Ok so I finally got around to trying those biscuits. Wow, they are craptastic.
So don't use that recipe yet. I have been poking around all my cookbooks and will come up with a better recipe soon.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
c'mon in a sit a spell
Making biscuits makes me feel all down home and southern. More so now that I am surrounded by yankees :)
So by request, here is a real simple biscuit recipe
4 c AP flour
4 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
1 T sugar
6 T butter cold in small dice
1 egg + 1 yolk
.5 cup buttermilk
4 oz sharp cheddar
Oven to 425.
Throw all of the dry ingredients into the food processor and mix for a few seconds. Then add the butter and process until it is like sand.
We should talk about butter vs. shortening vs lard. All three are valid in this recipe. I personally just don't dig shortening. For me, shortening just has a nasty, greasy, artificial taste. So it's really down to lard or butter. I used butter because it's what I had on hand. But lard is a great substitute.
Pour out into bowl and mix in cheese. Mix together buttermilk and eggs and stir until just comes together.
Now onto a floured surface. Knead just a couple of times, and sprinkle with flour. Roll out to 3/4 inch thick.
Cut with floured biscuit cutter (i.e. mason jar).
Cook until nice and brown. ~13-16 min.
Slather with butter and honey while wearing a seersucker suit.
Opps, I forgot to dispense the ice. Now I am going to have to deal with being stared at.
So by request, here is a real simple biscuit recipe
4 c AP flour
4 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
1 T sugar
6 T butter cold in small dice
1 egg + 1 yolk
.5 cup buttermilk
4 oz sharp cheddar
Oven to 425.
Throw all of the dry ingredients into the food processor and mix for a few seconds. Then add the butter and process until it is like sand.
We should talk about butter vs. shortening vs lard. All three are valid in this recipe. I personally just don't dig shortening. For me, shortening just has a nasty, greasy, artificial taste. So it's really down to lard or butter. I used butter because it's what I had on hand. But lard is a great substitute.
Pour out into bowl and mix in cheese. Mix together buttermilk and eggs and stir until just comes together.
Now onto a floured surface. Knead just a couple of times, and sprinkle with flour. Roll out to 3/4 inch thick.
Cut with floured biscuit cutter (i.e. mason jar).
Cook until nice and brown. ~13-16 min.
Slather with butter and honey while wearing a seersucker suit.
Opps, I forgot to dispense the ice. Now I am going to have to deal with being stared at.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Finally have pictures of the lemon/raspberry chiffon/mousse/curd thing
I still need to come up with a better name.
The problem with doing cakes for other people is that I don't get to take a bazillion pictures of the finished product for my audience of hundre...umm dozens. Ok, one drunk guy in San Francisco
Here is the larger image
And this is a 100% crop of the area of interest
The problem with doing cakes for other people is that I don't get to take a bazillion pictures of the finished product for my audience of hundre...umm dozens. Ok, one drunk guy in San Francisco
Here is the larger image
And this is a 100% crop of the area of interest
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Lemon chiffon cake filled with lemon curd, topped with raspberry mousse
I really need to find a shorter name for this. How about "Lemon/raspberry awesomeness"?
This is a multi-part recipe with one fairly specialized piece of equipment.
So first, let's make the cake.
As usual I use a recipe from The Cake Bible. This is the "Lemon Glow Chiffon Cake".
Rose (I call her Rose because she and I are tight like that) has this cake being made in a tube pan. I simply put it in the usual 10 inch cake pan, sprayed with Pam then sugared.
Cake flour, sifted (always sift cake flour) 8 oz
Sugar 10.5 oz
Baking soda .5 tsp
Salt .5 tsp
Safflower oil .5 cup ( I used a a combo of olive and corn oil since I didn't have any safflower)
Eggs (separated) 7
Egg whites 3
Water .66 cup
Lemon juice 2Tbl
Lemon zest 1 Tbl
Vanilla 1 tsp (I used 1 pod)
Cream of tarter 1.25 tsp
Oven to 325
Mix flour soda, salt and all but 2 Tbl of the sugar. Beat for ~1 minute.
