Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Had a little bit of a scare there yesterday. I went to publish my story and it wouldn’t save or publish. AHHHHHH! Lucky for me, I am married to a computer programmer so I stuck him on it while I went out for girls night. When I came back it was all fixed, sort of. We had to upgrade to the latest version of Wordpress…and now it is like I am learning all over again. Boo.
Anyway, it is that time again. Time for the Daring Bakers challenge. You might have thought it was Tuesday since this is indeed a Dorie recipe and is indeed from Baking From My Home to Yours but it is Sunday. This recipe was chosen by Morven of Food, Art and Random Thoughts. And before I forget a special thanks to Morven for sending me the coolest care package from New Zealand. First she sent me a fabulous magazine called Dish. Which I was confused by since it came with no note and a return address from a place of business. That was followed up by Apple Syrup(I am thinking about what to make with it), Quince Paste(which I will eat with cheese!) and two Cadbury Chocolate bars(one is already gone!). See awhile back I won a contest that was about food and art(two things I know about) and I guessed the most correct. So I got the cool package. You may be jealous now.
Okay, back to the cake. I only like going to weddings for one thing. Cake. And my favorite is always white cake with white buttercream frosting. So when I saw that this was basically what we were making with the Perfect Party Cake I was beyond excited. The original recipe calls for just buttercream and jam between the layers but as I was trolling the web I saw that Helen had made a lovely lime mascarpone mousse and I decided to do something with that. Except that mine is made with honey tangerines. Yes, I have been on a tangerine kick. No, don’t worry I don’t have scurvy…or should I be getting it anytime soon. If you have never seen a honey tangerine they do look a little different than a regular tangerine. They are larger and are honey in color and have usually blackish spots on them. But they have the wonderful taste of tangerines but a tad bit sweeter. And you know me, the sweeter the better.
I would make this cake again in a heartbeat. It uses my favorite type of buttercream, Swiss. Which reminds me…Rene, this is the type of buttercream you need to learn how to make! It is very versatile as you will see if you go around to the hundreds of Daring Bakers websites. I have seen combos I would have never thought of.

Perfect Party Cake

Words from Dorie
Stick a bright-coloured Post-it to this page, so you’ll always know where to turn for a just-right cake for any celebration. The original recipe was given to me by my great dear friend Nick Malgieri, of baking fame, and since getting it, I’ve found endless opportunities to make it – you will too. The cake is snow white, with an elegant tight crumb and an easygoing nature: it always bakes up perfectly; it is delicate on the tongue but sturdy in the kitchen – no fussing when it comes to slicing the layers in half or cutting tall, beautiful wedges for serving; and, it tastes just as you’d want a party cake to taste – special. The base recipe is for a cake flavoured with lemon, layered with a little raspberry jam and filled and frosted with a classic (and so simple) pure white lemony hot-meringue buttercream but, because the elements are so fundamental, they lend themselves to variation (see Playing Around), making the cake not just perfect, but also versatile.

For the Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour (updated 25 March)
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Playing Around
Since lemon is such a friendly flavour, feel free to make changes in the preserves: other red preserves – cherry or strawberry – look especially nice, but you can even use plum or blueberry jam.

Fresh Berry Cake
If you will be serving the cake the day it is made, cover each layer of buttercream with fresh berries – use whole raspberries, sliced or halved strawberries or whole blackberries, and match the preserves to the fruit. You can replace the coconut on top of the cake with a crown of berries, or use both coconut and berries. You can also replace the buttercream between the layers with fairly firmly whipped sweetened cream and then either frost the cake with buttercream (the contrast between the lighter whipped cream and the firmer buttercream is nice) or finish it with more whipped cream. If you use whipped cream, you’ll have to store the cake the in the refrigerator – let it sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.
Adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Honey Tangerine Mascarpone Mousse:
2 eggs, separated
4 TB sugar
4 oz mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
5 ounces heavy cream
2 tsp. powdered gelatin + 2 TBS water
zest and juice of one honey tangerine

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water, stir and let sit to bloom. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the mascarpone with the sugar, add egg yolks and whisk until well incorporated. Heat the gelatin for about 10 seconds in the microwave and quickly whisk it in the mascarpone batter. Add the tangerine juice and zest. Whip the egg whites until stiff, fold into the mascarpone mixture. Whip the heavy cream to medium stiff peaks, and fold into the mascarpone.

