New Blog, new food series!

Are you a Baking Powders reader? are you wondering why I disappeared?

Due to health considerations, my intake of sweets has greatly diminished and my time has been spent making crochet items. I have decided to start a new series in my crochet blog: 

Crocipes. Crochet patterns + recipes. 

What's that about? I'll be pairing up a crochet pattern with a new recipe hopefully on a regular basis. The first one will be about lime tarts! 

Would you like to see it? find me at bowtiesfezzes.com or on facebook at 

https://www.facebook.com/bowtiesfezzes

Hope to see you there!

Raw brownies and a giveaway

It's been a long long time since I last posted here. Months seem to go by as fast as days and the recently gone summer was full of new activities and lots of work. After xmas I took on a new crafty hobby. Knitting and crocheting, which have kept me busy with all sorts of projects for family and friends. Baking has still been a part of what I do, but the continued heat over the last few months has kept my oven turned off to avoid heating our small apartment.

However, I recently purchased a food processor that needed some use. I had seen many many raw brownie recipes all over the internet and I was certainly curious as to whether or not they would be a suitable alternative to their baked cousin. Turns out they are incredibly flavorful and filling, but not heavy or sugary.

These little cubes of joy can be made from whatever ingredients you have in your pantry. Play with the nuts and the dried fruits to achieve the perfect brownie according to your taste. Add protein powder to them to make them post-workout protein bars. In other words, have fun with them.

My version of the treat had figs, date pieces, pistachios, walnuts and cocoa powder, along with a little bit of Zulka pure cane sugar. This recipe is part of the Non GMO month challenge hosted by Zulka. As part of this challenge, one of my readers will receive a free bag of their pure cane sugar. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post telling me what is your favorite fall recipe to make with pure cane sugar. The giveaway will be closed 10/31/13 at midnight. The winner will be selected at random. 

Now for the recipe...

RAW BROWNIES
Ingredients
1 cup walnuts (or pecans)
1/2 cup shelled pistachios
1/2 cup dried figs
1/2 cup date pieces (or chopped dates)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup Zulka pure cane sugar

Preparation
Into a food processor fitted with the cutting blade (not the dough blade), add the figs, cocoa powder and sugar. Process the mixture until you obtain a dark homogeneous paste. Add the date pieces and pulse 5 times until only small bits remain. Add the walnuts and pistachios and pulse a few times until the nuts are chopped but visible chunks still remain. Cover a glass or plastic container in parchment paper and add the raw brownie mixture. Press the down until flat and cut it in squares. Keep in an airtight container for up to a week.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I received no compensation to host the Zulka giveaway

Hazelnut brownies and my war against 'diets'

This is sort of a rant post. Why? Because I'm really sick of hearing about the newest diet that comes out every other year. The Atkins diet, the pineapple diet, the juice cleansing and the latest and most annoying, Paleolithic diet. I will say this right now, before I go on my rant. I am not a nutritionist, I am not a doctor and I have no health training other than reading literature about the chemistry of the human body.

I do however, have a good friend who is a nutritionist. I have commented with her that I am most certainly against these miracle diets that make you lose weight by eliminating a food group from your diet completely. She agrees. Now, don't take me wrong. If you're vegetarian or vegan and you have moral issues with eating certain foods, I get it. What I don't get is this idea that we should eat like the paleolithic man. Who by the way, wasn't even the same species of human we are.

Turns out that during the Paleolithic era, humans evolved from Homo Erectus, to the neanderthals and then to Homo Sapiens. Part of the human evolution was diet based. We introduced more foods to our diets and that allowed us to migrate to new regions and survive in periods of the year with less animals (meat) around. Turns out there are about 2000 years of Paleolithic history where humans started agriculture.

But wait, there's more. The paleo diet wants you to eat like a species of human that was LESS evolved than us. Had less brain capacity and shorter life expectancy. Seriously? am I the only one who finds this utterly ridiculous?

Anyway, I just don't believe in diets. I have tried them all. The Atkins, which gave me terrible results and meant I had to test my urine for compounds that in excess could be very detrimental to me. Does that sound good to you? The dissociated diet, so not mixing certain food groups with others. And so on and so forth. The result? none of them work. They all made me hungry, cranky and I didn't lose all that much weight.

You are obviously all free to do whatever you like with your body. I personally stick to eating low processed foods, local farm raised and grass fed animals (in a much lower proportion than veggies and grains) and no junk food. In combination with exercise, about 5 times a week, the result is 24 lbs lost in less than a year. I am not hungry, I am not cranky, I eat brownies, muffins, candy and whatever the hell I want. In moderation. I love carbs, I love grains and legumes. And I'm personally not about to give up any of that for a funky fad diet. I feel better than I have felt in my entire adult life.

