A Very Merry Year: March

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month (or so) with something lovely from my kitchen.

The third recipient is...

Our friend Jessica, whose birthday was early this month, and who is as sunny and fun as these cookies! We used our Playdough Cookie recipe, and I shaped her name into cookies and a few other cute shapes too, then we "pasted" them onto a card with powdered sugar and water (edible glue) for her birthday card! I used rum extract and vanilla in the dough rather than just vanilla. They were fab (oh, and Madeline also fashioned the planets in dough, which the kids ate themselves. Happy Birthday Jessie Bear!! We love you!

Coconut Heaven — and 15 Years!!

It's a tradition of sorts for Joel and I to have a Pepperidge Farm coconut cake on our anniversary. There have been years that we've had a different "birthday" cake or pie, but usually it's coconut, and there are always candles. Always. This year, I decided to bake a coconut cake, complete with cracking a fresh coconut. It was fabulous...

And, my sous-chef-in-training LOVED using a hammer in the kitchen!

It was pretty fun when Erik and I realized that one of the pieces broke into a "C" shape during the cracking, hulling and peeling process!

Fresh Coconut Cake
(recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, April 2010)

Batter
5 eggs (at room temp)
1 c. unsalted butter (room temp - I used 1/2 salted and 1/2 un.)
1 c. whole milk (room temp)
3 c. sifted cake flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla

Frosting
3 egg whites (at room temp)
2 c sugar
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 c. hot water
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 fresh coconut, husked, peeled and shredded (use your food processor) about 3-4 cups

Cakes: Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Let eggs, milk and butter stand at room temp for 30 mins. before beginning. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Prepare 3 8-inch pans with parchment in the bottom and grease & flour all pans. In Kitchenaid, beat butter for 30 seconds, add sugar and vanilla and beat on medium about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Then add flour and milk alternately, beating on low until just combined. Batter should be satin-smooth when ready. Divide between three pans and bake 20-25 minutes. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes, then remove from pans to cool completely.

Coconut: Pierce eye of coconut to drain coconut milk, then strike all over with hammer, on a towel until husk cracks. Remove husk, and then peel brown skin from coconut meat with vegetable peeler. Shred coconut with grater attachment in your food processor.

Frosting: Combine sugar, cream of tartar and water in medium pan over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved. Cover and bring to boil, then boil 2 minutes. Attach candy thermometer and cook, without stirring until 240-degrees F (5-10 mins). If your candy thermometer is broken and you let this reach 250 (like I did), the frosting will be less fluffy/lower in volume, so test that thermometer and keep an eye on the syrup. Meanwhile, in Kitchenaid with whisk attachment, beat eggs until frothy, then add the 1/4 tsp. salt and beat on high until stiff peaks form. When the syrup is 240, stream it into the eggs whites with mixer on low. Beat in the vanilla and increast spped to med-high. Beat until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes).

Assemble cake by layering frosting and cake layers, then frosting the whole cake with the remaining frosting. Finally, apply the coconut to the top and sides of cake with your hands quickly and press down to "stick." Enjoy!! Serves 16.

To choose a good coconut, make sure it feels heavy for its size (compare others), and shake it. You should hear the coconut milk sloshing around inside. If the one you pick is bad, return it to the store for another! Really, the fresh coconut is worth the trouble (we had fun doing it).

Magically Delicious!

That's right, it was a magically delicious St. Patrick's Day. We adore Ireland, and so our family was decked out in green today, and we invited Margo (a fellow fan of the Green Isle) over for dinner. Here's our before and after...

I did real Irish Soda Bread (not the American version), a rustic apple tart (a common dessert we found in Ireland), and of course, corned beef with cabbage, carrots and tatties (cooked with one chopped up Golden Delicious apple and 1/2 a bottle of Blonde Ale)! After dinner, I chopped the corned beef and potatoes up to turn into hash tomorrow morning.

Rustic Irish Apple Tart

Preheat oven to 400-degrees F

3 peeled, cored, sliced Granny Smith apples and
1 peeled, cored sliced Gala apple
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tbs. flour
cinnamon to taste

Mix up your filling, and let it sit while you prep your crust. When crust is ready, dump apples on crust, even out and then fold the edges of the crust over around the perimeter of the pan. Bake until golden brown and fragrant (I have no idea how long I baked this... really... I use my nose to tell me when baked goods are done (I do keep an eye on them of course to prevent burning).

1.25 c. flour
1 cube cold butter
1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. cold water

Cut butter into flour and salt, add water to form dough. Roll out and transfer into 12-inch well-seasoned cast iron pan.

Cat In The Hat Cake

Well, of course there was a cake for the Dr. Seuss party! Although, technically it was a jelly roll (thank you for the inspiration, Amelia Bedelia ala Peggy Parish!). The frosting is tinted whipped cream (with powdered sugar and vanilla), and the brim of the hat was formed from my favorite Play Dough cookie recipe.

