Holiday Baking

I did a LOT of baking during the last few months--especially around the holidays--so I thought I'd toss together a few photos here. I'm not posting recipes for everything now, but I may in future, or if any are specifically requested. (Some photos are from my phone, so forgive the low resolution!)

The four kinds of cookies I made while still in RI--pfeffernussen, speculaas stars, Mexican hot chocolate, and glittered shortbread.

The cardinal was the new addition to our gingerbread repertoire this year--I think they're pretty adorable.

Some of the gift boxes that mom and I put together--gingerbread, and about five other kinds of cookies underneath!

We made gingerbread scone-men for Christmas brunch. Awesome with apple butter!

Profiteroles! A favorite dessert in our family, and now I finally know how to make them myself!

I was making cardamom bread for the holidays, and I discovered this amazing plastic wrap dome over the dough after it had risen. I thought it was just about the coolest thing ever, so I took a lot of pictures of it. And no pictures of the bread...

A cake loaded with fresh ginger and frosted with fresh vanilla flavored whipped cream.

Brownies. Really Good Ones.

Do you ever have those days when you just NEED brownies? I do. They don't happen very often, but when they do, brownies are pretty much all I can think about until I have some of my own. This week, I had one of those days.

On the weekend, I had seen an episode of America's Test Kitchen that started with an experiment--a head-to-head blind taste test comparing homemade brownies to the kind you make from a box. The box brownies won by a landslide. I was inclined to agree. I was raised on box brownies--my grandma used to make them and then cover them with chocolate frosting (and she would sometimes let me have a brownie for breakfast... if mom wasn't around), and no matter how much I want to stop using mixes, I was pretty sure the grandma brownie standard would never be met with real ingredients. I've tried various brownie recipes before, and while they all have awesome chocolate flavor, the texture tends to be lacking--dry, crumbly, and nothing like you get from the box stuff. Turns out the Test Kitchen folks came to a similar conclusion, and were determined to come up with a recipe that would rival the mix. My mind was sufficiently blown as I watched this play out, so I knew it wouldn't be too long before I tried the recipe myself. Four days later, I had a giant pan of these in my kitchen.

I'll go ahead and call myself a fairly well qualified brownie tester. These did NOT disappoint. So much so that my good intentions of sharing were shattered after the second bite.

This recipe is very easy to throw together, and if you have a moderately well-stocked kitchen, you probably have all the ingredients already (which is VERY handy when you're snowed in, I might add...). The real challenge--believe me--is waiting TWO AND A HALF HOURS for them to cool completely. That was torturous, but worth it in the long run. I cut all the brownies into reasonable portions before packing them away. If brownies are your weakness, I would strongly recommend doing so--if I hadn't, I'd be passing a quarter of the pan off as "one brownie".

Better-than-Boxed Brownies

-1/3 c. Dutch processed cocoa powder
-1 1/2 t. espresso powder
-5 oz. boiling water
-2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
-4 T. unsalted butter, melted
-5. oz. vegetable oil
-2 large eggs
-2 large egg yolks
-2 t. vanilla extract
-2 1/2 c. sugar
-1 3/4 c. flour
-3/4 t. salt
-3-6 oz. bittersweet chocolate pieces or chips (I used ~3 oz. of chips)

1. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and espresso powder. Add the boiling water and whisk, then add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted.
2. Add in the melted butter, oil, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla, whisking after each addition until the mixture is smooth.
3. Whisk in the sugar until smooth, then fold in the flour and salt with a spatula until combined. Add in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour batter into a 13"x9" baking dish that has been lined with aluminum foil slings and coated with non-stick spray. Bake on the bottom rack at 350* for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached.
5. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 90 minutes. Use the foil sling to lift the brownies out of the pan, and let rest on the rack for an additional hour, until completely cool.


I was ready to go at this with a spoon.


Giant brownie or tiny plate? You'll never know...

Bread?

I don't ordinarily make too many resolutions, because I tend to drop them very quickly. Because I spend a good 40% of my time thinking about food, however, I figured some kind of kitchen-skill-improvement would stand a fighting chance of lasting past February. We'll see if I'm singing a different tune once another semester is underway...

I love bread. Possibly more than any other food. I can make a passable loaf of bread. When Blake visited in the fall, we made this:


We were quite pleased with ourselves, because it was delicious, and because we could make these with it:


We had to make three because we had three kinds of cheeses...


Hungry yet?

Anyway. I can make bread, but when I see an artisan loaf at the store, it calls to me. I would LOVE to be able to make them on my own. I know it will be tricky with a conventional oven, and with an apartment that has crazy temperature fluctuations. But, I'm going to try. And to make myself accountable, I'll post progress reports here.

I've got a lovely new book to guide me, and a rather obscene amount of flour stashed in my cabinet, so I think I'm ready to go. Also, I've got the beginning of a starter hanging out in my hall closet (weird place, I know, but it's the most temperature-stable...)--more on that in a few days; right now it's just a bowl of unimpressive goo. Should be fun!

