Candied Orange Peels

Candied orange peels...when I first heard of them I thought "eww"....and then I made them and stuck them on top of my chocolate orange cupcakes that I made (yum).  Very purty.  They're not bitter like you'd think they would be.  To get rid of the bitter taste they are boiled in water several times then boiled in a simple syrup.

This time I decided to make them to use purely as a candy and not as a garnish.  I dipped some of them in chocolate (remember those chocolate oranges??) to put in the boxes of candy that I am giving some of my friends and family as gifts.  The peels are really actually simple to make.  They take quite a bit of off and on time, but easy

You can use any type of citrus like oranges, lemons, limes or grapefruit.  I used 6 oranges.  Slice each end of the orange off, then quarter the orange peel and peel it off of the fruit.  Next slice the peel into slices or wedges making sure to keep them all about the same size so that they cook evenly.

Put all of the peels into a heavy bottomed sauce pan, cover with water, and bring to a boil.  Boil for ten minutes and then dump out the water and repeat the process 3 times.  This will get rid of most of the bitterness in the peels.
After you have finished boiling the peels remove them from the pan.  Add equal parts of sugar and water (I used about 3 cups of each...enough to cover the peels) to the pan and heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is melted.  Add the peels to the syrup and bring to a slow boil.  Boil the peels for about 45 minutes or until they begin to look translucent.
Remove the pan from the heat and let the peels sit in the pan overnight to allow them to absorb even more of the syrup.  The next day bring the syrup and peels to a boil again and boil for 15 to 20 minutes.  Allow to soak over night one more night and bring to a boil again, boiling in the syrup a total of 3 times.  Remove from heat.

Place cooling racks on top of parchment or waxed paper and place the peels on the racks allowing to dry for 2-3 days.  The candied peels will keep for a loooong time.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

Let me just say delicioso!  K.  That's all.  
I just made my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe (recipe follows) and then used the Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe from
www.wasabimon.com for the filling.  

Amazing Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

3 cups rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening, brown sugar, and white sugar.  

Stir in the egg, water, and vanilla.  

Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon and stir into the creamed mixture.

Stir in the rolled oats.  

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Cool for a few minutes before removing from pan.  Cool on wire cooling racks. 

*These are also good if you add a bag of toffee chips or chocolate chips to the batter

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting Recipe

1 cup of egg whites (about 8 large egg whites)

• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/4 cup of butter, at room temperature and cut into chunks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Have a candy thermometer handy. Heat hot water in the bottom of a double boiler until it is almost boiling. Combine egg whites and sugar in the top half of the double boiler and whisk gently until they reach 140 degrees F.
2. Remove eggs whites and sugar from the pot and pour into a mixing bowl. Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat on high until the frosting is big and billowy and have cooled completely. 
3. Once the eggs and sugar have cooled off during beating, slowly add butter to frosting, chunk by chunk, and keep beating. After one minute, add vanilla and continue beating. If you want to add food coloring, add it right after the vanilla extract.
4. Keep beating and tasting. You’ll know it’s done when it tastes like happiness, whipped velvet, and unicorn giggles. 
5. If kept in an airtight container, this frosting will keep FOREVER in the fridge. Just bring to room temperature and re-whisk it when needed. I’ve been keeping a test batch in the fridge for two months now, and it still tastes lovely and perfect once a small portion is brought to room temperature and beaten with a whisk.

This recipe came from: http://www.wasabimon.com/archive/swiss-meringue-buttercream-frosting-recipe/#ixzz188vAQcIY 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Truffles!!

It's been almost a month and a half since I've posted on my blog...oops!  I just haven't really made anything new or interesting in that time I guess....lol.

This year in an attempt to be a little economical (which didn't really end up working out) I decided to make some small boxes of candies for some gifts.  Who knew that 3lb of chocolate, heavy whipping cream, scotch whiskey, and other assorted ingredients would all add up to be so expensive????  Apparently I didn't...but NOW I am enlightened.

Anyway, I am making 4 different kinds of candy in addition to some Butterscotch sauce (yum). I am making chewy caramels, chocolate covered caramels with a sprinkle of sea salt, chocolate truffles, and candied orange peels (some of which will be dipped in chocolate).  Not a wide variety of things, but a good start for my first time making candy at all.

I had no idea that truffles could be so easy.  Although, if I had known that I would have eaten waaaay more chocolate in the past.  So it is probably better that I didn't know about them haha.  

Basically you buy about 1 pound of your favorite chocolate (needs to be a minimum of 62% cocoa), and about 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream for starters.

In a heavy sauce pan slowly bring the cream to a simmer.  While that is heating finely chop the chocolate so that the pieces are all about the same size.  Once the cream is heated pour it over the chopped chocolate.  Add about 1 teaspoon of vanilla and slowly stir.  You don't want to stir the chocolate mixture roughly because you don't want to incorporate bubbles into it.  Keep stirring until it has all blended together to make a ganache.  

