Kid in a Candy Store

It’s been months since I’ve wanted to check out the New York Cakes & Baking Supply store here in the city. This cavern of confections was first mentioned to me by a very regular baker in my office and he was pretty impressed by its offerings. Judging from his baked goods (brought into work every now and again), I could safely say that he knew what he was talking about.

I usually kept my baking contraption purchases limited to Bed, Bath & Beyond or Zabar’s, the latter for the more obscure utensils and ingredients. So when I came in here and saw all that this store had to offer – I think I might be visiting more and more in the future.

My wallet might need to be put on lockdown.

You can read a proper review of this fine establishment here.

I know this isn’t a post about a baked item, but it’s baking related so it counts!

(photo courtesy of Yelp.com)

Haman has got nothing on Hamentashen

I know that my mother has been trying to get me to make this particular cookie treat for a while now. She remembers them from her days in Winnipeg, where she, an "island princess", was exposed to Jewish cookery by her landlord. Not only does she now exclaim "oy vey iz mir" whenever she gets irritated with us children, she also has a predilection for hamentashen, rugelach and chocolate babka (although the latter was probably more due to Zabar's than Winnipeg).

So when my friend Susan told me she was making some Hamentashen for Purim, she also told me I should give it a go.

So, of course I turned to my favorite baking blog - SmittenKitchen for the recipe.

Of course, instead of adding orange zest (which is what her recipe calls for) I added lemon zest because it's what I had on hand. Citrus is citrus and lemon works just as well a orange in this case.



Well, I was able to get the dough to the right consistency and I used a 3-inch cookie cutter instead of her suggested 2-inch, mainly because I wanted a bigger cookie and in the SmittenKitchen blog, she mentioned that one needed to pinch the walls really tight in order to create a proper seal. So, I thought more dough would mean less leakage.



How wrong I was. Even with my careful filling of the preserves (I used apricot, strawberry and blackberry preserves) and my solid pinching...



I still ended up with little random shaped oblong cookies with preserves all over the place.



Moral of the story of Hamentashen, lots of dough doesn't mean that your filling wont leak. I think maybe next time, I'll do a half shortening half butter dough and maybe use an egg wash to seal those pesky corners!

Still, they tasted good with tea!

Wheat vs. White

Wheat. White. Wheat. White. Wheat...OK, I've been thinking about how to make my cookies and other baked items healthier so I bought a two pound bag of whole wheat flour.

And it's been sitting in my cupboard for about three weeks now with nary a use to be found. Or rather I have yet to feel inspired enough to use my whole wheat flour (not to mention a lot of the recipes I've researched, breads aside, have not been inspiring). Then I got to thinking - maybe it wasn't lack of inspiration, but rather a fear of the unknown. I admit, I am a fan of simple tried and true recipes and my recent foray into the realm of french pastry had me more than a little frustrated. But this year I am going to be adventurous with my baking! So whole wheat flour will be used in the very near future!

With the help of the inter webs, I have reassured myself that substituting whole wheat for white flour shouldn't be a problem.

According to a neat How-To on eHow.com:

1) Each flour can be substituted for the other, part per part. I.e. 1 cup of whole wheat can be used for 1 cup of white.

2) One must sift whole wheat flour so as to avoid a denser than normal product. Aeration is good.

3) In order to avoid a dryer product (because it'll happen apparently), you need to slightly increase your wet ingredients or shorten your baking time by a few minutes.

4) Fold instead of mix - you want your liquid to just absorb, not become a gluey mess.

I think that's simple enough, right? Well, let's see if the cookies I make tonight are proof positive that 4-steps to substitution works.

Stay tuned...

Longest Post Ever!

If there is one thing you need as a baker (amateur or otherwise) it's patience. Although I tend to steer towards one-bowl, under an hour recipes, I do like to challenge myself sometimes.

Personally, I think the epitome of baking lies in the realm of the French. Especially when it comes to pastries. And nothing else spells French pastry like a croissant. So of course, after a conversation with a friend and baker where it was discussed that challenging oneself was important - I decided to embark upon making croissants.

The recipe I used I found online and it was from Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Small Breads.

Let's just say after reading it through, I realized that this was not simply a recipe - it was an undertaking. A 2-day undertaking. But I was game and not a little motivated to try something so outside my comfort zone. Allons-y!

I used a lot of flour and butter for this thing. In fact, your butter component is a mixture of flour and butter pressed into a block and then chilled until firm.



After placing my butter square to chill, I made the dough. It needs to rise for a couple of hours until doubled in bulk. Then the rolling and folding commences. About three different maneuvers with several hours of proofing in between. Patience is something one learns when one attempts making croissants.



