Chef Henry

Despite a lack of classical training, Chef Henry is a bit of a culinary prodigy. He is a proponent of using fresh, locally sourced ingredients and, in particular, a fan of organic broccoli and fresh strawberries. Chef Henry's whisking skills are particularly good, so he whipped up some heavy cream, powdered sugar and cream cheese yesterday to make an airy and lovely frosting for his new favorite dessert, a poppy seed-strawberry cake. It's heavenly, Chef Henry!

Who doesn't love to lick the beaters?

The finished product, in a word, delicious!

Billowing Strawberry Poppy Seed Layer Cake
From Dishing with Kathy Casey

Cake
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbls (1 stick) salted butter, softened
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbls poppy seeds

Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
2 cups cream

Filling
1/2 cup strawberry jam
1 pint strawberries, sliced very thin

Topping
1 pint strawberries, cut in half

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans and set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer or other large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the softened butter. Using an electric mixer, mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add half of the milk and mix for 2 minutes more to cream the batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and add the remaining milk, eggs, and vanilla. Continue mixing on medium speed for 2 more minutes. Stir in the poppy seeds.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of each cake layer and turn in out onto a rack to cool thoroughly.

Meanwhile, make the frosting: Using an electric mixer, beat the softened cream cheese and vanilla on medium speed for 1 minute. Turn the speed to high and mix for 1 minute. Stop the mixer, add 1 cup of the powdered sugar, and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Repeat twice, until all the powdered sugar had been added, then increase the mixer speed to high and whip for 3 minutes.

In another bowl, whip the cream until stiff, then fold it gently into the cream cheese mixture until just incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to frost the cake.

To make the filling: In a medium bowl, stir the strawberry jam until smooth, then gently fold in the strawberries. Set aside until ready to fill the cake.

To assemble and frost the cake: On a large cake plate, place 1 layer of the cake. Spoon one-half of the strawberry filling in the center, then spread it out to 3/4 inch from the edge. Top with 1 cup of the frosting and spread the frosting to 3/4 inch from the edge. Place another layer of cake on top and repeat. Place the final layer of cake on top, then press down gently on the cake layers to stabilize them.

With a large rubber or cake spatula, mound half of the remaining frosting on the top of the cake. Spread the other half around the sides of the cake, covering up all cake and swirling the frosting decoratively. Smooth out the frosting on top of the cake. Let the frosting dry a little before garnishing the cake.

Stem the garnish berries, and cut them in half lengthwise. Place, cut sides down, around the top edge of the cake. Arrange any extra strawberries in a small pattern in the middle of the cake. Refrigerate the cake until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, back at the cookie chapter...

I had given up baking for the summer, but then today its only 67 degrees in July and, well, it feels like cookie baking weather. So! Back to the Cooks Illustrated cookie chapter. What haven't I tried yet? Turns out, a lot of things. My god, that chapter is long. The next chapter I tackle will have to be shorter. Anyhoo, I decided to give the Hermits a try. Weird name for what is essentially a molasses cookie. According to the book, the name is derived from the fact that these are even better after they've been tucked away for a few days. They're kind of like molasses biscotti and good for dunking in coffee. They use the same spices as the Molasses with Rum Glaze that are devoured around here in seconds. And, they are easy since they are baked in a log and then cut apart. The verdict? Delicious!

Spring Goodies from the Farm

Hooray! Our first box from our CSA farm arrived yesterday full of spring goodies including ramps or wild leeks, overwintered spinach and parsnips, black radish, chives, sunchokes and burdock root. AND the season's first rhubarb! So, as required by my marriage vows, I have to make Nathan's favorite cookies. Here is his Grandma's Rhubarb Filled Cookie recipe:

Rubarb Filled Cookies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Filling:
1/4 cup water
3 cups chopped fresh rubarb (if you use frozen, thaw and drain it first!)
1 cup sugar

Dough:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:
Cook filling in heavy saucepan until thick, then cool
Cream butter and sugar together
Add milk, eggs and vanilla
Blend dry ingredients and add
Roll out dough on floured board
Cut out circles with a 2 1/2 inch diameter cookie cutter
Place one teaspoon of filling the center of each circle
Dampen edge with water or eggwash, place a second circle on top and seal.
Pinch edge with fork and prick top to let steam out
Place circles on parchment paper lined cookie sheet
Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees or until lightly browned

