Daring Baker’s January Challenge
January 27th, 2010

Nanaimo Bars

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca

As a resident of British Columbia Canada I was excited to see a dessert that is not only a Canadian favourite but also a very BC oriented dessert.  Nanaimo bars are not something that I had heard of prior to moving to Canada, and even the first time I tried them I wasn’t all that impressed.

Not only was I new to nanaimo bars but also to gluten free baking, something that was a great element to this months challenge.  Lauren did a great job of finding a recipe that would challenge many of us to try a form of baking we hadn’t tried before.

Making our own graham crackers but gluten free was my favourite part of this months challenge.  I was happy to find all of the flours needed and was pleasantly surprised to find that the graham crackers were sooo yummy.  Gluten free baking tastes just as great, if not better, than regular baking.  After making the graham crackers I found myself sneaking bites because they were seriously that good.

Who knew?!?

As I was putting together the custard middle layer I thought I would try and make it even more ‘Canadian’ by making the middle layer a maple custard.  Something I have learned since moving to Canada is that people here are serious about their maple syrup.  And rightly so, it is really rather good.

This was truly a challenge this month as half way through the custard layer I realized that I was out of powdered sugar.  After a bit of researching on the internet I found that I could simply put regular sugar in my cuisinart and pulse it until it became powder.  How exciting!  If I was do make my own powdered sugar again I would make sure to pulse it longer as my sugar was still a bit granular.

A big thank you to Lauren for creating such a great challenge I really felt like my baking was challenged this month.  For the first month since starting Daring Baker’s I made them within the first week of the challenged being posted.  I was just so excited to try something new and exciting.

Gluten Free Graham Crackers

1 cup Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)

3/4 cup Tapioca Starch/Flour

1/2 cup Sorghum Flour

1 cup Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed

1 teaspoon Baking soda

3/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt

7 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)

1/3 cup Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.

5 tablespoons Whole Milk

2 tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.  Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.

When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

1/4 cup Granulated Sugar

5 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa

1 Large Egg, Beaten

1 1/4 cups Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)

1/2 cup Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)

1 cup Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons Heavy Cream

2 tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder

2 cups Icing Sugar

Top Layer

4 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate

2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

 

2
Tags: , , , | Posted in Baking, Daring Bakers |
Steak and Mushrooms
January 26th, 2010

When planning out my meals every week I like to ask my husband if there is anthing he would like to eat that week.  He is a very easy going guy especially when it comes to food so it definitely makes my job that much easier.

Most of the time he will throw out a few different ideas off the top of his head or even go as far as to do a little looking on the internet for inspiration.  The one dish that I can confidently say is one of his favourites is steak and mushrooms.  Whenever it gets suggested I am all for it because you really can’t go wrong with steak and mushrooms. 

So here is one of our favourite meals complete with my absolute favourite vegetable, brussel sprouts.  Add a glass of wine are your evening is complete.

0
Tags: , | Posted in Beef |
Auntie Dort’s Peanut Butter Fudge
January 20th, 2010

Peanut Butter Fudge

Auntie Dort is a sort of adopted Grandma who has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  As my grandparents friend she has always been around for all of lifes big events.  Since my grandparents have passed away she has continued to be the grandma in our lives.

Every year Auntie Dort makes her famous almond roca and peanut butter fudge which are both amazing.  We try and visit her around the holidays and she always has a plate of fresh peanut butter fudge waiting for us.  My older sister is convinced that the fudge is for her, but I know that regardless of who she is making it for I will eat it until my stomach hurts.

So this year I decided that I was going to try my hand at making her peanut butter fudge.  Come to find out that it is actually very easy.  All these years I had this idea about her fudge being only something she could make with all of her baking experience.  Now I know that I can make it and it tastes just as wonderful as hers.

It is always nice to learn new things in the kitchen especially when for years you thought you couldn’t do it.  My skills continue to expand and thanks to encouragement from my family and friends I slowly becoming a more confident cook.

Peanut Butter Fudge

Courtesy of Auntie Dort

3 cups sugar

3 tablespoons White Corn Syrup

1 cup milk

1 cup chunky peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cube butter

Mix together sugar, syrup and milk.  Cook over medium heat without stirring except once around the edge with a wooden spoon.  Cook to soft ball stage,235 degrees, and remove for the heat.  Add the peanut butter, vanilla and butter and cool to luke warm.  Beat until creamy and put in a pan to cool.  Cut and serve.

