TWD: Baking with Julia - Savory Brioche Pockets

Our Tuesdays with Dorie recipe this week was Savory Brioche Pockets.  I guess it was really a Wednesdays with Dorie for me this time, as I surely didn't get this posted on time!  Ah, well.  Better late than never!  I truly did have the pockets done in time, I just didn't get time to post. 

Anyway, these were delicious but a bit of work...  The brioche dough takes a while, but it is REALLY yummy.  This is the same dough that was the basis of the Pecan Sticky Buns, and the making of the dough is described on that post, if you are interested. 

Moving onto these yummy little treats - they are filled with caramelized onions, mashed potatoes mixed with goat cheese, and asparagus.  I know I have mentioned it before, but caramelized onions really make everything in the savory world delicious.  Mmmm.  The recipe had you cook the onions for only 20 minutes to caramelize, so either that is just crazy or I had my burner too low, as it normally takes me about an hour to caramelize.  Regardless, caramelized onions are worth the time!

The dough is rolled out to around 1/8-inch thick and then cut into circles.  You are supposed to use a 4 or 4 1/2 inch biscuit cutter to cut the dough, but I don't have one, so I used the lid to my raisin container.  It is 4 inches in diameter, so it worked!  Sometimes you just have to get creative in the kitchen!

On one circle, plop 1 tablespoon of caramelized onions, 2 tablespoons of the mashed potato/goat cheese mixture, and 2 asparagus tips.  Then you place the naked circle atop of your mound of yummy goodness and fold up the edges all the way around.  Brush with an egg wash and let it sit awhile.

After sitting for about 20 minutes, brush with the egg wash again, sprinkle with poppy seeds, and place a sage leaf on top.  Into the oven for 15 minutes, and

voila!  A delicious treat!  

The recipe stated that you should end up with about 12-15 pockets.  I made 7 and had to take a break to get the clever girl's dinner and deal with the clever baby (having two kids is very busy!!).  I certainly did not have enough of the caramelized onions to make another 5+ pockets, nor enough of the mashed potatoes.  I could probably have squeezed in 2-3 more.  But instead I just put the other circles in the refrigerator to wait for a new plan. 

The new plan ended up happening the next day - I filled them with cinnamon sugar, diced apples, and pecans and had another 5 pockets.  I should have sauteed the apples before baking, but they were pretty tasty, I must say. 

Our host for this recipe is Carrie of Loaves and Stitches.  I love her blog so I highly recommend that you check her out.  She is a knitter and baker, too!  A kindred spirit.  She has the entire recipe for the Savory Brioche Pockets on her blog if you want to give it a try!  They are quite tasty, I must say!

Snowball Cookies

On Friday, on the way to pick up the clever girl from preschool, I remembered that her "graduation" was Saturday and I had volunteered to bring cookies to the subsequent open house.  Of course at that time I was on the way HOME from the grocery store, so I would need to make cookies with ingredients I had on hand.  That is not generally a problem.  But then when I picked up the clever girl and asked her what kind of cookies we should make, she told me that someone already brought in chocolate chip cookies for the open house.  Hmmm.  My "go-to" cookies are chocolate chip or brownies.  But if someone else was bringing chocolate chip, maybe I should try for something without chocolate.  GASP!  What?  A COOKIE with no CHOCOLATE?  Oh, boy. 

Maybe we should make peanut butter cookies?  No, we have no roasted peanuts.
Maybe we should make oatmeal cookies?  No, not in the mood.
To my folder of favorite recipes I went - and found SNOWBALL cookies!  Yahoo!  This will do the trick. 

However, snowball cookies are a little, well, boring looking for a preschooler.  Not a problem!  Add multi-colored sprinkles!  Sprinkles make everything fantastic, according to the clever girl anyway.  And really, I think she is right.  Everything is more fun with sprinkles!
 
