the whipped cream stage:

Churn the cream until the buttermilk separates from the fat (past the whipped cream phase). Once the buttermilk has separated, pour all of the contents into a strainer set over a bowl. Using a spoon, gently squeeze the buttermilk out of the butter and reserve it in the bowl.


The separated butter and its buttermilk:

Transfer the butter to a piece of waxed paper and roll it up to form a log (you can also pack it into a small container if you prefer).


The buttermilk can be saved and used in other tasty recipes, like pancakes or buttermilk cake. Or you can drink it straight, that's pretty good too.

Is This Thing Still On?

So, it turns out that if you get a blog started, stick it in a dark corner of the interwebs and forget about it for a little while, it will sprout this odd mushroom-shaped, doughy substance that looks like this:

No, wait... sorry, my mistake. That's no world wide fungi, it's just a popover. I haven't had much spare time for baking adventures (what with work and summer school), but when my mom went on a wild rampage - tearing up most of the southwestern end of Austin - looking for a popover pan, I felt pretty obligated to reconnect with the oven once she'd finally found one. I searched the non-moldy parts of the internet for a recipe and found one called "Best Popovers Ever" which sounded promising, and I am happy to report that it fulfilled.

Best Popovers Ever
From Martha Stewart's Twitter Feed (edited to not sound like it came from a twitter feed)

4 cups flour
1 tbsp + 1 tsp salt
4 cups milk
8 eggs
10 oz grated gruyere
cooking spray

Place a 12 cup popover pan in the oven and heat to 350F.
Sift 4 cups flour with 1T+2t salt.
Heat 4 cups of milk.
Whisk 8 eggs slowly and add the milk & flour.
Spray the hot popover pan with cooking spray and fill just over 3/4 of the way with batter. Top with 5-10oz grated gruyere (depending on your preference) and bake 50 minutes. Invert to remove.


I halved this recipe because nobody (myself included) wanted to wait 2 hours for dinner and we only had a 6 cup popover pan, but 6 turned out to be more than enough! Also, I used about 2-3 oz of gruyere which turned out to be a pretty good amount, but if you want it cheesy then use the full amount.


If that isn't incentive enough to go make some popovers, they're yeast-free! and so easy and delicious! Also, word on the street is that you can make these in a muffin tin... but you didn't hear that from me.

Taffy, Klaus, and Mutiny at the Jalopy

My mom told me how she'd once read that taffy pulling became popular in the days of courting to keep amorous hands busy. I don't know if that's true but I like to think it is. I, however, had to pull this raspberry-flavored saltwater taffy all on my own because other hands were in other geographical locations. And let me tell you, it was quite a workout. But it was worth it!

Salt water taffy
Yields approx. 50 pieces/1.5 pounds

2 cups sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup water
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp flavoring oil or 1 tbsp flavoring extract of your choice
a few drops food coloring to match your flavor

Prepare a heat safe 8x8 dish and a spatula by lightly buttering it. If you are making more than one flavor, prepare a dish and spatula for each flavor. Have your food coloring and flavorings ready.

In a saucepan, sift together sugar and cornstarch. Stir in corn syrup, water, salt and butter. Place over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Cover pan and bring to a boil for 3 minutes. Uncover, place thermometer in pan and cook to 256 - 266 degrees F. The lower temperature will result in a chewier taffy, the higher a more brittle texture. Remove from heat and add food color and flavoring. Stir gently, then pour into prepared dish/pan.


When cool enough to handle (but still warm), butter your hands and pull the warm candy with your fingertips, pulling out to about 12 inches at first. Quickly turn candy back from fingertips of one hand to the other hand, then catch center and pull again. This will incorporate air into the candy.


Continue pulling until taffy is light in color and has a satiny gloss, about twenty minutes. Pull into a long rope and cut into small squares with greased scissors.


Wrap taffy in waxed paper squares, twisting ends to seal. Good luck finding a bowl big enough to hold it and enough people to eat it!


I'll be honest, I haven't had much trouble finding people to eat this. It's much better (and by that I mean easier to chew) if you warm up a piece in your hand or pocket for a few minutes before eating it.

On a completely different note, I got a kitten!

