Mint chocolate bars

Haha, sugar free. April Fool's! I was just a few months late. Right.

Anyway, back to real life. Where all things are good in moderation. These bars are adapted from the creme de menthe bars sold at Gabriel's. They are really something else. When I had one from the restaurant, I immediately determined to make something as close as possible at home, and was pleased to realize it was nothing more than a rich brownie base, a sort of fluffy (but thin) mint filling, and a thin layer of icing. Before I tried reproducing them, I googled for a recipe, just in case, and was rewarded with a preview page of Johnnie Gabriel's cookbook on Google Books that let me see the original recipe. So that simplified things!

I used a slightly different brownie recipe (the justly famous Nick's supernatural brownies) and halved all the components, since a 8" square pan makes more than enough for a family of 2 1/2 (we are not feeding the baby such unwholesome things yet), plus some to share.

Mint chocolate bars
adapted from Johnnie Gabriel's Cooking in the South
Makes 16 squares

Brownie base:
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Filling:
5 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp. whipped cream (go ahead and whip up a few tablespoons while you're at it, and save the rest for hot chocolate or whatever)
3/4 tsp. peppermint extract (or you can use 2 Tbsp. creme de menthe liqueur if you're fancy enough to have that around)

1-2 drops green food coloring (optional)

Chocolate icing:
3 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (or use chips)
2 Tbsp. butter

For the base:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8" square baking pan with parchment paper and grease the paper.

In a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan filled with 1" of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate with the butter, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sugars, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture, then fold in the flour just til combined.

Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top, and bake 25-30 minutes, just until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Do not overbake! (In my opinion it is always better to underbake brownies a tad than risk drying them out.)

Cool on a wire rack to room temperature.

For the filling: While brownies are cooling, beat the softened butter and confectioners' sugar til fluffy. Fold in the whipped cream and peppermint extract (and food coloring if desired), then spread over cooled brownie base. Refrigerate for at least 1 1/2 hours.

For the icing:
Melt butter and chocolate together (in microwave or in double boiler as described for brownies), then pour over the top of the chilled brownies, smoothing as you go. Chill at least a couple hours, til topping is firm, then cut and serve.

Tasty healthy cookies (no really) and a daring resolution

Nikki's healthy cookies at 101 Cookbooks 
I *sort of* made these cookies once before---I didn't feel like making almond meal, so I subbed whole wheat pastry flour. That's no minor substitution, plus I'm pretty sure I underbaked them. Still, they were promising, so I've been meaning to get back to this recipe and make it as directed. I almost did that today: I omitted the chocolate chunks, to kick off my "heck, if I can go dairy-free and survive, and I can and probably SHOULD go sugar-free" resolution. I threw in 2 Tbsp of cocoa powder instead and was pleased to find that these cookies are delicious, answer a chocolate craving quite well, and remain completely sugar-free.

About that! I'm putting it out there for "accountability," which is more of a psychological trick than a serious plea for my two or three readers to check up on me to see if I've held fast to my resolution. There is little doubt in my mind that whether or not sugar is in fact inherently addictive (and studies with lab rats have suggested so), I am a veteran addict. Seeing as I would prefer to live my life free from any addiction, however innocuous the substance, it's time to tackle this. I thought giving up dairy for the sake of a baby with cow's milk protein intolerance would be hard. It was, for about a week, and for moments here and there. But largely the anticipation was much worse than the reality. As with dairy-free diets, there is no shortage of recipes and ideas for alternatives. Dessert is obviously not necessary to life and health---well, unless you are a sugar addict and we are talking mental health, in which case I strongly suspect the endless craving for more sugar contributes to irritability, among other things, because it is really annoying to have a little voice in your head constantly suggesting that you sneak another cookie/piece of candy/whatever you should only have small amounts of. I'm no chemist or food scientist, so I don't know if there is something fundamentally different about (let's say, refined white) sugar as opposed to the sugars found in fruits and other foods, but I think it would be a great starting point for me to learn to make fruit-sweetened desserts/baked goods (the latter will probably be more of a challenge, as I know my baking experiments with honey haven't gone so well). Fruit seems like nature's way of pleasing a sweet tooth with some actual nutritive content, rather than empty (and non-filling) calories. Once I run out of my nearly-empty bag of sugar, I simply won't buy anymore, which will make it very hard indeed to cheat on this.

