Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Okay , enough with that…. Well, we are in…and 91.6%(give or take a tenth of a percent) of the way set up. All in all,the move went very smoothly…until it came to cable/Internet. Craptastic Comcast has gone out of their way to prove that customer service is not something they pride themselves on. Even as I write this I do not have Internet but I am being cautiously optimistic that they are going to actually come and hook us up tomorrow(10/31)Update, they did and they cable guy was very nice. A week and a half without her food blog and without hockey on makes for a mighty cranky Peabody. Just as I thought hard and long about what would be the last thing I would make in my apartment kitchen, I had to think about what would be the first thing I would make to christen the new home kitchen. Sadly that was my husband making Bagel Bites on our second day of living here…ugh. Since this is my first house ever, I felt the need to go a bit 1950’s housewife and make a bundt cake. Though I sincerely doubt that the 1950’s housewife would have been screaming obscenities at some guy on Sunday for elbowing her in the head while playing hockey. (Oh and in case you are wondering, I am back to playing hockey…so at least I can get my non-cable/Internet frustrations out by hitting people on skates). None the less, a bundt cake was decided upon, and a Dorie one at that, just to make sure it would turn out perfectly. I chose a Brown Sugar Bundt Cake that originally had pears in it, but I changed it to use up some of my apples(Honeycrips to be exact). It is very moist and gets a nice crunchy crust on the outside due to all the brown sugar in this cake. Once I get more neighbors(I’m in new construction) I plan on making mini ones of these to take over to them. For now, it was the guy working on the plumbing next door that got a piece to sample. I was a dork and divided my kitchen into zones. So of course there is a baking zone. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have everything I need in just one area. I even have a whole cabinet dedicated to props now! The tricky thing now is the lighting in this house. I didn’t really bother today, just taking pictures in the kitchen but I am still working on finding the room I think brings the best light. I have a feeling I will be tinkering with that for quite sometime. So there you have it, my first effort from my new kitchen…with many more things to come….. Brown Sugar Bundt Cake 2 � cups all-purpose flour � cup hazelnut flour(ground hazelnuts) 1 tsp baking powder � tsp baking soda � tsp salt 8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature 2 cups(packed) brown sugar 3 large eggs, room temperature 1 � tsp vanilla extract � tsp pure almond extract 1 cup buttermilk 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and diced( � inch) � cup moist, plump raisins(if too dry throw into hot water for 10 minutes…then drain from water and pat dry) Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9-10 inch Bundt pan(12 cup). Whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Using a paddle attachment(stand mixer), beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extract. Reduce the speed on the mixer and add the flour to mixture and buttermilk alternatively-add flour in 3 additions and buttermilk in 2(begin and end with dry ingredients). Mix only until the ingredients are incorporated and scrape down the bowl as needed. With a rubber spatula, stir in the apples and raisins. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with the spatula. Bake for 60-65 minutes. Transfer cake to rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool at room temperature on the rack. When you are ready to serve, dust the top of the cake with confectioners’ sugar. Source: Adapted From Baking From My Home To Your by Dorie Greenspan

If you are reading just this tiny blurb we did not get cable/internet hooked up. So I went ahead and did this short little write up. This time around, Mary of Alpineberry, challenged the Daring Bakers to make what is called a Bostini Cream Pie. Similar to the Boston Cream Pie except this one has an orange chiffon cake(which is quite tasty I might add), a custard base and chocolate sauce on top. I chose to make mine using disposable star molds(while I was going through the cleaning out mode). I was able to unmold mine because the molds were made of foil and I could just peel away. Most people made them in glass containers since it really wasn’t that moldable. I’m not the biggest fan of pastry cream so I would have preferred less of that and more of cake. But all in all it made for a good dessert.

Bostini Cream Pie
(from Donna Scala & Kurtis Baguley of Bistro Don Giovanni and Scala’s Bistro)
Makes 8 generous servings

INGREDIENTS:

Custard

3/4 cup whole milk
2 3/4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 whole egg, beaten
9 egg yolks, beaten
3 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 vanilla bean (EDITED: vanilla extract is okay)
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar

Chiffon Cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup beaten egg yolks (3 to 4 yolks)
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup egg whites (about 8 large)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Chocolate Glaze

8 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate
8 ounces unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

To prepare the custard:

Combine the milk and cornstarch in a bowl; blend until smooth. Whisk in the whole egg and yolks, beating until smooth. Combine the cream, vanilla bean and sugar in a saucepan and carefully bring to a boil. When the mixture just boils, whisk a ladleful into the egg mixture to temper it, then whisk this back into the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard and pour into 8 large custard cups. Refrigerate to chill.

