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Very Berry Buttermilk Cake

Jun 14th, 2010 by croasyjr

Very Berry Buttermilk Cake

Let me explain.

On Saturday, I took the GRE. I studied really hard (hence the blogging mini-break). And, I’m happy to say that I did pretty well. Well enough to have the GRE disappear — forever — from my life. Never again will I have to compare quantities that may or may not possibly be compared (what kind of question format is that, anyway??). Never again will I devote myself to memorizing long lists of seldom-used words while commuting on over-crowded and under-heated public transportation (CTA, I’m talking to you right now. Can you make the bus a little bit more like a library and less like… a bus? Some of us are studying, here…). All the stress and frustration… it’s over.

The moment it was over, my first thought was — “I’m going to go back to blogging!” Honestly! Because I missed it. Blogging got squeezed out of my life for a while because I had other priorities — I’m assuming that this will happen from time-to-time, and I am OK with that. But I genuinely missed blogging! I missed the challenge of writing new recipes. I missed writing the posts themselves. I missed connecting with readers and friends who read Bridezilla Bakes, and those who go so far as to make my recipes (these two posts from a new bloggie friend are especially fun!!).

But most of all, I just REALLY missed the attention.

Just kidding!! (Kind of… no really, just kidding :-) ). All this is to say, I’m back. It’s going to be sporadic for the next couple of weeks, but I do count myself extremely blessed to have this creative outlet and forum to connect with others… and I’m not going to take it for granted!

Very Berry Buttermilk Cake

Today’s recipe is a very summery, buttermilk-based and berry-laden cake, adapted from this lovely cake on the popular natural-cooking blog, 101 Cookbooks. If you haven’t yet visited this blog, now is a great time to head on over there, because Heidi’s cooking is all about seasonal, natural, healthful ingredients and there just isn’t a better time of year to take advantage of all the beautiful, in-season produce than right now!

I loved this cake because it was simple to bake, delicious to eat, and rustically beautiful. Even though I used a combination of whole wheat flour and whole wheat white flour (email me if you’re curious about those…) it was still cake-like, not bready or heavy. It’s sweet (but not over-sweet) and moist without involving much butter, thanks to the magic of low-fat buttermilk. If you look at Heidi’s version, you’ll see that she topped the whole thing with large-grain sugar and salt. I’m just not that fancy, and I was making this on an illicit study break, so I skipped that minor elaboration. But I did top mine with some table sugar, and it formed a lovely, sweet topping that was just crusty enough without being crunchy and weird (if you know what I mean).

And… ok… you’ll notice that there is something about the top of my cake that maybe goes beyond rustic and kind of looks… mistaken. Yes, after extolling the virtues of in-season ingredients, I caved and used frozen berries for this cake. This explains the odd purple rivers of berry juice running down the top and sides of my cake (this happens as the berries defrost in the oven while the cake bakes). Luckily, I usually keep an old cookie sheet on the bottom rack of my oven to catch the spillage from such baking mishaps, so no berry juice ended up on the bottom of my oven. Since I was baking while I was supposed to be desperately studying, I counted this minor setback as a net win for Bridezilla and her baking.

By the way, if you’re interested, by my calculations (which should probably be taken with some skepticism, even though I did do OK on that whole GRE math section), one piece of this cake (if you cut 12 pieces), has 213  calories, just under 5 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber, and 5 grams of protein. Just FYI.

Very Berry Buttermilk Cake

Very Berry Buttermilk Cake

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

  • 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • ¼ cup butter, melted and cooled a bit
  • 2 teaspoons orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup of berries (more if you like)
  • 3 tablespoons large grain raw sugar (I used regular table sugar)

Preheat oven to 400F degrees, racks in the middle. Grease and flour (or line bottom with parchment paper) one 11-inch tart/quiche pan.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, and sugar and salt in a large bowl. In a separate smaller bowl whisk together the eggs and the buttermilk, whisk in the melted butter, and then the orange juice and the vanilla. Pour the buttermilk mixture over the flour mixture and fold until just combined – it’s important not to over mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, pushing out toward the edges. Drop the berries across top. Sprinkle with the sugar. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cake is set (or a toothpick in the center comes out clean), and a touch golden on top.

Serves about 12.

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Posted in Baked Goods | 3 Comments »

Mocha Cream Pie

May 17th, 2010 by croasyjr

Mocha Cream Pie

Hello everyone! I feel terrible that it’s been an entire week since I’ve posted, but I have a really good story to explain that. Ready?

It begins like this: I forgot.

And it ends like this: The End.

