Recipe: Triple Coconut Cupcakes (When Double Coconut Cupcakes just aren't enough for your coconut needs.)

What is it about coconut that you either love it or hate it? Some of the folks I know can't stand this nut, while my family and I are all for it.

I suspect my Jamaican heritage is at play here, as well as in my rabid love of all things mango.

To whit, when I took a pastry class, lo these many years ago, one of the recipes was for coconut cake. Mind you, this isn't just a recipe for white cake with a marshmallow-like frosting that has toasted coconut sprinkled on top. This is coconut cream and coconut extract, coconut buttercream frosting and toasted coconut. Or you could try to mix it up with a coconut cream cheese frosting.

Triple Coconut Cake with Mods for Cupcakes
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated by the Cooking School of the Rockies and again by moi.
Cake recipe with Mile high elevation changes listed in parentheses.

5 lg egg whites @ room temp
3/4 c cream of coconut
1/4 c water
1 lg egg, room temp
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c cake flour (Add 1/4 c extra flour for mile high elevation for a total of 9.8 oz cake flour)
1 c sugar (Less 1/4 cup sugar for elevation)
1 tbsp (Only 2 tsp in CO) baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
12 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened (I've used salted butter and just dropped the amount of salt added by 1/4 tsp, works fine.)

1. Set oven to 325°F (340°F for elevation) with rack set to middle position. Lightly coat 2 9" round cake pans w/ veg oil spray and then line bottoms w/ parchment paper circles.
2. Whisk egg whites, cream of coconut, water, whole egg and extracts together in lg bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Beat in the butter, one piece at a time, with an electric mixer on low speed until the mix resembles coarse crumbs, about 2-5 min.
4. Add 1 c of egg mixture, increase speed to med-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 45 sec. Add the remaining egg mix in a steady stream and continue to beat until batter is combined, about 30 sec, scraping down the bowl as needed. Batter will be very thick.
5. Divide batter evenly between pans and smooth tops. Bake approx 30-35 min, rotating pans half way through baking time.
6. Cool cake in pans 10 min on wire racks. Run a small knife around cake edge to loosen and then invert onto racks. Remove parchment paper, let cool completely before frosting, 1-2 hrs.

Mods for Cupcakes:
1. Set oven to 340°F. Oil muffin tins or use cupcake liners.
2. If you don't have cake flour, you can use 7/8 c AP flour + 2 tbsp cornstarch for every cup called for in the recipe. Total weight again is 9.8 oz. The cupcakes were no longer dished in the center when I did it this way.
3. Stick with 3/4 c of sugar for high elevation as called for in recipe.
4. Baking time will be less than 30 min. Check with toothpick after 15-20 min, being sure to rotate after 15 min.
5. Makes approximately 21 cupcakes when I used an ice cream scoop to ladle out identical amounts in each muffin tin. I highly recommend the ice cream scoop method of batter portioning. That way, they're all the same size and should bake at the same rate. Also, fewer arguments about this one getting a bigger/smaller cupcake than that one.

Coconut Buttercream Frosting
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
16 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (If your butter is salted, don't bother with the pinch of salt. You may notice the frosting being salty, or it may just cut down the sweetness a little. Try it, if that's all you have on hand, and see if you like it that way. I do.)
1/4 c cream of coconut
3 c confectioners sugar, sifted
2 c toasted sweetened, shredded coconut

Stir cream, extracts and salt together until salt dissolves. Beat butter and cream of coconut in a lg bowl w/electric mixer at med-high speed until smooth, about 20 sec. Reduce speed to med-low, slowly add confectioners sugar, and beat until smooth, 2-5 min. Beat in the cream mixture. Increase speed to med-high and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 4-8 minutes. Assemble cake and press toasted coconut onto sides and sprinkle across top. For cupcakes, you can either slather it on with a palette knife or use an icing bag and a large tip like the Wilton 1M. Pretty!

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
8oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 c butter, room temperature
1/4 c cream of coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
3-4 c confectioner's sugar, sifted

Mix cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Add cream of coconut and extracts until combined. Add confectioner's sugar 1 cup at a time until frosting is thick and smooth. Top with toasted coconut.

Now, be careful! These things are addictive.

Seriously.

If you need help, call me and I'll throw myself on a batch for you. Ayup.

Hatchet: keeping the world safe from unwanted cupcake consumption.

Best Cheesecake EVER: Caramel Cheesecake

Since it was Eric's birthday just recently, I needed to come up with a cake for the occasion. Unlike my friend Val, who always has Red Velvet Cake for her birthday, I make a different cake every time. There are just so many amazing recipes out there, why wouldn't I?

Caitlin had suggested an ice cream cake, but I didn't think Eric would go for it. However, whilst poking around one of my favorite bread baking sites, I saw that she had the recipe for Caramel Cheesecake. Immediately, I knew I had to bake it.

