Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

“You have to have the bad days in order to be able to recognize the good ones.”
That is one of my dad’s favorite phrases…and boy, let’s just say I will really be able to recognize a good one when it comes around. Life has thrown a few little thumbtacks and bumps my way and so I am a little scatter brained lately. And with that I have been extremely bad about getting back to people who emailed me or who asked me a question on my blog. Sorry, I am a little self absorbed right now and might be for a little bit longer.
When I am out of sorts, baking always calms me…and I have done a lot of baking lately. After the evil crepe debacle I wanted something that if I was blindfolded would turn out well…I of course turned to Dorie Greenspan. Poor Dorie has been a little neglected lately in the food blogging world. There was a time(right after the release of her beloved Baking: From My Home to Yours) that food bloggers everywhere were singing her praises. It’s not that she is not loved, I just had to move on for a little while, as my other cookbooks were starting to get jealous…and well a jealous cookbook is not a pretty sight. The cool thing is that Dorie now has her own blog too. I’m sure it has been up for awhile and I have been in a fog but it’s nice to know it is there.
I chose a simple cake that I changed just a little. It was suppose to be a marble cake but I was really just going for a two toned cake…I got lazy about the swirling. There were a couple side suggestions and I took half of one by adding white chocolate to one half of the batter. The other half I chose to add Bailey’s Irish Cream to the chocolate portion…yum. I’ve been kind of on a Bailey’s kick in a way. I made a mocha milkshake and put some Bailey’s and Kahlua in it…and the Sabres won(if you know my superstitions you know where this is going)…so I will be drinking them until the playoff run is over. Oh my, what a thing to have to drink every other day.
Just like all of Dorie’s other cakes I have tried, this was nice and moist and just needed a little Bailey’s scented whipped cream and it was good to go.
I’m hoping that my life curve ball will be straightening out soon and I can return back to my less scatter brained self…until then, again I apologize if I seem like I am blowing you off.

White Chocolate Irish Cream Marbled Loaf Cake

2 cups plus 2 TBSP all purpose flour

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ cup whole milk

4 oz white chocolate, melted and cooled

3 TBSP Bailey’s Irish Cream

3 TBSP cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 325F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

Working with a standing mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Don’t be concerned if the batter curdles and stays curdled-it will be fine. Beat in vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternatively add the flour mixture in 3 additional and the milk in 2(being and end with the dry ingredients), mixing only until each addition is incorporated.

Divide the batter in half. Stir 4 ounces of melted white chocolate into the batter and mix until well incorporated. Take the other half of the batter and add 3 TBSP of Bailey’s and 3TBSP of cocoa powder. Place the chocolate portion into the pan(8 ½-x-4 ½-x-2 ½ inch loaf pan greased and floured) first, followed by the white chocolate batter. At this point you could marble the cake…I was lazy and did not.

Bake cake for 1 hour and 20-30 minutes(mine took 1 hour 20 minutes), or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean. If the cake looks as if it is getting too brown during it’s bake, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for about 15 minutes before unmolding, then cool the cake to room temperature right side up on the rack.

Source: Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, houghton mifflin 2006

“Mother fuc#&ing, piece of sh#&!”

My husband peeked his head into the kitchen.

“I thought hockey wasn’t on today?” he said.

“It’s not,” I replied.

“Then why are you swearing like a drunken sailor?”

“Because, I hate these crepes!”

“Are they hurting you?”

“No, but I might soon be hurting them.”

And with that he wisely left, knowing it was best just to leave me and the evil crepes alone to ourselves to battle it out.
And though the crepes won many a battle, they did not win the war, so in the end I was victorious…sort of. I’m not sure it is victory that when you are done you have a chewy round-ish shit brown disc. But that is what I got. That is what several of the Daring Bakers got(not to worry we have already sent our refund letter to Martha…I check the mailbox everyday). My taste testers didn’t even want to finish theirs after the first bite. Most of them just licked out the filling…one thing that everyone can agree on as being tasty.
I can tell you that many an hour was spent discussing how much we hated this crepe batter, which is such a shame because it really is a beautiful cake when you cut into it. Presentation wise it was lovely. I, of course, made mini ones…mostly because I was lazy and after making 20 crepes I decided that I in no way wanted to make more!
The recipe is over at Jumbo Empanadas. Poor Brilynn picked this cake because of it’s beauty. She had no idea what non-beautiful things I would be saying to the cake while I was making it I was so annoyed with this cake by the end that I didn’t even bother to take very many pictures of it either…that is why you have so few and not very good ones at that.
Next month I hope we make something really ugly…but really tasty! To see what all the other Daring Bakers did with this cake…visit their sites…all listed on my blog roll under Daring Bakers.

Round two of the Stanley Cup playoffs are off and running. My beloved Sabres played tonight. And though the NY Rangers talked a lot of crap…crap is about all they did. The Sabres won 5-2 tonight making our home a very happy place to be…not one cuss word flew out of my mouth!
I made these last week when my hubby found out that I would be making these with a group of ladies who were celebrating a friends birthday. Realizing that he would not be getting any of them he pouted…and I folded, making him his own. This recipe comes from the Cupcake Bakeshop, a site I really like, but unfortunately seems to be updated about only 2 or 3 times a month…boo. She comes up with really creative stuff. I did not use the cupcake she suggested, when I made those once they were so dense and they sat in my stomach like a rock…not my idea of a good cupcake. So I went to my default baking cookbook, Caprial’s Desserts, for a no fail cake recipe. These are super rich and when you are half way done they tend to tip over from being top heavy…a small price to pay for peanut butter chocolate goodness. These involve using the cone method which can be used for filling just about any type of cupcake there is out there….so it is a good thing to know and learn.

