Category Archives: Baking

Marshmallow Tart With Shaved Chocolate

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I’m 28 years old and my folks still sent me an Easter basket. It was an unexpected and welcome surprise. I suppose one’s never too old to feel giddy about receiving a brightly colored wicker basket overflowing with chocolates and colorful hard candies from Abdallah’s. When I was growing up, my parents would let me tag along to this candy store in Burnsville, MN. We always bought my mom nicely-wrapped boxes of dark chocolate turtles for special occasions like her birthday and Mother’s Day. They were her favorite. We found two solid milk chocolate bunnies this year.

Neither Jake or I eat a lot of candy so I wondered to transform some of my Easter basket into baking projects.

Marshmallow pie came to mind as I thought of my chocolate bunnies. During my first year and a half in Fargo, I worked with a wonderful woman named Becky who told me about a marshmallow pie she always made for her father on his birthday. It’s been months since we’ve spoken of marshmallow pie, but I was still intrigued by the concept.

I remembered the basic pie preparation instructions shared and did a little extra internet research so I could create my own pie crust. Graham cracker pie crust recipes seem to be essentially the same, but I preferred this recipe by Saguaro on Food.com because it contained the least amount of sugar. I also adapted the pie filling from the blog Just Everyday Me because it incorporates real, whipped cream.

This unusual pie is refreshing. The marshmallow filling is light and fluffy and contrasts with the crunchy, sweet and salty crust. I don’t enjoy heavy and chocolate-laden desserts, but a small piece of this pie with hot coffee makes me feel little closer to heaven, especially on this snowy April weekend.

Marshmallow Tart with Shaved Chocolate Easter Bunny

Graham Cracker Crust

Ingredients:
9 whole graham crackers, crushed or blended into crumbs (1 sleeve)
5 Tablespoons melted butter, salted or unsalted
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 pinch cinnamon
2 pinches of sea salt (about 1/4 teaspoon).

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350℉.
  2. Crush the graham crackers into crumbs. I used a blender, but you could use a food processor or place the crackers in a bag and crush them with a mallet or you hands.
  3. Place the crumbs into a bowl and combine with melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt.
  4. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and up the sides. I used a nonstick tart pan. If your pan is not nonstick, you may want to grease the pan and cover the bottom with parchment paper.
  5. Bake until golden brown. Cool.

Marshmallow Filling

Ingredients:
30 large marshmallows
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 1 cup of grated chocolate. I used one, solid milk chocolate bunny

Instructions:

  1. Heat the marshmallows and milk together in a double boiler and stir until melted and smooth. If you don’t have a double boiler, create one by placing a larger bowl over a smaller saucepan of of simmering water. A double boiler will heat the mixture gently and prevent scorching.
  2. Allow the mixture to cool so that it doesn’t melt the whipped cream and chocolate shavings. To expedite the cooling process, plate the mixture in the freezer and stir occasionally.
  3. Add the vanilla extract to the heavy cream. Whip until it forms stiff peaks. Don’t over-whip or it will separate into butter.
  4. Once the marshmallow mixture is cooled, gently fold in the whipped cream and half of the grated chocolate. Pour into the tart shell. Sprinkle the top with the remaining shaved chocolate and place in the refrigerator to set.

As Promised: A Recipe For Pistachio-Crusted Citrus Cheesecake

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In culinary school last semester, I spent a couple months in baking lab and bragged about making this fantastic pistachio-crusted citrus cheesecake.

I even promised to share the recipe, soon. Apparently, “soon” means five months later.It’s worth the wait.

Typically, I don’t order cheesecake because I find it overly rich and cloyingly sweet. In my worst nightmares, I’m being forced to eat a brick of cheesecake in a flavor like mocha-nut-fudge-bomb, or something that might be served at The Cheesecake Factory.

