Amazing Baked Brie

The other day I mentioned that I had hosted my book group recently.  The morning I was to host, I woke up thinking that I needed to make a baked brie for everyone to nosh on before we actually sat down to eat.  Great idea, wouldn't you say?  Normally, when I make a baked brie I do it in puff pastry.  This time I didn't want to go the puff pastry route, I wanted to try something different.  Ages ago, I made a brie without pastry but I have no recollection as to what it was, just that it was pastry-free.  So I did a little searching to find a recipe that looked good and boy, did I find one!  How about Baked Brie with Pecans, Brown Sugar, and Kahlua??  Ahh, you've got me!

This takes no time at all to prepare.  If you happen to live by a Costco, during the holidays (and possibly at other times too) they have ginormous wheels of brie.  They are literally 19 or 20 ounces of cheesy goodness!  I recommend getting one of those bad boys and maybe doubling or 1 1/2-ing this recipe for the mega-brie.  Whatever guests you have will not complain.  The brie you see here is also from Costco, but it is a smaller 13.4 ounce-er.  The bigger the better with this thing, as it is amazing! 

Anyway, take that wheel of creamy deliciousness out of its packaging and set it on your cutting board.  Score a circle on the top of the wheel, 1/4 inch in from the edge.  With a spoon, scrape the white rind off of the middle of your circle.

Toast some pecans and mix them with brown sugar and Kahlua.  Seriously, with that combination, what could possibly go wrong?  Nothing, I say.  Put that heavenly mixture on top of the brie, staying within that circle you made.

Stick it in the oven for a few minutes, pull it out and KA-POW, you have created a scrumptious appetizer!  Serve with crackers and/or tart apple slices.  YUM. 

Now that I have made this brie, I am not sure I'll do the pastry-wrapped one again.  That one is delicious, I agree, but this one is not only delicious but EASIER.  No defrosting, rolling, wrapping of puff pastry.  And you could totally switch this one up in all sorts of ways.  Add some dried cherries or cranberries!  Use walnuts/almonds/hazelnuts, whatever your favorite nut might be!  Not a fan of Kahlua?  Use maple syrup!  Or honey!  Seriously, you could make endless renditions of this baked brie, and I think they would probably all be amazing. 

Try this.  It's so simple, and so good!

Baked Brie with Pecans, Brown Sugar, and Kahlua
adapted from many online sources

Ingredients:
13.4 ounce wheel of Brie
2/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 TB Kahlua
crackeres
1-2 tart apples, sliced

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.

Using a knife, gently score a circle on the top of the wheel, 1/4 inch in from the edge.  With a spoon, scrape the white rind off of the middle of your circle.  Place the brie in the center of an oven-safe platter.

Mix the pecans, brown sugar and Kahlua in a small bowl.  Spoon the mixture into the center of the brie, covering the circle you created and staying within the 1/4-inch rim.  Bake for 8-15 minutes, until the topping begins to bubble.  Be careful not to overcook the brie - it will melt and lose it's shape if you leave it in the oven too long! 

Serve while warm, with crackers and apple slices.
Printable Recipe

This was a total hit with my book group, as I think it would be with any group!  Is there anything yummier than gooey melted brie?  Mmmm....

Enjoy!

Book Group Soup

I am in a neighborhood book group, and yesterday was my turn to host!  For our group, that means that you choose the book and prepare a light meal at your house for the meeting.  I said a little prayer for fall weather (it had been in the 80's here - blech) and decided to serve soup and salad.  My prayers were answered!  A cool front came in during the afternoon and the temperatures dropped!  Perfect for soup!  Thank goodness, since we were having soup regardless!  I made Italian Sausage and Bean soup.  I found this recipe one day while at my favorite grocery store (HEB, for you Texans out there) with my sister.  They were sampling the soup and we both thought it was WAY too salty but had real potential.  Boy, am I glad we grabbed that recipe because it has become one of my favorites!  I think it may become one of your favorites, too!

In my personal opinion, this soup is even better the next day.  The flavors really come together and the broth thickens a bit.  So, if you are someone who likes leftovers, this is an awesome deal.  OR, if you like to plan ahead, cook up this soup the night before you want to serve it, stopping at the point before you would add the pasta.  Refrigerate overnight and then bring to a boil the next day, throw in the pasta, and VOILA!  Dinner is ready!