His name is Klaus (which is pronounced like "cloud" but with an s). My boyfriend's mom saved him from traffic on Brodie and let me adopt him, and am I ever glad she did! He used to be incredibly skittish because of his car trauma, but after a few days he warmed up to people and now he is super playful and affectionate! He is a lap cat:

Even my mom is excited to meet him (although she wouldn't openly admit that) and she is a dog person. And on one more completely different note, I wrote a blog post for the Jalopy and if you feel like devoting more of your time to the random crap I like to spout from my brain, flop on over here and read some words!

A Double Whammy. No- a TRIPLE Whammy!

Two posts in two days? What's this all about? I have been cooking up a storm, dear readers (more like a natural disaster, really). Yesterday I had a surprise day off from work so I made salt water taffy (more on that later...), and Sunday was my dad's birthday (happy birthday dad!) so I made him a cake. I went with angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream because his mom used to make that for him when he was growing up, and the oldest Schmitz offspring (we like to call him Beau) made Shiner Bock- and strawberry bourbon-flavored ice creams for accompaniment, both of which were amazing (granted though, the Shiner Bock was quite strange). He has some supernatural ability to make ice cream ridiculously creamy and delicious. Unfortunately, I didn't think to snap photos of the ice cream :(. And on top of all of that, I had 12 egg yolks left over from the angel food cake (which uses 12 whites), so I made lemon curd which I had been dying to make since the first time I'd heard of it, whenever that was. And the third whammy, which is a surprise whammy, awaits your attention at the end of this post.


Angel food cake is a glorious thing. Heavenly, even. Really lives up to it's name, it does. And when you top it with fresh, almond flavored whipped cream and strawberries... it becomes indescribable.

Angel Food Cake

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar, divided
12 egg whites, at room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the center of the oven. Have ready a 10 inch angel food cake pan (do NOT, under any circumstances, grease the pan).

In a medium bowl sift together 3/4 cup granulated white sugar and the sifted cake flour.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, lemon juice, and salt and continue to beat on low until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 3/4 cup granulated white sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, until glossy stiff peaks form (be careful not to over beat). Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract and almond extract.

Sift the flour mixture over the egg whites (about one quarter of the flour mixture at a time) and gently but quickly fold (do not stir) the flour into the egg whites with a large rubber spatula. (Folding instead of stirring incorporates the flour without deflating the egg whites that you've just spent so much time beating air into!)

Pour the batter into the ungreased pan (the cake batter needs to climb up the pan while it bakes; a greased pan won't allow it to do this, resulting in a very flat and dense cake) and bake in the preheated oven for about 40 - 45 minutes. The cake is done when a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when gently pressed. Do not over bake.

Immediately upon removing from the oven invert the pan. Suspend the pan by placing the inner tube on the top of a wine bottle or a flat topped glass. (Cooling the cake upside down allows the structure to set up without collapsing.) Allow the cake to cool for about 1 1/2 hours.

When completely cool, run a metal spatula or knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake, then remove the cake from the pan by turning upside down and slamming on the counter. Place the cake on your serving plate. To cut the cake, saw back and forth with a serrated knife, then serve and enjoy!


For the whipped cream, combine 2 cups whipping cream, 1/8 to 1/4 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you want it) and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Beat on high with a hand mixer until it reaches the consistency of whipped cream (but don't over beat it or you will end up with almond-flavored butter!). Serve immediately or chill, covered, in the fridge until ready to use.

With this celestial combination, you just can't go wrong. Incidentally, lemon curd also goes really well with angel food cake.


I've heard it said many times before, and I concur, that this stuff is sunshine captured in a jar.

Lemon Curd
Makes 3 cups

1 cup butter, cut into cubes and divided
1 cup sugar
zest of 4 lemons
juice from 4 lemons, plus enough to make 1 cup
10 egg yolks

In a heavy saucepan, combine 1/2 cup cubed butter, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and egg yolks. Whisk until everything but the butter is combined, then turn the heat to medium-medium-high, whisking constantly until the curd thickens and the whisk leaves a trail. Turn off the heat and add the remaining 1/2 cup butter, whisking until melted. Transfer the curd to 2 glass jars and chill in the refrigerator. Do with it what you will (I may or may not be eating it by the spoonful).