Here's the recipe!
Snowball Cookies
adapted from My Baking Addiction

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans (or nut of your preference)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted - for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth and creamy.  Add vanilla extract and beat until combined.  Mix in the flour, pecans, and salt until just combined.  Roll about 1 tablespoon of dough (depending on how large you want the cookies) into balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheet.  You can place the cookies close to each other as they do not spread.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.  Let the cookies cool a bit on the cookie sheet, just until you are able to handle them.  While they are cooling, sift 1/3 cup confectioners sugar into a small bowl.  Roll the warm cookies in the sugar and place on a cooling rack.  Once they are cooled completely, roll them in confectioner's sugar again (I forgot to do this - if I had, the cookies would be more uniformly coated...oops!)

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to one month.
Printable recipe

Yum.  I had forgotten how good these cookies are.  They are so buttery and flaky they pretty much melt in your mouth.  Mmmm.

Baby Overalls

I originally knit these baby overalls while I was pregnant with the clever girl, over 5 years ago.  So I apologize that I don't remember all of the details of the knitting process...  The pattern is from the book Easy Baby Knits by Claire Montgomerie. 

The pattern calls for an aran weight yarn, and I used Baby Cashmerino, by Debbie Bliss, so I had to do all sorts of math to get the sizing and gauge right.  It would certainly be easier (and faster) in the aran weight yarn, but Baby Cashmerino is so wonderful and I happened to have it in my stash at the time!  The pattern calls for snap tape for the bottom (or to just knit the bottom together but I find that to be terribly inconvenient for diaper changing purposes).  The only snap tape I found had tiny little snaps that didn't actually stick together very well, so I ended up sewing snaps onto pieces of grosgrain ribbon, and sewing those onto the outfit instead of the snap tape.  Much more secure! 

It is so rewarding to see my kiddos in clothes I made, and doubly so that they can both wear some of them!  This won't continue for long, as the clever girl's clothes eventually got more "girlie", but I'll enjoy it while I can! 

TWD: Baking with Julia - Fresh Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

Our recipe this week for Tuesday's with Dorie was Fresh Rhubarb Upside Down Cake.  It was actually supposed to be baby-cakes, as in individual 4-inch cakes, but the recipe also provided instructions for making one big cake so that is the route I took. 

My only challenge with this recipe was in locating the rhubarb.  Four weeks ago today, the clever baby was born via an emergency c-section (all is well, no worries) and I was told that I could not drive for at least 4 weeks.  My parents came in town to help and then my in-laws came (they leave today - boo!)  I didn't want to ask my in-laws to drive all over town searching for this illusive ingredient.  The grocery store closest to my house is crummy, and they certainly did not have fresh rhubarb.  My in-laws checked another grocery store of the same chain and had no luck there either.  Luckily, Mr. Clever Mom works near a gourmet grocery store so I begged him to stop by on the way home and of course, this particular store had rhubarb!  Yippee!  This recovery is so hard, mostly in a mental way, as I am used to being able to do things like, say, drive, lift things, exercise, etc.  Ugh.  But I am listening to my doctor and obeying the rules.  The last thing I want is to set myself backwards!  And happily, I have had lots of help.  So enough moaning and lets get on to the recipe!

Yum.  I have never actually cooked with rhubarb but I have tasted it before and knew I liked the flavor.  It is very tart so it needs quite a bit of sugar in order to be edible.  This recipe hits that nail on the head by starting off with a caramel made with butter, dark brown sugar and bourbon.  Once the butter is melted, chopped pecans are added.  This is the top/bottom of the cake (top when the cake is right side up, bottom while it is cooking).  What a great way to start!

Then you place sliced rhubarb on top of the caramel.  I did two layers of rhubarb since that is how much I had cut.  The recipe doesn't actually say how many layers to do, but one is probably what they intended.  I don't think I had too much rhubarb though (actually had the right amount as far as weight goes) and it didn't taste too rhubarb-y, so I think two layers was just fine!

Then you create the batter part of the cake!  Cream some butter and sugar until nice and light and fluffy, then add two eggs, one at a time.  Whisk together dry ingredients, and then add that to the creamed butter/sugar alternately with creme fraiche mixed with a little vanilla extract.