Cat In The Hat Cake adapted from
Daisy Martinez (Daisy Cooks!) Brazo de Gitano, or "Gypsy's Arm"

Vegetable cooking spray
¾ cup sifted cake flour (you can make your own with corn starch and flour*)
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
For the filling
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup whipped cream cheese at room temperature
One 17-ounce jar guava jelly or 1.5 cups strawberry jelly

1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven 350° F. Grease a 13 x 18-inch jelly roll pan with vegetable cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper or waxed paper. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat the eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a bowl with a handheld mixer) at medium-high speed until foamy. Add the sugar gradually in three batches and continue beating until very fluffy and pale yellow.

2. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the eggs in three batches, folding each one into the egg mixture with a rubber spatula until just a few streaks of white remain. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer, making sure to poke it into the corners. Bake until the cake is golden brown and it feels spongy not tacky to the touch, 14 to 16 minutes. After the cake cools to the touch, roll it up (starting at the shorter end) and let it continue to cool rolled up (makes it easier to roll with filling later).

3. Make the filling: Beat the heavy cream and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer (or in a bowl with a handheld mixer) until it is fluffy. Add the vanilla and continue beating until the cream holds soft peaks when the beater is lifted from it. Add the cream cheese half at a time and beat just until blended into the cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

4. Line your work surface with a sheet of waxed or parchment paper. Invert the cake onto the paper and lift off the pan. Peel the paper off the top of the cake. Spread the jelly in an even layer over the cake, leaving a ½-inch border around the edges. Do the same with the cream cheese mixture. Starting at one of the short sides, roll the cake up into a compact roll, working gently to avoid tearing the cake or squeezing the filling out. Set the cake seam side down on a serving platter. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 1 day before serving.

5. To serve, pipe tinted (and sweetened) whipped cream onto the "hat" in alternating red and white stripes. Add cookie brim. Enjoy!

*Basically, sift all-purpose flour, then measure out 1 cup. Remove 2 Tbs. of flour and replace with 2 Tbs. of corn starch, then sift several times. Measure out the amount you need. To make 2 cups of cake flour, it would be 1.75 cups all-purpose and .25 cups of corn starch.

Kitchen In Hand!

A few months ago, I spotted this fabulous tutorial for a roll-up kitchen play mat on the Balancing Everything blog, and immediately thought of my niece Sophia. She has a great play kitchen in her bedroom (that was her mom's when she was little), but a roll-up kitchen would be perfect to take to her dad's house on the weekend. Or leave there on a shelf. Really, she could take it anywhere she wanted... in her bean teepee in the summer even.

So, with her 5th birthday looming in the very near future, I got my trusty helper to assist with construction. He loved it!

To round out the gift, I commissioned my friend Jen to crochet a soup pot and some bowls to go with the kitchen. She did all of the pieces free hand, and they are beautiful. I love the soup kettle. It's perfect! And, being the fabulous gal she is, Jen made some bonus produce as well!

I used wool felt, backed with cotton and hand stitched the kitchen elements to the "counter" with charcoal gray embroidery floss. Oh, I also increased the dimensions of the kitchen to 28" x 13" (before sewing) since I think my printed-out template must have been larger than the original tutorial. My burners are a little more than 5.5" in diameter.

I added a bag of a dozen felt mezzaluna ravioli (or empanadas, wee pastries, or cookies), and re-purposed a Gelatiamo salted caramel gelato pint to hold four brown circular felt bean bags (filled with lentils) that can be scoops of gelato for Sophia's bowls (or cookies, brownies, pies, burgers...) — I was going for general shapes that could easily be something else. If only managing a real kitchen were so easy!

I'll be making more of these for other wee ones for sure!! My kids need one for their playhouse too. Again, the "recipe" for this one is right here. And, if you need a fabulous soup pot, bowls or produce, just contact this gal by leaving a comment on Twist & Loop.

It was just so fun that I had to make one for Gramma too! E helped with this kitchen mat as well, and he preferred the dark blue to the gold of Sophia's. Personally, I love the cotton backing fabric, and the style of the burners which I copied directly from M & E's wooden play kitchen.

I do! I like them, Sam I Am!!

The coolest Green Eggs around... from Jamie & John's chickens (from CC I think...) — we get eggs, the chickens get our slugs, and everyone is happy!

Dinner tonight: Green Eggs & Ham (I used neon green food color since any other "green" wouldn't fly with E), turkey ham and baked sweet potato fries.

They did! They liked it, Sam I Am!!!

Madeline's Choice Bento

Dill tuna salad, cheese Sun Chips, a "really big" carrot, and banana.

