Baking Challenge Week 36 - Apples - Apple Spent-Grain Muffins

Bad muffins don't get pretty pictures.  They're not worth the trouble.

The husband and I brewed up a new batch of beer last weekend, so I had a big tub of spent grain to play with.  I've done bread and pizza crust, so this time I thought I'd tackle muffins.

I started with my favorite oat bran muffin recipe, figuring that I could sub out the oat bran for the grain, which worked pretty well.  I threw a chopped Red Delicious apple into the batter to give it more sweetness and some texture.

Oops!  Red Delicious apples bake away to squishy blobs of nothing.  I gave it texture, alright--bad texture.

The consistency of the muffin itself is fine: moist and dense without being heavy.  The flavor is a little bland--I can't decide if it needs more sugar, salt, or both.  But the blobs of squishy apple just ruin it.

The cooking challenge #36 is apples too, but I have a foolproof plan there, my favorite savory apple application that has never, ever failed me.  I will redeem myself!

Baking Challenge Week 29 (Late!) - Summer - Nectarine Almond Tart

I was never much of a pie lover growing up.  The texture of most cooked fruits really put me off--to this day, I still can't abide applesauce.  Chocolate cream pie?  Sure.  Blueberry or cherry or peach?  No, thank you.

But tastes change, and I'm making up for lost time.  What says "summer" as much as a seasonal fruit pie?

I looked at a lot of recipes in my favorite baking books, and one stood out above the rest as unusual (and knowing that nectarines were on sale this week, timely.)  It's an almond cream base with sliced nectarines arrayed on top.

But I'm not sharing the recipe...because it turned out a little weird.

The almond "cream" had a very strange, grainy texture.  The blanched almonds got ground finely with flour (to keep it from becoming almond butter, I'd wager) and added to a creamed butter/sugar/egg mix.  But creaming butter and sugar together incorporates a lot of air pockets (usually that's the point!) so the whole thing is grainy and fluffy at the same time.  Very, very strange.

I will say this, though.  We're eating it anyway, because nectarine + almond = awesome.  I had no idea!

Baking Challenge Week 27 (Late!) - Tarts - Blueberry Galette

My parents are having us over to dinner this week--they're providing the steaks and the beer, and I'm responsible for the potato salad.  Because I needed to cross the W27 challenge off my list, I'm bringing a dessert too!

I even managed to take pictures during the process so I could do a pictorial recipe.  Haven't seen one of those here in a while, have you?  (/pats self on back)

Blueberry Galette

• 1 pie crust (use your favorite recipe or buy one!)
• 6 lemon creme sandwich cookies
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 egg

 First thing's first--wash your blueberries and allow them to dry on paper towels while getting everything else ready.  Not pictured:  Preheat your oven to 375 F; line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper; roll out your pie crust to at least 11" in diameter.

These are the cookies I opted to use.  Doing my research for this challenge, some (but certainly not all) galette recipes use frangipane or crushed cookies on the bottom to absorb the juices of the fruit.  Because blueberries are gooey in the extreme, I thought this was a good plan, and I had these around.  Vanilla creme would be good too, I'd expect.

Take your six cookies and chop them roughly...

...then scatter them on your pie crust that you'd already laid out on your baking sheet even though I didn't specifically tell you to!  It's hard to see in the photo, but I lightly pressed the rim of my 9" pie tin into the dough as a guide--strictly optional for a neater tart.

Combine the blueberries, sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl and toss to coat the berries.

Spread that over the cookie bits.  You can see there's a bit of loose sugar, and that's okay, the juices from the blueberries as they cook down will take care of it nicely.

Fold up the edges to cover the filling.  You can be as neat-and-fancy or as rough-and-rustic as you like here.  I went super-basic.

Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush over the top of the crust.  Bake 30-40 minutes, until the filling is nice and juicy, and the crust is golden brown.

I'm so pleased that I only had one tiny leak!

Cooking Challenge Week 24 - Berries - Raspberry Sausage and Cheese Grits

Having no fresh berries of any kind on sale last week, I resorted to raspberry preserves to make this wonderful recipe, which sounds a little strange but tastes fantastic.  My only change is to leave out the mushrooms, and only because I generally like mushroom flavor but not texture--I think this is fine with just the onion.  Also, I've made this with before with kielbasa, smoked pork sausage, and this time smoked turkey, and they're all just fine; anything with a good strong flavor that will balance the sweet preserves.

Baking Challenge Week 20 - Citrus - Lemon Cookie Tarts

I've been known to make jam tarts in the past--just pie crust and various jams baked in my muffin tin--and whether they come with me to work, or go with me to a potluck, they're always popular.