Here is my personal lesson for this recipe:  how to make your own creme fraiche!  I had never thought about it before, and it is SO EASY.  Just mix one cup of heavy cream with one tablespoon of buttermilk and set it out on the counter for 12-24 hours, until it thickens.  Then refrigerate for at least a day before using.  Look at that beautiful creme fraiche!  Amazing, right?  And truly, I think this amazing creme fraiche may just be the key to this cake. 

Once the creme fraiche and dry ingredients are gently mixed into the butter/sugar, spread it on top of the rhubarb and stick the pan in the oven.  Since I did it all in one pan, it cooked for about 45 minutes (instead of 20 minutes in the baby cake pans).

And it turned out looking like this!  I carefully inverted that heavy cast-iron pan (no I probably should not have lifted this pan and inverted it post-surgery, but I did it anyway.  Sorry, Doc!) onto a rack to cool. 

I served the cake with a dallop of fresh whipped cream and everyone gave it high praise.  The cake is really delicious.  It is very tender and light, and the caramel provides the rhubarb with just the sweetness to offset the tartness.  Perfect.  I would love to try this recipe again with different fruits - maybe blueberries, or pears, or tart cherries, or (yes) even pineapple!  It is simple to put together, especially if you make one big cake instead of individual cakes.  And really, making individual cakes is a lot of extra work if there isn't a REASON to make them (other than the fact that they are so cute). 

You can find this recipe on pages 244-246 of Baking with Julia, or by visiting Erin's blog, When in Doubt...Leave it at 350.  You can also check out what other bakers did with this recipe by visiting the TWD website and clicking on the link that says LYL:Fresh Rhubarb Upside-down Cake.  This is where we all post links to our blogs and discuss what we thought of the recipe! 

This is the first thing I have baked since surgery.  My doc told me I had to stay out of the kitchen but I figured I had other adults in the house in case I ran into trouble.  Ah, how good it felt to be baking again!  A month hiatus is long for me!  I didn't realize how much I would miss it.  I know, there are those that think I am crazy and would love to be told they had to stay out of the kitchen, but for me, it was hard!

A Baby Bolero...

We woke up to chilly weather today!  It is in the low 50's and let me tell you, in Houston, Texas, in May, that is downright crazy.  Practically freezing!  I LOVE it!  I am a huge fan of cool weather (I know, I live in the wrong place for that) so I was thrilled to wake up to this cool air this morning.  And it meant that I could pull out this super cute Baby Bolero that I knit for the clever girl back when she was a wee one.  Now the clever baby gets to give it a go!   He is also wearing a long sleeved onesie that I dyed orange when I made the snuggle blankets.  I think he looks quite dapper, don't you?

The pattern for the Baby Bolero can be found in the book "One Skein" by Leigh Radford.  It is a super fast knit and truly only needs one skein of worsted weight yarn (unless I guess your skein is super tiny or something).  I have actually made this bolero before using two different colors, making the sleeves and trim one color and the body another.  If you need a quick project for a gift or for your own baby, check this out.

There is this sweet eyelet detail on the back of the sweater, too.  It is supposedly an Arabic symbol for protection.  I don't know if it is or not, but I like the idea!  Babies certainly need protecting, don't they?  My sweet clever baby is all wrapped up, cradled in his grandma's protective arms.  What could be better?

TWD: Baking with Julia - Chocolate Truffle Tart

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me...  For my birthday, I made the Chocolate Truffle Tart from Baking with Julia.  My Tuesday's with Dorie group schedules recipes for the first and third Tuesday of each month.  If there happens to be a FIFTH Tuesday (like today), we can do a recipe we missed, repeat a recipe, do nothing, whatever we choose.  I only have a couple of recipes left that I missed (baked before I joined the group) so I decided to bake one of those.  And lucky for me, it ended up being Chocolate Truffle Tarts!  Yahoo! 