That's my motto folks. Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full. Exercise. If you want to control your candy/pastry intake, you can establish a rule. When it comes to baked goods, you pretty much don't eat anything you don't bake yourself.

One of my recent food changes has been to use only pure cane sugar. No refined sugar, just raw, turbinado, call it whatever you want. In my opinion, it tastes much better and the texture it gives to baked goods (and oatmeal) is much more interesting. Crunchy and with more depth of flavor. So when Madeleine at Zulka offered me to review their non-processed sugar, I was happy to do so. These brownies were made with their sugar and they have a slight crunch and almost a molasses flavor. As a disclaimer, I'll warn you that I didn't get any monetary compensation for reviewing this product. I got it for free, I tried it, I liked it and I'm letting you know about it. Pure cane sugar is the only one I've used for a few months now and Zulka is available at all major grocery stores. (Oh, the zip closure is a plus for clumsy people like me).

As I said before, I'm no doctor. I'm just offering my personal experience as a person who has struggled to lose weight her entire adult life and has managed to do so without going into radical diets. That's my five cents. And here's the recipe for hazelnut brownies. They taste almost like the hazelnut/chocolate spread you find at the store. But without all the junk. Enjoy!

Hazelnut brownies
adapted slightly from Alice Medrich

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup Zulka, or any other turbinado sugar
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped, plus a few for decorating

Preheat your oven to 350 F
Over a boiling water bath, melt the butter along with the sugar and cocoa powder until you have a thick but runny mixture (2nd photo). Remove the mixture from the heat and add two beaten eggs while whisking to prevent any curdling. Add the flour and hazelnuts and mix gently with a spatula. Do not overmix or the brownies will be tough. Pour the batter in a pan lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. If desired, decorate with a few whole hazelnuts. Bake for 20-30 min until a knife inserted in the brownies comes out clean. Let the brownies cool before slicing. These freeze really well.

Homemade Longhorns/Turtles and a trip to Texas

This post is certainly long long long overdue. But such is the life of a grad student. 

Over Christmas break I had the pleasure (not kissing ass here) to meet my boyfriend's family. I could try to find something to complain about regarding the trip, but it would be quite hard. It's difficult to remember a week so filled of cooking, eating, talking, laughing and just relaxing. 

The boy's family is all about food when it comes to the holidays. As such, we spent about 11 hrs making cookies two days before Christmas. Now this might sound like a nightmare to you. But I got to use a giant kitchen with a kitchenaid and so many baking supplies you'd think you're at some fancy store. There was a batch of sugar cookies, a batch of gingerbread men and women, big and small, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate mint cookies. I made dough and formed into balls. The boy rolled the sugar cookies and gingerfolks. All said and done, it was 1 AM and there were more cookies I've seen together in my life. 

Come to think of it, it might be all because the boy is from Texas. And everything is bigger in Texas, right?. Oh well, those stereotypes that I've come to realize are so incredibly not true in a lot of ways. 

Anyway, the day before Christmas we made pies. Pecan pie, chocolate pecan pie, pumpkin pie and cherry pie. On Xmas eve we watched 'A Christmas Story'. (I fell in love with the movie, btw) and prepped some food for the day of. While eating, of course. Stuffed mushrooms, some homemade dips, veggies and other snack-y things. The list of Xmas food is gonna sound ridiculous to you. And it might be ridiculous. But there were a lot of hungry people expecting to eat all their favorite things. There was turkey, of course, along with lots of appetizers, cornbread stuffing (amazing), potato salad, broccoli salad, roasted ham and homemade cranberry sauce. I'm sure I forgot something but you get the idea. 

Christmas was full of food even when it came to gifts. I got a box of Longhorns. What are longhorns? Same thing as turtles but better. Delicious Texas pecans covered in chocolate and caramel. The box made it to Oregon but didn't survive the week after  being opened. So for Valentine's day I decided to make some more longhorns. With dark chocolate, pecans from our friend's tree and homemade caramel. Here's the recipe. 

Homemade longhorns

6 oz chocolate

1 cup pecans roughly chopped

1/2 cup homemade caramel sauce (recipe follows)

Melt about 80% of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over boiling water. Once it is all melted, add the rest of the chocolate and check the temperature. You're looking for a temperature of 90F in order to ensure the chocolate has been tempered. This step is optional but it ensures that the chocolate will be nice and shiny as opposed to opaque and gritty once it dries. 