This cheesecake is much lighter and gently flavored with citrus zest, while a thin nut crust replaces the heavy cookie crusts. For those like myself who struggle eating super sweet desserts, I’d recommend serving this cheesecake with a tart berry sauce.

When we made this cheesecake in class, the student in charge of purchasing bought small bags of shell-on pistachios. I spent a long time shelling the nuts until we reached one pound, so buy shelled pistachios if you can. If the nuts are salted, they’ll add further contrast to the sweet cream cheese filling.

Late is better than never, so here’s the recipe, as promised.

Pistachio-Crusted Citrus Cheesecake
Adapted from the recipe for Pistachio Citrus Cheesecake, recipe 35.22, published in On Cooking: A Textbook Of Culinary Fundamentals, 4th Edition.

The original recipe makes 4, ten-inch cakes. I halved the recipe for home use. Use any type of citrus zest and feel free to combine different types of citrus zests. Grate it finely or further chop with a knife because large pieces of zest, though pretty, will remain chewy. The original recipe also instructs one NOT to use springform pans. I suppose springforms might ruin the delicate nut crust.

Ingredients:
Butter, melted (salted or unsalted). Enough to coat the insides of the pans.
1/2 lb pistachios, roughly ground. We used a food processor.
3 lb. 5 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 3/4 oz. flour, sifted
1 lb. sugar
9 eggs
5 oz. heavy cream
4 Tb. citrus zest, finely grated.

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325℉.
  2. Generously smear the insides of the cake pans with melted butter. This will help the nuts stick to the pan and form a crust.
  3. Evenly cover the buttered cake pan with nuts, including the bottom and sides.
  4. Beat the softened cream cheese until light and smooth. Then, mix in the sifted flour and sugar.
  5. Beat in the eggs, two at a time.
  6. Stir in the cream and citrus zests.
  7. Pour mixture into prepared cake pans.
  8. Place cake pans in a larger pan. Create a water bath by filling the larger pan with about an inch of water.
  9. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the cheesecake is set. Add more water to the water bath if it evaporates.
  10. Cool, cut, and serve the cake. We cut slices from the pan and served, but you could invert the cheesecake onto a platter and serve crust-side up.

Farm To Fork, A CSA Series: Warming Recipes For Fall

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I love that it’s fall.

Stop by Simple, Good, And Tasty for the newest installment of my Farm To Fork, A CSA Series.

You’ll find recipes for German sausage chowder (inspired by Sanford Health’s cafeteria), vegetarian stuffed peppers, citrus beet salad, and apple, walnut, and cheddar quick bread.

I’ll meet you there.

Warming Apple Dessert For Fall: Baked Apple Cream

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Last week, one of the culinary instructors shared bucketfuls of apples from his backyard.  I took as many as I could carry, and daydreamed about creating fall apple desserts while I was supposed to be paying attention in class.

One of the cookbooks I salvaged from my late mother’s collection revolves, solely, around apples.  I’ve been waiting to explore this spiral-bound church cookbook since I brought it home this past summer.  Although the book contains recipes of popular, apple-centric recipes like pies and cakes, it also contains the less familiar such as apple custards, puddings, candies, and the following, apple cream.

We’ve been enjoying this baked apple cream dessert.  The bottom layer tastes like a warmly spiced, caramel apple-pie filling.

The top layer becomes fluffy like cake and tastes a little bit like custard.  I suppose you could serve it with ice cream or whipped cream, but we were satisfied scraping it directly from pan to bowl.

Baked Apple Cream
Adapted from Kathy Johnson’s recipe in the Apple Cook Book published by Keene United Methodist Church, Keene, OH, 1979

Ingredients:
6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 good pinch of salt
1 pinch of ground cloves
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup of granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the apple slices with the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cloves.  Place into the bottom of a greased pan.  The original recipe calls for a 9X9X2 pan.  I used a small, rectangular glass dish.

Cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in one egg until the mixture has lightness.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the wet mixture.  Add the salt.  Fold gently until just combined.