The final roll had me using rulers and rollers to cut out perfect triangles. This is precision work people!



And...apparently this is what a raw croissant looks like?



Alas, I forgot the final rising of the croissant once the dough was cut into little 5-inch triangles. So I ended up with lovely...dinner rolls.



However, due to my small work surface - I ended up cutting my batter in half. All was not lost when I realized that I ended up goofing on the first batch - and the second batch was proofed properly before being fed to the oven. They ended up as Pain Au Chocolat.



Would I make these again? I am not sure. While I was excited to be doing something so involved, I find that I like to bang out my baked goodies. But, if I need to be challenged again...maybe puff pastry?

Cookies and Camaraderie

I might have mentioned in a previous post or two that the reason why I bake is less because I like to eat a lot of sugary treats and more because I like to make people happy.

It is a scientifically proven fact that by ingesting sugar, you stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain releasing opiods. This chemical is linked to feelings of intense pleasure hence the idea that happiness and sugar go hand in hand. Well, what better way to spread happiness than by sharing baked goodies (with sugar and chocolate and other lovely tastes) with friends?

A friend of mine decided to expound on this theory by organizing an event that had people bring baked goods (both homemade and store-bought) to a bar and basically eat and drink and be merry. And eat, drink and merriment there was!


This is just a third of the goodies that ended showing up at the event.

I decided to bring my Irish Car Bomb cupcakes and my Orange Cardamom Cookies. They were devoured with only crumbs and empty containers left for me to bring home.

Whole event was a success and I think it wasn't only due to brain chemicals - it was because there is nothing like a cookie to make one your friend. And this is just proof that this is true.

Oldie, but goodie.

There's a cookbook I turn to time and again when I run out of inspiration on the Internet. It's a cookbook that thousands of cooks (both serious and aspiring) have, or should have, on their kitchen shelf.

Mine has been to the other side of the planet and back, attacked by mold and humidity of the tropics and questionable storage in the North East of the US. But even though the cover and binding is falling apart, and my edition is a rather older one, it still serves its purpose - a solid cook book with recipes even the most timid of chefs can attempt. This, of course, is Craig Claibourne's New York Times Cookbook.



There's a recipe in there that I have been using for years, a simple basic roll recipe that I modified into making Cinnamon Buns.



The recipe is the Basic Rolls recipe from the cookbook where I just make my own filling and roll it out Cinnamon Roll style.

Basic Rolls
Ingredients

2 cups milk
1/4 cup of vegetable shortening or butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 packages (or 2 TBSP) yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
5-6 cups all-purpose flour
Melted shortening or butter

Filling

1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Bring milk to a boil. Then add shortening or butter, sugar and salt and cool to lukewarm.

Soften yeast in lukewarm water in a separate bowl. Once softened, add to cooled milk mixture.

In a large mixing bowl, add half the flour to the milk mixture and beat well. Then add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn out the dough onto a well-floured board and let rest for 10 minutes. Then knead (adding flour as the dough gets sticky) for about 10 minutes until smooth.

Place dough into greased bowl and let rise until double in bulk (about 30-45 mins).

Make filling: Mix together all filling ingredients until well-combined. Set aside.

Once dough has risen, punch down to remove some of the air and turn out onto a floured board. Knead with a little flour until smooth (about 5 mins). Roll out dough in a rectangular shape (approx 10 in x 13 in). Brush on some melted butter or shortening and sprinkle on filling evenly, until entire surface is covered. Roll the dough tightly as if for a jelly roll and pinch down seam firmly.

Cut 1-inch sections of roll and place cut side up in greased baking dish. Cover and let rise for about 30-45 minutes in a warm place. Once dough has risen, brush with remaining butter or shortening and bake for about 30 mins.


Let cool and serve plain or with a simple vanilla icing. Eaten warm is the best - and a bonus is that your home will smell like heaven for a while.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

So, this year for Thanksgiving me and my family decided to forgo tradition and infiltrate a friend's Thanksgiving celebrations. This meant less cooking, less arguing (yes, arguing - you cannot believe the level of discussion that goes on between my brothers regarding the amount of sides and the correct way to prepare a turkey) and a generally stress-free dinner.

We did bring a Turkey and two sides (simple vegetables) and I baked. Because I bake.

This time, I made not only an Apple Pie, but a Pumpkin Pie with Walnut Streusel topping. I've never made a Pumpkin Pie before and surprisingly enough - everyone loved it over the Apple Pie (I liked the latter better).



The recipe I found here on epicurious.com, but I added less sugar because I don't think that something with a streusel topping needs more sugar.

Personally, I thought the pie was too sweet, but the texture was velvety and rich while still being light.