My birthday was actually in late March, but I planned ahead for this post since I knew I'd have a newborn baby in my home sometime in April and may not be up to baking much.  And really, who can say no to a birthday cake like this?  Not me!

This recipe is delicious!  Yum.  A perfect chocolate-y treat if you love chocolate.  If you don't, you will want to pass this recipe right on by!

You start off by making chocolate dough for the crust...  Yes, even the DOUGH is chocolate!

The recipe for the chocolate dough is on pages 372-373 of Baking with Julia.  It can be made by hand or in the food processor - I chose the food processor method.  First pulse flour, sugar and salt together to combine, and then add a chopped up stick of butter and pulse until the butter pieces are pea-sized.  Add an egg yolk and ice water and pulse until the dough is crumbly, like you see above.

Then you use this fun technique called fraisage - a French term for working the dough under the heal of your hand.  Essentially you smear the dough with your hand until it comes together.  I used parchment underneath but I suppose you could use whatever.  I had no problems with this part, though from reading through some blogs from when the group originally did this recipe, some people had troubles with the dough coming together.  I have no idea as to why it worked for me, other than maybe because I live in Houston where it is naturally more humid than other places?  It wasn't a particularly humid day, but that is the only explanation I can think of...  Anyway, once the dough is all smooshed together, shape it into a square-ish shape.  I made my "square"  (really more of a rectangle) fairly thick, and if I made this recipe again I would do a flat, larger square.  It would be easier for when you roll the dough.  The chocolate dough is refrigerated for at least 30 minutes - I refrigerated mine overnight.

On to the Chocolate Truffle Tart recipe!  The next thing you do is make that big square of dough into a crust!  This recipe was actually for mini-tarts.  It was supposed to make six 4 1/2-inch tartlets.  I do not have any tartlet pans and didn't think my kitchen needed these extra baking pans at this time, so I made one big tart.  I rolled the dough out onto a well-floured (as you can see) pastry mat and then carefully put it into the tart pan.  This was probably the hardest part of the entire tart.  Luckily, this is amazingly forgiving dough, so even though it broke in many places, it patched together easily!  Yeah!  Once in the pan, the tart was supposed to be refrigerated for another 20 minutes.  I cheated here.  I stuck the tart in the freezer while the oven pre-heated.  I have no idea how long it was actually in the freezer, but when I took it out it was nice and firm.  I poked it a zillion times with a fork and then let it bake at 350F for approximately 15 minutes.  The point is to get the crust dry and firm.  Then the crust cools off while the filling is made!

The filling consists of bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, cookies, egg yolks, sugar, and butter.  Can you go wrong with that combination??  Probably not!

First, melt 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate with butter.  I used 70% bittersweet chocolate.  The more bitter, the better for me!

Once melted, allow the bittersweet mixture to cool while you whip the devil out of the egg yolks and sugar.  They are whipped into oblivion, until the egg yolks are light yellow, thick, and creamy.  Then, fold about 1/3 of the egg mixture into the chocolate.  Isn't it pretty??  I think it is also an interesting juxtaposition of the white chocolate, which you can see in the top right corner of the photo.  The egg yolks became so pale, they almost match the color of the white chocolate! 

Anyway, pour this chocolate/egg mixture into the rest of the eggs and fold it all together.  Then add chopped up milk and white chocolate.  You are also supposed to add biscotti or amaretti di Saronno cookies here.  I looked for the amaretti cookies at the grocery store but didn't find them.  And though I think that flavor combination would be DIVINE, I didn't feel like (a) going to another store or (b) purchasing a box of biscotti to use only 4.  So, I substituted Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies.  Seriously, I think they are probably one of the very best store-bought cookies out there, and I happened to have a box in my refrigerator!  I decided that approximately 2 1/2 thin mints would equal 1 biscotti, so I added 10 chopped up thin mints to my chocolatey mixture.

Once all of the chocolate, egg, chopped chocolate, and cookie pieces were folded together, I poured it into the chocolate dough crust.