Spread the batter as evenly as possible over the apple mixture.  Bake for about 1/2 hour or until the top begins to turn golden brown.

Mix the cream with vanilla extract.  Pour evenly over the top of the baked apple dish.

Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Farm To Fork, A CSA Series Part VI: Vegetable Fatigue

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Visit Simple, Good, and Tasty for the newest installation of Farm To Fork, A CSA Series where I address vegetable fatigue. Find out how I put zucchini and corn to work in chocolate zucchini bundt cake and Korean Pa Jun filled with bulgogi and sweet corn.

 I’ll meet you there.

Baked Cream Cheese Wontons With Garlic Scapes & Green Onion

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Earlier this week, I wrote about recreating the mandu eggrolls I remembered from childhood Korean Culture Camp lunches at Simple, Good, and Tasty.

I’m still in a dumpling state of mind. 

In addition to frying mandu, I baked cream cheese wontons flavored with garlic scapes and green onions from our CSA box.  Unfortunately, garlic scapes only appeared in our CSA boxes two weeks, but from what I’m reading from other bloggers, they are still available at farmers markets.

If garlic scape season has passed in your neighborhood, substitute minced or grated garlic (or garlic, powder if you must).

Lisa Lillien may be at the end of many of my jokes, I’m occasionally inspired by some of her ideas.  In true Hungry Girl style, I baked the cream cheese wontons, although I used the full-fat cream cheese.  I find the lower-fat versions unappealingly grainy.  When baked, the wonton wrappers are acceptably crispy, albeit a tad floury on the outside.  Overall, an acceptable substitute for deep frying.

If you want an option that falls between deep-frying and baking, try pan fry-steaming.  Heat a little oil in a pan and fry one side of the wontons.  Flip the wontons and cook until the other side begins to turn golden brown.  Add a small splash of water, quickly cover, and briefly steam.  The wontons should be crispy on the outside.  Drain on paper towels. 

Baked Cream Cheese Wontons Flavored With Garlic Scapes & Green Onion

Ingredients
Cream cheese, softened
Garlic scapes, thinly sliced  (or minced/grated garlic)
Green onion, thinly sliced
Sugar
Pinch of salt
Wonton wrappers
Egg, beaten into egg wash
Cooking spray or your choice or oil, misted

Directions
Preheat oven to about 375 degrees F.

Mix the cream cheese with garlic scapes, green onion, sugar, and a pinch of salt, all to taste.  I like my filling to lean towards sweet. 

For each wonton, place a small spoonful of cream cheese filling into the wrapper.  Smear two edges of the wrapper with egg wash and firmly press to seal.  For extra security, press the sealed edges with the tines of a fork. 

Before baking, cover the wontons with a damp cloth.

Place onto an oiled sheet pan and mist the tops with oil.  Bake until golden brown.

Radish Pizza

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I never imagined become fond of radishes.

This past week, we found a sizable bunch of radishes in our first Bluebird Gardens CSA box.  I curiously nibbled a raw radish and wrinkled my nose when its sharp, spicy flavor reached my sinuses.  After several attempts, I found that I enjoyed the radishes sliced into translucent half moons and tossed into salad.  Then, I began to wonder what they would taste like on pizza.

On Sunday evenings, I’ve been baking flatbread pizzas in our oven.  This week, we experimented with our CSA radishes; a vegetable neither of us has ever seen cooked, let alone added to pizza.

I shaved the radishes with a mandolin and placed them on top of flatbread layered with garlic and olive oil, fresh mozzarella, green onions, and thinly sliced pea pods.   Then, I spread citrusy pea green salad on top of the radish pizza.  The baking process rendered the shaved radish tender and much sweeter than its raw counterpart.

I found my favorite flatbread recipe as part of Saveur’s recipe for Lahmacun.  I’ve made the dough at least ten times and substitute honey for sugar and use extra water.  The dough has to rise once, but is fairly simple to prepare, even on a weeknight.  The texture and flavor remind me of Broders’ Cucina Italiana’s Fulton Flatbread.