*Use parchment paper if you've got it as the filling might seep out and burn
*Alternately, you can cut 4 inch circles and fold them in half over the filling

Cake in a Cup

I was forwarded a recipe for chocolate cake that is "baked" in a coffee cup in the microwave and supposedly five minutes start to finish. Being extremely skeptical of anything that is cooked in the microwave, I had to try it.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

The recipe encourages you to mix everything right in the cup. I felt that that would lead to lumps and inconsistency in the batter so I whisked the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl and then brought them together quickly with the chocolate chips and then poured equal amounts of the batter into two 8 ounce size coffee cups. I nuked them for 3 minutes on high. They bubbled up over the top, but did not spill (you could put them on a plate just in case) and then settled back down into the cup.

As I predicted, the chocolate chips settled to the bottom of the cup, but once turned out onto a plate, this made a kind of frosting of top. It comes out of the cup easily when its still hot, but you'll want it to cool for a bit before eating. It does end up looking like a traditional cupcake that's baked in a muffin tin, minus the paper. Since it is microwaved and not baked, the consistency is weird - more like a pudding than a cake - and bordering on rubbery. This improved as it cooled somewhat.

This is NOT cake. Think of it more like a pudding and then, perhaps, you won't find the texture so disturbing. My recipe tester (Nathan) couldn't get past the texture thing. He described it as "spongy" followed by a negative look. He also could taste the egg, which he didn't like. I didn't think it was that bad, but it is really more of a chocolate eggy pudding rather than a cake.

I want to experiment with this some more. I may try different cocoa powders and extracts. In the future, I would just put the chocolate chips in the bottom of the cup to increase the frosting-like result. You could use different flavored chips or chopped chocolate or maybe even a spoonful of peanut butter. If you want the chocolate chips in the cake, you can toss them with a little flour to prevent them from sinking. I will try using only whites to lessen the eggy taste. If you experiement with it, share your results with me.

Bottom line: if you need some chocolate like right now. This certainly will do. True to the claim, it does only take five minutes. It is easy and it would be a great kitchen project to do with kids who want to learn to cook. Have them do all the measuring and stirring themselves! Also good for the lazy bachelor type. I mean, chicks are usually impressed when guys try to cook anything ;)

Cinnamon Buns

I made these cinnamon buns this morning. This is a quick version that uses a dough that is more like a biscuit dough than the traditional yeast dough. When my grandma used to make cinnamon rolls she used the "cheater" method of using frozen bread dough. These are even easier. They come out with a nice chewy texture and good flavor. They would be great with toasted pecans or walnuts. I can also envision them with toasted almonds and a bit of almond extract in the icing. Yum. Melt all 8 tablespoons of butter at the beginning and measure it out as needed. Those not suffering from butter lust like me could make these a bit healthier by cutting the butter content, but healthy sticky buns seems to be too much of an oxymoron to me! If you wanted to make these in the morning for overnight I company, I'd suggest measuring and whisking together the dry ingredients and the filling the day before and packing them in separate ziplocs or air tight containers so in the morning all you have to do is bring everything together in a few quick minutes while the coffee is brewing :D

From Cook's Illustrated:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter for greasing the pan
Use a 9 inch round cake pan

Cinnamon - Sugar Filling
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter

Dough
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups lowfat buttermilk
6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

Icing
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) cream cheese
2 tablespoons lowfat buttermilk
1 cup (4 ounces) powdered sugar

Mix the filling ingredients together with a fork, set aside.
Whisk together dry ingredients for dough in one bowl and whisk wet ingredients together in another bowl. Bring together quickly then turn out onto floured surface and knead briefly just to bring together. Pat out into a 9 x 12 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 tbls butter then spread filling out on top, leaving a 1/2 inch all the way around. Roll up starting on long side using a pastry scraper if you've got one. Cut into 8 rolls, place one in the middle and the other seven around it. Coat with remaining butter.

Bake for 1/2 hour at 425 degrees

Whisk icing together until smooth.

When rolls come out of the oven, invert onto a plate and then invert again onto another plate so they are right side up. Hit them with the icing and eat immediately.

Oatmeal Raisin

Here's the latest cookie I've made. I started with the Cook's Illustrated recipe but deviated. A lot.
I added three ingredients and changed another one. I think that makes it my own, don't you? They turned out chewy and oatmeal-y and nutmeg-a-licous. I really should be adding up my daily butter consumption. I have a feeling its very, very high.