Pondering my citrus options, I came across this recipe in one of my oldest and most-used cookie books, The Complete Cookie Book.  I love lemon curd, but have never tried to make it from scratch.

What better time than now?

It didn't come out perfectly, I'll admit.  I didn't beat the eggs completely enough before whisking them into everything else, which meant I had bits of egg white that wouldn't incorporate, leaving my curd speckled with cooked albumen.  Not the end of the world, I just pick them out, but now that I know that can happen, I'll be more careful next time.

The dots of jam aren't in the original recipe, but I couldn't resist.  I had some strawberries and blackberries that were past their prime, so I tried making microwave jam, a technique I ran across in Kitchen Sense, one on the list for my Neglected Cookbook Project.  I don't think I let it cook long enough, but it was threatening to boil over the bowl and glop up my microwave, so it's somewhere between a jam and a sauce.  It tastes great, though.  Don't feel compelled to make your own just for this--if you want, use a bit of regular jam, or just leave it out.  They're fine without, I promise.

Finally, the recipe calls for small brioche molds or mini tart pans, which I don't have, so I used a regular muffin tin.  I got 24 tarts instead of 36, so clearly, mine are bigger.  But I don't think that's a bad thing...

Lemon Cookie Tarts

Cookie Dough

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp almond extract (I substituted lemon for an even more lemony experience!  Also, I am out of almond.)
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Lemon Curd

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• grated zest and juice of one lemon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

 In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the egg yolk and almond extract.  On low speed, beat in flour until a soft dough forms.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and refrigerate until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Use a teaspoon to scoop otu dough and from in 36 3/4-inch balls.  Press a ball of dough into the bottom of a tiny fluted tart pan or brioche mold.  Prick the bottom and side of dough to prevent puffing.  Place molds on a baking tray and bake until just golden, 15 minutes.  Remove molds to wire racks to cool 10 minutes before turning out the cookies.

To make the lemon curd, whisk together all ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium-low heat until thickened, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  (Mine didn't take that long, maybe 6 minutes, but I've always suspected my stovetop to be hotter than the recipes think.  Also, it may thicken up all at once, so don't leave it alone too long!)  Pour into chilled bowl and cool, stirring occasionally.  Refrigerate until cold, pressing plastic wrap onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming.

Fill the cookies just before serving.  Unfilled cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature; keep the lemon curd refrigerated.

Cooking Challenge Week 18 - Salad - Fruit Salad Failure

It's not like I've never made fruit salad before.  Seriously!

But this one was bleh.  It was both my fault and not my fault at the same time.

First, I picked a bad combination of fruits.  Fruit doesn't generally come home from the store with me unless it's on sale, or at least cheap because it's in season.  This week it was blackberries and pears, both of which I like just fine, plus some of the watermelon I still have from last week.  I hoped it would work--it didn't.

Second, my standard fruit salad dressing is a mix of yogurt, honey, and lemon juice, which (up until this point) has always gone well with the fruits I've chosen.  Fine with the blackberries, so-so with the pear, bleh on the watermelon.

The not-my-fault part was that the pear was also kind of tasteless.  Which is strange, because it's definitely ripe.  It's just....bland.

Forunately, I didn't make much, so I can use the remaining fruit for more worthwhile purposes.  There could be blackberry frozen yogurt in my near future....

Watermelon Sorbet

Watermelon is my favorite fruit, hands down.  It's such a shame that the season here is so short, they tend to be quite expensive, and (especially this early in the season) they're not always that sweet!

I hadn't planned on watermelon this week, but there they were, on sale for $3.99 when I've seen them go for $7-8, so I had to.  But really, it wasn't that good!

What to do with a not-quite-tasty watermelon?  Turn in into sorbet!

I used to make this by hand, but last year I got an ice cream maker for my birthday, and for the whole summer I turned out a batch of something every week.  Then fall came and production slowed; by winter it was hiding in the back of a cupboard.  It seemed fitting to make my first batch of the new year with the year's first watermelon!

To make the watermelon puree, slice off pieces of melon, de-rind and de-seed, cut into chunks, and whiz through a blender or food processor.  I've seen a lot of recipes call for cups of cubed, de-seeded watermelon, but I think it's more accurate to measure the puree instead--more consistent results from batch to batch.

This recipe also was created for a not-too-sweet watermelon, as I said.  If you're using a watermelon that's just to your taste (or even too sweet), by all means, decrease the sugar.

