Full Moon Rising

Well, hell must have frozen over, because I got an "oh, wow" moment with a loaf of bread--thanks to the most relaxing Christmas gift ever from Ryan: a super-snazzy Cuisinart bread machine. Swoon.

I literally dumped the ingredients in and set the machine to do the work. And look what happened.

Now, some of you purists will scoff at this lazy bread-making tactic. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first. Well, that and I wanted to prove that I could make the perfect loaf without modern technology. Homemade caramels I can do. Bechamel I can do. Aioli I can do. But bread?

Well, folks, I couldn't. And now I can. So where does that leave me? Loving my bread machine, that's where! I am going to try a cinnamon swirl loaf with some organic raisins tomorrow. We also discovered the bulk bins at Central Market, where you can score 4 pounds of organic bread flour for less than 2 bones. Seriously, can it get any cheaper? I made a loaf of fresh bread, completely organic and all-natural, for about $1. And that means we're saving tons of dough (pun most definitely intended) and getting no yucky preservatives, additives, or high fructose corn syrup. Everyone wins. (Writer's remark: I'm on my second glass of vino for the night, and the word "wins" came out as "wines" on my first type. But since I'm not totally sloshed, I was able to edit that for your reading enjoyment. Just sayin.)

So, here's to a year of bread...from the magical machine that's going to live on our countertops.

Read more ►

Rookie Mistake

I could start this post off many ways. I could tell you about my insatiable need to be adventurous in the kitchen--or to be in the kitchen at all, for that matter. I could also tell you that I've been reading non-stop about cooking holiday treats lately and I can't get enough. I could tell you that Ryan tried to tell me I made toffee, not caramel, because Jamie Oliver says you just add cream to caramel to make toffee. Or I could divulge the fact that I made my sister stand next to me and watch the thermometer while making this batch of caramel.

But I think the most satisfying anecdote to tell goes something like this.

At some point on Tuesday, I decided it was my destiny to make these Salted Caramels for all my friends. Here's what happened Tuesday night, around 10.

"Hey babe! The caramels actually turned out great. Here, taste."

"Mmm, yum. Those are great."

I left the caramels in the baking dish to set overnight, not wanting to cut them too soon. This morning, I turned the 8x8 square of caramel (minus one small corner) over onto the cutting board and reached for my sharpest knife. It slid, then crunched--very satisfyingly so--through the block of creamy sugar, and before I knew it I had 36 near-perfect squares of caramel. Before leaving for work, I told Ryan he could have the shards that were sitting on the counter. I'd packed the 36--make that 34--squares carefully into a glass dish and went on my way.

At work, I got an email. "Those caramels were great. I tried to eat one from that dish but they were all stuck together and I didn't want to mess anything up." Hah, I thought, they're probably just tacked together on the edges. I'll have to separate them when I get home--guess that's what they meant when they said "store between layers of waxed paper."

Well, I got home and saw my dish of caramels. It was one [not] solid blob of candy that could not be pried apart, even with my sharpest knife. It took everything I had to coerce the chunk of caramel back out of the dish. Which is what you see here.


I artfully chopped the block again, this time into ugly blob-shaped pieces unworthy of gifting. But I had bigger plans for these salted caramels. While dinner was in the oven (more about that later), I melted bittersweet chocolate in the microwave (even as Ryan asked, "Don't you want to use a double-boiler for that?") and then not-so-masterfully dipped the caramels in the chocolate. I laid them out on a baking sheet (covered in parchment) and then sprinkled fine sea salt on top.

So what have I learned?

I can make caramel.
You should ALWAYS use layers of waxed or parchment paper between candies.
Cream and sugar are toffee, but only at the hard-crack temperature point.
And yes, these are absolutely tooth-stickingly delicious and worth every moment of fret!

Read more ►

Thanksgiving Pies

So this is a wee bit out of date, no? But better late than never. I have been cooking up a storm lately and enjoying every minute of it. I made two pies for Thanksgiving; one for Ryan's family (tried and true apple) and one for my family (never-before-tried Caramel Pumpkin Tart). Both turned out pretty swell, and it was actually a lot of fun to branch out from my standard apple pie and try something new. Of course, this was a marathon cooking adventure; in the span of 2 days, I made a rum cake (another new recipe for me, and my brother gave me tips for the sauce--just rum and sugar!) for Ryan's b-day, which he took to work...and then beginning at 5 a.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I began readying the crusts and peeling apples. I got home early from work that day and thankfully had 3 hours in the kitchen before Ryan's birthday dinner. Here's what the kitchen looked like....


And by God's grace alone, I was able to totally clean that kitchen by the time Ryan got home! It was like a birthday present for him. :) So here are the recipes...

My Standard Better-than-Grandma's-but-don't-tell-her Apple Pie (thanks Pastor Craig)

Pie crust (a top and a bottom!)
* If you have a reliable recipe, use it. I'm working up a new recipe myself, but here is a great place to start...

Apple filling:
5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chunked
1-2 tbls lime juice (to taste)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (to taste)
pinch of nutmeg
1 tbls flour
2 tbls melted butter

* I'd recommend blind-baking the pie crust. I am still perfecting this task, but here are some tips...

Peel, core, and chop the apples. Put them in a large bowl, and spritz on lime juice as you go. The lime juice adds a tart flavor, but also keeps the apples from turning brown. Whisk together the dry ingredients and pour over the apples. Stir to coat each one. I'd recommend tasting at least four or five bites of apple to make sure you've got 'em all covered. :)

For the other pie, I googled to my heart's content and came up with this recipe from Epicurious: it's a Caramel Pumpkin Pie. Now, this sounds heavenly--but it had two hurdles for me. One, I've never made a pumpkin pie before. Two, I've never made caramel before. And so this one was my great triumph and EVERY bite of it was eaten.

Here's what I learned. First of all, I followed this recipe almost exactly as it said--I didn't pay too much attention to the comments, except for when folks warned of the caramel making. They said it took about 10 minutes, and to watch the sugar and water boiling like a HAWK because it turns in a second. This is 100% true. My timer said 9:58 and the pot still looked like this:


And at 10:00, it looked like this:

Forgive the crummy picture, but I did not want to risk burning the caramel for a killer shot. :) I quickly poured in the cream and the most beautiful thing happened. Caramel + heavy cream apparently = heaven on the stove.

I did not have (nor did I want to purchase) a 2" deep tart pan with a removable bottom, so I improvised and used a springform pan. This worked well except in a couple of places, the pie crust did not remain upright. In any case, everything worked out and this was one of the best pies I've ever made. (So proud. So very proud.)

Stay tuned for more updates, including the office cookie swap and a week of home-cooked meals (with leftovers!).

Read more ►