A Very Merry Year: February

So, instead of going crazy with holiday baking last year, I decided that it would be much more fun to spread the joy out over the year and gift someone each month (or so) with something lovely from my kitchen.

The second recipient is my good friend Margo, whose birthday is this month, and who adores coconut. She's also out of work at the moment, and could certainly use the extra cheer for her birthday. So, I made my favorite light-as-a-feather, delicious coconut cookie crisps for her. Happy "New" Year, Margo!
Coconut Snowball Crisps
(adapted from Everyday With Rachael Ray December 2008)

3 large egg whites
1 pinch salt
1 c. powdered sugar
2 c. sweetened shredded coconut
2 c. Rice Krispies cereal
1/4 c. cornstarch

Preheat oven to 200-degrees F (they bake for one hour). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Beat egg whites and salt on medium-high speed of mixer with whisk attachment until thick and foamy, then add sugar and once incorporated, beat on high for about 5 minutes (until firm and glossy).

In another bowl, toss together the additional three dry ingredients, then fold the coconut mixture into the egg whites when ready. Scoop with small cookie scoop into parchment-lined sheets. They can be fairly close together since these cookies do not spread at all, and are basically drying out in the 200-degree oven for 1 hour (until firm and dry to touch).

Twist & Shout!

In 6th grade, pretzels were the first recipe we tackled in Mrs. Gill's Home Ec. class. We followed that with scrambled eggs and coffee cake, at which point I was going crazy with boredom. My mom pointed out that to most of the kids in my class these recipes were probably new and exotic... so I soldiered on. Then, something wonderful happened. Ms. Feek took over the class mid-year. She was a former chef from New York and she was fabulous. We started making croissants, bagels, chocolate mousse, roasted duck... whatever we wanted to learn about. She also had us find our own recipes, write up grocery lists, and manage our kitchen team. I learned a lot in that class and took it in 7th and 8th grade as well.

Yesterday, I made pretzels for the first time with the kids, but not with Mrs. Gill's recipe (which I long since lost).

The new recipe I found is from the King Arthur Flour site, and it's lovely. The kids (including Aura and Rowan) scarfed them down, and this will easily be a first solo recipe for the kids when they're older. Good thing too since Home Ec. isn't even offered in junior high anymore... The kids got very creative with shapes yesterday, and Mad ended up with this "snail" that she took in her bento today—filled with cream cheese.

King Arthur Soft Pretzels (16 pretzels)
(adapted from the King Arthur Flour web site)
Dough
About 2 cups warm water
2 pkgs. regular instant yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Topping
1 cup warm water
4 tablespoons baking soda
coarse, kosher or pretzel salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat till well-combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, till it's soft, smooth, and quite slack. Oil the dough and place it in a bowl, cover, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 475°F. Prepare two baking sheets by spraying them with vegetable oil spray, or lining them with parchment paper.Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into 16 equal pieces (about 70g, or 2 1/2 ounces, each). Allow the pieces to rest, uncovered, for 5 minutes. While the dough is resting, combine the 1/2 cup warm water and the baking soda, and place it in a shallow bowl. Make sure the baking soda is thoroughly dissolved; if it isn't, it'll make your pretzels splotchy.Roll each piece of dough into a long, thin rope (about 28 to 30 inches long), and twist each rope into a pretzel (or other shape). Dip each pretzel in the baking soda wash (this will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color), and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle them lightly with coarse, kosher, or pretzel salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Bake the pretzels for 8 to 9 minutes, or until they're golden brown, reversing the baking sheets halfway through.Remove the pretzels from the oven, and brush them thoroughly with the melted butter. Keep brushing the butter on until you've used it all up; it may seem like a lot, but it's covering 16 pretzels. Eat the pretzels warm, or reheat them in an oven or microwave.

Spring Preview...

"Spears" - AKA asparagus... Erik actually ate two spears of this. Victory!! He also inhaled two bowls of "Grumbly Bean Soup" this week. He like edamame (or Grumbly Beans) so that's what I called the Split Pea Soup I made on Tuesday. It has no edamame in it, but he doesn't know that. He LOVED it. Sweet. He also isn't aware that I discovered a sneaky cauliflower recipe in one of the Moosewood cookbooks today at the library, which I'll be making next week. Bwahahahaha!!
We ate the Grumbly Bean Soup (or Hernesoppa in Finnish) on Laskiaistiistai (Shrove Tuesday/Fat Tuesday) along with Shrove Buns. These tasty treats are called Laskiaispullat in Finland and are cardamom sweet rolls (similar to Challah) sliced in half and filled with almond paste (or raspberry jam) and sweetened whipped cream. In turns out that Erik adores almond paste, and there is zero problem getting him to eat that.