One last thing:  it's got a slosh of liquor.  Not because I want to get tipsy on this stuff, but because the alcohol helps keep the sorbet from freezing rock-solid.  I used rum, both because it was available, and I think it goes well with the melon flavor, but it doesn't have to be rum.  Vodka is a good choice for any fruit sorbet because of its neutrality, and a number of different fruit liquers would undoubtedly be tasty too.

Watermelon Sorbet

• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 4 cups watermelon puree
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tbsp gold rum

In a small saucepan, combine the water, sugar, and corn syrup.  Heat on low, stirring occasionally, just until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the watermelon puree, lemon juice, rum, and cooled sugar mixture.

If using an ice cream maker:  Refrigerate the mixture for one to two hours before freezing, following the general directions given for your model.  (I churned mine for about 20 minutes to soft-serve consistency before transferring it to the freezer, but of course your mileage may vary.)

To make by hand:  Pour the mixture into the large shallow pan and freeze until partially frozen, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.  Beat with a hand mixer to break up chunks and work in some air.  Return to freezer for another hour.  Beat again, freeze another hour, then beat one final time.  Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm.

In both cases, soften in the refrigerator 20 minutes or so before serving.

Cooking Challenge Week 13 - Russian - Yabluchnyk (Ukrainian Apple Cake)

I had thought of making borscht for this challenge--I made it for the first time last fall, and fell in love with it--but with the spring being unseasonably warm right now, soup didn't really appeal to me.  Then I thought about making blinis, but I couldn't decide what to fill them with, and there never seemed to be time for learning a whole new way of making pancakes.

In desperation, I actually had to google for recipes.  Can you believe I don't have any cookbooks on Russian cuisine?  Serious oversight!

I found this apple cake recipe that looked fantastic, especially seeing that one of the reviewers described the cake part as reminding her of a sugar donut.  Sold!

I made it with only one change, which was to cut the brown sugar in the struesel by half.  All of the pictures for the recipe made the struesel look very soupy, and in past struesel applications, I seem to recall the flour/sugar ratio being closer to 1:2 than 1:4.  My struesel came out of the oven crisp and lovely!

Too bad it didn't stay that way!  I don't want to discourage anyone from trying this, but I do feel it worth mentioning that the cake went stale pretty quickly, and the struesel got soggy from the moisture from the apples.  It's not a disaster (I am still eating it two days later!) but plan to eat it quickly, and if you're making it for company (as I did) definitely make it the same day, not ahead of time.

Baking Challenge Week 10 - Literature/Media Inspired - Apple Custard Fancies

I love England, I love British desserts (sticky toffee pudding!), and I love Downton Abbey.

For the movie/TV/book challenge, it didn't take me long at all to figure out that I wanted to make a dainty tea-time treat that would fit right in at Downton.  What took me much longer to decide was exactly which one.  I have several cookbooks from British publishers, two of which are devoted just to baking, and I had dozens of recipes to choose from. 

I even did some historical research, trying to find out if any of the ones that I most wanted to try were period-accurate.  (One definitely was, the classic Bakewell tart.  And I mean to try that sometime, but I already had some apples....)

So while this particular recipe was never mentioned on the show, I feel like it's at least something they might have eaten, and would definitely enjoy if they had!

Apple Custard Fancies
(adapted from Baking: A Commonsense Guide)

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp water

Apple filling

•  3 green apples, peeled, cored, and diced (I used Golden Delicious)
• 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
•  2 tbsp water

Custard filling

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Streusel topping

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, diced
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Line a 7x11" baking dish with foil, leaving some extra at both ends to fold over for handles, and grease the foil.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  In a small bowl, mix the flour and sugar.  Add the egg yolk, melted butter, and water, and mix to form a soft dough.  Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan.  Refrigerate 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the chopped apples, butter, sugar, and water.  Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.  Uncover, lightly mash the apples, and cook five minutes more.  Set aside to cool.

Line the refrigerated crust with more foil and fill with baking weights (dry beans, barley, or rice works well).  Bake 15 minutes; remove the foil and weights and bake uncovered 5 minutes more to brown slightly.  Set aside to cool.  Lower the heat to 350 F.

When both the crust and the apple filling are cooled, spread the filling over the crust.  In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, sugar, and vanilla, and pour over the apple layer.  Bake 20 minutes, or until the custard is partially set.

Meanwhile, make the streusel.  Mix together the flour and brown sugar.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or rub in with your fingertips) until the mixture resemble coarse crumbs.  Stir in the walnuts.  Sprinkle evenly over the partially-set custard and bake 15 minutes more.  Cool completely before lifting out of the pan with the foil handles, cutting into squares (I went with 4x6 for 24) and serving.