Pour enough of the melted chocolate in a mold of your choice to cover the bottom. I used a peanut butter cup mold that makes chocolates of a reasonably small size. You can also try free-hand longhorns and do the whole process in parchment paper. In that case, pour a small amount of chocolate in a rounded shape over parchment paper. 

Once the chocolate is set, add the chopped pecans in each mold

 Now add the homemade caramel sauce on top of the pecans. In order for it to be runny it'll have to be slightly warm. This could potentially melt the chocolate but I had no problems with it. If you're afraid this could happen, place the mold with the chocolate in the fridge before adding the caramel. 

Finally, cover the tops with more melted chocolate and let it all set for at least an hour. And you'll have this!

Oh and here's the recipe for the homemade caramel

Homemade caramel sauce

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream 

Pour the water and sugar in a pot and heat at medium heat until it boils. DO NOT STIR. This is very important. If you stir, you'll evaporate the water before the sugar cooks and will end up with a white goopy paste that doesn't look like caramel. You are aiming to slowly caramelize the sugar (Grignard reaction, for the nerds out there). Let the water evaporate and the sugar cook and do not walk away from it or it'll burn. You can do this without adding water, but this way, the process is slower and the risk of burning it is lower. Once the sugar acquires an amber color, it is ready for you to pour the heavy cream. Now, there's very many tones of amber, you're aiming for something that looks like honey. Once you get to this stage, remove the pot from the stove and add the heavy cream. Do not panic if all the sudden you have a solid blob of caramel surrounded by liquid. And be careful not to splash yourselves with hot caramel. Once you've added the heavy cream, put the pot back in the stove and stir with a whisk until you have an homogeneous mixture. Basically, until the cooked sugar dissolves. You can cook the sauce as little or as much as you want, depending on how thick you want it. Take in account that it'll become thicker when it cools down. Pour in jars and store in the fridge for 2 weeks or the freezer for months. 

Apple pie and a giveaway

Contrary to what a lot of people think, apple pie is almost exclusively an American thing. We don't make pies in Spain, I haven't seen them in Italy, England or France. One wonders how we survive at all.

So when I went home in October (I know, post long due), I made apple pie to bring to my aunt's. As a tradeoff, she made me the most delicious paella in the world. I won't accept any arguments with that.

I think the only 'hard' part of making pie is the crust. I swear by Smitten Kitchen's all butter crust. The only trick is to work as fast as you can to avoid melting the butter.

Once you have the crust cooling down in the fridge, get ready to peel and slice about 7-8 medium sized apples. I know most people use granny smith and or McIntosh, however I used Braeburn. Once peeled and chopped, toss the apples with about 1/2 cup brown sugar and the juice of two lemons. This will prevent some of the discoloration you get from apple oxidation.

Let the apples sit for about 30 min in the sugar/lemon mixture. In the meantime, roll your dough. Once the apples are ready, roll the bottom crust of the pie and place your apples nice and pretty in your pan.

If you're into the lattice top crust, go ahead and cut the rest of your dough in strips. For a tutorial on how to do it best, check this.

Now you can bake your pie at 350 F for about 50-60 min or until the apple juices are bubbling.

And now for the giveaway

Stephanie from Zinio has offered to give 9 of my readers a free subscription to any of the magazines Zinio has to offer. If this doesn't sound appealing enough, some of their titles are 'Vegetarian times', 'La cucina italiana', 'Taste of Home', 'Eating Well' and many others. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and let me know what you're baking these holidays. Remember to leave an e-mail contact address. The giveaway deadline is December 20th at 12 AM PT. 

For extra entries
Follow me on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you did so
Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you did so
Follow me on Pinterest and leave a comment telling me you did so

*This blog post was sponsored by Zinio

Piñata cake and aging

Next week I'm turning 27. It's a strange feeling. A feeling of comfort. The realization that I'm not anymore in my early 20s and I really like it. I am not the person I used to be a few years ago. And despite the common sayings, I think women do improve with age, just like men do.

I have recently read 'Winter Journal' from Paul Auster. I can't think of a better time to read such a wonderful autobiography, as now that I'm about to turn a year older. If you have never read any of his novels, I strongly recommend you do. Perhaps you won't like him, perhaps you will fall in love with his words, just like I did a few years ago.

I'm a picky reader, that's for sure. Growing up with two much older sisters, one of whom is a librarian, certainly shaped my taste for literature. But style aside, the wonderful thing about this book, it's the way in which it conveys the idea of aging as a learning process. In a way. I doubt Mr. Auster intended for it to be a lesson type book. But the comfort with which he embraces the winter of his life, is contagious.