Add the oil, yolks, water, juice, zest, and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Put that to the side and beat the whites until it starts to foam.
Add the tarter and beat to soft peaks.
Add the reserved 2 Tbl sugar and beat to stiff peaks. I tend to not do super stiff. I'm middle aged now and ...oh wait, wrong conversation. But I think that the line between stiff and overwhipped is very fine. So I usually put it up just short of what a lot of folks would call stiff peaks.
Using a wire whisk, fold the whites into the batter. Don't go crazy, just until they are blended.
Throw it in the oven and bake.
While the cake is cooling, start the curd.
Lemon juice 4 oz
Sugar 3 oz
Zest of lemon, organic non treated 1
Eggs 4 02
Sugar 3.5 oz
Butter, lump free at room temperature 6 oz
Bring lemon juice, first sugar and zest to a boil.
Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and second sugar without making the mixture thick and airy.
Temper the juice mixture into the egg mixture. Then back into the pot and whisk vigorously to a boil.
Boil 1 minute while whisking well. Remove from heat and cool to 120
You can use an ice bath or just let it cool. For this recipe, let's just let it cool. It will give us time to prep the cake
What I do is using a sharp paring knife, cut a circle into the top of the cake. Go about a half inch down. Then crosshatch the circle to make it easy to pull the cake out.
Once the cake is prepped, the curd should be close to 120, add the soft butter in 4-5 increments, stirring with a rubber spat to incorporate the butter.
If the curd is too hot, you will just melt the butter and that would be bad. If it's too cold, you will give yourself tendonitis trying to get the butter incorporated.
Once the butter is all in, simply fill the cake with the curd. And you can throw the whole shebang in the fridge and let it set. Before you do, put the cake ring around the cake. It'll make life easier when it's time to add the mousse.
And of course, take a break and give the big head dog some ice
Lastly, we begin the mousse.
Raspberry puree 1 lb 9 oz
Raspberry liquor (optional) 1 oz
Egg whites 5 oz
Sugar 9 oz
Water 3 oz
Gelatin 7 sheets (or one packet) bloomed in some water
Heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks 16 oz
To make the puree, I simply get a bag of frozen raspberries and bring them to a boil with a little sugar and a pinch of salt. Once everything is all broken down, strain the solids from the liquids. the result can be less than 1lb 9, but it works just fine.
Prepare an Italian meringue with the egg whites, sugar and water
This is much like making the buttercream icing process.
Whites in the Kitchenaid on low.
Water and sugar in a pot. Bring sugar to 250.
Once the sugar gets boiling, increase the speed on the whites.
This is a total timing game. The whites should be just getting to a soft peak when you add the syrup to them.
So once the syrup hits 250, add the geletin and stir. It will foam up and have a nasty, hot gelatin smell.
Now crank the speed on the mixer up to max and pour the syrup down the side of the bowl.
Let it run until the bottom of the bowl is just sort of warm to the touch.
Add .25 of the raspberry puree to the meringue and combine well.
Add the remaining raspberry puree to the meringue and gently fold together
Add soft whipped cream and fold together
Take the cake out of the fridge and pour the mousse into the ring.
Let it all set up for at least 3 hours.
I will have pictures of the final product later.
This is a multi-part recipe with one fairly specialized piece of equipment.
So first, let's make the cake.
As usual I use a recipe from The Cake Bible. This is the "Lemon Glow Chiffon Cake".
Rose (I call her Rose because she and I are tight like that) has this cake being made in a tube pan. I simply put it in the usual 10 inch cake pan, sprayed with Pam then sugared.
Cake flour, sifted (always sift cake flour) 8 oz
Sugar 10.5 oz
Baking soda .5 tsp
Salt .5 tsp
Safflower oil .5 cup ( I used a a combo of olive and corn oil since I didn't have any safflower)
Eggs (separated) 7
Egg whites 3
Water .66 cup
Lemon juice 2Tbl
Lemon zest 1 Tbl
Vanilla 1 tsp (I used 1 pod)
Cream of tarter 1.25 tsp
Oven to 325
Mix flour soda, salt and all but 2 Tbl of the sugar. Beat for ~1 minute.