Back to the cookies. These are *fantastic* a few minutes out of the oven, when they retain some crispness; after storage for a few hours they become quite soft, but if you've baked them long enough (basically as long as you can without them browning on the bottom), they won't be unpalatably mushy. Enjoy.

Laura's take on Nikki's healthy cookies
3 ripe bananas, mashed well
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
3/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. olive oil (not extra-virgin)
2 c. old-fashioned oats
2/3 c. almond meal (make your own in a processor with the same amount of whole raw almonds, processed to a sandy texture: this doesn't have to be super precise)
1/3 c. unsweetened coconut flakes/shreds
1/2 tsp. kosher or sea salt
1 tsp. baking powder

1) Preheat oven to 350 with racks in the upper and lower third positions. Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper.

2) In a large bowl, combine the mashed bananas, cocoa powder, vanilla, and oil. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients, then mix in with the wet until you have a loose dough. Drop scant tablespoonfuls onto your prepared baking sheets. Bake, rotating and swapping midway through, about 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets and store in an airtight container.

Smitten Kitchen cookbook review (in progress)

Time for a cookbook update. (Any update to revive this dead blog!) I've made only a handful of recipes from the new(ish) Smitten Kitchen book, but all four of the main/meat dishes I've tried have been outstanding:

- the sweet and sour brisket. So Deb talked this one up a LOT (I loved her description of the defensive tactics her mother-in-law employed whenever she tried to pin down the exact recipe, which remains a secret). I think that made impressionable old me just a tad disappointed when I made it and it wasn't out-of-this-world good, but it was a very tasty chunk of meat that I didn't mind nibbling on for days. Also it was EASY (a feature she also talked up a lot, and rightly so). Compared with Cook's Illustrated's brisket, which you sear before roasting (besides a lot of other finicky things I probably forget), this one you just plop in the pan. I did change the oven time, since I thought 350 sounded too high. I took it about four hours in a 300 degree oven and that was perfect.

- tomato-glazed meatloaves. The first time I made these I cried "typo!," as it took more like 35 minutes for them to cook through. I think the second time I upped the oven temp to 400 and it was still a little more than 20 minutes til they were cooked through---not sure what happened there. Anyway, they're still fairly quick and easy and delicious.

- sesame spiced turkey meatballs with chickpea salad. This is a great, great dish. It tops the list of things I can't figure out why I never made before. A bonus is that it's totally make-ahead-friendly (make salad and mix/shape meatballs in advance, so you just have 20-25 mindless minutes to cook come dinnertime). I have neither Aleppo pepper nor sumac in my spice drawer so I make do with things like ground white pepper and smoked paprika (no idea how close they are to what I'm subbing them in for, but they work well with the other flavors). Everything else I follow to a T and get excellent results. One thing: she says that you need an ovenproof pan "with a lid," but I'm not sure why that is specified as there is no lid used in the directions. You bake them in the 400 degree oven uncovered, in the pan (preferably cast iron!) in which they were fried. And they will be so, so good, and you will have two items to wash after dinner (skillet, turner/spatula---oh and a meat thermometer for three items). It doesn't get much better than that.

- wild rice gratin with kale, caramelized onions, and baby swiss. This I made dairy-free but protein-rich by adding a bottom layer of about 2 cups cooked shredded chicken and a little chicken broth, then proceeding as normal without the cheese. What a great use of kale: it isn't in the forefront, in case any diners are kale-ambivalent, but there's enough that it counts as a vegetable serving, and tastes like it belongs. I can't wait to make this version with cheese someday, as nature/Deb intended.

I'm pretty bummed by the baking section and its complete dependence upon butter, but hey, I can't blame Deb. If I had a choice I would still be burning through a pound of butter a week, I am sure. (As an aside, Earth Balance vegan buttery spread is not nearly as objectionable as expected: I held out for so long, thinking surely I could get by without something salty and fatty to spread on my bread, haughtily committed to the idea that there is no substitute for butter, so why are those crazy vegans even trying? I couldn't cope with the deprivation so I caved and met with a pleasant surprise. Vegetable oil spread. Yum. ...) OH, and the plum poppyseed muffins. Now I'm sad, remembering how good those were (browned butter and sour cream---how could they not be?). I even made a note about it being the best base recipe for muffins that I've  tried, and I've tried quite a lot. Including another SK recipe for coconut muffins (with coconut oil) that was...bad. But we'll not end this happy post on a sour note. I'm loving this cookbook and can't wait to try the leek fritters, to name just one thing I have marked.