I've made cheesecakes before, and they've turned out very nicely, but this one took the cake (Sorry, I had to say that.) and received top honors. Mind you, it wasn't without its frustrating points. I broke the cake getting it out of the pan. Whoops! The first caramel I made for the topping went too far towards burnt sugar, so I had to toss it and start over again. Whoops! I also determined that next time (For there will be a next time! Oh yes. Yes there will be!) I will chop up the toffee bar finely. Or skip it entirely.

Did I mention this cake was crazy? Graham cracker crust, cheesecake, caramel top and bits of toffee around the edges. It may kill you, but you'll go out with a dreamy look in your eye!

My photo absolutely does no justice to this cheesecake. Instead, go to Wild Yeast's entry. Now that's pretty.

Instead, let me share with you her recipe with a few adjustments I've made.

Caramel Cheesecake
(Cake adapted from Wild Yeast's version of the SFBI cheesecake and Epicurious topping.)

Yield: one 8-inch cake
Time:

• Mix: 15 minutes
• Bake: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Cool: at least 2 hours
• Chill: overnight
• Unchill and top: about an hour
• Chill: 2 hours or longer

Crust Ingredients:

• 132 g graham cracker crumbs (1 pkg or ~9 graham crackers)
• 44 g sugar (1 1/2 oz)
• 64 g butter, melted (2 1/4 oz)

Filling Ingredients:

• 532 g cream cheese, softened (18 3/4 oz)
• 160 g sugar (5 5/8 oz)
• 26 g melted butter (1 oz)
• 10 (2 t.) g lemon juice
• 5 g (1 t.) vanilla extract
• 139 g (3 medium) eggs at room temperature
• 46 g heavy cream (1 1/2 oz)
• 46 g sour cream (1 1/2 oz)

Topping Ingredients:

• 150 g sugar (5 1/4 oz)
• 14 g (2 T.) water
• 1/4 t. lemon juice
• 120 g heavy cream (4 1/4 oz)
• pinch of salt
• 2 Heath Bars, coarsely chopped (Any candy bar will do here and you really just need one. I used a high end toffee bar and chopped it finely.)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 285F if you have a convection setting, or 325F for the regular bake setting. Start boiling water for the water bath.
2. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, and butter the parchment.
3. Mix the crust ingredients together well with your fingers. Press the crust into the pan and partway up the sides, to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
4. In a small bowl, blend the cream and sour cream together.
5. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese on medium-low speed until it is very smooth.
6. Add the following ingredients is this order, mixing on medium-low speed until smooth after each addition and scraping the bowl frequently:
   • butter
   • sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla
   • eggs, one at a time
   • cream/sour cream mixture
7. Pour the batter over the crust in the prepared pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
8. Place the cake on a rimmed sheet pan and set it in the oven. Pour boiling water in the sheet pan to just below the rim. (This may cause your pan to float. Cut back the water to about 3/4s up the sides of the pan. You want it surrounded by water to act as a temperature regulator and to keep the top from cracking. You aren't sending it on a float trip.)
9. Bake until the cake has just a slight wobble in the center when nudged.
10. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool, still in its water bath, to room temperature.
11. Run a knife around the edge to make sure it is free of the pan, then invert the cake onto a plate and again onto a second plate so that it is right-side-up.
12. Cover the cake with plastic wrap directly on its surface, and chill overnight.
13. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and let it unchill slightly while you prepare the topping. Keep the plastic wrap on during this time so any condensation forms on the plastic and not on the cake.
14. In a medium saucepan, stir together the topping sugar, water, and lemon juice over medium-high heat to dissolved the sugar. Heat on medium-high without stirring, washing down the sides with a wet pastry brush occasionally, until the mixture turns an amber color.
15. Add the cream and the salt and simmer over medium-low heat, stirring from time to time, until the caramel is thick but not chewy (gauge the consistency by dripping a bit onto a metal spoon).
16. Remove from the heat and pour into a metal bowl. Cool at room temperature until it is slightly warmer than body temperature; it should still be quite pourable at this point.
17. Pour the topping over the cake; use an offset spatula to spread it to the edges and let it drip down the sides.
18. Top with chopped Heath Bars. (Chocolate bars. Nuts. Crunchy bits of something yummy. Bacon? Maybe not.)
19. Cover with a cake dome and chill for 2 – 6 hours before serving.

Here are a few of her cheesecake tips:

• To make a smooth batter, the cream cheese needs to be very soft. Leave it out to soften overnight, or put it in the microwave a few seconds at a time.
• Keep the mixer on low-medium speed, to avoid incorporating too much air. Scrape the bowl and paddle frequently.
• Avoid using a Springform pan, which can allow water to seep into the crust when you bake the cake in a water bath (even if you protect the bottom with foil). A straight-sided cake pan works just fine.
• Cool the cake completely at room temperature before refrigerating or freezing.
• To cut cleanly, dip the knife in hot water and dry it with a towel before cutting each slice.