Add the oil, yolks, water, juice, zest, and vanilla and beat until smooth.
Put that to the side and beat the whites until it starts to foam.
Add the tarter and beat to soft peaks.
Add the reserved 2 Tbl sugar and beat to stiff peaks. I tend to not do super stiff. I'm middle aged now and ...oh wait, wrong conversation. But I think that the line between stiff and overwhipped is very fine. So I usually put it up just short of what a lot of folks would call stiff peaks.
Using a wire whisk, fold the whites into the batter. Don't go crazy, just until they are blended.
Throw it in the oven and bake.
While the cake is cooling, start the curd.
Lemon juice 4 oz
Sugar 3 oz
Zest of lemon, organic non treated 1
Eggs 4 02
Sugar 3.5 oz
Butter, lump free at room temperature 6 oz
Bring lemon juice, first sugar and zest to a boil.
Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and second sugar without making the mixture thick and airy.
Temper the juice mixture into the egg mixture. Then back into the pot and whisk vigorously to a boil.
Boil 1 minute while whisking well. Remove from heat and cool to 120
You can use an ice bath or just let it cool. For this recipe, let's just let it cool. It will give us time to prep the cake
What I do is using a sharp paring knife, cut a circle into the top of the cake. Go about a half inch down. Then crosshatch the circle to make it easy to pull the cake out.
Once the cake is prepped, the curd should be close to 120, add the soft butter in 4-5 increments, stirring with a rubber spat to incorporate the butter.
If the curd is too hot, you will just melt the butter and that would be bad. If it's too cold, you will give yourself tendonitis trying to get the butter incorporated.
Once the butter is all in, simply fill the cake with the curd. And you can throw the whole shebang in the fridge and let it set. Before you do, put the cake ring around the cake. It'll make life easier when it's time to add the mousse.
And of course, take a break and give the big head dog some ice
Lastly, we begin the mousse.
Raspberry puree 1 lb 9 oz
Raspberry liquor (optional) 1 oz
Egg whites 5 oz
Sugar 9 oz
Water 3 oz
Gelatin 7 sheets (or one packet) bloomed in some water
Heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks 16 oz
To make the puree, I simply get a bag of frozen raspberries and bring them to a boil with a little sugar and a pinch of salt. Once everything is all broken down, strain the solids from the liquids. the result can be less than 1lb 9, but it works just fine.
Prepare an Italian meringue with the egg whites, sugar and water
This is much like making the buttercream icing process.
Whites in the Kitchenaid on low.
Water and sugar in a pot. Bring sugar to 250.
Once the sugar gets boiling, increase the speed on the whites.
This is a total timing game. The whites should be just getting to a soft peak when you add the syrup to them.
So once the syrup hits 250, add the geletin and stir. It will foam up and have a nasty, hot gelatin smell.
Now crank the speed on the mixer up to max and pour the syrup down the side of the bowl.
Let it run until the bottom of the bowl is just sort of warm to the touch.
Add .25 of the raspberry puree to the meringue and combine well.
Add the remaining raspberry puree to the meringue and gently fold together
Add soft whipped cream and fold together
Take the cake out of the fridge and pour the mousse into the ring.
Let it all set up for at least 3 hours.
I will have pictures of the final product later.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
I have been in Vancouver BC the past number of days for work. But while I was there, I did manage to go to an awesome restaurant. Le Crocodile has excellent food and just incredible service.
More recipes coming up later this week. I promise.
More recipes coming up later this week. I promise.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
"Let's talk about vanilla"
Or we can talk about ducks. Texans will understand.
I must confess, I hardly ever use vanilla extract. There, I said it.