Cherry-chocolate Bundt cake

I made a chocolate cake today that was a fantastic hybrid of Bundt cake recipes from two sources: Bon Appetit (Sept. 2009) and Cook's Illustrated's The Best Light Recipe. For a couple of years now, with widely varying results, I have been trying to make the latter recipe work. After the most recent attempt, I resigned myself to the fact that significantly underbaking the cake was the only way to make it worth the trouble, maybe. Otherwise there's no getting around the dryness and surprisingly anemic chocolate flavor.

I don't remember the last time I tried baking something "new" (okay, semi-new) and got exactly what I was hoping for. It is a good feeling for an amateurish home baker to have, especially while enjoying a slice of her success, still slightly warm from the oven.

Cherry-chocolate Bundt cake
Yields one standard-sized Bundt cake, serving about 16

1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup (2 1/4 oz.) natural cocoa powder (you can use Dutch-processed if desired, but it's not necessary)
2 cups (14 oz.) packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable/canola oil
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup chopped semisweet chocolate, or chocolate chips (most are not dairy-free; I use Trader Joe's Pound Plus baking bars, which are)
1/2 cup sour Morello cherries in light syrup, drained and chopped coarsely (watch for and remove any pits, of course)

Directions
1. Preheat your oven to 350 with a rack in the middle. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan with Baker's Joy, or grease and flour.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a 2-cup glass measuring cup, whisk the cocoa powder into the boiling water. Let cool about 5 minutes.

3. In a large mixer bowl, beat the sugar, oil, and vanilla until well combined. Add the eggs and beat another 30 seconds or so, scraping down the side of the bowl, til combined. Add half of the flour mixture, beat til combined, and then add all the cocoa/water mixture. Mix in the remaining flour, then fold in the chopped chocolate and cherries.

4. Scrape batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, turning the pan once halfway through, until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out with a few wet crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and let sit 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Serve with cherries, whipped cream, powdered sugar, or nothing at all.

Sweet potato-pecan pancakes

I've been challenged in cooking and baking lately, as it seems I'll be dwelling in the land of the dairy-free for the foreseeable future. Surveying the landscape I am fairly optimistic about my prospects for eating well and not going crazy with longing for whipped cream. As long as I don't think too much about cream. Or cheese. But really, life isn't so bad: any Asian food is a guaranteed option, milk substitutes aren't bad for baking, and I love all things coconut, so coconut oil-based brownies are fine by me. Also: Trader Joe's Belgian chocolate bars = no milk solids = completely allowed. Oh. Yeah. I'll be okay.

This pancake recipe is adapted from one I cut out from the paper some time ago. I was unimpressed the first time---way too much nutmeg and way not enough sugar. But there was potential, so I kept tweaking it, this last time needing to replace the original butter and milk. It turns out canola oil and your choice of milk substitute (I favor almondmilk) work fine, and especially correcting the spice imbalances makes this a very tasty pancake indeed.

This makes a thick batter. Just add more milk if you prefer them thinner--in my experience this makes them less prone to burning or being underdone. You kind of have to spread the batter out in the pan with the lesser amount of milk, but I like the results better.

Sweet potato pancakes
Yield: about 8 3" pancakes, serving 4

3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour, or white whole wheat flour
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 c. mashed cooked sweet potatoes
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 to 1 1/2 c. almond or soy milk (see note)
2 Tbsp. vegetable/canola oil

Chopped toasted pecans, to taste
Maple syrup


1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, baking powder, and spices. Set aside.
2. In a blender or a large food processor, puree the potatoes til smooth. Add the eggs and brown sugar and blend/process til combined. Gradually mix in the milk (being careful, if you have a food processor, not to exceed the liquid fill line), then the oil.
3. Fold the blended mixture into the flour mixture, then spoon out 1/3-cupfuls onto a hot griddle or nonstick skillet. Cook and serve hot with pecans and syrup.

Farro and winter squash salad with pepitas

This morning, for the first time in forever, I cooked something for myself for lunch--something healthy. I figured it'll magically offset all the candy I ate last night, feeling an obligation to make a dent in the overstock we were left with. It's our first year in a house (no one ever went trick-or-treating in the apartments), I was excited, and I didn't know how much to buy. On top of that, apparently ours is the kind of neighborhood where everyone has kids, puts up adorable Halloween decorations, and then takes the kids to another neighborhood to trick-or-treat. Cute. Thankfully we had a few small groups, including one with a boy who was actually excited to see "Stawbuhst!"  Knock yourself out, kid, there's a reason I put that one out for the first round...