1
Tags: , | Posted in Baking |
Rustic Potato Soup
January 3rd, 2010

This will be my last time guest blogging for Kimberly while she is on vacation.  They will be back on Monday and I know she will be so excited to start cooking again in the next week.

Every week my husband and I pick meals we want to eat for the following week, this way we can do all the grocery shopping we need to during the weekend and not have to stop at the grocery store on the way home from work throughout the week.  This last week my husband searched my cookbooks to find some new things.  The Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps were one of the recipes, but he also picked out a Rustic Potato Soup.  Given the time of the year, I love to eat soup, when there are potatoes in it, it makes me so happy!  I am a carb lover.  This recipe did not disappoint.  The leeks and the kale made it so filling and added wonderful flavor to the soup.  It is very much like a family favorite Zuppa Toscana, like Olive Gardens.  I will definitely be making this again, especially since it is so fast and easy.

soup

Rustic Potato Soup

courtesy of America’s Test Kitchen Fast & Fresh Recipe Card Collection

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 pounds red potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 pound kielbasa, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 large leeks, white and light green parts only, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced thin crosswise

1/2 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves cut crosswise into 1/4 inch strips (about 4 packed cups)

Pepper

1. Bring broth, potatoes, and bay leaf to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.  Discard bay leaf.  Using potato masher, coarsely break up potatoes, leaving some large chunks.

2. Meanwhile, melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat.  Cook kielbasa, stirring frequently, until lightly browned in spots, about 4 minutes.  Add leeks and cook until soft, about 4 minutes.

3. Add potato mixture and kale to Dutch oven and simmer until kale is tender, about 5 minutes.  Season with pepper and serve.

0
Posted in Sausage, Soup |
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
December 29th, 2009

Hello!  This is Kimberly’s younger sister Megan.  I am the other guest blogger, while Kimberly and her husband are on their beach vacation.  I am the sister that got her addicted to reading food blogs, which caused her to start this blog for all of you.

Tonight I made Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps from the America’s Test Kitchen Fast & Fresh Recipe Card Collections.  This is a book I have had for 3 years and I have never gotten to this recipe.  My husband and I are always up for trying new recipes and eating anything Asian.  If you came to our house you would find us eating asian food 5+ times a week.  We LOVE it.  This recipe did not upset.  We have had many varieties of lettuce wraps in the past, though this is nothing like the restaurant lettuce wraps we have had before, this was a sweet alternative to an all-time favorite.

As a side dish to this meal I decided a pork egg roll and edamame would be delicious.  I just buy frozen edamame and cook it and top it with sea salt.  This is a favorite as a quick vegetable to add to any of our asian inspired meals throughout the week.

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Fast & Fresh Recipe Collection

1 head iceberg lettuce

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sambal oelek, chile garlic sauce

2 tablespoons water

5 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetableoil

1 pound ground chicken

salt and pepper

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 (8oz) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped fine

5 scallions, chopped

1/2 cup grated carrot

1. Remove 8 large, bowl-shaped leaves from head of lettuce; reserve remaining lettuce for another use.  Whisk hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sambal oelek and water together in measuring cup.  Combine garlic, ginger and 2 teaspoons of oil in small bowl.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking.  Cook chicken, stirring to break up clumps, until just cooked through, about 3 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and transfer into bowl.

vegetables

3. Chop vegetables while the chicken is cooking.

20091229-DSC_0088
Finished Product

4. Add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet and heat until just smoking.  Add bell pepper, water chestnuts, scallions, and carrots and cook pepper until softens,a bout 3 minutes. Clear center of skillet, add garlic mixture, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add chicken and sauce and stir until thickened, about 30 seconds.  Spoon mixture into lettuce leaves and serve.

1
Posted in Chicken, salad |
Antipasto Penne
December 28th, 2009

This is guest blogger Jennifer again.

Last night for dinner I tried Cooking Light’s ( December 2009) Antipasto Penne and Steamed Broccoli.  It was a quick and easy recipe and had lots of goodies in it.  My husband doesn’t really like store bought pesto and thought that overpowered the other ingredients.  You really have to be a pesto lover to like this one.  There are a few changes I would make next time – toss pasta in olive oil and basil instead of pesto, find sundried tomatoes that are just packed in olive oil and rinse them really well before putting in and make bigger chunks of the prosciutto. I will definitely make this again.  It would be a great potluck dish.