It baked for longer than the recipe suggested, which makes sense being that this one tart is much larger than the 6 individual tarts for which the recipe intended.  I think it baked for around 20 minutes (I unfortunately didn't keep good track of the minutes I kept adding).  I decided the tart was finished baking when the top was dry and the filling was set. 

I let the tart cool for 20 minutes, and washed the raspberries and prepared a vanilla whipped cream while we waited....

DELICIOUS.  The tart is definitely very rich, so having the raspberries there to cut the chocolate was perfect.  The clever girl and Mr. Clever Mom devoured their pieces!  I savored mine...  The inside is really a wonderful texture.  The white and milk chocolate pieces were melty and the filling was soft but with the nice crunch of the mint cookie and chocolate dough crust.  Mmmm.  What a perfect birthday treat!  If I were to make this again though, I would probably subsitute semi-sweet chocolate for the milk.  I am not a huge fan of milk or white chocolate for that matter, so I think the semi-sweet would up the bitter quota for me.  I'd also love to try it with the amaretti cookies - I am certain that is amazing!

The Chocolate Truffle Tartlet recipe can be found on pages 382-383 of Baking with Julia.  Or, you can find the recipe on the host blogs.  There were many hosts for this recipe, so take your pick:  Steph, of A Whisk and a Spoon,  Spike of Spike Bakes, Jaime of Good Eats and Sweet Treats, or Jessica of Cookbookhabit.    

Happy baking!

Deep Dish Ham Quiche

My family enjoys quiche.  I figure anything made in a pie shell is good, and since the clever girl agrees that makes dinner easier at times!  This is the Deep Dish Ham Quiche by Tyler Florence.  It is different than my normal quiche, in that this one is almost custard-like on the inside, with a smooth velvety texture.  YUM.  Since it is deep dish, you get lots of that yummy velvety stuff.  Plus, unlike most quiches, it does not contain any cheese.  Different, huh?  Oh, and it includes caramelized onions.  Is there anything that isn't made better with caramelized onions?  Well, in the savory food category, anyway?  I do think caramelized onion ice cream would be dreadful, but in savory items, it is ALL GOOD.  I wouldn't say this is a HEALTHY recipe, but every so often you just have to dive in and go all the way with food.   I did try to make it a "little" healthier but it is what it is.

Deep-Dish Ham Quiche

adapted from Tyler Florence, Food Network

1 pastry shell - I use this recipe but you could use a store-bought one as well!
Filling:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin-olive oil
2 large Vidalia onions, sliced
3/4 pound smoked ham, cubed
8 large eggs
1 quart heavy cream (! used 2 cups 2% milk and 2 cups heavy cream)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Roll your pastry/pie crust into a 14-inch circle about 1/4 inch thick.  Carefully place the dough into a 9-inch springform pan and press the dough firmly onto the bottom and the sides so it fits tightly.  Place the springform pan on a cookie sheet so it is easier to move in and out of the oven.  Your oven will thank you if there are any leaks, plus the quiche is pretty heavy so the cookie sheet helps there, too.

To make the filling:

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat.  Coat the pan with oil and add the onions.  Allow to slowly cook, stirring, until they caramelize and release their natural sugars.  Add a few tablespoons of water to help the onions break down if you need to.  This can take 30 minutes to an hour, so you could do this in advance if you prefer.  Once the onions are nice and caramelized, add the ham and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes to get some color in the ham.  Remove from the heat.  

Preheat oven to 375F.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.  Add the cream/milk, season with salt and pepper.  Arrange the caramelized onions and ham over the bottom of the crust and carefully pour in the cream/egg mixture.  The filling should be about 1 inch from the top of the pan.  Cover loosely with foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours.  Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the quiche is set, puffy, and jiggles slightly.  Remove to a wire rack and allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving. 

Printable Recipe

This recipe takes a bit more time than your average quiche recipe but I encourage you to give it a try.  It makes a nice dinner and could be a special brunch dish as well.  I like that it is different - more custardy, no cheese...  It really is delicious!