Some time ago I had to swear off subscribing to food blogs as prolific and consistently tantalizing as Smitten Kitchen, finding myself even less capable than usual of making semi-frugal meal plans and then not changing my mind a thousand times... It was an unhealthy and inefficient pattern. So I wouldn't even call myself a regular reader of Smitten Kitchen, though I love her writing and her food and the cookbook is most definitely on my wishlist. Something about that blog transforms me from all-out recipe slave (thanks, Cook's Illustrated) to semi-imaginative, measurement-despising pseudo-chef. Probably it's a mix of the encouraging, amicable tone and the artsy small print (not to mention the photos!), but whatever it is, something akin to creativity is its invariable effect on me. So in that spirit I altered this recipe to use the delicata squash I picked up on a whim last week. I had never tried it but I've never met a winter squash I didn't love roasted, and this one proved no different. It's like candy, people. Healthy candy. What more can you ask for from a vegetable? The pairing with farro and pumpkin seeds is nothing short of inspired, so I didn't feel the need to mess with success. I did try adding rinsed canned black beans to mine for some protein and it worked quite well.

And as for the cheese---I might as well throw a real quick pity party and say that I've been reluctantly dairy-free for about two weeks, trying to solve some reflux issues with la bebita, and I think it's definitely helping her (mixed feelings---just kidding! Totally kidding.). I say this as a strong believer in the placebo effect, so I went into it quite suspiciously. I haven't been doing a total elimination diet; I just cut my inordinate dairy consumption by about 98%, I would say. So I guess the way to test this scientifically is to go another week as I have been, and then reintroduce one food at a time to look for a reaction... Seems kind of cruel when your test subject is a baby, but we're not suspecting a serious allergy here, just sensitivity. All that to say, I vacillated on whether to put a teeny tiny bit of feta in this salad (one of several opened cheeses languishing in my fridge...tragic). But guess what? It didn't need the cheese. I know, such a hypocrite---I just swore I would never trust a person who called the presence of any cheese in any dish "unnecessary." But all the other components of the salad are just that good--- and perhaps I am starting to reconcile myself to this dairy-free thing. Pity party over, though. Make this salad. With all the modifications your heart desires, because you were born to cook and know exactly what you're doing, you brilliant chef you. /unsuccessfully channeling Deb

(Oh hey, I remembered to take a photo. Bet you wish I hadn't. I should learn how to use a camera someday. Here it is sans the last-minute addition of black beans.) 

Farro and winter squash salad with pepitas
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Serves 2-3 as a main dish
Keeps a week

2 medium delicata squash, peeled (optional), halved lengthwise, seeded, and sliced into 1/2" half-moon pieces
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
3/4 cup farro
1/2 red onion, minced
1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
1 Tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. toasted pepitas, preferably salted
Feta cheese to taste (optional)
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roast the squash pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet with 2 Tbsp of the oil and salt to taste until tender, 20-25 mins, turning pieces over halfway through. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, cook the farro according to package directions or, if you bought it in bulk like me and have no idea if it's pearled, semi-pearled, or what, try just dumping it in lots of boiling salted water for 25-30 minutes or so. You want it to be soft but still a bit chewy. Once done, drain and let cool slightly.

3. Also meanwhile, combine the onion, vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Let marinate about 30 minutes while the other stuff cooks.

4. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and toss with the remaining 2-3 Tbsp. of olive oil. Add more salt and pepper if desired, then serve at room temperature or chilled.

