Yes, I just used four exclamation points. They were necessary.
Okay, so, back to the point. I made a little candy syrup recently to put on my Thanksgiving yams (recipe is here on the site). It was successful, and I immediately got a big head about my candy-making abilities. I've made caramel and taffy before, after all. Never mind that I was a kid at the time, and my mother was the one actually cooking.
I have to admit, now, that I am not actually as good and kind as I may seem at face value. I decided to try fudge because I remembered having been given fudge by a family member for Christmas many years ago, and, specifically, that the fudge was a little grainy. I wanted to do it better.
Yes, that's right. I wanted to one-up my little cousin. I'm a huge teabag.
That's not the whole thing, though. I also really like chocolate and fudge is really interesting, from a chemistry perspective. And I used to watch the fudge-makers in New Hampshire candy shops make their fudge on the big marble slabs, with the big copper kettles and the big wooden paddles, and it all just looked so totally cool.
So I did a whole lot of research and made my first batch of fudge. It turned into a solid, crumbly mass almost instantly. Upon reflection, I realized I'd used molasses instead of corn syrup - a seemingly minor difference, but corn syrup has a vital role in making fudge, and without it, you get... a solid, crumbly mass.
Second batch of fudge? Amazing.
Third batch of fudge? Amazing.
Fourth batch of fudge? So amazing I came over here to write this blog post.
This particular batch was created to please my lactose-intolerant family members, one of whom also doesn't like chocolate. (Don't get me started.) So I altered the recipe to use cream and a little water instead of milk, and, as always, I used natural sugar instead of white sugar. I also used my favorite brand of fancy European butter, though Land-o-Lakes would do fine, and the seeds from a vanilla bean.
It's buttery and sweet and complex. It tastes like homemade frosting. It tastes like hard-sauce. It tastes like being a little kid again, when candy was a mind-altering experience.
Here's the recipe, but I really, strongly recommend you go over to Science of Candy for a proper breakdown of the procedure - what's going on and why. It's really cool. Their recipe for chocolate fudge is also quite good.
Ingredients:
2 cups natural sugar or evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup light cream
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp premium butter (do not skimp, this is important)
1 tsp vanilla, or 1 tsp vanilla paste, or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
Combine the sugar, cream, and water in a small pot. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring, until it begins to boil. Attach a candy thermometer to the side and boil, undisturbed, until it reaches 238 degrees (soft-ball stage).
Put out a sheet of waxed paper and a spatula for later use.
Remove from heat and let sit, undisturbed, until it cools to 110 degrees. Put out a sheet of waxed paper and a spatula for later use.
When it's cooled, add the butter and vanilla, and stir, gently but thoroughly, until the candy lightens and stiffens. This happens gradually at first, then speeds up rapidly. When you find that the candy is suddenly stiffer now than it was a second before, IMMEDIATELY STOP STIRRING and scoop it out onto the waxed paper. Press another sheet of waxed paper on top of it, pressing it into a flat sheet about as thick as your thumb, or whatever shape you want.
Leave it alone until it's cool - it will magically turn into beautiful, amazing FUDGE.
Sources:
Wikipedia article on fudge, informative but dry
Science of Candy: Fudge, very helpful and explains WHY on every step, which I like
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Asian Fusion Apricot Chicken
The product of desperation became the subject of praise last night when
I threw together a stir-fry out of whatever I could find in our cupboards, and Ariel wouldn't shut up about how great it was. He was thrilling this morning to discover there were leftovers available for lunch.
Considering my usual fail when trying to make any kind of Asian food, I rolled my eyes at the capricity of recipes and decided to write this one down.
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 tbsp tamari or soy sauce, divided
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp peanut oil
5 ribs celery, leaves trimmed off
1 onion
1/3 cup cashews
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup boiling water
7 dried apricots, chopped
1 tsp red curry powder
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Put the coconut in a strainer, and run some water over it to wash off some of the sugar. Then put it into a medium-sized bowl. Pour the boiling water in with the coconut and leave to soak.