I wish I had another picture to put up, one preferably of a slice, but the pie was devoured without much more than grunting noises from the pleased partakers. A success!

Let's Make Whoopie Tonight - Pumpkin Style

As kinky as the title sounds, making whoopie...pies is pretty straightforward. No kinks to be found.

Since I had leftover pumpkin puree from my Pumpkin Swirl Brownie recipe I figured why not find a simple recipe that really shows off the combination of pumpkin and spice. Enter whoopie pies.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cups dark brown sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8 ounces pumpkin puree

Vanilla Filling

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup light corn syrup

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease two cookie sheets.

Mix all dry ingredients, minus sugar, in a bowl. In another bowl, beat together butter and dark brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add ginger, vanilla and pumpkin puree and beat well. Add flour mixture, and yes, beat well.

Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter on to the greased cookie sheets and flatten out a little.

Bake for 12-14 mins or until the tops of the "cakes" are springy to the touch.

Let cool completely and in the meanwhile, make the filling!

Beat the shortening and butter until soft and creamy. With the mixer on its lowest speed, gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar. Increase the speed to high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Then, with the mixer on low speed, beat in the vanilla extract and slowly drizzle in the corn syrup. Continue to beat until the filling looks like soft mayonnaise.

Assembly

When cakes are completely cooled, place a heaping tablespoon of the filling on one cake (flat side) and top with another.

And that's how you make whoopie...pie. Pumpkin Style.

Pumpkins Are a Girls Best Friend!

Well, they are when said girl needs a break from writing her god-awful thesis. Tis the season for all things orange-y, so when I was doing my food shopping the other day, I decided to pick up a can of pureed pumpkin. I know I could have bought one fresh, roasted it and made some homemade puree, but pumpkin from a can is easier. And if my favorite cooking blogger smittenkitchen uses it, then why the heck can't I?

That being said, I remember seeing on her blog a lovely marbled pumpkin and chocolate brownie recipe. So, off I went in between writing bibliographies and found the recipe (which was incidentally modified from Martha Stewart's - don't you love baking? It's all about the mods).

I decided to go with my own modifications and ended up with these.



They taste as good as they look.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies (adapted from smittenkitchen.com adapted from Martha Stewart Living)

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups sugar (the original recipe calls for the larger amount; I think it could be dialed down a bit)
3 extra large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
dash of allspice
dash of mace

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8" brownie pan.

Melt butter and chocolate over a double boiler. Let cool.

Mix together flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar. Add vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and mix well.

Separate the batter into two halves (approx 1.5 cups of batter each). Add chocolate mixture to one half and mix well. To the remaining batter, add vegetable oil, pumpkin puree, and spices and beat well.

Into your greased brownie pan, pour the majority of the chocolate mixture and spread evenly with a spatula. Top that with the pumpkin mixture and spread evenly. Add the last bit of chocolate batter and swirl the mixtures together to create that lovely marbled effect.

Bake for 45-50 mins (I know!) until toothpick comes clean when inserted into the brownies.

Let cool before cutting and serving. And let me tell ya, they taste as good as they look!

Festival of Light

No, it's not Hannukah, it's Diwali the Indian festival of light. The origins of the festival are nested in myth, but the meaning remains the same - the triumph of good over evil, signified by the lighting of small oil lamps called diyas to chase the darkness out of our lives and the baking of many traditional sweets to sweeten the mouths of friends and family.

It's a pretty cool festival all in all.

Being not as traditional as the usual celebrators, I decided to fiddle with a traditional recipe and make it a little more modern. There is a version of a butter cookie that is made throughout India called nankhatai. It is essentially butter, flour, semolina, spices and sugar. Sometimes you add nuts to the dough, like pistachio or almonds.

I decided to forgo the semolina and make a simple butter cookie with some added, err, pizazz.


Orange-Cardamom Butter Cookies with Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp orange zest

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1/2 tsp orange blossom water (optional)

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit. Grease two cookie sheets.

Using a hand beater or your stand mixer, beat together the butter and confectioner's sugar until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and cardamom. Add the dry ingredients slowly to the butter/sugar mixture and beat together on low speed until well incorporated. Add zest and orange blossom water and mix well.

Using a small spoon, scoop out spoonfuls of the dough and form into a flattened ball and place on cookie sheet. (Mine were oblong) Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly golden in color.

Make glaze by melting together the butter, chocolate, and syrup in a double boiler. Alternatively, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave, and then blend in the other ingredients.

Let cookies cool completely before dipping half the cookie in the cooled glaze. Let cookies rest before devouring.


Happy Belated Diwali Everyone!