Eggplant marinara; upside-down apple cake

Hello blog. Life has changed a lot around here thanks to a little thing called a baby, and as expected I haven't been doing much cooking, let alone baking, in the past couple of months. But I'm very happy to be back playing in the kitchen, even if circumstances keep me from attemping anything remotely time-consuming, for fear I would start it and not be able to finish it until, oh, 3 a.m. I must say that mise en place has gone from being a helpful principle to proving absolutely necessary: if I prep a bit here and there throughout the day, by dinnertime all I have waiting is an assembly job with maybe a little cooking. Which means if all hell breaks loose around dinnertime, as it tends to do, my husband can handle the final steps with just a bit of instruction called out over the baby's wails. :)

Well, fall has fallen, as they say (...or not), and when I bought seven pounds of apples at the farmers market the other day I was hoping to whip up a fantastic autumnal apple dessert with some of my loot. After a (shorter than usual) cookbook scavenger hunt, I settled on the upside-down apple cake out of Cooking for Two 2011, that endless fount of inspiration and joy for the leftover-averse (not that we are). It was even better than I hoped. The cake was tender and outrageously buttery, and the apples hit the perfect balance between raw and mushy, thanks to the somewhat odd instructions to briefly saute two different-sized groups of apple slices before baking the whole thing. My only caveat is to put something underneath your pan, because the batter overflowed a bit toward the end of baking and made a mess on my freshly cleaned oven. (as in, cleaned the day of baking. But nothing a little Barkeeper's Friend couldn't fix.)

Upside-down apple cake
adapted from America's Test Kitchen: Cooking for Two 2011
Serves 2 with a huge appetite, or 3 more likely.
Tip: get the 6" cake pan at Michael's or Joann's with one of those ubiquitous 40% (or 50%) off coupons. Then it's like $2 and you don't feel at all guilty for purchasing something with limited use. Though this recipe alone is worth getting the pan.

2 Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples, peeled
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/3 c. packed brown sugar, plus 2 Tbsp separated
1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 and have a rack on the next-to-lowest level. In case of spillage, put a foil-lined pan on the lowest rack. Spray a 6" cake pan with Baker's Joy, or grease and flour.

2. For the apples: slice in half pole to pole and remove cores. Cut one apple into 1/2" slices, set aside. Cut the other into 1/4" slices. Melt the butter in a 10" skillet over med-high heat. Pour off about 2 Tbsp into a small bowl or ramekin for use in the cake and set aside. Add the 1/2" apple slices to the skillet and cook just til they begin to caramelize, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the 1/4" apple slices and the 1/3 cup brown sugar and cook, stirring constantly, til the sugar dissolves and all the apples are coated, about 1 minute. Scrape into the cake pan and set aside.

3. For the cake: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. In a medium bowl whisk together the granulated sugar, the remaining 2 Tbsp. brown sugar, and the egg until homogenous, about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the reserved melted butter until combined. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla, then gently whisk/fold in the flour mixture, ensuring that no streaks remain.

4. Scrape the batter on top of the apples in the cake pan and smooth the top. Bake until cake is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then run a paring knife around the edges and invert onto a wire rack. Cool completely or til just warm, about an hour, and then serve with spiced creme Chantilly: whip about 2 Tbsp of heavy cream to soft peaks, then sprinkle in about 2 tsp. confectioners sugar, a dash of cinnamon, and a drop of vanilla extract. Perfection.

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Now that dessert's out of the way, onto the eggplant marinara(s). The (s) is because these are sort of individual ones meant to be appetizers, but I served two each as a main course and loved them. M is not crazy about eggplant (I'm not either except when it's fried and topped with tons of cheese and tomato sauce), but he said he'd eat it again. The recipe is at Epicurious. I used panko instead of fresh bread crumbs, which worked fine, and Newman's Own cabernet marinara is quite good. Hilariously, one reviewer noted that he thought the ricotta was "unnecessary." Personally I would never trust a person who called any cheese in any context "unnecessary," but judge for yourselves after you make it whether this would be the same with one less cheese. It's really good.

P.S. One more thing. My mom introduced me a while back to roasted okra. Oh. My. I should do a post on this, except it isn't more than olive oil, salt, pepper, and trimmed okra, roasted for 15 mins at 400 or 425 if more browning is desired. Then taste and see that, unbelievably, okra does not have to be fried in order to be divine. Lucky for me it's $2/lb at an awesome stand at the farmers market. I bought the purple variety and it turned dark green when cooked, like magic.

Coconut gelato

A rare original recipe by yours truly, this might be the quickest and easiest ice cream ever. In an experimental yet lazy mood, I combined elements from a Sherry Yard coconut gelato and a David Lebovitz coconut ice cream (custard) recipe, and made my own---I suppose it can be called gelato, though I'm still fuzzy on the details of the difference between that and ice cream. At least it isn't custard, and so requires none of the fussy yolk-tempering and ice-bathing and all that. It also uses no cream (in a sense), only half-and-half. I like to have a way to use up those cheap (relative to cream) half-and-half quarts which none but the largest, most caffeinated household could possibly use up before spoilage if it's only being used for coffee--and as far as I know, half-and-half has no real culinary identity apart from its relationship to coffee. Poor half-and-half. Anyway, this stuff looks like and has the texture of fluffy white snow, only it tastes about a thousand times better.