Slice the chicken into strips. Combine 2 tbsp tamari and the cornstarch in a bowl, then add the chicken strips and toss to coat.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and spread it out so as much is in contact with the pan as possible, then leave it there to cook until it is no longer sticking to the pan when you try to separate it with a spatula (about 4 minutes). Visually, this means 2/3 opaque (cooked-looking) and golden on the bottom. Raise the heat to high. Turn the chicken over (it will stick together like a big patty at this point, and that's fine) and cook on the other side until cooked through. Remove to a bowl.
If the skillet's caked with chicken breading, pour a cup of water into it and let it boil a minute or two. Then pour out the water into the sink and scrape off the stuck-on bits. You can use this trick anytime there's stuff stuck to your pan, by the way.
Return the pan to the heat. While it's heating back up, stick your immersion blender in with the coconut and blend it until mostly smooth. What? You don't have an immersion blender! Get one, they're awesome! In the meantime, use a regular blender or food processor. When you've pureed the coconut, add the cashews and apricots to the mix.
Now the pan is good and hot, add the vegetables. Cook and stir quickly, since you're using high heat, until the onion is tender. Add the spices, and cook for 30 seconds.
Then pour in the coconut mixture, nuts and all, and add the remaining 2 tbsp tamari. Stir, then add the chicken. Cover the pan, turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer for 2 minutes, then stir again and serve.
Substitutions:
1. Try coconut milk instead of the pureed coconut mixture. You might want to add 1 tbsp sweetener in this case.
2. Try pineapple instead of the apricot.
I threw together a stir-fry out of whatever I could find in our cupboards, and Ariel wouldn't shut up about how great it was. He was thrilling this morning to discover there were leftovers available for lunch.
Considering my usual fail when trying to make any kind of Asian food, I rolled my eyes at the capricity of recipes and decided to write this one down.
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 tbsp tamari or soy sauce, divided
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp peanut oil
5 ribs celery, leaves trimmed off
1 onion
1/3 cup cashews
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup boiling water
7 dried apricots, chopped
1 tsp red curry powder
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Put the coconut in a strainer, and run some water over it to wash off some of the sugar. Then put it into a medium-sized bowl. Pour the boiling water in with the coconut and leave to soak.
Slice the chicken into strips. Combine 2 tbsp tamari and the cornstarch in a bowl, then add the chicken strips and toss to coat.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and spread it out so as much is in contact with the pan as possible, then leave it there to cook until it is no longer sticking to the pan when you try to separate it with a spatula (about 4 minutes). Visually, this means 2/3 opaque (cooked-looking) and golden on the bottom. Raise the heat to high. Turn the chicken over (it will stick together like a big patty at this point, and that's fine) and cook on the other side until cooked through. Remove to a bowl.
If the skillet's caked with chicken breading, pour a cup of water into it and let it boil a minute or two. Then pour out the water into the sink and scrape off the stuck-on bits. You can use this trick anytime there's stuff stuck to your pan, by the way.
Return the pan to the heat. While it's heating back up, stick your immersion blender in with the coconut and blend it until mostly smooth. What? You don't have an immersion blender! Get one, they're awesome! In the meantime, use a regular blender or food processor. When you've pureed the coconut, add the cashews and apricots to the mix.
Now the pan is good and hot, add the vegetables. Cook and stir quickly, since you're using high heat, until the onion is tender. Add the spices, and cook for 30 seconds.
Then pour in the coconut mixture, nuts and all, and add the remaining 2 tbsp tamari. Stir, then add the chicken. Cover the pan, turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer for 2 minutes, then stir again and serve.
Substitutions:
1. Try coconut milk instead of the pureed coconut mixture. You might want to add 1 tbsp sweetener in this case.
2. Try pineapple instead of the apricot.
Friday, December 3, 2010
We all scream for ICE CREAM
Or at least I do. My ice-cream maker is the second-most-used small appliance in the kitchen, after the pancake griddle (which is a whole other story). I make ice cream using 1% milk and sweeten it with Splenda, though stevia or sugar would, of course, work just fine. Thus, my ice cream is nutritionally the same as drinking frozen milk.