I am nowhere near close to that winter. And yet I am glad to look back and see that I've slowly evolved into the human being I am today. I am glad to look into the future and know that constant evolution is normal, necessary and beneficial.

In a way, my palate has evolved quite a bit as well. When I made this cake (for the boy's labmate, who was about to return to Mexico), I realized how much my sweet palate has changed. This cake is quite simple. Plain white cake with a raspberry preserve filling. Topped with cream cheese frosting mixed with a good amount of food coloring. There's nothing wrong with that. And I will, not modestly, say it was delicious.

And yet it's not my type of thing. Granted, that's irrelevant, since the cake was for her and not for me. Not to say I didn't enjoy it. But I also realized that the sweet-toothed-little-girl who loved to eat cake at any occasion, is long gone. Me, I am more the type of more subtle sweetness. Muffins, biscotti, pies without tons of sugar and homemade ice cream are more my type of thing. I blame age. I blame my newly acquired taste for spicy food and the drive to make baked savory delights instead of sugary cakes.

However, the cake didn't make it to the end of our weekly joint group meeting with another lab. Some folks had seconds. Some had thirds. So by all means, do make it. With or without frosting. With or without coloring. If you can, use homemade preserves. If you like very sugary frostings, up the sugar and down the cream cheese.

By the way, in case you hadn't realized yet. This cake is an attempt to mimic a pinata donkey. We couldn't have a pinata party in our conference room, so we settled for the cake. I hope you enjoy it. Donkey or not.

Pinata cake or white cake with raspberry preserves and cream cheese frosting

White cake

from Leite's Culinaria

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the pans

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pans

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk, or 1 cup whole milk mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour your pans (either 2 9 inch round pans or a large 13x9). In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until fluffly and slightly pale. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until combined. Add half of the buttermilk or milk/lemon mixture to the cake and mix until combined. Mix in half of the sifted ingredients and then the rest of the buttermilk. Finally, add the rest of the dry mixture and mix until combined. Do not overmix or the cake will be dense. 

Pour the batter in the pans and bake for 20-30 min until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for about 10 min, then remove from the pan and cool in a wire rack for about 1 hr. 

Raspberry preserves

I prepared this the exact same way as the blackberry jam.

Cream cheese frosting

12 ounces cream cheese (for a sweeter frosting 8 ounces)

1 stick of butter

2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted (for a sweeter frosting, 3 cups)

Before combining the ingredients, make sure all of them are at room temperature. With a hand mixer, start by creaming the cheese and the butter together. Once the mixture is homogeneous start adding the confectioners sugar slowly and keep beating until the frosting is fluffy but has enough body to be piped. For coloring, divide the frosting in bowls and add food coloring as desired. Transfer to piping/ziploc bags and decorate as desired. 

Fresh strawberry ice cream

I remember from high school philosophy, the importance placed on the topic of 'tempus fugit'. In other words, time flies. It seems like summer started yesterday and it's left us by today. The brevity of the seasons in the pacific northwest, has a clear impact on the fruit season.

All this talk is just a reflection of how fast time seems to go by. The boy and I moved in together almost two months ago, but it really feels like much longer than that. In a good way. It's been two months of happiness and extraordinary food.

The weekend after we moved, we went berry picking at Sauvie Island. The island is paradise by the city. It originates from the confluence of the Columbia and the Willamette rivers and it's full of farms and lovely beaches. If you live around the area or are visiting Portland, I highly recommend a visit to the farms. There's produce available for picking at all times of the year.

We went picking a bit too late for strawberry season. There didn't seem to be any strawberries left and nobody was bothering to find any. However, the boy saw a few unpicked precious red jewels and devoted himself to finding all the ones that were left. Words can't describe the taste of those strawberries. Tiny, intensely red and delightfully sweet. However, they were a bit bruised and they weren't gonna make it to the next day in good shape.

That's when I opened 'the perfect scoop' and found one of David's recipes. A combination of strawberries, heavy cream and sour cream. The tartness of the sour cream and the sweetness of the strawberries are a pairing made in heaven. Just like he says in the book, this is best when freshly churned. Unfortunately, the sour cream seems to make it a bit icier than other ice creams when it has been in the freezer for a while. But don't worry, it really won't last you long.

Strawberry sour cream ice cream
From 'The perfect scoop'

1 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vodka or kirsch (I didn't add it, but I bet it'd be great)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Slice the strawberries and toss them in a medium bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch, if using. Stir until the sugar begins to dissolve and all of the strawberries are coated. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. At this point your strawberries will release all their wonderful juices. So be patient and don't skip this step. 