Are you ready for the third whammy? Well I have some preliminary information first. Remember my employment? It's at this truck here:

which used to be located about 30 feet from my building. However, it has since been relocated to the corner of 15th and San Antonio (which is only a few blocks from where it used to be), and the grand re-opening will be this Thursday. And now for the third whammy (I fear this phrase is quickly becoming exhausted): an original Table 7 creation will now be available to the general public! I have been given the responsibility/honor of making bread pudding with the stale loaves from the Jalopy, and after a few trial runs, I think we're about ready to release it upon request to Jalopy patrons!

It varies from chocolate chip to bourbon-soaked raisin, depending on my mood and the ingredients I have on hand. It sits upon a puddle of chocolate sauce and is topped with spiced bourbon-soaked cherries, almonds, and powdered sugar. And it is utterly delicious, if I may say so myself. I've had several people tell me that they don't even like bread pudding, but found mine delicious! Comments like that are the highest honor, the reason I do what I do. So I really hope you austinites come out to see me at work, get some sandwiches, and eat some bread pudding! If you've made it this far, many congratulations to you! Thanks for reading!

It's officially ice cream season

It's hot out, you guys. Even worse than the heat, though, is the humidity, which can make 80 degrees feel like 160 (and a 10 mile bike ride feel like 40 miles). So it's a good thing there's ice cream to lower those internal temperatures, eh? In honor of strawberry season, I opted for plain old, cold, creamy strawberry ice cream. It doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Strawberry Ice Cream
an original recipe by yours truly

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
Pinch salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. vodka (optional)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved

Method:
In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, strawberries, and lemon juice. Macerate with a fork and set aside.
Combine whole milk, 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup sugar in saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Whisk the egg yolks with 1/4 cup sugar and pinch of salt in a separate bowl. Once the milk mixture is steaming, temper it into the eggs by pouring a small amount at a time into the egg yoks, whisking constantly, then pour the custard back into the saucepan and heat until thickened (it should coat the back of a spoon).
Once the custard has thickened, pour through a sieve into a large bowl (this catches any bits of egg that might've cooked). Stir in remaining cream and vanilla extract. Add in strawberry mixture (I pulsed my strawberries in the food processor first because I didn't want big pieces in my ice cream) and chill in refrigerator until ready to churn.
Make ice cream according to maker's directions. In the last few minutes of churning, add the vodka if using (the alcohol keeps the ice cream from getting too hard/unscoopable in the freezer). Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until firm.


If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can add the vodka when you add the strawberries and then stick the whole mixture in the freezer. Every 30 minutes or so, remove it from the freezer and whisk/beat the mixture vigorously to break up ice crystals. Repeat this process until you've reached soft serve consistency. This method makes for a less creamy (but equally delicious) ice cream!

Then when you're subjected to an atrocious amount of summer heat, scoop some ice cream

and enjoy!

Triathletes and the Insanities They Suffer

It's been a long day, dear readers. Let me start off by apologizing for my cruddy photos before I move on to discuss my mother's early morning fit of insanity. In her defense, she wasn't the only one: this morning, 1500 very motivated females took part in the Danskin triathlon (which benefits breast cancer research, woop!). Three of those 1500 were my mom and her friends, Sue and Julie. I call them crazy because just watching a triathlon exhausts me, let alone actively participating (I wouldn't actually know). And I say it's been a long day because I managed to roll out of bed at 5:30 am (my dad might be able to take some credit here) in order to spectate. All three triathletes finished looking incredibly happy, so a big congratulations to them! Afterwards, I spent many an hour in the kitchen making strawberry ice cream (do I hear my next post calling?) and banana pudding to celebrate. But first, a story: While walking to the triathlon from the parking area at 6:30 this morning with the husbands and a son of the formerly mentioned triathletes, a bobcat darted across the road in front of us and promptly scaled a six-foot barbed wire fence, to which one-year-old James declared, "meow!" It was adorable.

And now for a few words on banana pudding (more apologies for my disjointedness. This post is all over the place!). I like to think I make a pretty good banana pudding, but I've been absolutely forbidden to reveal the recipe, or my mom would have my head! Fortunately for you, the key is to do nothing. I mean, you have to make a vanilla pudding (you could even spring for the instant-from-a-box kind, but if you have the time, I strongly recommend making your own) and then layer it with Nilla wafers and sliced bananas, but then you just stick it in the fridge and don't touch it for a few hours (overnight is awesome). This lets the flavors meld together so that the pudding is less like separate components forced to inhabit the same container and more like tasty ingredients that want to be best friends.