I've found that if you have the extra wide, heavy duty foil, you CAN use a springform pan. I tried this recipe initially in a regular cake pan and couldn't get it out of the pan to save my life. Fortunately, once you add the topping, you can't see all of the cracks where it fell apart after I whomped it on the counter to "extract" it. Cracked cheesecake is just as yummy as uncracked cheesecake, so don't fret if the same thing happens to you.

The best part about making the topping for this cheesecake is that once you've done it, you need to realize that you just made caramel. From scratch. And since that wasn't too terribly hard, you can do it again. And again. It's a lot of fun and yummy, too. Add assorted flavors to it and suddenly you have candy to give away to friends.

Or not. I won't tell.

This was my second attempt at the caramel cheesecake and it turned out even better. This time I used a 9" springform pan and only 1 chocolate bar.

Scrumptious. 

Hatchet in the Kitchen

Now that it's chilly outside and my gardening is severely curtailed (When did it actually become autumn?!), all of my excess creative energy is being devoted to baking.

We're in deep, deep trouble at Chez Hatchet, folks.

In one day, I had Swiss cream cheese setting up on the counter, apple butter cooking down in the crockpot and panettone-inspired muffins baking in the oven. I also have lovely iced sugar cookies on the counter and homemade marshmallows awaiting hot chocolate to swim in. Fresh bread is always readily at hand and I now have cranberry-apple chutney ready for Thanksgiving dinner (The flavors will meld together in the fridge this week.). I've picked up a handful more icing decorating tips, icing colors and came really close to buying 50 animal cookie cutters, but they were plastic, so I didn't. All I really wanted was a turkey, but I can make do without it.

I'm also testing out recipes for Xmas gifts, so some of the madness is just that: testing. The rest is just an outlet for creativity. And KA Flour (Now I feel a burning need to make pumpkin scones, just because I followed my own link. Ack!) keeps sending me their version of kitchen porn: their catalog. I'm so weak! So many of their items are terribly, terribly tempting! Also, there are recipes on every 3rd page! I...I have to try out those recipes!

Good thing I don't feel the burning need to eat all that I'm making! I keep giving it away. For my own safety, of course.

I made a yummy thing for dinner that I'd been wanting to try for awhile: Mark Bittman's recipe for Sweet Potatoes with Brown Butter and Sage. I hate sweet potatoes and marshmallows (Sorry Mom!) and really loved this. Now to get Eric to try it!

Stir-Fried Sweet Potatoes With Brown Butter and Sage
Recipe adapted from The New York Times, from 2008

3-4 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and grated, 4 to 6 cups (I used a single large sweet potato, for about half the recipe)
Salt and pepper
1/2 stick butter, more to taste
4 cloves garlic, crushed
20 sage leaves (Good thing the frost didn't kill the sage plant out front! If you're allergic to sage like my friend Sierra, you could probably substitute basil, rosemary or thyme here.)
1. Put oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add sweet potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring only occasionally, until they change color and begin to brown, then stir more frequently until they are tender but not at all mushy.
2. Meanwhile, heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and sage; shake pan occasionally. When butter turns brown, turn off heat.
3. Use tongs to remove sage and garlic from butter. Serve potatoes drizzled with butter and garnished with a few sage leaves. Garlic can be served alongside, though it will not be super-soft.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

I ditched the garlic instead of trying to eat it since it was all chewy/crisp, which isn't how I like my garlic. I must admit that I really liked the buttery, crispy sage leaves! Mmmm! I'll definitely make this one again!

Well, I guess I'd better go check the chicken parts that are simmering in the crockpot. I'm making some broth for chicken soup. Should be yummy!

So...what are you cooking up this fall?

Updated to add: He liked it! He liked it! He never likes sweet potatoes! We have a winner!

Fromage blanc

Did someone say "Cheese!"?

Hmm. Must have been me.

Late last Friday, it was time to make our first tentative foray into cheese making, starting with a simple soft cheese: fromage blanc. First we brought the milk to 86 degrees and then innoculated it with the cheese culture which smells just like cheese. Then we ignored it for 12 hours.

I like making stuff that's easy like this!

On Saturday the real work began. We had to drain the curds,

Curd draining apparatus.

by ladling the now curdled mixture into a cheesecloth-lined colander set over a large pan.

I'm not grumpy, I'm concentrating.

Then, tie it up and let it drain for the next 12 hours.
That was it.

I said I liked it easy, didn't I? Tying it up was the hard part. I started with a piece of butter muslin that was a little too small and spilled curds and whey down the counter and onto my foot. Whoops! However, once we worked that part out, we walked away and did other things while the draining took place.