Great! I’m such an entertaining writer. Patting myself on the back as we speak :-D

Ok yes… that was lame. You know what’s not lame? This:

Mocha Cream Pie

Yeah, that totally makes up for the lame-lack-of-posting-made-worse-by-the-lame-jokes… right? Meet my Mocha Cream Pie, a recipe that I developed as an experiment that turned out amazingly — and surprisingly — delightful. I say surprisingly not only because it was an experiment that turned out a wonderfully well-balanced, decadent pie on the first attempt, but also because I learned a little something about cream pie fillings along the way.

If you’ve never made a cream pie before, read on, because while I am not going to explore the intricacies of pastry creams, custards, and puddings, there are some things in this post that are good to know before you try to make any of the above and shove them in a pie. Many of you readers who are more experienced cooks and bakers are going to giggle a little when I say this, but, um… I didn’t really know that my cream filling was going to thicken while I cooked it on the stovetop. I thought that it would thicken in the fridge as the pie “set up,” or something equally illogical, so I was hugely surprised when I was whisking the cream filling and it began to develop a pudding-like texture. This was a shocking but very welcome development, since the rich texture of the cream filling was the perfect canvas for the deep mocha flavor. And, if the filling had stayed liquid, well… it would have been a mocha puddle, not a mocha pie.

Mocha Cream Pie

I have to say, though, that the real winner in this pie might have been the coffee whipped cream. Simple but effective… and addictive. The coffee-flavored whipped cream was another experiment (I think it was the first time I’ve actually ever made real whipped cream before) but WOW! It was like frappuccino-flavored air. Yes. Dreamy.

All told, this Mocha Cream Pie was a win. Buttery graham cracker crust, surprise-pudding filling, and coffee whipped cream that I wanted to swim in. Worth waiting a week for? You tell me :-)

Mocha Cream Pie

Mocha Cream Pie

Adapted from this recipe in Gourmet, also inspired by this recipe.

For graham cracker crust:

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (from about twelve 5-by 2 1/2-inch crackers)
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

For mocha cream filling:

  • 6 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate
  • 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar, divided
  • 2 whole large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • ½ stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For coffee whipped cream:

  • 1 ¼ cups chilled heavy cream
  • 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules dissolved in (an additional) ¼ cup heavy cream
  • 6 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar

Make crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Stir together all crust ingredients. Press over bottom and up side of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake until set, 12 to 15 minutes, then cool.

Make filling:

Melt chocolate and instant coffee granules in a large bowl (use the microwave in intervals of 30 seconds, or a double boiler).

Stir together cornstarch and 2 tablespoons brown sugar in a small bowl.

Whisk together whole eggs and yolks in another bowl, then whisk in cornstarch mixture.

Stir together milk, cream, salt, and remaining brown sugar in a heavy medium saucepan and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Pour half of milk mixture into egg mixture in a slow stream, whisking, then pour egg mixture into remaining milk mixture. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, then boil, whisking, 1 minute. The mixture will thicken as it cooks, and then boils (!). Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into melted chocolate and whisk to combine.

Transfer hot filling to crust and chill, its surface covered with parchment (or plastic wrap, as I did), until it’s cold, about 3 hours.

FYI… the reason you pour the milk into the eggs and then add the mixture back into the pan is to heat the eggs slowly so that you don’t cook & scramble them. The reason for the straining (which some people find annoying) is that some eggs may scramble anyway, so you just need to strain them out before adding them to the pie.

Make coffee whipped cream:

Beat cream, coffee cream, and confectioners sugar using an electric mixer until it holds stiff peaks. Spoon over chilled filling.

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Posted in Baked Goods, Recipes | 8 Comments »

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onions, and Prosciutto Pizza

May 10th, 2010 by croasyjr

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onions, and Prosciutto Pizza

I’m not sure what to say about this, except that it was a really, really good idea. (Ok, also, I’m sorry that the pictures don’t do it justice… but I’m hoping you’ll focus on what a GREAT idea this pizza was. Promise me you’ll at least try…?)

I’d say I was sorry for tooting my own horn, except that my goat cheese, caramelized onions, and prosciutto creation is merely a very obvious hybrid of this pizza, which I ate at a friend’s house, and this one, which I saw on one of my favorite food blogs. I think it’s appropriate to break this down into its component parts (I am an analytical thinker, after all):

  1. Goat cheese. Sharp, creamy cheese… underused on pizzas. A little goes a long way, and that makes me feel like it’s healthier. Right? Because you use less cheese overall? … Right?
  2. Caramelized onions. The best part of adding onions caramelized in brown sugar to your pizza is that they actually become so tender and juicy that they become the sauce. You’ll notice there is no sauce on this pizza — that’s why. The sweet juices of the onion become the sauce… and if you’re a fan of sweet/salty combinations, this is good news. Which brings us to the…
  3. Prosciutto. The salty part of our sweet and salty perfection. This is the most tender, flavorful pizza option there is out there. Why don’t we use this more? Giordano’s, are you listening?
  4. Lemons. Yeah, I snuck thinly sliced lemons onto half of this pizza, and we loved it! It’s a strange ingredient, and totally optional… but you should try lemons here at least once. The rind bakes up in the oven and becomes tender and delicious. It’s truly unique.