Homemade ice cream requires 5 - 15 minutes of prep, 18 minutes of hands-off "cook" time, and 5 minutes of cleanup, each time. For some people that is prohibitive, which is understandable, but I can usually find 10 minutes to spare for ice cream when I'm in the mood. (That's basically every day.)
Sugar-free, low-fat ice cream will freeze as hard as a rock if you don't eat it right away. Commercially made low-fat and sugar-free ice creams have a ton of stuff added to keep them soft, including air, which I find unsatisfying, not to mention kinda gross.
Making your own ice cream requires something thicker than plain milk, or it will become a fluffy slush instead of a nice creamy soft-serve. I have four ways of doing this:
Easiest: Jell-o Pudding
Next Easiest: Ricotta Cheese
Then: Pureed Fruit
And finally: Stirred Custard
For jell-o ice cream, just mix some instant jell-o and then pour it into the ice cream maker before it sets. This will produce a firm but not-very-frozen ice cream in a very short time, say 13 minutes. Ariel really likes the texture of this, but I don't like the flavors much. I do like a flavor I call "fudgicle" where I make chocolate jell-o but add extra cocoa powder to make it more chocolatey.
Ricotta cheese ice cream is the highest in fat and calories, so I only serve this when I'm expecting us to be hungry. You just mix equal parts premium quality ricotta and milk, and then add vanilla and sweetener to taste. The ricotta has to be really good, like Biazza brand. Don't settle, or your ice cream will be grainy and unpleasant. It's almost as easy as jell-o and produces a more icy ice cream.
Pureed fruit ice cream is tricky, because the fruit flavor is surprisingly difficult to predict once frozen. Freezing changes how our taste buds taste. The easiest recipe is to put sliced fresh strawberries in a blender, add milk to about 2/3 of the way to the top of the strawberries, and blend until smooth. Then strain out the seeds. You can also do this with peaches, cherries, cooked rhubarb, and blackberries. Pumpkin ice cream's good, too.
Stirred custard is the most traditional ice cream. "Real" ice cream was made this way, and in some places it still is. Stirred custard, also called creme anglais or pouring custard, is made by cooking eggs and milk together until it thickens, but not until you get scrambled eggs. The rest of this post is about custard, FYI.
Eggs set when heated. We all know that. The egg proteins tighten up and become rigid, but not all at once. There is a time when the proteins are beginning to tighten, but haven't yet gotten so tight that they become solid strings. That's when you have custard, like pumpkin pie. Stirred custard is a tiny bit earlier than that, where the proteins are still flexible and liquid.
You can imagine that the timing of this is pretty sensitive. You can find recipes for creme anglais everywhere, but mine is one of these two:
2 cups milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 beaten eggs
OR:
2 cups milk
3 beaten eggs
I normally only do the three-egg thing when making eggnog- or vanilla-flavored ice cream, since other flavors don't benefit fro the extra egginess.
To make the cornstarch one, mix the cornstarch with any other powders you will use (the sweetener, plus the cocoa if you're making chocolate flavor). Then mix the milk in, starting with just enough to moisten it. That's how you avoid lumps, and the method works with other sauces, too. Then cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until it boils.
Then, slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking quickly. Pouring it in slowly is called "tempering" and it prevents the eggs from cooking unevenly and becoming stringy. Once you've poured it all in, return it to the stove, over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly.
The right time to stop cooking is difficult to see until you've gotten a feel for it. Basically, the custard will thicken a little and acquire a slightly wiggly texture, sort of like gelatine in a very subtle way. Remove it from the heat immediately. Placing it into a pan of ice water is a good idea, and it helps speed the cooling so you can eat your ice cream sooner.
Then, a few seconds later, it overcooks and begins to curdle. Oops! If it curdles, just put it into a blender and blend. It will be fine.
This obviously has to cool before it's ready. If you put hot liquid into your ice cream maker, it won't freeze (duh) so chill thoroughly first. You can chill it in your freezer if you stir it every 20 minutes to keep it from freezing around the edges into chunks.