Coconut gelato
3/4 c. unsweetened coconut flakes (if all you can find are sweetened, that's fine)
2 cups half-and-half
3/4 c. sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 Tbsp. dark rum

Toast the coconut flakes in a small skillet over med-low heat til just brown around the edges, then combine in a saucepan with the half-and-half, sugar, and salt. Warm the mixture and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep about 45 minutes.

Pour the mixture through a strainer into a quart-sized measuring cup. Press on the coconut flakes to extract all possible liquid, then reserve and refrigerate or freeze for some other use (like garnishing this gelato) if desired. Stir the coconut milk and rum into the measuring cup. Chill several hours until very cold, then freeze in your ice cream maker.

Even with my Cuisinart canister thoroughly chilled, this was very soft right out of the machine, so I would count on the finished product needing a couple of hours in the freezer to solidify a bit before serving. (After three days it has remained scoopable directly from the freezer, unlike many other ice creams I make, which have to sit out for a few minutes.)

Bagels.

It's been a while since I talked about bagels. Since they are one of the staples of my baking routine even throughout the summer---which is a sure sign that they are something we must have on hand at any cost---I'm surprised at how little, or at least how unsystematically, I have discussed them here on my little corner of cyberspace. (Hah, flashback to 1999...)

Yesterday, per M's request, I gave the egg bagel concept another shot, and I baked them this morning. He had to leave before they were done, but I had the luxury of breakfasting on a fresh one. I used 3 whole eggs this time, cutting back the water to 6 oz (from 9) because irrationally I couldn't believe eggs really counted as that much liquid, but it was indeed too much. I had to add 3-4 Tbsp of extra flour to get the dough to the usual stiffness, and as I was shaping them I thought they weren't overly tacky, but the dough felt too soft. Last time, when I used all yolks, this yielded fragile bagels that were majorly lacking in chewiness. Nevertheless this time, though you can see below that the color is definitely not the bright yellow that some shops' egg bagels have, they maintained a proper chewiness and did not threaten to fall apart as I sliced them. They taste great. My next modification will be to add a couple of yolks to the 3 eggs and start out adding less water.

Note the impressive uniformity. Ha, ha.

Usually I double the basic bagel recipe (fully copied out here) in Peter Reinhart's Artisan Bread Everyday. This differs from his previous version in that it does not require a sponge, but only a pre-mixed (and pre-formed) dough that spends the night in the fridge and comes out in the morning for a baking soda bath. Sounds like a fun little slumber party or something. Except then they get baked in a very hot oven and eaten in short order. Actually I have to prep and package them all for storage in the freezer---by far the only aspect of bagel-making that approaches tedium. Okay, sometimes it is downright tedious. But homemade bagels are not under any circumstances to be left out for more than six hours (in a tightly closed paper bag). I defiantly tested that rule once, and I'm just glad I still have all my teeth intact. For future use, it's best to slice each bagel as soon as it's cooled, wrap each half in plastic wrap or foil, and place the halves together in a large plastic freezer bag. I can't tell any difference between a bagel that's been out of the oven for half an hour or one that has been in the freezer (packed carefully) for two weeks, and toasted to order. So this is a pretty satisfactory system.

A note about doubling this recipe: it's a non-negotiable for me because the boiling and baking operation is something I'd rather do less often if I have the chance, and my fridge pretty easily fits the two large baking sheets needed for the double batch. However, I have a powerhouse of a Kitchenaid mixer (thanks Mom and Dad!) and even it struggled when I tried combining the two batches of stiff dough. I found the best and least inconvenient way to double the recipe is to mix each batch separately. Prep the water, yeast, etc. while the first batch is being mixed. Then while that dough is resting to hydrate the flour, mix the second batch. And it works out pretty well so that when the first batch is ready for its second mixing, the second batch is resting.  Then when they're both mixed and ready for the rise, I briefly knead them together to form one ball. That's not strictly necessary; you could just let them rise in two separate bowls. But that would be one more bowl to clean, which does not tempt me.