Adapted from Tartelette

The day start off well. The Swiss Family Peabody was out for a family adventure to raft down the Colorado river. As you can see from the picture it was a lovely day with no weather concerns whatsoever. Now don’t think we just got in a raft and went for it. There were guides with actual people who knew what they were doing. Or so I am told…in case you hadn’t noticed I was about 4 years old there. Also please note my mother’s t-shirt(I would hate to miss an opportunity to embarrass her)…it says Foxy Lady. LOL…even back then they were making those ridiculous shirts.
All was well with our trip, I guess, see I only really remember one part of that, and I will get to that in a bit.
Arizona rain and Washington rain are very different. Arizona rain is hard, fast and sometimes only lasts a few minutes. The soil there is not made to hold that amount of water that quickly and they get flash floods. Usually in the Summer, when they get Monsoons. Washington rain is like being under a mister system. It is really more of a drizzle, but goes on all day. I have learned I like Washington rain better.
On the afternoon of our trip, the Monsoon clouds rolled in just as we were passing through a steep canyon. There was no where to dock the raft as the only thing around us where shear cliffs. Not ideal place to be as we would soon learn. The sky opened up and the rain cometh…hard. The flooding began and the little raft was being thrown around. I really only remember two things. One, I was wearing a black garbage bag which did a craptastic job of keeping the water off me as the water seemed to be coming from everywhere. And two, holding on to a granola bar….tightly. I remember thinking that if I could just hold onto that granola bar everything would be alright. I almost lost it a few times, and when the storm was over all that was left of my Honey and Oat’s granola bars was a wet nub. But it was my web nub and I was safe. In my little mind, I had helped keep us safe by holding on to that granola bar. I guess the rest of that situation was too scary for me and I blocked it out as my family has a much more frightening recollection of the days events. I, I just had a granola bar.
When we got to the end where the trailers were, we all dried off and hot chocolate was pumped into our system. I even got me a new, dry granola bar to eat.
When going through Sweet Melissa’s book I saw a recipe from Granola Breakfast Cookies and immediately thought of the trip and my granola bar. I did make a lot of changes to the recipe. The original recipe has you use granola you made as well as molasses. I loaded mine up with sugar and used Vanilla-Almond Granola from my yuppie grocery store. Same concept and an excellent way to start the day.

Vanilla-Almond Granola Cookies

6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
½ cup blackberry honey
½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups Vanilla-Almond Granola

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, honey, and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and whisk until incorporated.’
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda.
Add the flour mixture to the honey mixture all at once and stir until  combined. Stir in the granola.
Drop the batter 2 inches apart by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets(12  on each sheet). Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Do not over bake. The cookies should be nice and chewy when cool. Remove to a rack to cool on the sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to the rack.

I have also included the original recipe since I strayed quite a bit. I am not giving you the granola recipe…you should go buy the book and get it for yourself. You could use any type of granola you wanted though so don’t feel you have to have homemade.

Granola Breakfast Cookies

6 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
½ cup clover honey
¼ cup molasses
1 large egg
1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
¼ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups Cherry Almond Granola

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, honey, and molasses until smooth. Add the egg and whisk until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.
Add the flour mixture to the honey mixture all at once and stir until  combined. Stir in the granola.
Drop the batter 2 inches apart by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets(12  on each sheet). Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Do not over bake. The cookies should be nice and chewy when cool. Remove to a rack to cool on the sheets for 10 minutes before transferring to the rack.
These cookies will keep layered between wax paper in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 days, or frozen for up to 3 weeks.

Adapted from Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy, Penguin Group 2008