2. Pulse the strawberries and their liquid with the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor until almost smooth, but still slightly chunky.

3. Refrigerate mixture for at least one hour. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Zucchini and corn frittata

I am in love with spicy food. There. I said it. I know for all of you who probably have been eating spicy food their entire lives, that's no big deal. However growing up in Spain, spicy food wasn't the most common thing on earth. Even though Barcelona is a very cosmopolitan city, 'exotic' food restaurants haven't been widespread until very recently. 

So 4 years ago, when I moved to the US, a whole new world of foods opened for me. Literally. I lived a block away from an Indian restaurant and two blocks away from the most amazing Thai place. I could grab Chinese food across the street from work. I even got to eat free hot wings every Wednesday at the MIT bar. But still, spicy food wasn't my favorite. 

Don't get me wrong. I liked the flavor, but the heat would give me the most terrible heartburn for hours at a time. I tried really hard when I switched jobs and I got to enjoy homemade Indian food made by my labmates. It was delicious. Painfully delicious. So still, I would try to avoid any dish on a menu that had more than one spicy 'flame' next to it. 

Then I met the boy. The boy is a Texan. He's far from any stereotype you can associate with his origins, but he really likes spicy food. On our first date he made me the most unbelievably amazing chicken mole (his mole sauce is out of this world good) and on the following ones, every time we ate out, there was something spicy involved. So I fell in love with spicy food. Chili, Thai stir fry and hot fried rice are common things on our dinner menu and I crave spice daily. 

This frittata is not quite as spicy as I'd like it. (Funny huh?). But that can be solved by adding a few more jalapenos or maybe some habanero. Hot or not, it's delicious. The zucchini is tender and the corn kernels pop in your mouth as you chew. It's the perfect way to use your summer harvest and the recipe came from the fabulous Shutterbean. 

Spicy zucchini and corn frittata

Ingredients

And obviously... eggs! 8 of them. 

I used a yellow onion and 2 jalapenos, the original recipe used red onion and only once spicy pepper. Next time I think I'll add a habanero. Chuck your corn and slice the onion, jalapeno and zucchini. 

Preheat your oven broiler. 

In a large skillet (broiler resistant), sautee the onion until almost translucent, about 3 min, then add the jalapeno and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the zucchini and corn and cook until tender 7-10 min. In the meantime, beat your eggs in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Once the veggies are cooked, add your eggs and cook for about 4 min or until the top of the eggs is still runny but the frittata comes off the sides of the pan. At this point, transfer your pan to the oven and broil for about 3 minutes or until the top of your frittata is golden brown and delicious. Serve warm or at room temperature. We served it with sour cream and scallions.

Fig newtons (and giveaway)

I'm not quite sure what to tell you about today. I'll tell you that summer is going by too fast but somehow it barely feels like summer. Oregon has rewarded us with a week of warmth, only to have rain and gray days to follow.

On days when it's 65 degrees (yes, you heard right) and miserable outside, it seems like everyone's pace is much slower than usual and few of us feel motivated enough to smile. On those days, I'm glad I can get in the kitchen and bake something. The oven keeps the apartment nice and warm in the evening, as if it really were hot outside.

These cookies were, surprisingly, a breeze to make. The dough needs to rest overnight in the fridge, but it takes about 10 min to put together and it's the easiest dough you've ever rolled. This said by someone who really hates rolling dough. The filling is even simpler. Dried figs, a bit of water, period.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. Why would I make these at home when I can buy a box of Fig Newtons at the grocery store for a couple bucks?. Well, just like with Thin Mint cookies, the homemade version is better. Far better. The cookie is softer and more buttery and the filling is just plain clean fig taste. They really are worth the little effort they involve.

Before the recipe, I'd like to announce a giveaway from Food on The Table. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Food on The Table is a web and mobile service that creates meal plans and generates grocery lists according to your tastes/needs. After indicating food preferences/dietary restrictions, you'll be able to choose from a variety of recipes and Food on the Table will automatically build a grocery list for you. Moreover, their service will tell you which grocery stores on your area have sales on those items in your list. 

Sound good? Well then, to enter the giveway, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me which store sold cookie/candy/cake, you like making home versions of. For extra entries, follow Baking Powders on Facebook , or post about this giveaway on Twitter. Please leave a separate comment for the extra entries and indicate your FB/twitter name. You can enter until Thursday August 9th at midnight. The winner will be chosen and published on Friday August 10th. Good luck!

AND THE WINNER IS... ANDREAMC!