More random notes:

• I use the barley malt syrup. Yes it is $6.50 a jar at Whole Foods (that's expensive for me, to be clear), but it lasts a while and is worth the subtle complexity it provides. I am not a supertaster or anything like it, so if I can notice the difference, you will too. For the poaching liquid I do usually omit the malt syrup because I don't notice a huge increase in flavor by adding it there. 
• I use table salt and Pillsbury or Gold Medal bread flour---nothing special. 
• After trying both, my preferred shaping method is to poke a hole in the dough ball and then stretch it. (He notes that the other method, creating a rope which you join together at the ends, is the one preferred by professional bagel makers. Like this crazy guy.) 
• As far as toppings, the egg white wash as they come out of the bath is not optional: you will still lose a few seeds here and there as they get sliced later, but nowhere near the amount that come off if you skip the egg white. I do half poppy seeds (M's preference), half sesame seeds (my preference). I've tried the cinnamon raisin bagels and they were fine but the raisins tend to fall out in significant numbers when you are shaping, and I found that annoying. 
• I get obsessive about measuring out each dough ball to equal somewhere between 3 3/4 and 4 1/4 oz, but I let it go if one or two weigh in at 4 3/8 oz. For those mornings when we wake up ravenous. Right. These make a very reasonably sized bagel. None of this monster-sized nonsense where you're eating a cup of flour for breakfast.

So that's my little bagel review. They're really worth a try. As someone who is absolutely "below average," let's say, when it comes to shaping any kind of dough, yes it takes a little practice to get the bagels to look halfway decent. And I'm still not consistent with that yet (see photos above). But less than perfect shaping is not going to destroy your bagels. Follow the directions, and they will come out well.
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More rye news: I just found this deli rye bread recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum, helpfully streamlined at Smitten Kitchen, that uses whole grain rye flour (she doesn't specify in the recipe, but I skimmed through the comments and found that she used whole grain Arrowhead Mills like I have). So my plan is now to try this recipe before attempting to tweak the previously used CI one.

I must here repeat my plea that some tech geek out there invent a comment system for use on cooking blogs  that automatically categorizes and highlights comments from people who have actually made the recipe in question, so that one can more easily skim past all the "oh that looks deliiiish gurl" remarks. It could be color-coded for questions, useless flattering remarks (sorry, but especially on "celebrity" food blogs, why do people think the famous blogger, who has to weed through all these comments, needs their anonymous affirmation?), and helpful feedback/review-type comments that some of us really want to find sometimes. Sorry, I'm cranky and I think it's time for morning snack #1. (Just about 3 1/2 months to go, and then I will have to return to a normal person diet---it's nothing short of mysterious that I have not ballooned grotesquely. I guess the baby really is helping absorb the effects of all this snacking.)

all about rye

I still haven't gotten around to trying that rye bread again--which I just realized I never properly "reviewed" here. The verdict was that this was a fine first attempt with great flavor, but as expected (given my substitution of whole grain rye for the medium rye the recipe called for), it was noticeably more dense than usual deli rye breads. I was thinking next time I would try adding vital wheat gluten in hopes of giving it a little lift. But somehow "next time" has not rolled around yet. Laziness.

I did, however, make a great muffin recipe from the previously maligned Whole Grain Baking. As I said in the rye bread post, I marked about five more recipes that will determine whether I give up on this book or, at the very least, copy down the few recipes I found worthwhile and then pass it along to someone who might better appreciate it. It is a huge book and I hate to have it taking up precious shelf space if there are only a couple things I like or want to make from it. But I successfully adapted this recipe, originally ham and Swiss rye muffins, to help use up some of the massive amounts of kielbasa left over from Easter. (My in-laws brought down about 800 lbs of the good stuff with them from a butcher up north.) I so rarely think to make savory muffins, it's terrible; but with this one in my repertoire I think I'll remember the option more readily. Plus whole grains are healthy and all that, which is more than I could say for my (literally) sugar-coated, cakey blueberry muffin recipe, that's for sure...

Sausage and Cheese Rye Muffins
Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking, p. 47
Yield: 1 dozen

Note about the yield: I thought my muffin pan was standard, but with this as with some other recipes I've tried, it seemed like all the batter couldn't possibly fit into those dozen cups without spilling over. So I ended up getting another dozen mini muffins out of this. My "regular" sized muffins only took about 20 minutes to bake through, though the original recipe specifies 25-27 minutes. All that to say, your mileage may vary.