IMG_3014

Antipasto Penne

Courtesy of Cooking Light

1  medium red bell pepper

1/2  cup  pitted kalamata olives, chopped

1/3  cup  refrigerated pesto

3  ounces  prosciutto, chopped

1  (7-ounce) jar oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves, drained and chopped

1  (6-ounce) jar marinated quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

8  ounces  uncooked penne pasta (about 2 cups)

1/2  cup  (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, divided

1/4  cup  pine nuts, toasted

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Cut bell pepper in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 8 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let stand 5 minutes. Peel and chop bell pepper; place in a large bowl. Stir in olives, pesto, prosciutto, tomatoes, and artichokes.

3. Cook the pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Add cooked pasta and 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to bell pepper mixture, and toss gently to combine. Spoon about 1 cup pasta mixture into each of 6 bowls, and sprinkle each serving with 2 teaspoons remaining cheese and 2 teaspoons pine nuts.

Steamed Broccoli

Courtesy of Jennifer Hefford-Anderson

Steam one pound of broccoli and toss in lemon juice, olive oil and cracked black pepper

2
Posted in Pasta, Pork |
Bailey’s Vanilla Bean Fudge
December 27th, 2009

Kimberly and her husband are on their way to sunny Hawaii for a holiday/vacation this week.  While she is gone she asked me to do a couple of guest posts on her blog.  So here we go.

I am Jennifer, Kimberly’s older sister.  I am a stay at home mom in Seattle of two lovely little boys and enjoy baking and cooking as much as I can (which with 2 little ones isn’t as often as I would like to).  This is my first attempt at food photography and food blogging, but hey you have to try everything once.

The inspiration for this recipe came from my sister in law’s love of fudge. I thought for Christmas that I would make her a few types of fudge.  So I set out on my search for some good recipes.  In my search through tastespotting.com I came across Not So Humble Pie.  She had some amazing fudge recipes so I decided to try them.  My favorite was the Bailey’s Vanilla Bean Fudge.  The result was a creamy and smooth vanilla fudge with a hint of Bailey’s.  This has become a new holiday favorite of ours – our entire family loved it.  Enjoy!

IMG_2964

Bailey’s Vanilla Bean Fudge

Courtesy of Not So Humble Pie

2 cups granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1/3 cup heavy cream (40% milk fat)
1/2 cup plus one tablespoon Baileys Irish cream
2 cups good quality white chocolate chips
1/2 vanilla bean scraped, reserving seeds
7 ounce jar marshmallow creme

Line a 9×9 inch pan with foil and coat with a little butter or nonstick spray.

Combine sugar, butter, heavy cream and Irish creme into a heavy bottomed sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, attach a candy thermometer and reduce the heat to a hair above medium low and cook for 7-10 minutes until your thermometer reads 234°F , stirring constantly.

Once your mixture hits the appropriate temperature, remove from heat and add the white chocolate chips, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla bean and marshmallow creme and mix until well blended.

Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and allow to cool on a wire rack until room temperature.

1
Tags: , , | Posted in Party Food |
Daring Baker’s December Challenge
December 26th, 2009

IMG_4043

Gingerbread House

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I had very mixed feelings about this months challenge both excitement and dread.  At first I was really excited to make my first gingerbread house from scratch.  I had all these lofty ideas of recreating a famous building from here in Vancouver, but that was very short lived.  After a few weeks of thinking I finally decided to make the dough and that was when I realized maybe I should be a bit more realistic.

Over the first couple weeks of December I was following along with others that were having problems with the dough, which wasn’t very encouraging.  I was convinced that mine was going to work out great.  As I put the wet ingredients together in my kitchenaid I was feeling pretty good, that was until I saw that the recipe called for 9 cups of flour!  How did I miss that?  I don’t even have 9 cups of white flour, so I ended up using 4 cups of whole wheat flour as well.

IMG_3973

As you can see from the picture, there was so much flour, I was pretty skeptical that all of that flour was going to fit in my mixer.  As I began adding the flour I realized half way through that I was in trouble, there was no way it was all going to mix with the little amount of liquid the recipe called for.  And it definitely wasn’t going to fit in my mixer.  I found myself going back to the recipe to make sure that I had included everything.  Sure enough I had, but goodness it is so dry.

I decided the only way to mix it all together was to move the wet ingredients to the large bowl the flour was in and just mix it with my hands.  A word of advise though would be to take off your rings before you start doing that, I was left with some very messy rings.