When it was over, our gallon of whole milk had turned into 3 quarts of whey (1 quart has been turned into 4 loaves of yummy bread, so far),

No whey! Yes whey!

and 2 lbs of fromage!

Look ma! I made cheese!

The hard part has been coming up with a good way to make use of the cheese. By itself, it's a bit bland and sour. Sort of like cream cheese. I mixed some up with honey and orange peel and I think it would be great in crepes (which I haven't made yet, probably this weekend). I salted some and added Herbs de Provence, but don't care for the combination. The way I've liked it best is on bread or crackers, plain, with fresh peach jam slathered on top. Yum!

As far as being a first experiment, it was easy-peasy.

This weekend, I'm going to jump ahead and make some mozzarella! I feel a pizza or two coming on!

In other dairy-making news, I made my very own sour cream (looks just like yogurt or buttermilk in a jar, so I didn't bother photographing it) and yet more yogurt (I found detailed directions on yogurt making at the cheese making web site. It's worth a peek, if you're interested in making your own yogurt.). Next up: kefir and clotted cream. Time for tea and scones!

What have you been up to? Something yummy?

Snack Attack!

While Caitlin was away on her Big Adventure, I promised her that when she got back we'd make marshmallows together once she got home. Yes, marshmallows. Well, that moment finally came last night.

Me and my lovely assistant.

You'll want the recipe, if you want to follow along at home.

After gathering up our ingredients and an impromptu math lesson (Yes, Screamish, you have to know math to be a mom. Or at least learn as they're learning. Fractions again?! Argh!), we started on the stovetop by dissolving our sugar, cornstarch and water together. After it reached 240 degrees, I poured it into the mixer that was holding the softened gelatin (3 1/4 oz packages + 1/2 cup of water). Then we had an impromptu kitchen safety discussion since someone was messing around on the step stool. I didn't really want to wear the 240 degree sugar solution, you see.

Around and around it goes!

After about 15 minutes and with the addition of the vanilla, our mixture now looked like this:

Marshmallow goo!

Are you excited yet? Caitlin sure was!

We then scraped it into an oiled pan and let it set for 4 hours. Caitlin got to taste test the whisk, while Eric and I scraped bits off the spatula. Yum!

Setting up.

Since I can't possibly start any project during normal daytime hours, we started this one right before she went to bed. After those 4 hours were up, it was late.

So at 11:30 pm, I coated the marshmallow slab in the cornstarch/powdered sugar mix and sliced it up using a pizza cutter as was suggested in the recipe comments. I recommend reading the comments, there was some good info in there! I also cut out a few heart shapes, using a small cookie cutter and one bear.

Slicing and dicing.

The pizza cutter worked like a charm after the initial pass, it was just sticky enough that you could coat it in powdered sugar and then it sliced the slab perfectly.

Yes, my heart is soft and squishy.

Eric and I tasted them last night and they were good. Caitlin had to wait until the morning, but she gave it her Seal of Approval. Unfortunately, she ate the first one so fast that I only have the dust on her face to prove it.

Marshmallow monster.

She was so excited about having a hot chocolate with marshmallows that I made one for her and topped it with love.

Food = love.

I have to say, this recipe was pretty darned easy, fun and very tasty. Also, the part you can't tell is how incredibly sensuous these things feel as you're cutting them up and coating them in sugar. They're all soft and pillowy and squishy. You should make some! Just to prove you can. They're no harder than icing, really. Next time I'm going to make them with coconut extract and roll them in toasted unsweetened coconut. Because, oh yes, there will be a next time!

Also in our snacking future: s'mores (Updated to add: Yum! Woo!) and rice krispy treats.

Next time, I'll tell you about my granola bar adventures!

Pizza Bianca - Hatchet Style

Pizza Bianca, Hatchet Style!

Not long ago, Screamish asked about my pizza makin' skills. I'm here to tell all.

Pizza is not hard. It's actually pretty darned easy, but often seems like so much work that just dialing someone and having them deliver seems like a better option. However, I would like you to think about the difference between fast food and good food. Then think about just where all of those ingredients have been or how they were made. Me? I've gotten a lot pickier about my pizzas ever since I felt really awful after the last commercial pizza I had.

So. Let's begin. The first thing you're going to need is a good dough recipe. As you know, I've been swimming in No-Knead Bread Land since February and it's been good. Yes, they have a pizza dough recipe and forum, as does this guy. Chef John is hysterical and has videos to show you how to really do the things he does, so that's very cool. Personally, I like the AB5M recipe because I like having 4 lbs of dough on hand that I can make pizza or focaccia or rolls out of, should I wish. It works for me and allowing it to hang out in the fridge for a few days also develops more flavor in the crust. Yum.

1. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Your stone should be in now, if you have one. If you've broken yours like I have, the back of a 1/2 sheet pan works pretty well too. Either way, preheating the stone and oven is key to a crisp crust.
2. Choose your recipe and make your dough.
3. Generously flour the surface upon which you will roll out your dough. Flour your rolling pin, too. Don't be afraid of the flour, but don't go insane, either. Roll it out until it's about 1/8th of an inch thick. There are these funky rubberbands you can buy to go on your french pin to help you gauge proper thickness, but I just fake it. If the dough fights you, let it rest for 5 minutes and then roll it out.
4. Transfer the dough to your cornmeal covered peel or, in my case, to a semolina covered Silpat. Be generous with the cornmeal/semolina flour since this helps you shift the laden pizza off your peel and onto your stone. My peel is broken and can't hold a whole pizza dough anymore. Sniffle!

Oh snap!

5. Brush the dough all over with olive oil and prick all over with a fork. This is to prevent it from bubbling all over as it cooks. Don't worry if it still bubbles, mine does and it tastes fantastic anyway.

Bubbles in the crust.

6. Lightly cover with your preferred toppings. On mine: ~1/3 c sliced mozzarella, 2/3 c Asiago, shredded basil, crushed garlic, minced rosemary, coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Don't put too much on or you can't get it off the peel. Trust me.

Looks sparse, but isn't.

7. Slide it into the oven and bake for 8-12 minutes or until toppings are bubbling and the crust is golden brown and lovely. After removing from the oven, sprinkle the top with 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese. Now you have a lovely three cheese pizza!
   

You can almost smell it, can't you?

Mmmm! Pizza!

This is way better than store bought and you may even have the ingredients at home, right now! Flour, yeast, olive oil, salt, sugar/honey, water and toppings. You should try it. Really!

Yum!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

It's summer and the zucchini is multiplying more rapidly than you can eat it. You've had several (dozen) side dishes of sauteed zukes and you're getting tired of it. It must be time for something different.

Since I waited one day too many to collect a ripening zuke off my two - count 'em: two - zuke bushes*, one zuke went from 10 oz to 24 oz in one night. Or maybe it was two nights, but it was fast. What are you going to do with such a big honker? Well, you could stuff it and grill it, but note the title of the post: Chocolate Zucchini Bread. That means I was planning on baking it.

First, however, I needed a recipe. I had an old one I had used in years past, but the last time I made it I didn't like it as well. Something about all of that vegetable oil just didn't strike me as appealing. Instead, I turned to the Big Book o' Food (Cook' Illustrated The Best New Recipe Cookbook) and modified their recipe for a fantastic and simple zucchini bread. Theirs, you see, didn't involve chocolate at all.

Something about being purists, they wanted the focus on the zukes. Meh.

Don't get me wrong, I've made that recipe and it's wonderful (No, really!), but I wanted to try my hand at turning it into a chocolate recipe while still keeping it yummy. So that instead of this:

Yummy lemon infused zucchini bread.

You'd have this:

Kick ass double chocolate zucchini bread.

Oooooo!

Ready? Here we go!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

1 3/4 c (8.75 oz) all purpose flour
1 lb zucchini, ends and stems removed (cut in half lengthwise, scrape out seeds with a spoon if you're using a mondo zuke)
3/4 c + 1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c plain yogurt (I used sort of a "rounded" 1/4 measure to get a little extra in there since I was going to lose the 1 tbsp liquid from the lemon juice in the original recipe. I know, it's not a scientific measure. Fake it.)
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz chopped good quality bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate (or chips, if that's your thing)
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 c Dutch processed cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees with an oven rack in the middle position. Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan.
2. Break out your food processor (If you don't have one, you can grate the zuke by hand with a box grater and toss it with the 2 tbsp of sugar.), cut the zuke to pieces that will fit in your feed tube and process zuke with 2 tbsp of sugar until the zuke is coarsely shredded. (They used the metal blade, I used the shredder blade. If using the normal metal blade, cut the zuke into 1" sections and pulse in 15 second bursts.) Transfer the mix to a strainer set over a bowl and drain zuke for 30 minutes. (Make sure the bowl isn't so shallow that the zuke isn't draining but is instead soaking in its own juices. Not the same thing, at all! Drainage! We want drainage to get rid of the excess moisture in the zuke or you're going to have squishy bread. You don't want squishy bread, do you?)
3. You can add nuts to this, if you'd like. I skipped it since Logan doesn't seem to like them, while Emma does. This is the point where you would toast either 1/2 c of coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts until fragrant and then allow to cool.
4. Melt your 6 tbsp of butter and add 1/4 c of cocoa. Stir until combined and set aside to cool. (Here we're letting the butter "bloom" the flavor of the chocolate powder. Yeah, I've been reading too many recipes, but see? I learned something!)
5. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and chopped chocolate.
6. Whisk together remaining 1/2 c plus 3 tbsp sugar, yogurt, eggs, vanilla and melted butter mixture.
7. After the zucchini has drained (Isn't that cool? There's almost 1/2 c of green liquid in that bowl! You could probably drink it....), squeeze the zucchini with several layers of paper towels or a clean tea towel to remove excess moisture. (Mmmm! Squishy!) Stir the zuke and the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened. Scrape the batter into your prepared pan and smooth the surface with your spatula.