Carrot Cupcakes

Before this, I had never made carrot cake. I was never a huge fan of carrot cake--mostly I think I avoided it because recipes usually include nuts, but I was also not totally convinced vegetables would be good in cake. But when asked to make some cupcakes that would be appropriate for morning, I thought these might be a good bet. I thought these were delicious--granted, I don't have much to compare them to, but others seemed to like them as well!

Carrot Cupcakes
-1 lb. peeled finely grated carrots
-3 eggs, room temp.
-1/3 c. buttermilk, room temp.
-2 c. sugar
-1.5 c. vegetable/canola oil
-1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
-1/2 c. raisins
-3 c. all purpose flour
-1 tsp. baking soda
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. salt
-1 tsp. cinnamon
-1 tsp. ground ginger
-1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1. Whisk together carrots, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla, and raisins.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
3. Stir the flour mixture into the carrot mixture until combined. Divide batter into 24 lined cups and bake at 325* for 23-28 minutes, rotating tins halfway through.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
-1/2 c. softened butter
-8 oz. softened cream cheese
-1 c. packed light brown sugar

1. Beat together butter, cream cheese, and sugar until smooth.

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes

In the fall and winter, I have a tendency to want to add spice to everything. So instead of a regular chocolate cake recipe, I opted for this chocolate spice cake recipe. I coupled it with a chocolate cinnamon buttercream frosting, and I was totally in love.

This recipe makes a weird batter, but the texture of this cake is unbelievable. The molasses flavor really jumped out--I ended up using organic molasses for these, and it seems to have a stronger flavor than the kind I normally buy; I'd be interested to try this again with the "normal" kind too, just for the sake of comparing. Either way, I don't think these will disappoint.

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes
-5 T. softened butter
-1/4 c. Dutch process cocoa powder
-1 t. baking soda
-2/3 c. boiling water
-1 1/4 c. flour
-1/4 t. salt
-1 t. ginger
-1 t. cinnamon
-1/4 t. nutmeg
-1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
-1 egg, room temperature
-2/3 c. molasses

1. Add baking soda to the boiling water. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and spices.
2. Beat together butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in the egg. Add molasses and hot water.
3. Gradually add in the flour mixture until well combined.
4. Divide batter among 12 lined baking cups. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes, rotating tin halfway through.

Chocolate-Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
-1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
-1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
-3/4 c. cinnamon
-1/8 c. milk
-1/4 c. butter, softened

1. Combine sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. Add in butter and milk. (Adjust the consistency with more sugar or more milk, as needed.)

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

Fall came, and my cabinet was ready with a healthy supply of pumpkin. I don't generally need much of an excuse to make cupcakes--in this case, having pumpkin handy was reason enough. And cream cheese frosting...

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes
-2 c. cake flour
-1/2 t. baking soda
-2 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. salt
-1 t. cinnamon
-1 1/2 t. ginger
-1/2 t. nutmeg
-1/4 t. cloves
-1/2 c. butter, softened
-1 1/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
-2 eggs, room temperature
-1/2 c. buttermilk, room temperature
-3/4 c. pumpkin puree

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
2. Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.
3. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Once combined, beat in pumpkin puree.
4. Divide into 16 lined baking cups, and bake, rotating tins halfway through, for 15-18 minutes at 350*.
5. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cardamom Bread

Back again, with two months of posts! I'm starting with this, because it was one of my favorites. Last Christmas our neighbors brought us a large loaf of cardamom bread, sprinkled with red and green sugar--it was beautiful, and we enjoyed it for days. We had never tried cardamom bread before that, but all of us loved it. I did a little researching and found out that it was fairly common to put cardamom in sweet breads in Scandinavian countries. When I found a recipe for "Swedish Coffee Bread" (from King Arthur Flour, as usual) that called for cardamom, I hoped it would produce something like the loaf we had last winter.

The dough didn't rise as much as most yeast doughs--I was a little worried that I had ruined it somehow--but in the end, it made a perfect loaf. I managed to devour it in about two days (which is why I don't usually let myself bake bread alone...)--plain slices, toast with butter, toast with apple butter... I plan on making it again over the holidays, hopefully when I'll have help eating it?


Cardamom Bread
-1/2 c. lukewarm milk
-1 package active dry yeast
-2 1/2 c. flour
-1 egg
-1/4 c. sugar
-3 T. softened butter
-3/4 t. slat
-1 t. crushed or ground cardamom
-melted butter
-cinnamon & sugar

1. Combine the milk, yeast, and 1/2 c. flour in a large bowl, and let stand for about 15 minutes, until bubbling and expanded.
2. Beat in egg, sugar, butter, salt, and cardamom.
3. Gradually add the remaining flour until the dough forms and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 3-4 minutes. Allow it to rest while greasing a large bowl, and then knead for another 3-4 minutes. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, return it to the greased bowl and turn it over several times to coat it with oil. Cover and let rise from 1.5 to 2 hours.
5. Punch down the dough, turn it out again onto a floured surface, and knead briefly.
6. Divide the dough into three equal parts, and shape each into a long rope. Braid the ropes together.
7. Place the braid into a greased loaf pan (4.5"x8.5"), brush the top with melted butter, and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Cover the pan and let it rise again for 1 hour.
8. Bake the loaf at 350* for 30 minutes. Turn the loaf out and cool completely on a rack.