Category Archives: recipes

recipes

Coming soon: Doorbells, sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles

5 Comments

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book “Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague” by Rick Rodgers.

Would you like to know why I don’t buy Toaster Strudels? Because I would eat the entire box in one sitting. Okay, maybe two sittings. Either way, I’m pretty sure that’s not what your friendly local nutritionist would recommend.

The point is, I love Toaster Strudels. But I don’t think I’ve ever had real strudel. So I was pretty excited to see that this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge was The Strudel. The provided recipe was for an apple strudel, which sounded lovely. But naturally I had big plans about making an apple strudel and and chocolate strudel and a savory strudel, maybe with a samosa-ish filling. Instead, I waited until the last minute and cobbled something together.

That “something” was a cream cheese and raspberry and chocolate filling. It didn’t taste bad, but it was Not Pretty. Particularly because the filling exploded out the side and left my strudel looking like a slain sci-fi monster.

The dough itself wasn’t at all hard to make, although I think my lovely assistant and I could’ve gotten it a bit thinner. And I didn’t do the sprinkling of the bread crumbs, which I think would’ve helped the layers puff up a bit. I’ll probably try this again because it was pretty simple. But next time, I’ll follow the directions to a T.

APPLE STRUDEL
from “Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague” by Rick Rodgers.
2 tablespoons golden rum
3 tablespoons raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

  • Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.
  • Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.
  • Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.
  • Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.
  • Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

    • Strudel Dough
    1 1/3 cups unbleached flour
    1/8 teaspoon salt
    7 tablespoons water, plus more if needed
    2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
    1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

  • Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
    Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.
  • Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
  • Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).
  • It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches. Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
  • Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.
  • The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it’s about 2 feet wide and 3 feet long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.
    • recipes

    One more reason that I needed to start that diet

    11 Comments

    The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

    I made this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge recipe weeks ago, before the South Beach Diet was a glimmer in my eye. And it’s a good thing, too, because I think I ate half of it by myself. Friends, this is a fantastic cheesecake. I divided the batter in half and made two smallish cheesecakes. One was plain cheesecake with strawberry sauce (and it was so good). For the second, I mixed about half a cup of Nutella in with a cup of batter and swirled it into the batter in the pan. It was good, but it would’ve been better if I’d made a chocolatey crust for it.

    This cheesecake freezes really well. I flipped the plain cheesecake out of the pan and wrapped in solidly in plastic wrap. Then I put it back into the pan and stuck it in the freezer. I took it out and thawed it about a week later. And I was in cheesecake heaven all over again.

    Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake
    For the crust:
    2 cups graham cracker crumbs
    1 stick butter, melted
    2 tablespoons sugar
    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    For the cheesecake:
    3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz), room temperature
    1 cup sugar
    3 large eggs
    1 cup heavy cream
    1 tablespoon lemon juice
    1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    1 tablespoon liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

    Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

    Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

    Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

    Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

    Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil “casserole” shaped pans from the grocery store. They’re 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

    Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

    recipes

    Crispity! Crunchity! Didn’t quite workity!

    3 Comments

    After two months of extremely rich desserts, January’s hosts opted for something a bit lighter. Tuile cookies are airy, crispy little guys that are meant to be shaped and molded into something cute or elegant.

    I say “meant to be,” because the reality of mine weren’t quite that way. They tasted good, but the first batch wasn’t the least bit malleable. I’d intended to form the circled into little bowls, in which I’d serve Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet with raspberry sauce. Instead, I tucked the little disks in beside the sherbet and tried again.

    I’d seen on the DBK message boards that at least one Daring Baker had made a kind of cannoli with their tuiles, so I thought I’d give that a shot, using (at my dad’s request) some cream cheese frosting. The cookies were willing to bend the second time around — I took them out of the oven a minute earlier than the first batch — but I couldn’t quite get them to, well, cannoli. The end result was more of a taco shell than a pastry. That might not sound delightful. But my friends? There are few things more delicious than a frosting taco.

    Tuile Cookies
    1/4 cup softened butter — not melted
    1/2 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar
    A dash of vanilla extract
    2 large egg whites, slightly whisked with a fork
    1/4 cup sifted all purpose flour
    1 tablespoon cocoa powder or food coloring of choice
    Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

    Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.

    Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

    Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

    Bake butterflies in a preheated oven for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

    If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking

    This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.