IMG_3974

After finally getting the dough mixed together I again was skeptical that it was going to stay together enough to actually roll out.  Anna assured everyone that after you let it rest in the fridge for 4 hours it comes together, so that is what I did.  After 4 hours of resting in the fridge I was a bit discouraged because it was just as dry as when I put it in the fridge.  I decided to just go ahead and freeze the dough and deal with it the following weekend.

Thankfully over the week that I waited to tackle the dough again, many more of my fellow Daring Baker’s had tried different things and came up with some great solutions for the dry dough.  Come to find out that it was better to weigh the dough than to use it by volume.

After thawing my dough I added a bit more whipping cream, kneaded it a bit and it was ready to be rolled out.  Since I scaled back my plan I definitely didn’t need all the dough that was made so unfortunately I ended up tossing half of the dough.  If I was to do this again I would plan a little better and make a half recipe instead.

House Plan IMG_4018

Thanks again to more of my fellow Daring Baker’s suggestions I rolled out the dough between pieces of saran wrap and then cut them while on pieces of parchment so that I didn’t have to move them after cutting.

At this point in the process I was kind of just ready to be done but I pushed ahead to make some royal icing while the gingerbread was cooking so I could start assembling.  After the gingerbread cooled a bit I was ready to assemble which surprisingly was done in record time.

After 20 minutes or so I had a finished gingerbread house that didn’t look too stable, probably because I put it up so quick.  If I was to do this again I would do it with another person, it is just a bit boring to do all these steps an sit there and decorate alone, I should have had my husband make one too.

The end result was a cute gingerbread house that my husband almost immediately started eating after taking the pictures.

IMG_4030

2 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 1/4 cup molasses

9 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons baking soda

1 tablespoons ground ginger

In a very large bowl, with wire wisk, beat frown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth.  In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and ginger.  With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until all the flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.

Divide dough into 4 equal parts, flatten each into a disk to speed chilling.  Wrap each disk well in plastic wrap and refridgerate atleast 4 hours until doug is firm enough to roll.

Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time between two pieces of plastic wrap and cut into desired shapes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Chill for 10 minutes prior to baking if the dough seems soft.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until pieces are firm to the touch, do not over bake.

2
Tags: , | Posted in Baking, Daring Bakers |
Long Overdue Sushi Making
December 20th, 2009

First Sushi RollMaking SushiFinished Sushi Roll

I do have to confess something about this post, it is a bit overdue.  We made sushi back in July!  I have had every intention of writing about it but one thing or another kept me from doing it, mostly out of laziness.  I have had the pictures in my inbox for the entire time saying to myself as long as I keep them in plain sight then I will eventually write the post.

I am happy to say I am finally writing the post.

Sushi is a food that my love for it comes and goes.  For many years I enjoyed it and then I got to the point where although I didn’t hate it I felt like I could only have a couple pieces before I was done.  Well I am back to a love of sushi and thought it was about time to make my own.

Sean and I have some wonderful friends in Qualicum Beach who are gracious enough to give us their daughter Amy’s room whenever we want to come visit, which is not nearly often enough.  We have been hearing for year’s about Erik’s homemade sushi and with my renewed love of sushi we decided to get all the makings and roll ourselves some sushi.

What I loved about this whole process was that Erik and Danielle got all the different ingredients together and then we just went about creating any sort of roll we wanted.  We had tuna, avocado, cream cheese, salmon, crab, cucumber and some spicy sauce.

Erik explained the importance of good sushi rice and the whole process that goes into it, little did I know that the rice was so important.  He then showed us the basics of rolling both with rice on the inside and on the outside and then we were creating our sushi.

Sushi towerSushi Tower 3Sushi tower 2

As we made our tower of sushi I thought that there was no way we were going to be able to eat all that food.  Little did I know that Amy and Lydia, Erik and Danielle’s daughters, were such huge sushi fans and that when challenged Sean and Erik will egg eachother on until they have stuffed themselves sick.  Thanks to these two things we finished all the sushi and were ready for a bit of a nap.

We had a wonderful visit with the Weisner family and hopefully there are many more sushi visits in our future.

3
Tags: | Posted in Seafood |
Afternoon of Baking
December 15th, 2009

Black Bottom Coconut Bar

Baking is something that I really enjoy the only problem I find with baking is that I really don’t want to have all the baked goods in my house.  I am weak when it comes to sweets and I know that I would eat them all and I am really trying to be good over the holiday season.  My solution to that problem is to bake lots of things and then give them away to either family or coworkers.