Fig Newtons
Adapted from Faux Martha

2/3 cup all purpose flour (more if needed)
6 tbsp softened unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:
1 cup dried Black Mission figs
1/4 cup water

For the dough

With a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the two egg yolks and vanilla and beat to combine. In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Incorporate the flour mixture into the wet mixture, mixing with a spatula. At this point, depending on how warm your butter is, the dough might be really soft and very sticky. If this happens, you can add a bit more flour until the dough is soft and elastic but doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl. On the contrary, if the dough doesn't come together, you can add a tablespoon of water at a time and mix it in until the dough comes together. At this point, cover your dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge overnight. 

For the filling

In a food processor, combine the figs and water and process until you get a paste. If your figs are very dry you might need a bit more water. I didn't have any booze around, but I'm sure some bourbon or rum would go perfectly well with those figs. 

Preheat the oven at 350 F. 

Once the dough has rested, roll it to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut it into 3 1/4 inch strips. I'm not to concerned about perfect shapes, so I made a couple of them a bit wider. The only trick here is to work quickly. Since it's a soft dough, the more time you spend rolling it, the stickier it will get. I rolled mine between two pieces of parchment paper to make my life easier and then left the dough in the fridge for 5 min before adding the filling.

Spread the filling in the center third of your dough strips. Fold the sides of the dough over the filling and place them upside down on a cookie sheet (so the seam is facing the sheet). Cut the dough to form your cookies, as long or as short as you want them. Bake the cookies for 10-12 min or until golden brown. Once cold, store them in an airtight container. Mine didn't last at all, but I think you don't want to keep them for more than 4 days anyone as the dough softens up overtime. 

Baked oatmeal

As you can see, my frequency of posting is a variable with no control. As usual, that doesn't mean I'm not baking as much as I possibly can. I recently moved in with my boyfriend, with whom I share the passion for food and cooking. Over the past few months, he's turned me into a spicy food lover and I've convinced him that there's many pastries worth making at home. He's the cooking master, I'm the baking master. Really, we're not masters at all, but we like to pretend. One of our favorite things is homemade weekend breakfast/brunch. We try not to repeat recipes, but ever since we tried this baked oatmeal, we've been making it over and over. With tons of summer fruit available, it's a quick, healthy way of eating a hearty breakfast.

One of the times we made this, I took pictures of the process. So you're about to see the boy at work. Or at least his hands.

Baked oatmeal

2 bananas sliced + 1 1/2 cup of blueberries (or any combination of fruit you can think of that will roast well)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 egg
1 cup unsweetened rice milk (or some other milk you like best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Step 1: Spread about 3/4 of your fruits (for us, all the bananas and 1 cup of blueberries) on the bottom of an 8x8 inch roasting pan coated with some butter or non-stick spray. Roast your fruits at 375 F for 15-20 minutes. This batch is blueberries + bananas, we've also done just bananas and we tried peaches as well. I bet you could try with apricots, nectarines or strawberries.

Step 2: Combine oats, sugar, baking powder, salt and nuts and spread on top of the still hot roasted fruit.

Step 3: In a bowl, mix the egg, vanilla extract and milk and pour it over the fruit and oats.

Step 4: Add the remainder of the fruit on top and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until the oatmeal is set.

This keeps well for about a week in the fridge, although I doubt it'll last that long.

Easter egg cupcakes

This post is remarkably late, as Easter was a while ago. However, these are vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting, which are just great for any occasion. Quite moist and delicious. I made these for a 'Jewster' party. The party that one of my friends organizes every year. The  name comes from the idea of joining Passover (as her future husband is jewish) with Easter. It really is all about food, friends, a few adult-type Jello shots and lots of laughs.

Here's the recipe for this delicious cupcakes. Whether you add eggs or not, I think they're great for any party.

Vanilla cupcakes

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk and vanilla extract and set aside. 

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. It will take about 5-8 minutes with a hand mixer, which is all I have. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until thoroughly incorporated. 

Add the flour mixture and the vanilla milk mixture in three batches, starting and ending with the flour.  

Divide into the lined cupcake pan and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove to cool completely. Once cool the cupcakes are ready for frosting. 

Chocolate frosting

(Makes a thick very chocolaty frosting, not so easy to pipe but very spreadable). 

1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Start by mixing the chocolate and butter with a hand mixer. Add the vanilla extract. In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add the sugar-cocoa mixture to the chocolate-butter mixture and mix until combined. The mixture should be fluffy. 