Place a piece of parchment paper in a 9x13 pan so that the paper goes up all the sides as well.  Pour the ganache on top of the paper and spread it out evenly.  

Chill the chocolate for 2-4 hours.  

Once it is chilled and formable pull it out and cut it into 50 pieces (I used a pizza cutter) so that you end up with truffles that are about the same size.  

Now the next step you have to work quickly with each piece because your hands will very quickly melt the chocolate.  Take a square of the chocolate and primarily keeping it on the paper, use the tips of your fingers to kind of make it into a ball, then with one hand gently roll it on the paper to form a smoother ball. 

Now, I found that if I try and coat it in the cocoa powder right away, the slightly melted chocolate on the outside of the truffle just absorbs the cocoa.  Depending on how cool/warm your house is you can just let them sit for a few minutes until it hardens slightly again, or you could stick it in the fridge for a minute.  

Once they have slightly hardened go ahead and roll them in sifted cocoa powder.  Then chill (or freeze depending on when you plan on consuming them) them for a little bit to firm them up a bit.  

For a small handful of the truffles I actually added a bit of cayenne pepper to the cocoa to give them just a little kick.  They're not hot, but you get just a smidgen of the heat in the back of your throat after you've eaten the truffle....YUM.  Make sure you put them away quickly or if you're like me you'll eat. every. single. one...... :D

Crostata con la Crema (Custard Tart)

I decided to make a Crostata con la Crema for a little party that I had this past weekend.  I've never done any kind of custard filling like this before so I was a little nervous about it.  I had a bit of a time crunch the day that I made it and didn't have any time to do a do-over if it didn't turn out the first time.  The crust is fairly simple but the crema has a few more new steps to it that I've never tried before.
I could have made one with  fruit preserves as the filling, which is more traditional, but I decided to make it with the crema instead.
The key part of the crema is tempering the egg yolks in order to prevent them from curdling...you want them to remain smooth.  Tempering consists of very slowly bringing the temperature of the yolks up...if you do it too quickly you get lumpy scrambled eggy (like that word? haha!) custard rather than smooth yummy custard :).   You do this by warming the milk (not to boiling) and then mixing it with the egg mixture just a little bit at a time while whisking it together.
It is actually, not all that difficult...just kinda freaky the first time you do it cuz you think it is gonna be waaaaaay harder than it actually is.
When I make things that I have never eaten or made before I always look at multiple recipes and most of the time end up making my own version from two or three of them.  That was the case with this.  I combined the characteristics and tips that I thought were the better parts of two different recipes to make one great one!  Lol!  :) Here's the recipe that I concocted...it seems rather long, but it is actually really simple!!

Crostata con la Crema

Emily Christensen

Crust:

1/2 c minus 1 Tbsp super fine sugar (you can make your own by putting regular sugar in the blender) or 3/4 c powdered sugar 

1 3/4 c all purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 c cold unsalted butter

grated zest of half a lemon or lime

1 egg and 1 egg yolk slightly beaten in a small bowl

Filling:

4 egg yolks

1/3 c sugar

4 Tbsp all purpose flour

3 Tbsp corn starch

2 c plus 2 Tbsp milk (any fat content will work)

3 strips of lemon peel about 3”long and 1/2” wide (using a vegetable peeler to cut the strips makes it easier to avoid cutting the white part of the lemon

3/4 Tbsp liquor (grand mariner, brandy, etc.)

For the crust:

Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.  

Rub or cut in the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs.  

Make a well in the center of the butter mixture and add the beaten eggs and lemon or lime zest into it.

Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.  

Knead lightly just until the ough comes together into a ball.  

Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap.  Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours.  you can refrigerate the dough overnight.  

For the filling:

In a medium sized bowl mix the sugar and the egg yolks together with a wooden spoon (never let the mixture sit to long or you will get pieces of egg forming.).  Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.  Set aside.

Pour the milk into a pan, add the lemon peel and warm up to well below boiling point.  

Slowly add just a little bit of the milk to the egg mixture while stirring to temper the eggs so that they don’t curdle.  Gradually add the remaining milk. 

Pour the mixture into a pan and set it to medium low heat, stirring at least every couple of minutes.

When the froth on the surface disappears the crema will start to feel slightly thicker.  From then on stir almost continuously.  When the crema reaches boiling temperature and thickens, whisk mixture constantly for another 30-60 seconds until it becomes very thick and is hard to stir.

Remove from heat, remove lemon peel and immediately whisk in the liquid (if using).  Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with  plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming.  Cool.

If not using right away, refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.  Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.  

Assembly:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Take the dough out of the fridge, and unwrap it.  To help roll out the dough you can use parchment paper or keep it on the plastic wrap that it was wrapped up in.  

Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface with flour.  Keep some flour hand to dust the dough as you go along.

Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8 in thick.  

center the dough over a tart pan and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered.  Trip the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan.  Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.  

Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.

Cover the bottom of the crust evenly with the pastry cream.  

Put the tart in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes.  After 35 minutes keep checking every few minutes and only bake until the tart is of a nice golden hue.

When done, remove the tart from the oven and let cool.  If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, then release the tart base from the fluted tart ring.  Cool completely before slicing and serving.  

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Red Velvet Cake

Next weekend I am making cupcakes for my girlfriend's baby shower.  I am making two kinds...one of them is my ever so popular Three Vanilla Cupcakes.  The other is Red Velvet.  I've never made a Red Velvet cake before so I decided that I needed to try a recipe or two out first.
I found a recipe on one of the many blogs that I follow called JoyofBaking.com.  I am pretty happy with the recipe in general except I still need to work on the icing a little bit.  It was a tad on the runny side when I followed the instructions exactly.  But while runny, it was also very light and fluffy, which I liked and I think that it is pretty normal to have a light and fluffy icing on a red velvet cake.  Not sure how I'm going to do the icing for the cupcakes yet, but I'll let you know next week how they turn out.

Here's the recipe from Joy of Baking:

2 1/2cups (250 grams) sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (15 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk

2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

1 - 8 ounce (227 grams) tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (115 grams) confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 (360 ml) cups heavy whipping cream

Red Velvet Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter two - 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter. 

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight). (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

Cream Cheese Frosting:In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

Assemble: With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four cake layers. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.  Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Can garnish the cake with sweetened or unsweetened coconut.

Serves 10 - 12 people.

Read more:http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html#ixzz11o6g7HMW

Healthy Banana Muffins

I was in the mood for some sort of pastry item today, but didn't feel like breaking the scale at the end of the day.  I had a few ripe bananas so with my wonderful deductive reasoning skills I figured out that I could make banana muffins.  :)  Here's what I did:

Healthy Banana Muffins
2 large ripe bananas
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c buttermilk (or you could use plain yogurt or sour cream)
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar (i used white, but brown would be good too)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking soda
1/2 c whole oats (plus more for sprinkling)
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose flour

You could also add a little bit of your favorite spices ie. cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves.  I didn't even think about this until after I had baked the muffins.  But they were still good with out it.

Combine bananas, applesauce, buttermilk, and eggs and blend until mostly smooth.  Add remaining ingredients and mix just until blended.  Pour into a greased muffin tin (12 muffins), sprinkle whole oats on top.  Bake at 350 for about 16 minutes.  Make sure you don't over bake them as they will tend to be on the dry side anyway because of the wheat flour.  Enjoy!

Sugar Cookies with Royal Frosting

This month's Daring Bakers Challenge was to make sugar cookies (with their recipe) and decorate them with royal frosting.  The only other requirement was that the decoration had to be done with a September theme...what ever that meant to you.  So...I had some fall cookie cutters that I used, as well as just a plain circle one.  The circle ones I used to make cookies for my sis's birthday.

Well, my first mistake was making too many colors.  I had red, orange, yellow, brown, dark brown, and then pink and purple.  I spent about 2 1/2 hours just making the frosting!

My next mistake was thinking that the picture that was in my head would come out through my fingers.  Apparently I need LOTS of practice, as I'm sure most of us would unless you're one of the very few people that I know who just have a knack for such things.

The leaves turned out fairly decent.  I piped the different colors on them then used a toothpick to blend the colors a little.

The circle ones for my sis were supposed to be pink with purple polka dots...yeah...they look more like pink and purple dinosaur eggs or something!  :o)

The Acorns I started by putting a light brown base all over the top of the cookie.  I had planned on doing the "hats" with a darker brown with kinda a criss cross design.  ummm...yeah...THAT didn't happen.  Not exactly sure what I did wrong with the frosting but it didn't exactly let me do that.  Sooo...as you can see in the picture I ended up more or less doodling on the acorns.  :o)

All in all it was NOT a very satisfying experience.  I spent a total of around 8 hours over two days (one hour one day and seven the next) working on these.  Part of it took so long because of having to chill the dough (rolled out) and then after using the cookie cutters, chilling each pan of cookies before baking.   And the other part because I made waaay to many freakin' colors!  Sheesh!  What was I thinking?!?!  :o)  I wish I had scaled down my great aspirations a bit and maybe I wouldn't have a tainted view of decorating cookies this way.  As it stands though...I will probably never do it again.  The amount of work that I did compared to how happy I am with the product was not worthwhile.  Oh well.  At least I can say I did it.  Which is really ultimately why I joined the Daring Kitchen.  I wanted to try and do new things!  :o)  I am excited to see what next month's challenge will be!

The September 2010 Daring Baker' challenge was hosted by Mandy of "What the Fruitcake?!" Mandy Challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies Based on Recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.