There you have it! Here, have some recipes:
Strawberry
2 cups slices strawberries
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
1/4 tsp vanilla
Puree in a blender. Ta-da!
Ricotta
1 cup milk
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
Whisk together. Yay!
Fudgicle
2 cups milk
1 packet chocolate jell-o
1/4 cup cocoa powder (plain, not the sweetened kind)
1/3 cup Splenda
Whisk the cocoa, Splenda, and jell-o powder together. Then whisk in the milk. Pour it into the ice cream maker before it sets!
Eggnog
1 3/4 cups milk
1 small can evaporated milk
3 eggs
2/3 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 shot spiced rum (optional)
1 tbsp butter
Whisk dry ingredients together, then add milk. Cook until it begins to boil, then slowly whisk into the eggs. Return to heat and cook until slightly thickened, then remove from heat to a bowl of ice. Whisk in the butter and the rum. This one is better if it has a longer time to chill. You can make a double (or triple...) batch for drinking normally.
Homemade ice cream requires 5 - 15 minutes of prep, 18 minutes of hands-off "cook" time, and 5 minutes of cleanup, each time. For some people that is prohibitive, which is understandable, but I can usually find 10 minutes to spare for ice cream when I'm in the mood. (That's basically every day.)
Sugar-free, low-fat ice cream will freeze as hard as a rock if you don't eat it right away. Commercially made low-fat and sugar-free ice creams have a ton of stuff added to keep them soft, including air, which I find unsatisfying, not to mention kinda gross.
Making your own ice cream requires something thicker than plain milk, or it will become a fluffy slush instead of a nice creamy soft-serve. I have four ways of doing this:
Easiest: Jell-o Pudding
Next Easiest: Ricotta Cheese
Then: Pureed Fruit
And finally: Stirred Custard
For jell-o ice cream, just mix some instant jell-o and then pour it into the ice cream maker before it sets. This will produce a firm but not-very-frozen ice cream in a very short time, say 13 minutes. Ariel really likes the texture of this, but I don't like the flavors much. I do like a flavor I call "fudgicle" where I make chocolate jell-o but add extra cocoa powder to make it more chocolatey.
Ricotta cheese ice cream is the highest in fat and calories, so I only serve this when I'm expecting us to be hungry. You just mix equal parts premium quality ricotta and milk, and then add vanilla and sweetener to taste. The ricotta has to be really good, like Biazza brand. Don't settle, or your ice cream will be grainy and unpleasant. It's almost as easy as jell-o and produces a more icy ice cream.
Pureed fruit ice cream is tricky, because the fruit flavor is surprisingly difficult to predict once frozen. Freezing changes how our taste buds taste. The easiest recipe is to put sliced fresh strawberries in a blender, add milk to about 2/3 of the way to the top of the strawberries, and blend until smooth. Then strain out the seeds. You can also do this with peaches, cherries, cooked rhubarb, and blackberries. Pumpkin ice cream's good, too.
Stirred custard is the most traditional ice cream. "Real" ice cream was made this way, and in some places it still is. Stirred custard, also called creme anglais or pouring custard, is made by cooking eggs and milk together until it thickens, but not until you get scrambled eggs. The rest of this post is about custard, FYI.
Eggs set when heated. We all know that. The egg proteins tighten up and become rigid, but not all at once. There is a time when the proteins are beginning to tighten, but haven't yet gotten so tight that they become solid strings. That's when you have custard, like pumpkin pie. Stirred custard is a tiny bit earlier than that, where the proteins are still flexible and liquid.
You can imagine that the timing of this is pretty sensitive. You can find recipes for creme anglais everywhere, but mine is one of these two:
2 cups milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 beaten eggs
OR:
2 cups milk
3 beaten eggs
I normally only do the three-egg thing when making eggnog- or vanilla-flavored ice cream, since other flavors don't benefit fro the extra egginess.
To make the cornstarch one, mix the cornstarch with any other powders you will use (the sweetener, plus the cocoa if you're making chocolate flavor). Then mix the milk in, starting with just enough to moisten it. That's how you avoid lumps, and the method works with other sauces, too. Then cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until it boils.