Our First CSA Box Radish Flatbread Topped with Pea Green Salad

Dough
2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
1 packet of quick rise yeast
2 squirts of honey
1 ½ teaspoons of salt

Garlic Oil
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt
Pepper
Red pepper

Pizza Toppings
Mozzarella cheese, sliced or grated
Radish, thinly shaved
Green onion, thinly sliced from the roots, up
Pea Greens
Lemon Juice
Salt
Pepper

To Make The Flatbread
In a small bowl, mix the yeast with 1 cup of warm water and a couple squirts of honey.  Let the mixture sit for about 10 minutes, or until it becomes frothy

In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt and form a hole in the middle.  Pour in the bloomed yeast mixture and stir until dough forms.

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead the dough until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes).  Add more flour or water if the dry is too wet or dry.

Form the dough into a ball.  Put a little olive oil in a bowl.  Put the dough in the bowl and rotate until the ball is coated in oil.  Cover and let rise in a warm location until doubled (about 1 hour).

When you are ready to make the pizza, cut the risen dough into two pieces.  Roll each ball onto a floured surface until thin (about  1/8 inch thick).  Place on a sheet pan covered with foil or parchment and add toppings.

To Prepare The Pizzas
Preheat oven to 450-475 degrees F.

Mix the grated or minced garlic with several tablespoons of olive oil.  Flavor with salt, pepper, and hot pepper flakes and combine.

Spread the flavored olive oil on the rolled-out pizza dough.

Top with mozzarella cheese, sliced green onions, shaved radish, and pea pods.  Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and lightly drizzle with a touch of olive oil.

Bake until the cheese is bubbly and flatbread is golden brown.

Cool slightly.

Top the pizzas with a simple salad made from of fresh pea greens tossed with a little olive oil, lots of lemon or lime juice, salt, and pepper.

Lahmacun: Like A Turkish Pizza

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Originally published in the High Plains Reader, April 19, 2012, in the Cuisine section.  Republished with additional photos.  

If you are a No Reservations fan, you may have noticed Anthony Bourdain noshing on Lahmacun in Instanbul.

Lahmucan is like a pizza.  A flat bread topped with a fragrant, spiced meat mixture and baked, and served with a garnish of pickles, parsley, and/or fresh lemon wedges.

After perusing the Internet, I found a lovely recipe for Lahmucan (Flat Bread with Lamb and Tomatoes) from Saveur, which I adapted slightly.  Most of the recipes are similar and simple for the home cook.  I chose to make my own pizza dough, but if you are in a pinch or have a gluten-sensitivity, use a store bought or gluten-free variety.

The dough is crispy and delicate and the meat mixture is warmly fragrant and as spicy as you desire.  For fun, I added pinches of goat cheese to a couple flat breads.

Because I was unable to readily find freshly ground lamb, so I substituted ground beef instead.  I had leftover meat mixture that I plan to either freeze or saute and incorporate into a different meal.

Ingredients:

Dough
1 teaspoon of sugar or honey
1 package of quick rise yeast (1/4 oz)
2 cups of flour
1 ½ teaspoon of salt

Meat Topping
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons of tomato paste
2 Tablespoons of minced parsley
½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper, or to taste
¼ teaspoon of cumin
¼ teaspoon of paprika
1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
½ pound of ground beef (or lamb)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small tomato, grated
1 small onion, minced (I used red)
Fresh chili, minced (I used 1 Thai chili).

Directions

Making the dough
In a small bowl, bloom the yeast by melding it with the sugar and ¾ cup of warm water.  Let sit for about 10 minute or until frothy.

In a larger bowl, mix the flour and salt.  Make a crater in the center.

Pour in the wet yeast mixture and incorporate the flour, from the inside out, until dough forms.  Add more water if the dough is too dry.