Heart-y Scones

The kids helped whip up some heart-shaped orange-vanilla scones for Valentine's Day brunch. Along with bacon and fruit, it was a tasty little meal.

The finished product! Mmm...

Ready for the oven...

Mixing...

Erik loves the pastry blender... and the Microplane (he's irritated that I won't let him us the Microplane alone).

Wall*E is One Tough Cookie!

Well, Wall*E turned out great, in the end, and tasted fabulous, and G loved him! However, he lost his head three times, one arm entirely, and his neck just got shorter each time he lost his head.

Erik loved snipping the black licorice for his "tracks," and Ro was pleased with the base and tracks made of rice Krispie treats. The body was lemon poppy seed pound cake, and the head was wafer ice cream cones and macaroon cookies stuck together with melted white chocolate. Next time, I will frost the head and neck with buttercream rather than the cream filling from the center of the cakes (but this time I lost my fave pottery bowl and half our frosting to the floor *crash!*, so had to improvise). I think the moisture from the filling (used as frosting) contributed to the last two face-plants. The previous head falling was due to my use of cookie stick as support rather than the dowel that replaced it (that Joel cut and sanded for me).

Light & Creamy Whipped Filling
1 c whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks with sugar and vanilla
3 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. vanilla
Add the cream cheese half at a time and blend
1 8-oz. tub whipped cream cheese

Fill jelly roll, cake layers, or use as frosting (but not on a wafer-cone Wall*E head!)

Happy 5th Gavino!!

Surimi Bento

The Cookie Gun Experiment

Erik woke up from his nap yesterday, very excited, muttering about "... the cookie gun experiment..." Hmm... He was also very mad about Joel and Madeline having gone off to ride bikes with the boys at the park (despite the fact that he had told us three times earlier that he did NOT want to go, but to stay home and "snuggle down").

Anyway, for distraction's sake (and fun too) we broke out the Spritz stuff—for the first time. My great grandma's cookie "gun" did a great job with this "experiment." We used the camel (my favorite!), heart, and "tree" (Erik's fave—I think it's the spade) shapes.
Peanut Butter Spritz Cookies

1/2 c softened butter (1 stick)
1/2 c peanut butter (creamy)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Sprinkles for decorating... you can "experiment" with different kinds of sprinkles too.

Blend the peanut butter and butter, then add sugar and beat until combined. Add egg. Pour in flour, soda and salt and mix in, then chill for 15 mins. Load into cookie "gun" and press onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350-degrees F for 6-8 mins.

Lovely, and 21-years Old!

Happy Birthday to Ro!

Rochelle's birthday being in January, and specifically right when I'm working out and lightening/healthy-ing up the diet, she got a non-fat chocolate cake for her birthday today. Now, don't go away just yet. It's good. Really. Moist and delicious, chocolate-heaven. It really doesn't taste light at all... And, while Ro is also lovely, she's got a couple years on this lovely cake recipe that I've kept for 21 years... I've saved it since I was a sophomore in high school. It's originally from SHAPE magazine, circa 1989, and it's got a nearly fat-free frosting to go with it. But, seeing as I'm far less extremist these days, I skipped that super-healthy frosting in favor of a little bit of chocolate-peppermint buttercream for the filling and sides, and a simple ganache poured over the top. Balance is a good thing. I also grated two Lindor dark chocolate truffles over the top and added some candy-cane hearts and other decor to make a flower shape. You know, because this was a birthday celebration cake!Here's the whole SHAPE-approved recipe...

Nonfat Chocolate Cake & Frosting (SHAPE magazine 1989)
1.5 c sugar
1.75 c flour
3/4 c cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 c nonfat milk
1/2 c applesauce
2 tsp vanilla
1 c boiling water

Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Spray and flour pan/s (really - do it, or the cake will not come out of the pan). Combine dry ingredients, then add all the wet ingredients except the boiling water. Beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes, then stir in boiling water. Bake 35-40 minutes.

Nearly Fat-Free Chocolate Frosting
4 Tbs light margarine
2 Tbs plain, non-fat yogurt
1/2 c cocoa powder
2 c powdered sugar
3 Tbs non-fat milk
2 tsp vanilla

Cream margarine and yogurt, then add cocoa and sugar alternately with milk. Add vanilla, and add additional milk as needed to get the consistency that you want.

Oh, and to do the candy cane hearts... just heat the oven to 200-degrees F, arrange two mini candy canes for each heart in heart shape on parchment and bake for 8-9 minutes. Remove pan, and shape/squish connection points with chopsticks or spoons (so you don't burn fingers), then pop back in the oven for an additional 1-2 minutes. Voila! Wouldn't these be fun Christmas ornaments to hang on the tree? I just found them online last week, and luckily had an extra box of mini candy canes that fit the bill!