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onions, and Prosciutto Pizza

For me, there is nothing more comforting than pizza for dinner, and with a recipe like this, you can get there in under 30 minutes. It also feels a lot brighter and lighter than other styles of pizza — we thanked the lemons and arugula for that — so we’ll be making this all summer long. Because we haven’t mastered pizza dough yet, we used Trader Joe’s refrigerated whole wheat pizza dough for a super simple crust. Use whatever dough you like — shortcuts acceptable :-)

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onions, and Prosciutto Pizza

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onions, and Prosciutto Pizza

Adapted from use real butter and The Pioneer Woman Cooks

  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, sliced thin
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 batch of pizza dough
  • flour and salt, for sprinkling
  • 4 oz prosciutto, cut into bite-sized strips
  • olive oil
  • fresh arugula
  • 4 oz goat cheese, crumbled
  • 1 lemon, sliced thin and quartered or cut into 6ths (we used a meyer lemon)

Preheat the oven to 500°F with pizza stone or thin baking sheet on the bottom rack.

Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide sauté pan on medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté for one minute. Add brown sugar. Continue to sauté for 10-15 minutes until the onions are soft, sweet, and brownish. Remove from heat.

If you’re using a foil-covered baking sheet for your pizza (like us), rub a little olive oil on a large piece of foil and then sprinkle some flour over it before dropping the dough on the surface. Sprinkle some olive oil on the dough and stretch or roll it out to desired size and thickness.

Sprinkle some salt on the dough and then distribute the toppings: arugula, caramelized onions, goat cheese, prosciutto, and lemon slices. Slide the foil and flatbread onto the stone or baking sheet that you have preheated in the oven (just take the sheet out of the oven, slide the foil with the pizza on top and toss it back into the oven) and bake for 15 minutes or until desired doneness.

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Posted in Main Dish | 9 Comments »

Shakshuka (Eggs in a spicy tomato sauce)

May 6th, 2010 by croasyjr

Shakshuka

After a glut of desserts, I have a couple of great dinner ideas coming up to share with you all! I’m pretty darn excited about it — not only to save my reputation (I get a lot of this: “yeah, I was talking to so-and-so about your blog, and, I know that they don’t know you, but they think you bake a lot. A LOT. Like, woah…”) — but also because dinner ideas are hard to come by! I don’t think there will ever be a time in my life when I will ever reach my quota of tasty, quick, cheap, and healthy home dinners.

Although I love to bake, I think that making dinner is when the real kitchen therapy happens. There is nothing like coming home after a terrible day at work and actually creating something nourishing, comforting, and interesting. I don’t know about you, but my usual workday isn’t full of that kind of creative-yet-practical process :-) Luckily, cooking gives me an outlet for both the creative side as well as the part of my personality that has a need to just… fill needs. You know? At least one time a day, I solve a very practical challenge: the dinner challenge.

(Of course, there are just as many times in a week that I come home and say… “You want dinner? Feed yourself!” I’m hoping that staying philosophical about the whole thing may help that little problem…)

Shakshuka

The perfect bite!

This particular dinner idea is a real gem, people! Sean and I have already had it twice, and I’m not stopping there. The ingredients are few, easy to find, and inexpensive. It’s also vegetarian, not that you’d notice if you were eating it — another plus in the budget, health, and environment categories. The whole thing is so comforting and yet light-tasting — we’ll be eating this all throughout the summer. And it’s so quick — chop an onion, some garlic, squeeze a few tomatoes (no, really… see the directions!) , and you’re in business.

Shakshuka

I know it looks like Mickey Mouse... but it's delicious!

Shakshuka (Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce)
Adapted from smitten kitchen, who adapted it from Saveur

Serves 4 to 6

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 5 Anaheim chiles or 3 jalapeños. Deb recommends stemming, seeding, and chopping them — I say, if you’re using jalapeños, leave the seeds in at least two of the peppers, and chop.
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
  • 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • Warm pitas, for serving

Put tomatoes and their liquid into a medium bowl and crush with your hands. Heat oil in a wide (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft and fragrant, about 2 more minutes.

Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt.

Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5-7 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Cook until whites are cooked through and yolks are still runny (if you don’t like runny yolks, cover again and cook longer until your yolk is the desired consistency). Sprinkle with feta and parsley and serve with pitas, for scooping.

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Posted in Main Dish | 5 Comments »

Mallorca

May 3rd, 2010 by croasyjr

Mallorca

The last installment of our series on Puerto Rican food from my friend Courtney in Puerto Rico!

Here in Puerto Rico the most common sweet bread is called Mallorca, a sweet light pastry in the shape of a little round coil.  You can find this pastry pretty much anywhere here, but one of the places most famous for its mallorca is called La Bombonera.  It has been open since 1902 and serves delicious mallorca and café con leche (coffee with milk) along with other traditional Puerto Rican dishes.  It’s been serving Puerto Rico for over 100 years amigos, so you know it’s got to be good!  After passing the front window display filled with all the yummy pastries they offer, you go inside and see a long bar with old red cushioned bar chairs and behind the bar is their huge stainless steel espresso machine that is the same one they have been using since the restaurant opened.  The place is always filled with both locals on their lunch breaks and sun burnt tourists trying out Puerto Rican food for the first time.  It’s a fun place to be and the wait staff is always very friendly and super speedy.

One of the favorite items to order at La Bombonera is their mallorca with a café con leche in the morning, or a mallorca panini, that they make by slicing open the mallorca and putting cheese and ham inside and grilling it in a panini press and sprinkling it with powdered sugar.  This little sandwich isn’t even on the menu, I found out about it talking to a guy who used to work there, and he said that it was one of their most popular items!  So I went to try it out and I asked my waiter, a little old man in his late 70’s who I imagine has been working at La Bombonera his whole life, for this sandwich.  I also asked if he could put tomato and lettuce on it, which I thought was a reasonable request, but turned out not to be.  I got a lecture from the waiter about how if I put lettuce and tomato on the sandwich it will make the bread soggy and totally throw off the flavor of the sandwich.

I asked again, just to make sure he was serious, I mean, what’s the big deal about putting some lettuce and tomato on it?!  But my waiter was determined and he told me no again, that he would not put lettuce and tomato on it, and to trust him, that it was better without it.  I was a little thrown off by the fact that this man would not let me order my panini how I wanted, but I figured he probably knew best, and he did!

Mallorca

The lesson I learned that day was that some things are just better left how they are. I mean that sandwich has been being made simply with ham and cheese for 100 years, what was I thinking trying to put lettuce and tomato on it!?  I also learned to never mess with that little old waiter again, he is tough!  But all jokes aside, this little sandwich was amazing.  It is so simple but the mesh of flavors makes it something special.   The savory flavor of the ham and cheese in between the sweet bread, all warm with powdered sugar on top, is delicious.

So in order to recreate this recipe I decided to make mallorca, which was a little daunting.  This is a yeast bread, and the only bread on my repertoire is banana bread.  It takes a long time to make, you have to let the dough rise three times 45 minutes to an hour each time and my kitchen was a complete mess afterwards, but it was a success!  The bread didn’t exactly hold the coil shape, but what matters most to me is the taste, not the shape of my mallorca.  I got this recipe from The Noshery and the pictured steps gave me assurance along the way that my dough looked how it was supposed to.  After the mallorca had baked I let it cool a bit and then made it into a sandwich by adding cheese and turkey lunch meat and grilling it on the stovetop, using a heavy plate to smash it down.  I would recommend putting the little sandwich upside down in the pan, since that way you won’t cook the bottom even more and burn it.  Once your cheese is melted, sprinkle some more powdered sugar on it and enjoy!  ¡Buen Provecho!

Mallorca

Mallorca

  • 1 package of dry yeast
  • ¾ cups sugar
  • 5 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup lukewarm milk
  • 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 6 egg yolks
  • ½ lb melted butter cooled to room temperature

In a large mixing bowl pour in the lukewarm milk and water and sprinkle in the yeast.  Gently mix in 1 cup of the flour and set it aside to let it rise for about 45 minutes until the mixture starts to rise.

Beat the egg yolks into the mixture making sure to blend it very well.  Add the remaining flour little by little until well incorporated.  Then add ½ of the melted butter and set it aside until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Dust the area you will be working on to prevent the dough from sticking.  Divide the dough into 12 equal portions.  Roll each portion into a long strip and brush with butter.  Form the strip into a coil and make sure the inner end is tucked in in the middle and the other end is tucked under.  Butter the tops of the mallorca and place them on a 2 greased baking sheets (6-8 rolls per sheet).  Cover the rolls and let them rise until they have doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Bake the mallorca at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Cool on a cooling rack and dust with powdered sugar.

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Posted in Baked Goods, Recipes | 4 Comments »

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