2 cups (7 1/2 oz.) whole grain rye flour
3/4 cup (3 1/8 oz.) bread flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1 large egg
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
4 oz. finely diced smoked sausage, such as kielbasa

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a muffin tin with Baker's Joy, or use paper liners and spray them a bit just to make sure there's no sticking. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the 1 cup cheese and toss to mix.

2. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg, butter, and buttermilk, then add to the flour mixture, stirring just til evenly moistened. Fold in the diced sausage.

3. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan(s) (see note about yield above) and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese over the tops. Bake muffins until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then remove onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Serve warm, or once cooled, refrigerate or (better yet) freeze the muffins. (I think these qualify as perishable because of the sausage.) They will keep wonderfully in the freezer for a couple of months.

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... as a P.S., since this is a very rye-themed post: last month I also made the rye seed crackers from Artisan Breads Every Day (pp. 133-36). I found them startlingly easy and surprisingly delicious. I'm not that much of a cracker person and I loathe rolling out dough of any sort, so I'm not even sure what made me try these, but I am certainly glad I did. They were so quick to make, and the dough was a dream to work with, which I did not expect at all. Highly recommend with cheese and fruit for a picnic-esque meal--- which is in fact how I used them, on our anniversary picnic. Given the "venue," this year's menu was considerably less fussy than last year's, and besides said crackers and cheese included shrimp cocktail (solely because I was craving it and Whole Foods had some fine specimens on sale), an ambrosia-style fruit salad, and a spinach salad with this (very anchovy-ish) green goddess dressing.

Yeasted waffles

These delicious waffles can and indeed must be made the night before the breakfast/brunch at which you wish to serve them. The original recipe served four but I don't like leftover waffles, and honestly it's enough of a hassle getting up and down for each new batch when it's just two people eating them; I've heard you can hold waffles in a 200 degree oven for a half hour or so without disastrous results, and I guess that would be your only option if you wanted to double these for a (relative) crowd. Yeasted waffles have a rich, delicate flavor that begs for little more than a sprinkle of cinnamon and a generous amount of maple syrup.

Yeasted waffles 
Serves 2
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp whole or lowfat milk
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz) white whole wheat or traditional whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. granulated sugar 
1/2 teaspoon table salt
3/4 teaspoon instant yeast 
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until butter is melted. Cool mixture until warm to touch. Meanwhile, whisk flours, sugar, salt, and yeast in large bowl to combine. Lightly whisk the egg and vanilla together in another small bowl. Once the milk/butter mixture has cooled, whisk into the flour mixture until batter is smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk til incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate immediately, at least 12 and up to 24 hours. When ready to serve, whisk the batter to recombine (batter will deflate) before baking in your waffle iron. Serve hot.

Mexican chocolate ice cream

Mexican drinking chocolate is a very sweet, spicy-cinnamony disk of chocolate meant for grating into hot milk to make, well, hot chocolate. That is all I had used it for before I found this recipe and was intrigued by the use of half-and-half only and just three whole eggs rather than a mess of egg yolks. To accommodate the amount of half-and-half I had left, I reduced the recipe by about a third (it was still close to filling up my ice cream maker, so not sure how the full recipe would have done). This was a perfectly balanced, creamy, delicious ice cream and a great use of Mexican chocolate if you find that the hot drink season has yet again passed before you could get through your tea and chocolate stash. I bought Ibarra chocolate at the Buford Highway Farmers Market in Atlanta, but this is a pretty good deal if you need to buy it online.

Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream
Yield: about 1 quart

1/2 a vanilla bean
7 1/2 oz. Mexican chocolate, coarsely chopped (do not substitute regular chocolate)
2 1/2 cups half-and-half
2 large eggs
1/8 tsp. salt

1. Halve the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into a medium saucepan. Add the chopped chocolate and half-and-half and bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking frequently. Remove from heat.

2. Lightly beat the eggs with the salt in large bowl or glass 4-cup measuring cup. Slowly add half the hot chocolate mixture to the eggs, whisking vigorously, then scrape that mixture back into the saucepan. Return to moderately low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until it thickens (or reaches 170 degrees), about 1-3 minutes. Immediately pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl set in an ice bath. Cool to about 40 degrees before transferring to the refrigerator. Chill for several hours and then freeze in your ice cream maker.