(The recipe doesn't specify, but I'm guessing these should probably be stored in the fridge.  Don't you think?)

Baking Challenge Week 5 - Breakfast - Spiced Pear Muffins

I go through distinct muffin phases--for a month or two, I'll make at least a batch a week, and then, suddenly, I won't bake a single muffin for months.

The muffin that has broken me out of this last dry spell?  A recipe that I created!  It's packed with pear and golden raisins, flavored with two of my favorite spices, ginger and cardamom.  Cardamom might, in fact, be my favorite spice ever.  I should have been born Swedish, they put it in everything they bake, I swear!

Spiced Pear Muffins
(makes 12)

• 1/2 cup oat bran
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 medium pear, peeled, cored, and roughly grated (about 1 cup packed)
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg

In a bowl, combine the oat bran and brown sugar.  Add the oil and water, mix well, and set aside 15 minutes to soften the bran.

Add the grated pear, raisins, flour, baking powder, cardamom, ginger, and salt.  Stir until evenly blended, then add the egg and mix just until everything is bound together.  (It will still be fairly stiff and lumpy.)

Divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups lined with paper liners.  Bake at 350 F for 20-23 minutes, until slightly risen and golden brown.  Serve warm, or cool completely on a wire rack.

Start with the brown sugar and oat bran.

Looks like the worst oatmeal ever, at this point.

I thought the grated pear looks a little like tiny french fries...

Everybody (but the egg) in the pool!

Now it looks like a fruit crumble gone horribly awry, but I promise, it will get better...

Fill those cups, and bake!

And try to resist eating them all at once...

Dump Cake

Yes, that's what it's called.

My mother has a few 70's-era brand cookbooks, and this gem comes to us from Duncan Hines.  I remember making it many times as a kid, but I never actually tried it--I can't abide pineapple.

So why am I making it, even though I won't eat it?  Tomorrow is my mother's birthday, and it's what she asked for.  She faithfully copied out the recipe for me and off I went.

If anyone has any brainstorms regarding potential pineapple replacements, let me know, okay?  I have no problems with cherries and pecans....

And this time, I took procedural pictures.  I missed one step, but hey, first time, right?


Dump Cake

• 1 20-oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 21-oz can cherry pie filling
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 stick butter, cut into thin slices

Preheat your oven to 350 F and grease a 13" x 9" pan.  Spread the undrained pineapple evenly on the bottom.  Spoon the cherry pie filling evenly over the pineapple.  Pour the dry yellow cake mix evenly over the cherries.  Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the cake mix.  Lay the slices of butter evenly over the whole thing.  Bake 48-53 minutes, until the pecans are golden brown and the sides are bubbling cherry syrup.  Serve warm with oh, say, vanilla ice cream, or at room temperature on its own.

Now, again, with pictures!

The pineapple is the easy part, just dump it in (like the name!) and spread it out.

Don't dump the cherries in, or the pineapple will just get pushed to the side.  Spoon those out, and scrape as much syrup off the sides of the can as possible.  It's good stuff.

The cake mix is pretty easy too, I cut a corner off the bag and poured it out.  Don't worry too much about lumps, they'll sort themselves out under all that butter.

This is where I forgot a step.  See the pecans on top of the cake mix, there on the left?  Do that.  Then carve up the stick of butter.

You don't have to make a butter checkerboard...mine just worked out that way.  Into the oven!

And out of the oven!

Spiced Cranberry-Apple Oatmeal

I have a confession--I used to hate oatmeal.  I wanted to like it.  I tried  to like it.  But while the taste was fine, the texture was incredibly off-putting.

Then I discovered the existence of steel-cut oats.  As it turned out, I only hated instant oatmeal.  Steel-cut, I adore.

They do take a lot longer to cook, but it's an easy weekend breakfast, and if you make a double batch (which I often do) you can divide it into individual servings and fridge them all week, just popping them in the microwave to reheat.  (If you do that, I'd recommend leaving off the garnishes until after reheating.)

Also, I deliberately developed this as a lightly-spiced and lightly-sweetened dish.  If you like your oats bolder, feel free to add more of the spices and/or sugar.

Spiced Cranberry-Apple Oatmeal
(4 servings)

• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger
• dash ground cloves
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup milk
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and honey, to serve

In a saucepan, mix together the oats, sugar, and spices.  Add the water and milk and bring just to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low to maintain a simmer, and add the diced apple.  Cook, stirring frequently to avoid burning, 30-35 minutes or until the desired consistency is reached.  Divide among bowls and garnish with the cranberries and almonds, and drizzle lightly with honey.