I am a bad Mexican food eater. It’s not solely my fault, as I am allergic to raw tomatoes, raw onion and all chili peppers. And since most Mexican food is made with those three ingredients my choices are more than limited. So growing up(and even really as an adult) if I got stuck going to Mexican food I ate a cheese crisp and either fried ice cream or flan. My gringo-ness stuck out even more as when they would bring chips to the table, I would ask for ketchup. Yep, you read that right….ketchup. Since I can not have salsa(a combo of all that I am allergic to) I eat my tortilla chips with ketchup. Now before you throw up just a little in your mouth, think about this: salsa…a tomato based condiment. Ketchup…a tomato based condiment. Same difference…give or take. And yes, I eat potato chips with ketchup also…I mean fried potatoes are fried potatoes…whether it be chips or fries.
I digress.
Back to the other things I will eat. Flan. Over the years I have eaten many a flan. Kissing cousin to the crème caramel, flan is an eggy custard that is bake with caramel sauce in the ramekin. Flip it over and you have a beautiful dessert.
I have had some bad flan in my life. I have had the kind that has far too many eggs and it tastes like you are eating a sweetened omelet. Or worse is the no-bake kind. Oh don’t get my started on that. So I am always nervous when trying out a new flan recipe. You just never know if it is going to be too eggy. But when Steph of Whisk and a Spoon chose Caramel Topped Flan, I knew Dorie would not let me down and she did not. Nice and creamy with only a hint of the egg coming through. I did make mine with a splash of orange instead of lemon and I added orange zest to my caramel. I just think the citrus adds something to the flan.
To see what other people did with the flan head on over to the Tuesdays with Dorie website.

Caramel Topped Flan

For the Caramel
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp water
squirt of fresh orange juice

For the Flan
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1-1/4 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels.  Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.

Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel: Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.

Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside. Sprinkle with orange zest if desired.

To Make the Flan: Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar.  Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla.  Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won’t curdle.  Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk.  Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.

Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan.  Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven.  Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan.  (Don’t worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.)  Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there.  A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it.  Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan.  Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.

Yield: 6 to 8 Servings

Source: Adapted from(where else) Baking: Form My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan, Houghton Mifflin 2006

I have mentioned here before that my grandmother had lived with us during my teen and college years. When my parents could no longer keep care of her they put her into a facility near by that could keep care of her. My mother went everyday, usually about 4-5 hours a day. I truly don’t know how she did it. I only went twice a week. Wednesdays to help my mom with Bingo, she did it in English and I did it in Spanish. And then Sunday, we would all goes as a family. Two days a week for me was more than enough. It wasn’t so much the smell of stale urine that would get to you as the same conversation over and over again. The last few years of my grandmothers life we talked about green Jello every time I went.
See my grandmother was obsessed with the fact that she felt they were serving her lime Jello more than any of the other flavors of Jello. Her theory was that it was cheaper than all the other kinds of Jello. She had my mother go and complain to management time and time again(my didn’t really after so many times). If you would go eat with her and they served lime Jello, watch out, because you, and everyone else was going to hear about it. Now you know it has to be a pretty good facility when the only thing my grandmother could find to complain about was that she felt that they were getting lime Jello at a discount and pawning it off on the elderly. Taking that leftover saved Jello money(because you know how expensive Jello was) and buying all sorts of cars and vacations with them. I really hope my body goes to the great beyond before my mind does. As we never did convince her that she was getting the same amount of lime Jello as she was the other flavors of Jello.
The first time I had Lime Green Jello Salad my mother was experimenting at Easter. I say experiment because we liked our classics. My mother listed the ingredients and I raised and eyebrow. But I ate a square of that salad and I was hooked. After everyone left the table, my friend M(my mom always invited the strays over for holidays) and I sat finishing the Jello salad right from the pan. In fact we fought over it so much that my mom made us it again the next night(M ate over a lot in those days). And with that Green Jello Salad became a staple that was at the table every Easter. It is one of the few things I will only make once a year. Partly because I am ashamed to love such a concoction of such horrid ingredients and partly because I still eat the whole dish. I mean I made a pan of this last night as well as a couple in a parfait glass for Easter dinner. Literally half the pan is already gone and in my tummy. It’s so light and tasty, it is almost like eating air…kind of like me and rice krispy treats(which I also hardly make).
Hope everyone who was celebrating Easter has/had a good one!

Green Jello Salad

1 (6 ounce) package lime Jello
1 cup boiling water
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 (15 ounce) can mandrian oranges, drained
1 (8 ounce) can crush pineapple, drained
1 cup Sprite(or other lemon-lime soda)
½ cup chopped pecans
1 (8 ounce) carton of Cool Whip, thawed, divided

Dissolve Jello in water. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and vanilla until fluffy. Stir in Jello and beat until smooth. Add pineapple, oranges, soda and pecans. Mix until incorporated. Chill the mixture in refrigerator for about 30-40 minutes, so that when you lift it with a spoon it is clumpy. Fold in ¾ of the Cool Whip.
Pour into a 9-x-13-inch pan or parfait glasses. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or until firm. Garnish with remaining Cool Whip. If serving in pan, will make about 16 squares.