Then, slowly pour the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking quickly. Pouring it in slowly is called "tempering" and it prevents the eggs from cooking unevenly and becoming stringy. Once you've poured it all in, return it to the stove, over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly.
The right time to stop cooking is difficult to see until you've gotten a feel for it. Basically, the custard will thicken a little and acquire a slightly wiggly texture, sort of like gelatine in a very subtle way. Remove it from the heat immediately. Placing it into a pan of ice water is a good idea, and it helps speed the cooling so you can eat your ice cream sooner.
Then, a few seconds later, it overcooks and begins to curdle. Oops! If it curdles, just put it into a blender and blend. It will be fine.
This obviously has to cool before it's ready. If you put hot liquid into your ice cream maker, it won't freeze (duh) so chill thoroughly first. You can chill it in your freezer if you stir it every 20 minutes to keep it from freezing around the edges into chunks.
There you have it! Here, have some recipes:
Strawberry
2 cups slices strawberries
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
1/4 tsp vanilla
Puree in a blender. Ta-da!
Ricotta
1 cup milk
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
Whisk together. Yay!
Fudgicle
2 cups milk
1 packet chocolate jell-o
1/4 cup cocoa powder (plain, not the sweetened kind)
1/3 cup Splenda
Whisk the cocoa, Splenda, and jell-o powder together. Then whisk in the milk. Pour it into the ice cream maker before it sets!
Eggnog
1 3/4 cups milk
1 small can evaporated milk
3 eggs
2/3 cup Splenda
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 shot spiced rum (optional)
1 tbsp butter
Whisk dry ingredients together, then add milk. Cook until it begins to boil, then slowly whisk into the eggs. Return to heat and cook until slightly thickened, then remove from heat to a bowl of ice. Whisk in the butter and the rum. This one is better if it has a longer time to chill. You can make a double (or triple...) batch for drinking normally.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Secret Chili (Meatless!)
I love a good chili. This one was the product of a particularly creative cooking session. There are many secret ingredients but the secret-est of them all is the Dr Pepper! You could also use any kind of cola; lime soda might be cool, too. Basically I used soda instead of the usual sugar. The flavor is undetectable as anything but a subtle enhancements, same as the chocolate and the cinnamon.
If you use diet soda, you must stir it in at the very end, after you've removed the pot from the heat, lest the aspartame be destroyed by the heat.
Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
2 poblano chiles, which are like large, dark, slightly wrinkled jalapeños - 1 green bell pepper plus 1 jalapeño is an acceptable substitute, diced
2 jalapenos, minced
1/2 can of crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic, or 5 minced garlic cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp oregano flakes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp tamari or soy sauce
1/4 tsp smoked paprika (or you don't have this, use 1 tsp regular paprika)
1 tsp beef or vegetable bouillon (broth is NOT a substitute, must use bouillon)
1/2 ounces baking chocolate or 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 cans of beans, I like to use two different colors for a pretty effect
1/3 cup dr pepper
Saute the onion and peppers over medium heat in a tablespoon or corn oil until tender. Add the tomatoes and next 6 ingredients (through chocolate). Stir well, and simmer 10 minutes. Add the beans and stir until heated. Remove from heat and add the soda.
If you want to make the chili hotter for some and milder for others, reserve half the jalapenos and serve as a garnish for the heat-lovers. This chili is best served with cheese on top (because, frankly, EVERYTHING is best served with cheese on top). I like pre-shredded Mexican blend but cheddar is fine. Sour cream and green onions would also be good toppers.
If you use diet soda, you must stir it in at the very end, after you've removed the pot from the heat, lest the aspartame be destroyed by the heat.
Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
2 poblano chiles, which are like large, dark, slightly wrinkled jalapeños - 1 green bell pepper plus 1 jalapeño is an acceptable substitute, diced
2 jalapenos, minced
1/2 can of crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic, or 5 minced garlic cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp oregano flakes
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp tamari or soy sauce
1/4 tsp smoked paprika (or you don't have this, use 1 tsp regular paprika)
1 tsp beef or vegetable bouillon (broth is NOT a substitute, must use bouillon)
1/2 ounces baking chocolate or 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 cans of beans, I like to use two different colors for a pretty effect
1/3 cup dr pepper
Saute the onion and peppers over medium heat in a tablespoon or corn oil until tender. Add the tomatoes and next 6 ingredients (through chocolate). Stir well, and simmer 10 minutes. Add the beans and stir until heated. Remove from heat and add the soda.