Pour onto a floured surface and knead until smooth-about 10 minutes.  Place the dough in a bowl smeared with olive oil, making sure the exposed surface of the dough is also lightly oiled.

Cover and let rise in a warm location until doubled in size.  If you want to make the dough a day ahead, punch down, cover and place in the refrigerator.  Bring to room temperature before using.

Divide the dough into four portions and roll into balls.  Let the dough balls rise in a warm location for another 45 minutes.

Heat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.  Allow a pan or pizza stone to heat in the oven.

Making the topping
In a bowl, combine the oil, tomato paste, parsley, cumin, paprika, and cinnamon.

Add the ground meat, garlic, grated onion and tomato, chili and season with salt and combine.

Making the Lahmacun
On a floured surface, roll out each dough ball until they are about 1/8 inch thin and place on a sheet of parchment paper.

Spread each round with a thin layer of the meat mixture and place the parchment paper directly onto the preheated pan in the oven.

Bake for 6-8 minutes or until the meat is cooked.

Top with your choice of parsley, freshly squeezed lemon juice, parsley, olives or a sprinkle of sea salt.

The Saddest Santa Bear Cookies: Cookie Fail, Frosting Win

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The other weekend, I brought home this amazing Santa Bear Sandwich Cookie Pan, circa 1986.

So many of us who grew up in the Twin Cities have fond memories visiting Dayton’s 8th floor Holiday displays in Downtown Minneapolis.

Jake and I both remember cuddling with lots and lots of Santa Bears in our childhood rooms.  My mom did not collect as many Santa Bears as Jake’s, but accumulated this heavy, cast iron Santa Bear sandwich cookie pan around Christmas of 1986.  I have no idea where my mom stored this cookie pan as I have never seen it before.

I stayed in my apartment with a cold on Saturday and spent the morning seasoning my unused, cast-iron pan by heating it and brushing it with oil, letting it cool, and repeating.

I made homemade frosting and followed the cookie recipe on the box, making a double batch.

The recipe seemed strange and included a large proportion of flour, corn syrup, orange juice, and both vanilla and almond extracts.

The directions instructed me to press the dough into the mold.  Therefore, I assumed my dough was made correctly even though it seemed dry.  I tend to be flighty but made sure I doubled all of my ingredients.

The flour would not fully incorporate into the dough so I kept adding orange juice until it held together.  Then, I pressed the dough into the molds.

I baked each pan for 17 minutes and removed the cookies to cool.

Santa Bear butts, all in a row

Uh oh.

The Santa Bear halves were extremely large and heavy as rocks.  With a double batch of dough remaining, I persevered through my doubts that anyone would want to eat two of these giant rock cookies sandwiching anything.

After making enough Santa Bear front and backsides to make nine, enormous sandwich cookies, I gave up.

With lingering shreds of hope, I optimistically filled the sandwich cookies with a homemade buttercream icing.

Then, I took a bite.

Yuck.

The cookies tasted as dense and they felt and were blandly floury.  How one would ever want to eat a whole cookie is beyond me.  I passed my maimed sandwich cookie to Jake.

After one bite, he handed it back.  We decided that the cookies could not be redeemed.  They all had to go, as well as the leftover dough.

I accidentally dropped a cookie on the floor and was mildly amused when it did not break, let alone dent.  Or chip.

Lonely, unwanted Santa Bear sandwich cookie on a plate

Dear Daytons Company, circa 1986. . . did you actually test these horrible cookie bricks?  Not only do they taste unappealing, but are a hazard in the kitchen.

And in life.

Just one half of these sandwich cookies could severely injure a small individual or maim a large beast, if tossed in their general direction.

I will not re-post the recipe because it’s truly craptastic and I would hate for any of my readers to accidentally make these cookies, Santa Bear mold or not.