Wet Stuff:
2 sticks butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract (the real stuff, imitation vanilla extract should be outlawed)

Dry stuff:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (store bought ground nutmeg sucks)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

The goods:
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raisins

Beat the butter, add the sugar, beat some more, add the eggs one at a time, beat some more, add the vanilla. Whisk the dry stuff together for even distribution, reserving one tablespoon. Mix the dry with the wet. Toss the raisins with the reserved tablespoon of dry stuff so they don't stick together. Add the oats and raisins to the dough and mix just until combined. Scoop 1 1/2 tablespoon balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. The need about 12 minutes or so at 350 degrees or until just starting to get a little brown around the edges. Take them out even if they still look a little underbaked. If you leave them in too long, they will get hard and hard cookies suck. These should be chewy.

Lovely with a glass of milk, unless you're lactose intolerant in which case they are also lovely with a Surly Bender :)

Cookie Baking Jag

The Magic Cookie Jar full of Pecan Sandies

On of the many strange quests I've been on since finding myself unemployed is the overwhelming desire to bake every single cookie recipe in the 1000 page Cook's Illustrated recipe tome. I've also been cooking A LOT - everything from Morrocan lamb tagine to traditional jambalaya for Fat Tuesday to pork country ribs and roast chicken. But, lets focus on the cookies, for now.

I have a love/hate relationship with Cook's Illustrated. I've been a recipe tester for them in the past and I understand the systematic thinking of testing every detail, ingredient and method to find THE best way to make something. Often, when they publish a recipe, you should follow it precisely to get the best results. However, sometimes I feel like this rigorous testing leads their recipes to be overly complicated or, alternately, dumbed down to the most pedestrian tastes. There are 23 base recipes in the cookie section that includes both cookies and bars plus variations on each. I have made ten so far. Here are my reviews:

Pecan Sandies
Excellent texture and taste, but add vanilla. Cook's omitted it citing tasters that found it overwhelming. I disagree.

Almond Sandies
Very good. Be sure to grind the almonds very fine. I made them too coarse. Also, I upped the amount of almond extract. Cook's called for a teeny 1/4 teaspoon. I would add a whole teaspoon especially since I found really nice tasting organic extract.

Molasses with Rum Glaze
These are AWESOME. Seriously, I ate most of the batch myself. Cook's found blackstrap molasses to be too strong, but I loved it. I used Pusser's Rum in the glaze. Killer. I'm make them again and again.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
I flat out don't like Cook's version of these. They got very hard and needed vanilla.
I am on a quest to find the most perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. In my opinion they need to be big and chewy with lots of brown sugar and really good chocolate flavor. The Cook's recipe turned out to be far below my expectations for this particular cookie. So, I branched out and tried 3 other oatmeal-chocolate chip recipes from various sources. One randomly from the internet which was so-so and needed an extra cup of flour. One from the family archives which turned out hard and curiously flavorless and then... a really good one from an unexpected source. I have a chocolate-lovers cookbook put out by the Hershey company. The recipes are good, but honestly, are even better if you use *good* chocolate/cocoa and NOT Hershey's. The best chocolate chips I've found are Callabeaut and are available in bulk at my co-op. As far as cocoa powder, get a high quality dutch processed.

Thick and Chewy Double Chocolate
Yes!! Chocolate and Espresso. Good god, these are good, but the Triples are even better.

Thick and Chewy Triple Chocolate
Nathan and my favorite so far. Use really good chocolate - dutch processed cocoa and good chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter
Hands down the best peanut butter cookies. The secret is to grind up whole peanuts yourself.

Classic Brownies
These did not turn out so well. I cooked them a long time, much longer than called for and they were still gooey to the point of being doughy in the middle. We ate all the way around the outside and three the rest out.

Lemon Bars (Key Lime Bar variation not in the book, but on their website)
Very good. Using fresh citrus and zest is the key to really good flavor.

Up Next:
I plan to try the oatmeal raisin variation today despite my dislike for the oatmeal chocolate chip variation in this book. I'm likely to doctor it as I see fit. I also plan to try the Hermits and Pecan Squares soon. Cook's doesn't have a recipe for homemade fig newtons, but there must be one out there somewhere and that intrigues me. I'll let you know what I find.