If you want to make the chili hotter for some and milder for others, reserve half the jalapenos and serve as a garnish for the heat-lovers. This chili is best served with cheese on top (because, frankly, EVERYTHING is best served with cheese on top). I like pre-shredded Mexican blend but cheddar is fine. Sour cream and green onions would also be good toppers.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Festive Candied Yams
This is a guilty pleasure, a relic of childhood, and I'm pretty much the only one who eats it at this point (well, Ariel does, but he eats almost anything).
This year I tried a variation with the intention of making the yams a little more grown-up and their sweetness a little more approachable. Here's the result. It worked pretty well - people ate about half of it, though that was with a lot of help from my friend Elana's twin toddlers. Hooray for a new generation of kids + yams!
Ingredients:
1 large can cut yams in syrup
1/2 bag of regular-sized marshmallows (Nothing wrong with the minis if you prefer them. I just like the big ones' tenderness.)
1/2 cup sugar, either the evaporated cane juice kind or packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup cranberries
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
Dash cloves
2 tbsp butter
Pour about 2/3 cup of the yam liquid from the can into a small pot, and discard the rest. Spread the yams into a baking dish in one layer. Warm the yams in the microwave.
Add the sugar to the yam liquid and bring to a boil. Cook down into a syrup that stretches from the (heat safe!) spoon like corn syrup, stirring often. Then turn the heat down and add the cranberries, stirring until they pop and become soft. Stir in the spices ad the butter. Pour the sauce over the yams.
Spread a single layer of marshmallows over the yams and place under the broiler. Broil until the tops are darkened to the degree you prefer.
This year I tried a variation with the intention of making the yams a little more grown-up and their sweetness a little more approachable. Here's the result. It worked pretty well - people ate about half of it, though that was with a lot of help from my friend Elana's twin toddlers. Hooray for a new generation of kids + yams!
Ingredients:
1 large can cut yams in syrup
1/2 bag of regular-sized marshmallows (Nothing wrong with the minis if you prefer them. I just like the big ones' tenderness.)
1/2 cup sugar, either the evaporated cane juice kind or packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup cranberries
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
Dash cloves
2 tbsp butter
Pour about 2/3 cup of the yam liquid from the can into a small pot, and discard the rest. Spread the yams into a baking dish in one layer. Warm the yams in the microwave.
Add the sugar to the yam liquid and bring to a boil. Cook down into a syrup that stretches from the (heat safe!) spoon like corn syrup, stirring often. Then turn the heat down and add the cranberries, stirring until they pop and become soft. Stir in the spices ad the butter. Pour the sauce over the yams.
Spread a single layer of marshmallows over the yams and place under the broiler. Broil until the tops are darkened to the degree you prefer.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Pumpkin Cheesecake
Ariel requested a cheesecake for Thanksgiving, and of course that meant I had to put pumpkin in it. This is a reduced-sugar version of this recipe by Cooking Light, and can be made wholly sugar-free by simply omitting the crust. It'd be good without the crust, I only add it for the benefit of guests who expect crusts.
Ingredients:
50 vanilla wafer cookies
2 tbsp butter or margarine
4 blocks 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese
1 can pumpkin
1 1/4 cup Splenda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 tbsp molasses
Crush the wafers - a food processor is good for this, but you can also crush them with a rolling pin inside a plastic bag. Melt the butter and mix it into the crumbs, then spread the crumbs in the bottom of either a springform pan or a silicone cake pan at least 3 inches deep. Pat the crumbs down and bake at 400 for 8 minutes.