For a second weekend in a row I did some serious baking, but this time I was fortunate enough to go over to friends house and use her big kitchen for all things baking.  We weren’t sure what we wanted to make since we are tired of making all the usuals, so I set out on the internet to get some good ideas of holiday treats and came across Martha Stewarts suggestions.

I am not normally a Martha Stewart fan, but she had some really good ideas so I thought I would make our baking afternoon a Martha Stewart themed day and make 4 of her top holiday recipes.  The recipes for the day were black bottom coconut bars, pecan bars, ginger cookies and almond ginger biscotti.  All of these recipes seemed to have really good potential but as with any recipe you start coming up with the ways you would do them differently the next time around.

Since these recipes pretty much called for basic ingredients there were only a few things we had to pick up at the store.  So after a quick trip to the store we were ready to start baking.  As the recipes were coming together they were both quick and easy, which is always nice.

Pecan Bars

I find that baking is much more fun when you have a warm cup of coffee and a friend to visit with.  We had a great time baking and ended up with two really good recipes and two duds.  I would definitely make the coconut and pecan bars again but pass on the ginger cookies and biscotti.

Biscotti

The unfortunate part about the ginger cookies was that they ended up very flat and tasting a bit too much like molasses.  The biscotti didn’t cook all the way through so when we cut it up it just never got crunchy.  I am beginning to wonder if I am destined to keep making bad biscotti, considering my biscotti last weekend didn’t turn out either.

Ginger Cookies

We had a great time regardless of the results and look forward to doing some more baking together in the future.

Black-Bottom Coconut Bars

Courtesy of Martha Stewart.com

For Chocolate Base

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup all purpose flour

For Coconut Topping

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1 package sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place butter in a large microwave-safe bowl; melt in microwave. Add sugar and salt; whisk to combine. Whisk in egg, then cocoa and flour until smooth. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake just until sides begin to pull away from edges of pan, 10 to 15 minutes (do not overbake). Let cool slightly while preparing coconut topping. Keep oven on for topping.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with sugar and vanilla. Gently mix in flour and coconut (except 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling). Drop mounds of mixture over chocolate base; spread and pat in gently and evenly with moistened fingers. Sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup coconut. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Lift cake from pan, peel off foil, and cut into 24 bars.

Pecan Bars

Courtesy of Martha Stewart.com

For the Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

For the Filling

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 ounces  pecans

1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil. In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, and salt to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg; pulse just until a dough forms. Transfer dough to prepared pan; with floured fingers and an offset spatula, press firmly into bottom and 3/4 inch up sides. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Prick bottom of dough; bake until lightly golden, 22 to 25 minutes. Let cool while preparing filling.

In a large saucepan, bring butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over high heat, whisking constantly, until smooth; continue boiling, without stirring, until slightly darkened, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Whisk in cream and salt; mix in pecans.

Spoon hot filling evenly over crust, using spoon to arrange and press in nuts so they fit snugly (create as flat a surface as possible). Bake until bubbling and amber-colored, 18 to 22 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Using foil, lift cake from pan; peel off foil. With a sharp knife, trim edges (if desired). Cut into 6 even strips; cut each strip crosswise into 4 even strips to make 24 bars.

Ginger Cookies

Courtesy of Martha Stewart.com

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons molasses

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, allspice, and pepper. With an electric mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. With mixer on low, gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, and freeze for 20 minutes.

Divide dough into twelve 2-inch balls. Place remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a bowl. Roll balls in sugar to coat; place at least 4 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten into 3-inch rounds. Sprinkle with sugar remaining in bowl. Bake until brown, rotating sheets halfway through, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Almond Ginger Biscotti

Adapted from Martha Stewart.com

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups slivered almonds

1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, zest, and salt. Stir in almonds and ginger. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla; stir into flour mixture. (Dough will appear very dry but will come together when kneaded.) Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface; knead until smooth. Divide dough in half; shape into two logs, each about 1 inch high and 3 inches wide. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet; sprinkle with remaining sugar.

Bake until logs are puffed and outside is firm (the tops may crack), about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Using a serrated knife, thinly slice the logs crosswise,1/4 inch thick. Lay slices on two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until crisp and lightly golden, rotating pans and turning biscotti over halfway through, 20 minutes total. Cool completely before serving or storing.

4
Tags: , , , , | Posted in Baking |
« Older Entries