Enjoy

Thin mint copycat, version 2

I did it again. One more year I made my own Thin Mints, instead of buying them from the Girl Scouts. You must think I'm a terrible person. Truth of the matter is, homemade ones taste better. And I think I'm still a bit disappointed with the fact that the cookies come from a factory.

Before moving to the US, almost 4 years ago, I thought the Girl Scouts made the cookies at their own houses and then sold them in stands. Then I moved to America and discovered that was certainly not the case.

At any rate, these involve quite a bit of work but they're delicious... and this year I adapted a different recipe, which turned out OK, although I would've liked a crispier cookie.

Homemade thin mints
Adapted from Baking Bites

Homemade Thin Mints
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder1/2 tsp salt1 cup white sugar1/2 cup butter1/3 cup rice milk1/2 tsp vanilla extract1 tsp peppermint extract

In a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar and then add both extracts.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix to combine. Let the dough rest for 1 hr in the fridge and then roll and cook with cookie cutters. Bake at 375 F for 13 minutes.

To make the chocolate coating, melt about 1 lb of chocolate chips and add a few teaspoons of peppermint extract.  To taste, that is. Dip the cooled cookies in the melted chocolate and place in a cooling rack. Wait until the chocolate is set and enjoy! 

These are best kept in the fridge to avoid chocolate melting, but you should eat them quickly as the chocolate will crack and lose flavor after days in the frige.  

Easy peasy yogurt chocolate waffles

Breakfast in 15 min, how does that sound? it can really happen.

I have been house and catsitting for a friend over the past week. He, unlike me happens to have a waffle maker. So the other morning I wanted waffles for breakfast. Unfortunately, I didn't have milk. Is that a problem? No!.

These waffles are made with yogurt, in my case, non-fat. They have no added fat and yet they have great flavor. I've made them twice now, plain, with cocoa powder and with very thin apple slices mixed in the batter. They all worked really well.

Yogurt chocolate waffles
(Makes 10 waffles, with 4 x 4 rows of 'pockets')

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (for plain waffles omit this)
1 cup yogurt
1 cup water
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda

In a bowl, combine the yogurt, water and eggs. Whisk until smooth. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined. Cook in your waffle iron according to the manufacturer instructions.

Meringues

It's been many many months since my last post. I almost have no idea what to tell you,  if there's any of you out there that still read this blog. What can I say, grad student life doesn't give you much time for blogging. Still, I've tried to keep the baking up, even if I fail at the picture-taking part.

Anyway! I had a few friends over a couple weeks ago and since I was using egg yolks to make vanilla ice cream, I put the whites to use by making meringues. These babies are ridiculously easy to make. Unfortunately, the pictures don't make them  justice, but they were cute. In fact, you can even make surprise meringues. See that white looking guy at the back of the picture? white on the outside, chocolate in the inside. How? just coat your piping bag with the regular meringue, by applying a bit of meringue to the bag, squeezing it and then opening it back again. Then add your chocolate meringue mix carefully to the bag, so you don't wipe off the white from the sides. Pipe your meringues normally and you'll have surprise  meringues!

How do you make these you ask?

Meringues

4 egg whites
A pinch of cream of tartar
1 cup regular granulated sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder (for the chocolate ones)

In a clean dry bowl, either glass or metal (not plastic since fats tend to stick to it and any sort of fat will deflate your egg whites) add your whites, the cream of tartar and the sugar. Set the bowl over a double boiler and start whisking your whites with a hand mixer at low speed (or a whisk) until the sugar is completely incorporated and the mixture has thickened a bit. Remove from the heat, change the mixer speed to high and continue beating the eggs until they form stiff peaks. About 10 minutes. Now you can either pipe the meringue as it is or add chocolate to it.

To incorporate the cocoa powder, just sprinkle it over the whites and get it mixed with a folding movement, from bottom to top while turning your bowl. Be gentle with the whites or they will deflate. I didn't completely incorporate the cocoa and had a few streaks still showing. I think that looks prettier!

For a better idea on this whole beating eggs business, Alton Brown shows you how, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOFgQ8Zoi5o

To bake the meringues, pipe them, using a piping bag or a ziploc bag on to a tray covered with parchment paper. They don't really 'bake' they just dry, so your oven will be at a very low temperature, 200 F. However, your meringues will spend about 2 hrs in the oven in order for this process to occur. The meringues are done once they separate easily from the parchment paper.

Eat by themselves, with ice cream or your topping of choice, and enjoy!

Raspberry chocolate ice cream

And there we go... once again, an entire month without posting! Oh the grad student life! 

Well, I've been so cramped with studying that I really don't have a ton to tell you. We're moving our lab to a new one (yay!) next week. The weather in Oregon is crazy hot, which doesn't help my daily running. But it invites you to eat some of this delicious ice cream. 