To prepare the chiffon cakes:

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray 8 molds with nonstick cooking spray. You may use 7-ounce custard cups, ovenproof wide mugs or even large foil cups. Whatever you use should be the same size as the custard cups.

Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, zest and vanilla. Stir until smooth, but do not overbeat.

Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the beaten whites into the orange batter. Fill the sprayed molds nearly to the top with the batter.

Bake approximately 25 minutes, until the cakes bounce back when lightly pressed with your fingertip. Do not overbake. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, remove the cakes from the molds. Cover the cakes to keep them moist.

To prepare the glaze:

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place the butter in a saucepan and heat until it is just about to bubble. Remove from the heat; add the chocolate and stir to melt. Pour through a strainer and keep warm.

To assemble:

Cut a thin slice from the top of each cake to create a flat surface. Place a cake flat-side down on top of each custard. Cover the tops with warm chocolate glaze. Serve immediately.

To see what all the other Daring Bakers did with their Bostini Cream Pies head on over to the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

That’s right it is finally happening….the move is on. As you can see, our beloved puppy is more the ready to get her new home.

I will be internet-less for about a week so I hope to be back in time for the Daring Bakers Challenge. Don’t worry, I already did it and time stamped it just in case(gosh I am such a nerd).

I have no desire to move anything over from my refrigerator and I want to move as little as possible from the pantry. My poor husband has eaten his fair share of “unique” meals in the last few weeks, especially this last one. I get many a question along the lines of “does this normally have water chestnuts in it?” No enchiladas don’t normally have water chestnuts, but it gives it a nice crunch, don’t ya think? I’m kidding by the way.
I had a very stressful day yesterday…and so I needed to bake! Everything is pretty much packed up except one 8 by 8 pan and two cookie sheets. My mixers(yes, I have two) are still out though. I looked through my cupboard to see what I could use up. I had a ton of dried fruit but none of them were a full bag. I also had a little bread flour to use up. Okay, dried fruit bread it is. In this recipe I used 2 cups of bread flour and 2 cups of all-purpose…that is only because of what I had. Feel free to use either all bread or all-purpose if you would like. You can also use pretty much any type of dried fruit you would like(just make sure to soak them in liquid or else they will suck the moisture out of your bread). This is just a free form bread so you can play around with the shapes as you would like.
It’s hard to believe that this is the last thing I will have baked in my apartment kitchen. It has served me well and will probably go into shock when the new tenants move in….I know the oven will. Who knows, maybe the oven will appreciate it’s time off. Though I am sure it will miss all the baked goods it helped create.

P.S. Yes the pictures are taken on packing boxes, that is all I had to work with.

Dried Fruit Bread

1 package active dry yeast
¼  cup warm water, about 105 to 110 degrees
1/3 cup unsalted butter
¾  cup whole milk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
¼  cup golden raisins
¼ cup dark raisins
¼ cup chopped dried apricots
¼ cup dried currants
melted butter

In a large mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, dissolve the yeast in ¼  cup warm water. Melt the 1/3 cup butter in a small saucepan. Add the milk and heat until warm, about 110°. Combine milk mixture with yeast mixture, the sugar,  salt, eggs, and 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup bread flour.

Soak dried fruit pieces in either hot water or liquor for about 10 minutes. If you do not do this, the dried fruit will suck the moisture out of your bread, and you don’t want that!

Beat on low speed of mixer until blended and smooth. Cover and let rise for about 45 minutes in a warm place. Stir in the raisins, apricots and currants. Beat in remaining flour, about 1/3 to ½  cup at a time.

Place dough hook on mixer(or do by hand) until the dough is smooth and elastic. Divide in half and shape each half into a 12×8-inch oval loaf. Brush each loaf with melted butter. Place in a large greased baking sheet and let rise for 40 minutes. Breads should be almost doubled. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on rack.