What I will post is the yummy frosting recipe I found on this thread on Chowhound.  It may not be authentic butter cream, but it’s good enough for frosting haters like myself and easy to make.  The original recipe came from  a poster named Axalady’s grandmother.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting: The only redeemeing element of my Santa Bear cookies

Ingredients
4 Tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup of butter (two sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Directions
Place the flour and milk in a saucepan and slowly heat over medium low-medium heat.

Whisk constantly until the liquid thickens into a paste.

Set the paste aside to cool.

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar.  Stir in the vanilla extract and slowly beat in the cooled milk-flour paste, little by little.

As you beat the mixture, the sugar will continue to dissolve.  I used granulated sugar and my finished frosting was smooth except for a few, stray sugar granules.

Enjoy your Santa Bear-less frosting.

On Bird Mites and Brownies

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We do not have bird mites.  

I have never seen or heard of bird mites, until recently.

That being said, borderline hypochondriacs, like myself, should probably not be allowed to watch Infestation on Animal Planet.

The past couple days have been punctuated with many comments about bird mites.  Our apartment is often warm, so Jake opened the door to circulate some cool air.

Don’t leave the door open. There might be bird mites.

It’s January.  In Fargo.

But what about bird mites?

I woke up with a tiny, red dot on my shoulder that I quickly forgot about and it disappeared within an hour.  Bird mites?

Jake was looking into new bedding and asked for my opinion to which I replied,

What type of fabric is most resistant to bird mites?

And the finale to, roughly, 5/10 of our conversations:

We don’t have bird mites!  There are no bird mites here.  If bird mites were so common, why is this the first time we have ever heard of bird mites?

Yes.  But what about bird mites? 

Or the alternate ending:

Bird mites, Jake. . . bird mites.

What better to soothe Infestation-induced anxiety, than brownies?  Jake asked if we could make brownies.  Translated, this actually means Jeni makes brownies if she feels so especially benevolent.

We both prefer our brownies chewy, dense, and fudgey.  Keep your cakey brownies to yourself.

The Chowhound thread The perfect chewy brownie directed me to Nick Malgieri’s Supernatural Brownies recipe published on The Splendid Table’s recipe page,  The New York Times, and Saveur.  The original recipe can be found in the book Chocolate: From simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers by Nick Malgieri (Harper Collins, 1998)

Yes, they will consume four of your eggs, a whole block of baking chocolate, and two sticks of butter.  Lest you call me Paula Dean, they freeze beautifully and make a decadent treat to share with others.  A small bite goes a long way.

Check out the above recipes or try my less-putzy adaptation.

Ingredients
2 sticks of softened butter, cut into tablespoon sized chunks
8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped (one box of baking chocolate)
4 eggs
1 cup of good ol’ granulated sugar
1 cup of packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Smear a 9 X 13 baking pan with butter.  For easier removal, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and also butter the surface of the parchment paper.

One recipe suggested lining the entire inside surface and sides of the pan with parchment paper or foil, but I found this step unnecessary.  

Create a make-shift double boiler by placing a large, heat-safe bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, or prep a double boiler.

When the water boils, turn off the heat.  Add the chocolate and butter to the bowl and stir occasionally, until melted.  Set aside to cool a bit.

In another large bowl, whisk the eggs.  Incorporate the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract and salt.

Then, stir in the slightly cooled chocolate-butter mixture.

Gently fold the flour (sifted if you’d like) into the chocolaty wet mixture.

Scrape into the prepared baking pan and spread as evenly as possible.

Bake for about 45-minutes.  The surface of the brownies should be shiny and the texture should be firm enough to cut.

If you are patient, allow the brownies to cool before cutting.  For those of us who live on the frozen tundra, a balcony or front step makes a convenient cooling location.

To store, I cut my brownies and wrapped them individually in plastic wrap, placing most in the freezer and leaving a few at room temperature.  The brownies are so rich and fudge-like, they are edible directly from the freezer or thaw quickly when removed.

Supernatural, indeed.

Bird mites.