Combine the Splenda and the spices in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Put the cream cheeses into a large microwave-safe bowl and warm up in the microwave, 10 seconds at a time, until they are easy to stir. Stir in the pumpkin, the vanilla, and the eggs, followed by the Splenda mixture.
Important note about stirring: If you beat air into a cheesecake, it will puff up and curdle when you bake it and you won't be happy with the results. Stirring must be done with care to avoid this. I don't use a machine - a food processor is wildly inappropriate for this, and a mixer gives (heh heh) mixed results. Use a spoon and be careful, or use my special cheesecake secret: An immersion blender! You can stick the immersion blender into the batter, carefully to avoid trapping bubbles, and then stir the batter with the blending stick (while blending) and as long as you don't lift the stick up too high, it won't whip any air in and you'll have a perfectly smooth batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Then turn the oven down and bake at 300 for 50 minutes. The cheesecake is done when the outer inch or two is beginning to turn golden and puff slightly, but the inside is flat. Cracks are okay, they happen to everyone and no one will care because it tastes AMAZING.
Ingredients:
50 vanilla wafer cookies
2 tbsp butter or margarine
4 blocks 1/3 reduced fat cream cheese
1 can pumpkin
1 1/4 cup Splenda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2/3 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 tbsp molasses
Crush the wafers - a food processor is good for this, but you can also crush them with a rolling pin inside a plastic bag. Melt the butter and mix it into the crumbs, then spread the crumbs in the bottom of either a springform pan or a silicone cake pan at least 3 inches deep. Pat the crumbs down and bake at 400 for 8 minutes.
Combine the Splenda and the spices in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Put the cream cheeses into a large microwave-safe bowl and warm up in the microwave, 10 seconds at a time, until they are easy to stir. Stir in the pumpkin, the vanilla, and the eggs, followed by the Splenda mixture.
Important note about stirring: If you beat air into a cheesecake, it will puff up and curdle when you bake it and you won't be happy with the results. Stirring must be done with care to avoid this. I don't use a machine - a food processor is wildly inappropriate for this, and a mixer gives (heh heh) mixed results. Use a spoon and be careful, or use my special cheesecake secret: An immersion blender! You can stick the immersion blender into the batter, carefully to avoid trapping bubbles, and then stir the batter with the blending stick (while blending) and as long as you don't lift the stick up too high, it won't whip any air in and you'll have a perfectly smooth batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Then turn the oven down and bake at 300 for 50 minutes. The cheesecake is done when the outer inch or two is beginning to turn golden and puff slightly, but the inside is flat. Cracks are okay, they happen to everyone and no one will care because it tastes AMAZING.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Mushroom Stew with Spaetzle
Another drastically modified recipe from Cooking Light, my favorite source of inspiration! The original was a vegetarian recipe out of the November 2010 issue, and called for a metric truckload of expensive cremini mushrooms as well as specifying a very difficult, messy, and culturally inaccurate method for making the spaetzle. I've been to Alsace and base my own spaetzle off of what I ate while I was there (it was amazing, FYI).
Incidentally, spaetzle are simple handmade noodles, enriched with butter and eggs, and are very easy to make. I don't have kids but I'm pretty sure spaetzle-making would be fun for children.
Ingredients:
1 pound lean beef stew meat, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 package cremini mushrooms, sliced thickly
1 large package white button mushrooms, sliced thickly
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
2 yellow onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups beef or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Ground pepper to taste
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
For the spaetzle:
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp butter, very soft
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp milk
~1 cup flour
1 tbsp margarine or butter
Brown the beef over high heat in a dutch oven. Remove with a slotted spoon, letting the juices remain. Cook those juices until the bottom of the pan is dark brown. Meanwhile, put the porcinis into a small bowl with half a cup of water and microwave for one minute. When the mushrooms have hydrated and become soft, remove them (save the mushroom liquid!) and chop them finely.
Add the vegetables, sauteeing quickly to get most of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan, for 5 minutes. Add the red wine and scrape the rest of the browned bits off while the alcohol cooks down.
Put the meat back in the pot and add the broth, mushroom liquid, and salt. When it begins to bubble, turn down the heat and simmer, covered, for about an hour or until to desired tenderness, stirring frequently.