Gloppy. Don't be scared by its looks!

8. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55-60 minutes, rotating your pan halfway through the baking time. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool for 1 hour before slicing. You want to give the bread a chance to firm up, here. Trust me, it's worth the wait.

Pretty. Yummy. Sort of healthy!

Give it a whirl and tell me what you think! In case you're wondering, the twins (and Eric and I), love it. Yum!



* Never ever ever plant more than 2 zucchini bushes unless you either a) have a very large family that likes zucchini or b) plan on feeding it to your neighborhood or c) run a farm.

Trust me on this. Zukes are possibly the easiest plant to grow in the vegetable garden and one of the fastest and most prolific. Note that I put the zukes in the ground at the same time as the tomatoes, winter squash and green beans, but I've been eating zukes for weeks and haven't had a single tomato, green bean or winter squash. Yet.

All in good time, my pretties!

Bread! Bread! BREAD!

As you might be able to surmise from the title, this one is a post about...bread.

Not just any old bread, though. This might be the winner of the Hatchet Seal of Approval for whole wheat bread, done in the AB5M method (Yes, I'm still loving it! We haven't bought any bread for two months now.). The existing whole wheat recipes in the book kept coming out flat for me, so I started surfing the AB5M website for advice and found a really long thread about whole wheat and the amazing power of vital wheat gluten. A poster there suggested most of the recipe below, I took some water out, pumped up the vital wheat gluten and added the sweetener. It was clear to me that Eric wasn't going to go for whole wheat bread that wasn't at least a little sweet and the other WW recipes lacked what he was looking for in his bread. Are you ready? Of course you're ready!

High altitude whole wheat bread

3 cups water (scant) warmed to 100 degrees F. (or leave it room temp, whatever makes you happy)
1/3 c barley malt syrup (You can get some at Vitamin Cottage or Whole Foods. I had a jar leftover from the bagel trials and tried it in the bread. YUM!)
1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp kosher salt
3 tbsp vital wheat gluten (Vitamin Cottage or Whole Foods again. In bulk! Woo!)
4 c whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups high gluten white flour (VC or WF again. Look in the refrigerator in VC. Once you have this flour and the barley malt syrup, you can also make the bagels I made in this post!)

1. Toss the yeast and salt into your bucket/bowl/Kitchenaid Mixer.
2. Add liquids, stirring to dissolve barley malt syrup.
3. Mix your flours together in a separate bowl so that they are nicely mixed together, along with the VWG and then add them to the liquid mixture.
4. Stir.
5. Cover loosely in your bucket/bowl/rising bread container and allow to rise on the counter for 2 hours.
6. Toss in fridge as usual or lop off a 1 lb hunk to cook now.
7. Form into a free form boule or an oval to rise in a loaf pan (I recommend 2 lbs for a loaf pan) and allow to rise 40 minutes (unrefrigerated dough) or 1.5 hours (cold dough).
8. Preheat oven to about 400 to 425 degrees, with stone, if using. Bake for about 45 minutes or until you think it's done. Me? I jab it with my Thermapen to check its temperature, aiming for 200 degrees. (I must admit that I'm usually impatient and pull it when the bread is around 195 degrees, but the bread starts getting really brown at that point and I don't want it burnt!) I'm wacky that way.
9. Allow to cool fully (Hardest part!) and then serve.

I hope you like it!

If you're curious like me, reading the comments in the bread blog was fascinating and illuminating. I learned all about how vital wheat gluten works and how it's used to give lift to breads that have lots of whole grains in them. As an additional benefit, it adds more protein to your bread? What's not to love? Well...so long as you're not allergic, that is. There's a good definition of it here, although you'll need to scroll down.

This one's for you, Yvonne!

From Pumpkin to Pumpkin Butter

So you say you've got a decorative pumpkin left over from Halloween and you're not sure what to do with it? Well, assuming you left it whole and didn't carve it up, you can probably cook it! If you bought a pie pumpkin, or sugar pumpkin or one that was also good for eatin' and not just lookin', you're in luck! Yumminess is around the corner for you, so long as you're willing to do a little work first. If your pumpkin was a regular carving pumpkin that you just left whole or painted, it's probably too watery to be tasty. Ask your farmer when shopping whether the pumpkin you are getting is edible instead of just decorative.