Today I have to keep it short, more studying needed for very important tests at the end of the month. But do make this ice cream please! you won't regret it! It's creamy and refreshing all at the same time. 

Raspberry chocolate ice cream

Adapted from 'The Perfect Scoop'

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

5 ounces semisweet chocolate

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

5 large egg yolks

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup frozen crushed raspberries (freeze them after picking and crush them once frozen so they break into the little red balls)

Warm the cream and cocoa powder in a medium sauce pan and whisk to blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and add the chocolate while whisking until you get a smooth mixture. Set it aside and let it cool. 

In another pot, warm up the milk and sugar to almost a boil and the mixture it to the beaten egg yolks slowly not to curdle them. Bring the mixture back to a pan and cook for about 5 minutes (to make sure the eggs are not raw). Remove from the heat and strain if necessary. 

Mix the cream and the milk blends together and let them cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Freeze according to your ice cream maker instructions and right at the end of the process, add the crushed raspberries. 

Blueberry-raspberry crisp

Hi all! 

How's your summer going so far? Mine, mind you, is awesome. 

I guess summer activities are directly related to the level of hotness in the area you live. The pacific northwest is behaving quite well this week and there's been a lot of going out. Up here, we have to take advantage of the days when it doesn't pour out. 

But I guess one of the advantages of the rainy weather is that, in summer, you have local berries to pick. And that's what we did a couple weekends ago in Sauvie Island. For those of you who come visit or live around the area, I'd highly recommend a visit! There's tons of things to do and berry picking is so much fun. 

Plus... Blueberries and raspberries for 1.80 a pound? Yes please and thank you. You'll see a good amount of berry recipes around here soon. Some of my raspberries got squeezed on the way back home, so I had to make jam. What a tragedy huh?. The rest of them went to the freezer, to this crisp and to a delicious chocolate-raspberry ice cream I'll be posting soon.

This crisp is just ridiculously easy to make. And 'healthy'. Only 1/2 stick of butter! And it's soooo good for breakfast...

Blueberry-raspberry crisp

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 stick of butter

For the filling:
Combine the raspberries and blueberries with the 1 cup of sugar. Toss it all together and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour so the berries let go of some of their juices.

For the topping:
Melt the butter in the microwave and combine with the brown sugar and oats.

Assembly:
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Pour the berries and juice on a pie or squared pan. Top with the oat mixture and bake for 45 min, until the top is crispy and the berry juice is bubbly.

Eat hot or cold (I prefer hot and you can reheat leftovers in the microwave).

Enjoy!

Strawberry 'pi' and bbq's

I know guys. Once again, long time no see. I don't know who told me that summer was a more relaxed time for grad students. But whoever it was. Lied!

After 3 intense weeks of teaching 3 days a week while trying to keep my research up, I've been focusing on getting as much done in the lab as possible. I'm going to a conference in November and I desperately need good data for a poster!

But! I've had some time to relax. And when the weather is nice in Portland, which I can guarantee you, isn't always (even in summer), I've been going to bbq's quite often. Whether it's at my friend's Katie's house or it's an invite from lab neighbors, I always bring something with me. To my labmate's barbecue, I brought strawberry pie. In nerdy form, with a big PI symbol on the crust.

Making pie crust tends to be a pain in the ass, but it's well worth it. For those of you who have never made it, I took step by step pictures of the process. Here it goes...

PIE CRUST
(makes 2, 9 inch crusts, top and bottom)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 sticks of butter, cold
4 tablespoons very cold water
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons sugar

STRAWBERRY FILLING
1.5 lbs strawberries
1/2 cup sugar


First cut your cold butter, and it's very important that you keep it cold, in about half an inch cubes.

Then add the flour, salt and sugar...

With a pastry cutter, a fork or your hands (making sure you do it fast to not warm up the butter), combine them together until you get small pebbles and the mixture looks similar to this...

Now split the dough in half, make two balls with it and cover them with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for at least 1hr in the fridge. In the meantime, wash, hull and slice 1.5 lbs of strawberries and toss them together with 1/2 cup of sugar. 

Now you can roll the dough. I do it between two pieces of plastic wrap because I hate having dough stick to my table. But you can sprinkle your working surface with flour and give it a go. Now you can cover the bottom of your pie dish with half of the crust. 

Now add the strawberries...

And the other half of the crust... (mine looks stiff because I let it rest in the fridge for a while)...

And finally, bake at 450 F for 1 hr... 

Enjoy!