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ¼ cups lightly packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 heaping TBSP cocoa powder
2 ¼ cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
¾ cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease cupcake pans and set aside.
Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often , until  well blended, about 3 minutes.  Add the cocoa powder. Mix until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, on at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing well after each addition. Continue to beat for 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Stop the mixer, add the melted chocolate, and mix well. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add about ½ the ingredients followed by about ½ of the sour cream and beat well. Add the remaining dry ingredients followed by the remaining sour cream, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition. Add the boiling water and beat until smooth.
Scoop(ice cream scoop works best) batter into prepared pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Let cool for about 10 minutes and remove from pan. Let cupcakes cool completely.
Peanut Butter Filling

4 ounces or 1/2 package of Philly cream cheese
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
milk to thin out filling

Beat cream cheese and peanut butter until combined.
Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until combined.
Add the milk and beat until combined. Add milk until your reach desired consistency.

Chocolate Ganache

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
5 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl.
Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.
Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.
Add butter and vanilla and stir until combined.
Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixture and let cool for 10 minutes.
Sift powdered sugar into the mixture and beat until combined. Add more sugar if needed.
Continue to beat with an electric mixer until lighter in color and creamy.

Assemble
Using a small pairing knife, cut off the top of the cupcake in the shape of a cone. Flip the top over and cut off the cone.
Fill the cavity with a teaspoon or so of peanut butter filling. I used a piping bag, this makes it much easier.
Replace top.
Frost with ganache.

Cupcake Recipe adapted from Caprial’s Desserts by Caprial Pence and Melissa Carey, 2001

It’s been a pretty somber mood around here, with my Flames making an early exit. Between that and some stress I have been dealing with lately that only means one thing….yeast breads. I don’t know what it is about yeast breads that make me feel better. It’s not like they remind me of my childhood, my mother is not much of a yeast baker, though she is vowing to start this year. I will gently nudge her to make sure she does. Yeast breads are one of those baking things that people really shy away from. I admit that they can sometimes be stubborn and temperamental…getting all picky about the weather and what not. I think that brioche is a great starter yeast bread for virgin bakers. I can’t really think of a recipe for brioche that I have made that hasn’t turned out well, if not fabulous. Seeing Helen make brioche the other day steered me in that direction. I chose to make this a sweet bread so that I could send it as a snack for my hubby at work. He was definitely a fan. You could roll just about anything you want up in this bread and it would probably be super tasty…well, maybe not duck beak, but lets be realistic here people.
Round two of the playoffs start in a couple of days and depending on how the Sabres do there could be much, much more yeast based products coming your way.
GO SABRES!!!!

Golden Brioche

The big bowl and tireless motor of a standing mixer take the heavy work out of preparing these tender brioche loaves.

1/3 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1/3 cup warm milk (105°F to 115°F)
2 envelopes dry yeast
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, each stick cut into 4 pieces, room temperature
1 egg, beaten to blend with 1 tablespoon water (for glaze)

Place 1/3 cup warm water, warm milk, and yeast in bowl of standing heavy-duty mixer; stir until yeast dissolves. Fit mixer with dough hook. Add flour and salt to bowl; mix on low speed just until flour is moistened, about 10 seconds. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl. Beat in 3 eggs on low speed, then add sugar. Increase speed to medium and beat until dough comes together, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding next (dough will be soft and batter-like). Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from sides of bowl, about 7 minutes.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Lift up dough around edges and allow dough to fall and deflate in bowl. Cover bowl with plastic and chill until dough stops rising, lifting up dough around edges and allowing dough to fall and deflate in bowl every 30 minutes, about 2 hours total. Cover bowl with plastic; chill dough overnight.

Butter and flour three 7 1/2×3 1/2×2-inch loaf pans. Divide dough into 3 equal pieces. Cut each dough piece into 4 equal pieces. Roll each into 3 1/2-inch-long log, forming 12 logs total. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in bottom of each prepared loaf pan. Place loaf pans on baking sheet. Cover pans with waxed paper. Let loaves rise at room temperature until dough almost fills pans, about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Gently brush top of loaves with egg glaze. Bake until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, about 30 minutes. Cool in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn loaves out onto racks; cool at least 1 hour. (Can be made ahead. Cool completely. Wrap loaves in foil; place in resealable plastic bags and store at room temperature 1 day or freeze up to 1 month. Rewarm room-temperature or thawed loaves wrapped in foil in 350°F oven about 15 minutes, if desired.)

Makes 3 loaves.

Bon Appétit
February 2003

What I did different. I gave the original recipe if you want to make it that way. I left my dough in over night and did not preshape my bread. In the morning, I took out half of the batch and made cinnamon apple rolls(recipe on another post to come) and used the other half to my my hubby some chocolate chip brioche. I simply rolled my dough out, as if I were making cinnamon rolls. I sprinkled a little over a cup of semisweet chocolate chips(wasn’t really paying attention). Rolled it up, cut it in half and placed it into two greased mini loaf pans. I let those rise for an hour. I bake them at 375F for about 25 minutes(it is best to watch it starting at the 15 minute mark).

Just a reminder, Livestrong Day is coming up. See what you can do to participate in this special cancer awareness day!