Take this 12 lb Cinderella type pumpkin that we grew out on the farm: it's called 'Rouge Vif D'etampes' and I'm going to turn it into something yummy. Several somethings, actually. Twelve pounds is a lot of pumpkin!

First we need to cut it up.

Scrape out the innards (I like to use a grapefruit spoon.), reserving the seeds.

You can roast the seeds with salt or you can use them in another recipe.

Cut the pieces in half and lay them flat on a cookie sheet.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and roast those pumpkin slices until they are tender and a fork slides easily into the flesh; about 1 hour.

Scrape the flesh from the peel and compost the skins and innards.

Strain the cooked flesh in a sieve for a few hours to drain off the excess water.

You don't want your fresh pumpkin to be too watery or else anything else you make with it will also be watery. This is the amount of liquid I collected after 1 hour.


Puree the strained pumpkin flesh in a blender or food processor.

Now you're ready to cook!

Pumpkin Butter
From Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, p. 482.
Makes about 3 3/4 cups.

One 29 oz can pumpkin puree (Or in our case, use 30 oz of fresh pumpkin puree. I hate how can sizes are shrinking, don't you?)
1 1/4 c firmly packed light browm sugar
1/2 c mild honey
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp cider vinegar
3/4 tsp apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice*

1. Put all ingredients in slow cooker and stir with a spatula until well mixed. Don't worry about lumps of sugar, they'll melt during cooking. Scrape down the sides. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the lid and let cook on high for an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour to reach the desired thickness. (Due to our elevation, I always add more time.)
3. Turn off the cooker and let the pumpkin butter cool to room temperature in the crock. Scrape with spatula into glass jars. Store, covered, in the fridge for up to 6 weeks. Or transfer to plastic containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Yum!

Sounds like a Christmas gift, doesn't it? Or something to bring to Thanksgiving dinner.

After all that work, from a 12 lb pumpkin, I made 103 oz of pumpkin puree.

Just over 6 lbs or about seven 15 oz cans worth of pumpkin puree (But no trash!). There were also 5.2 oz of seeds, which after washing and picking over came down to 1.7 oz of edible seeds and 3 1/3 cups of pumpkin "juice" from straining the squash.

Not sure what I can do with the juice yet. If I was Harry Potter I'd just sweeten it and drink it, but that sounds a bit odd to me. I may just water the compost with it.

Oh, and don't forget the sink full of dishes,

the pair of pumpkin cranberry breads,

and the pumpkin butter.

Which is what started this whole thing in the first place.

The metamorphosis of food is a fantastic thing, isn't it?


* Don't have any on hand? Make your own! Mix together and seal in an airtight spice jar:

• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

I found the recipe here.

As American as Apple Pie

I warned you.

You probably didn't think I'd go big though, did you? But I did!

I made a beautiful, fragrant and deeeee-licious apple pie with my bounty of apples.


I had the first slice all to myself...with a little vanilla ice cream, of course.

One thing I noticed: the amount of apples the recipe calls for gave me too many to fit into the pie plate without them cascading down the sides in a waterfall of appley goodness. Apple slices going Splat! onto the floor wasn't my idea of a good time, so I corralled the extras and turned them into a mini galette using the pastry left over from the trimmings.


Two desserts for the price of one! Woo!

After years of struggling with pie pastry and failing, I thought it was beyond me. I over-rolled and over-floured. Possibly under-rolled or over-wetted. Who knows! I just know that my crust was never flaky. The one time where I wanted to be flaky! But no! Thwarted by a decided lack in the crust making department, I had resigned myself to cakes, cookies and scones.

However, all of that changed after Eric got me The Book. The big book of OMG! Ponieeez! Cookbook. This sucker is huge, comprehensive and totally written for cooking geeks, a group to which I proudly claim membership. Finally, a recipe for crust that I can make that turns out flaky and tender and yummy. Ahhh!

I am compelled to share this with you, because I care. I care about your pies.

Basic Pie Dough
From The Best New Recipe cookbook, p881.
Makes 1 double crust 9" pie.

2 1/2 c AP flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 c vegetable shortening, chilled
12 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces
6-8 tbsp ice water

1. Process flour, salt and sugar in a food processor until combined. Add shortening and process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, ~10 sec. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture, process until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 1-sec pulses. Turn mixture into medium-large bowl.
2. Sprinkle 6 tbsp ice water over mixture. With a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix. Press down on the dough with the broad side of the spatula until the dough sticks together, adding up to 2 tbsp more ice water if the dough will not come together (In Colorado, where it is ridiculously dry, this addition is pretty much guaranteed.). Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 4" disk. Wrap each in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days before rolling.

As my friend Sara would say, "Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!"