99 times out of 100 I will use vanilla beans. I know, you are thinking "OMG that's so expensive". I have found that it isn't. For the last few years I have been getting them from this place. So for ~$20 you can get a pound of beans. Of course, you can get a qt of extract for ~$50. So it might be a wash in the end, but for my money, nothing beats the look of those tiny little seeds of awesomeness in icing or cream brulee. And in my tiny little kitchen, where am I going to store a quart of vanilla? With the beans, I throw them in sugar and viola!, I end up with vanilla sugar
I must confess, I hardly ever use vanilla extract. There, I said it.
99 times out of 100 I will use vanilla beans. I know, you are thinking "OMG that's so expensive". I have found that it isn't. For the last few years I have been getting them from this place. So for ~$20 you can get a pound of beans. Of course, you can get a qt of extract for ~$50. So it might be a wash in the end, but for my money, nothing beats the look of those tiny little seeds of awesomeness in icing or cream brulee. And in my tiny little kitchen, where am I going to store a quart of vanilla? With the beans, I throw them in sugar and viola!, I end up with vanilla sugar
"It has carrots in it, it must be good for you"
The following recipe makes a boatload of cake. And since I was just doing some cupcakes, I trimmed it down by 75%.
Sugar 3 lb 5 oz
Cake flour 2 lb 8 0z
Baking powder 1.25 oz
Baking soda .75 oz
Cinnamon .75 oz
Salt .5 oz
Eggs 28 oz
Olive oil 48 oz
Vanilla 1 tblsp
Carrots, grated fine 2 lb 5 oz
Walnuts, chopped 1 lb (pecans work just fine too)
In a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle, mix the sugar, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and eggs on low for one minute.
Add a few clicks of speed and mix for 4 minutes.
Reduce to the lowest speed and gradually pour in the olive oil.
Add the vanilla
Add the carrots and walnuts and mix until just combined.
One quarter of the recipe made 25 cupcakes and an 8 inch cake. I'll post pictures later of the cake. But the process is the same as the chocolate cake I made the other day. Only this time, it will be with cream cheese icing.
This icing is the easiest icing ever. The formula is a breeze to remember
Cream cheese 1 lb
Powdered sugar 8 oz
Butter 4 oz
Pinch salt
Vanilla .5 bean
As you can see, starting with whatever the cream cheese weighs, take half of that amount and that is the amount of powdered sugar. And half of the sugar is how much butter.
A couple of caveats
1) the cream cheese and butter need to be room temp with no lumps. No one likes lumpy icing.
2) sift the sugar.
3) only ever mix of low. If you crank the speed up, the result will be a runny mess that won't hold its shape. So go slow.
Sugar 3 lb 5 oz
Cake flour 2 lb 8 0z
Baking powder 1.25 oz
Baking soda .75 oz
Cinnamon .75 oz
Salt .5 oz
Eggs 28 oz
Olive oil 48 oz
Vanilla 1 tblsp
Carrots, grated fine 2 lb 5 oz
Walnuts, chopped 1 lb (pecans work just fine too)
In a mixing bowl fitted with the paddle, mix the sugar, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and eggs on low for one minute.
Add a few clicks of speed and mix for 4 minutes.
Reduce to the lowest speed and gradually pour in the olive oil.
Add the vanilla
Add the carrots and walnuts and mix until just combined.
One quarter of the recipe made 25 cupcakes and an 8 inch cake. I'll post pictures later of the cake. But the process is the same as the chocolate cake I made the other day. Only this time, it will be with cream cheese icing.
This icing is the easiest icing ever. The formula is a breeze to remember
Cream cheese 1 lb
Powdered sugar 8 oz
Butter 4 oz
Pinch salt
Vanilla .5 bean
As you can see, starting with whatever the cream cheese weighs, take half of that amount and that is the amount of powdered sugar. And half of the sugar is how much butter.
A couple of caveats
1) the cream cheese and butter need to be room temp with no lumps. No one likes lumpy icing.
2) sift the sugar.
3) only ever mix of low. If you crank the speed up, the result will be a runny mess that won't hold its shape. So go slow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