Meanwhile, make the spaetzle. Put a medium-sized pot full of water on to boil. Mix the soft butter, the eggs, the milk and the salt together in a bowl. Add about half the flour and mix with a sturdy spoon until smooth. Add in as much of the remaining flour as you can, a bit at a time, until you have a soft dough. (For non-bread-bakers, this is similar in stiffness to cookie dough.)
Turn out onto a well-floured surface, ideally waxed paper or a Silpat, and roll out with an equally-well-floured rolling pin to about the thickness of pie crust, which is to say about 1/8 - 1/4 inch, into a long oblong. Slice the oblong dough shape along the short side into strips 1/4 inch wide, then cut them the other direction so they're about three inches long, or whatever length you want (shape doesn't much matter). If you're doing it, use a big chef's knife to make the job easy and fast, but if it's your kids, have them use a butter knife or a dull pizza cutter.
When the water is a rolling boil, drop the spaetzle into the water all at once. Boil for 3 minutes. They'll float when they're done, so if you've rolled them very thick or cut them into large shapes and they aren't all floating after 3 minutes, let them cook another 30 seconds or so. Then drain and put into a bowl. Toss with the margarine until it melts.
When the stew is done, stir half of the parsley into it and add the vinegar. Mix the 2 tbsp flour with about 1/4 cup cold water, then pour it into the stew, stirring constantly until it thickens. Serve with the spaetzle, and sprinkle the parsley on top.
Incidentally, spaetzle are simple handmade noodles, enriched with butter and eggs, and are very easy to make. I don't have kids but I'm pretty sure spaetzle-making would be fun for children.
Ingredients:
1 pound lean beef stew meat, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 package cremini mushrooms, sliced thickly
1 large package white button mushrooms, sliced thickly
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
2 yellow onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups beef or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Ground pepper to taste
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
For the spaetzle:
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp butter, very soft
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp milk
~1 cup flour
1 tbsp margarine or butter
Brown the beef over high heat in a dutch oven. Remove with a slotted spoon, letting the juices remain. Cook those juices until the bottom of the pan is dark brown. Meanwhile, put the porcinis into a small bowl with half a cup of water and microwave for one minute. When the mushrooms have hydrated and become soft, remove them (save the mushroom liquid!) and chop them finely.
Add the vegetables, sauteeing quickly to get most of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan, for 5 minutes. Add the red wine and scrape the rest of the browned bits off while the alcohol cooks down.
Put the meat back in the pot and add the broth, mushroom liquid, and salt. When it begins to bubble, turn down the heat and simmer, covered, for about an hour or until to desired tenderness, stirring frequently.
Meanwhile, make the spaetzle. Put a medium-sized pot full of water on to boil. Mix the soft butter, the eggs, the milk and the salt together in a bowl. Add about half the flour and mix with a sturdy spoon until smooth. Add in as much of the remaining flour as you can, a bit at a time, until you have a soft dough. (For non-bread-bakers, this is similar in stiffness to cookie dough.)
Turn out onto a well-floured surface, ideally waxed paper or a Silpat, and roll out with an equally-well-floured rolling pin to about the thickness of pie crust, which is to say about 1/8 - 1/4 inch, into a long oblong. Slice the oblong dough shape along the short side into strips 1/4 inch wide, then cut them the other direction so they're about three inches long, or whatever length you want (shape doesn't much matter). If you're doing it, use a big chef's knife to make the job easy and fast, but if it's your kids, have them use a butter knife or a dull pizza cutter.
When the water is a rolling boil, drop the spaetzle into the water all at once. Boil for 3 minutes. They'll float when they're done, so if you've rolled them very thick or cut them into large shapes and they aren't all floating after 3 minutes, let them cook another 30 seconds or so. Then drain and put into a bowl. Toss with the margarine until it melts.
When the stew is done, stir half of the parsley into it and add the vinegar. Mix the 2 tbsp flour with about 1/4 cup cold water, then pour it into the stew, stirring constantly until it thickens. Serve with the spaetzle, and sprinkle the parsley on top.
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