The hard part is rolling it out and not over-rolling it. That seemed to be controlled by rolling it in small increments, following the curve instead of rolling from the middle outwards (Like an asterisk.); roll it like the sweep hand of a clock, stopping to rotate the dough as needed. Works like magic! It definitely helps to have a bench scraper on hand to help you scrape that puppy off of your surface and also ensures you don't have to add a ton of extra flour to your board. (Mine is rather like this one. I bought it after I took a Pastry Techniques class at the local cooking school. I kid you not, that was a great class to take! Now, of course, I have a ridiculous amount of baking gear, but I am always prepared! Prepared to make pies and tarts and layer cakes and....)

Moving on!

(Obsess a little much on the baking, do we? Yes, yes we do. Wonder why we're talking in third person, do we? Yes, we do indeed!)

Now you need to know what do to with the crust you just made, don't you? Try this. you won't regret it. Nuh-uh! You won't!

Classic Apple Pie
Same book, p 887.

2 tbsp AP flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
3 large Granny Smith apples (about 1 1/2 lbs)
4 large McIntosh apples (about 2 lbs)
1 tbsp juice and 1 tsp grated zest from 1 lemon
3/4 c plus 1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg white, beaten lightly

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on it, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Remove 1 piece of dough from refrigerator (if chill for longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temp until malleable).
2. Roll the dough on a lightly floured work surface (They make that part sound so fast and easy, don't they?). Transfer dough to a 9" pie plate by rolling the dough around the rolling pin and unrolling it over the pan. Ease the dough into the pan corners by gently lifting the edge of the dough with one hand while pressing it into the pan bottom with the other hand. Leave the overhang in place. Refrigerate the dough-lined pie plate.
3. Peel, core, and quarter the apples (I like to peel the apple in one loooong continuous spiral and then use one of those apple slicers that cuts and cores the apple at one time. Kinda like this. I give myself major points if I can peel the whole apple without the peel breaking midway. I get all crazy with the baking, don't I?); cut the quarters into 1/4" slices and toss with lemon juice and zest in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, mix the 3/4 c sugar, the flour, spices, and salt. Toss the dry ingredients with the apples. Turn the fruit mixture, including any juices, into the chilled pie shell and mount it in the center.
4. Roll out the second piece of dough to a 12" circle; place it over the filling. Trim the edges of the top and bottom dough layers to 1/2" beyond the pan lip. Tuck this rim of dough underneath itself so that the folded edge is flush with the pan lip. Flute the edge or press with fork tines to seal. Cut 4 slits in the dough top. If the dough is very soft, place the pie in the freezer for 10 minutes. Brush the top crust with egg white and sprinkle with remaining 1 tbsp of sugar. (I like to use Turbinado sugar because I like the extra crunch you get from a chunkier sugar crystal.)
5. Place the pie on the baking sheet and lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Bake until the top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate the pie front to back and reduce the temp to 375 degrees; continue baking until the juices bubble and the crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes longer.
6. Transfer the pie to a wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. (Of course I didn't wait 4 hours before eating it! Are you kidding! I waited long enough that my tongue wouldn't be horribly burned by molten apple.)

And the pie? The pie is delicious!

The perfect time for apple pie is clearly after a historic election and when you have a plethora of ripe apples. Or whenever you feel like it. No election required. Frankly, I'm waiting for us to finish this pie off and then I'm going to try out their recipe for Dutch Apple Pie because I'm a manic!

Actually, I have very fond memories of eating Dutch apple pie in The City, in NY, when I was a kid. We'd go into Manhattan to our dentist and after some time of running around, screaming, locking ourselves in the closest, protesting at top volume and finally getting captured, drilled and filled, mom would take us to Chock Full o' Nuts afterwards.

Anyone remember that diner? Anyone?

The coffee house diner! Come on, they had a jingle and everything! OMG! I did a search and apparently they still exist! Here's a link to their history page with the jingle playing! (And now a childhood mystery is solved! I always wondered why the coffee house was called that!)

The place was always hoppin', with waitresses in the traditional, I kid you not, waitress outfits with little white aprons and comfortable shoes. There were business people there at all hours, eating, smoking, drinking coffee and reading the NY Times or the Post or the Daily News. We'd traipse in there with numb and aching jaws and eyes swollen from fruitless terrified crying.

Sorry mom! (I still hate going to the dentist, although they're a lot gentler these days: now they swab your gum down before attacking you with a giant needle full of drool-inducing anesthetic.)

At the diner I'd always order a hot chocolate with whipped cream and Dutch apple pie. Since mom always made the double crust variety, this was a special treat. I loved that pie! It also helped to soothe my aching jaw and frazzled nerves. I tried not to drool streusel everywhere while I ate it and the taste of it obliterated the weird metallic taste left over by the new fillings. Now that I think on it, that's a lot of sugar! No wonder I had a mouth full of fillings!

Mmmm! Wonder what's in those 30 year old fillings? Eek!

How about you? Do you have any fond memories of pies past? Share!