I'll give you a second to cringe at the lighting (or lack thereof) in this picture... And so that you're not left empty handed, here's a recipe for vanilla pudding which is not the one I use, but which looks promising:
Vanilla Pudding
(adapted from the New York Times Cookbook)

• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 cups whole milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a heavy saucepan mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt. Gradually whisk in the milk, then whisk in the egg yolks. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture boils and thickens. Immediately remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla. Set aside to cool for about an hour, whisking occasionally.

To make banana pudding, spread a small amount of the cooled pudding in the bottom of a container, making sure the entire surface is covered. Cover with a layer of Nilla wafers, and then add a layer of thinly sliced banana. Cover the bananas with another layer of pudding, then a layer of Nilla wafers and a layer of sliced banana, respectively. Repeat until you've used all of the pudding, making sure to end with a layer of either pudding or Nilla wafers (but NOT banana- you don't want any banana exposed to the air or it will brown terribly). Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours or overnight. When ready to serve, spread a layer of whipped cream over the top of the pudding, then dig in!



And a final CONGRATULATIONS!! to all the 2010 Danskin participants, but especially to my mom, Sue, and Julie!

The Pie Hole (caution: possible spoilers lurk)

Have you guys ever seen that show "Pushing Daisies"? It was this really awesome show on ABC about a pie maker who can bring people back from the dead for 1 minute, but if he doesn't re-kill them before the minute is over, then someone else dies instead. Unfortunately, it joined some of its fellow great shows (see: Arrested Development) in the tv afterlife. There was one episode in Pushing Daisies where a dead girl adds cheese to the crust of a pie for her aunts (who don't know she's out of her grave) because she knows they love cheese. Since seeing that episode (here comes my point), I wanted to make an apple pie with a cheddar crust. And make an apple pie with a cheddar crust I did (twice).

The recipe I used for this pie called for half of a pound of extra-sharp cheddar in the crust, but I felt like I was eating gold fish (as in the cracker, not the living creature) encrusted apple filling. Now, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but I'm not saying it's a good thing either... So when my dear mother requested this to serve to my kindergarten teacher (turned family friend), I opted for regularly-sharp cheddar, no "extra"s to be found. The mellower cheese really helped the apples shine without being overpowering and out of place, and it didn't taste like a fancy version of a kid's after-school snack. Next Thanksgiving, I highly recommend adding cheese to your apple pie to take it up a couple levels. The First Thanksgiving feasters would approve.


Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust

For crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lb sharp cheddar, grated
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water
1 tablespoon milk

For filling:
2 medium Gala apples
3 large Granny Smith apples
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Make crust:
Stir together flour, salt, and cheese in a large bowl. Add butter and shortening and blend with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size lumps. Drizzle 6 tbsp ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.
Squeeze a small handful; If the dough doesn’t hold together, add more ice water, 1 tbsp at a time, stirring until incorporated. (Be careful not to over-stir the dough or it will become tough.) Turn dough out onto a work surface and divide in half, then form each half into a 5-inch disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Make filling and bake pie:
Peel and core apples, then cut into 1/4 inch pieces. Toss with sugar, flour, lemon juice, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg until evenly coated.
Put a foil-lined baking sheet in the middle of your oven and preheat to 450°F.
Roll out 1 piece of the dough (keep the remaining disk chilled) on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch pie dish. Roll out the remaining piece of dough into an 11-inch round.
Transfer the filling to the pie dish and dot with the 2 tbsp butter, then cover with the top crust. Press edges together and trim off overhang. Lightly brush the top crust with milk, then cut 5 (1-inch-long) vents.
Bake on the hot baking sheet for 20 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375°F and bake until crust is golden-brown and filling is bubbling, about 40 more minutes. Cool long enough to eat without scalding your taste buds, then serve.

As you can maybe tell from my picture, I decided to do a lattice top crust because I think it looks cool. If you concur, check out this excellent how-to, which has pictures showing how to make a lattice top (it's really, really easy, I promise!). I tried to find a video demonstration, but most of them were annoying right from the start or used rulers to measure the dough strips, which I absolutely will not stand for! No rulers in baking, that's my rule #2. (Rule #1 is don't stress, because I tend to do that and a flat cookie is just not the end of the world.) What was I talking about? Oh right, pie. Go make this pie just so you can eat it warm a la mode. And then go watch Pushing Daisies or Arrested Development or something.