Italian Sausage and Bean Soup

Ingredients: 
2 TB olive oil, divided
1 lb. Italian sausage, casings removed if in link form (can use turkey Italian sausage here!)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cups diced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 TB minced garlic (around three medium cloves)
1 TB salt-free Italian seasoning (I recommend Penzey's Tuscan Sunset - YUM)
5-6 cups chicken stock
1 can Italian-style diced tomatoes (no salt added)
1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup elbow macaroni or dilatini (which looks like small tubes)

Instructions:

Heat 1 TB olive oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat.  Add the sausage and cook until browned, breaking up the sausages into small pieces with the edge of a wooden spoon.  Remove to a paper-towel lined shallow bowl and set aside.

Add remaining oil to the same pot, and saute the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and Italian seasoning.  Cook 7-9 minutes, until the veggies are tender.  Return the sausage to the pot.

Stir in the broth, starting with the lower amount.  Add the tomatoes and beans.  Bring soup to a full boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 15-20 minutes uncovered.

Before serving, bring soup to a full boil and add pasta.  Simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the pasta is al dente.  Check the pasta package for an idea as to how much time this might take, though probably around 10 minutes.  Season to taste with salt, pepper, and /or crushed red pepper flakes, if desired.
Printable Recipe

I think you could call this a minestrone soup, actually.  I am not sure why not. And I like that name better, so I think from now on I'll call this minestrone soup.  You look at the ingredients, do you agree that it is essentially a minestrone? 

Just in case you are wondering, we discussed the book, The Kitchen House, by Kathleen Grissom.  It was my second time reading it, and I enjoyed it just as much this time!  I highly recommend!

I hope you enjoy some hot soup on a nice cool fall day!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

These fall days have my mind going crazy with ideas.  The biggest question might be "why on earth does someone who loves autumn so much live in Houston?" and trust me, I ask myself the same thing all the time.  However since we just finished building our beautiful new home, I think we are going to be here for a while so I just have to continue bring fall into my home, even if fall doesn't really exist outside.  Mind over matter!

When I was little we went apple picking every fall.  Did I mention that I didn't grow up in this crazy autumnless state?  I grew up in St. Louis, a place that actually has FOUR SEASONS.  Crazy, I know.  Ah, I digress.  You cannot go apple picking in Houston, so I have been buying up all sorts of apples in the grocery store to create autumn at home.  And with numerous bags of apples on my counter, I decided to make apple butter, something my mom used to do when we were kids.  I have no idea what recipe she used, but the one I found turned out pretty darned tasty, I must say.  I found it at My Baking Addiction, and it is yummo!  You can probably use any mixture of apples for apple butter, but I recommend a mix of sweet and tart apples to get a more rounded flavor.  I used Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Honey Crisp and Jonathan. 

For reasons that can only be contributed to temporary insanity, I did not get out my apple peeler/corer/slicer gadget for this undertaking and instead used my trusty paring knife.  For 6 1/2 pounds of apples.  Yes, 6 1/2 pounds.  Why did I do that?  Who knows.  Regardless, it is totally doable if you do not have an apple peeler gadget, but if you do have one, by all means drag that bad boy out and put it to use!    Good gracious.

Oh, and lets talk about sugar.  The amounts in this recipe are only a suggestion.  I used less, as I tend to like less sugar in things and I did use some sweeter apples.  The recipe calls for 1 cup each of granulated and of brown sugar.  I used 3/4 cup each and could probably have used a bit less, for my tastes anyway.  Do an amount that makes you happy!

You have to have some patience for this apple butter. It cooks in the slow cooker for about forever.  But it is WORTH IT.  And I did sort of speed up the process a little bit.  You are supposed to cook th apples on low for 10 hours, but by the time I finished peeling and coring and slicing all those apples (see, crazy over here) had I waited for 10 hours, it would have been done in the middle of the night.  So, I cooked it for 4 hours on high and then 3 more hours on low.  After the 10 hours you are supposed to have a thick, dark brown mixture and that is what I had!  Then you add some vanilla and let it cook for another 2 hours.  Yes, patience is much needed here!  Trust me, you will be rewarded in the end.  You'll have lots of delicious apple butter that you can freeze/gift/eat.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter
adapted from My Baking Addiction
yield - 4 pints

Ingredients:
6 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored, sliced
1 cup granulated sugar (or amount to your taste)
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed (or amount to your taste)
1 TB ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 TB pure vanilla extract

Instructions:
Place the apples in the slow cooker.  In a medium bowl, combine the sugars, spices and salt.  Pour the mixture over the apples and mix well.  Cook in the slow cooker on low for 10 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and is dark brown.  Play with the time here - I cooked it on high for 4 hours and low for 3...  Other combinations probably work too, you just need it to be thick and brown at the end!

Uncover the slow cooker and stir in the vanilla extract.  Continue to cook on low, uncovered, for an additional 2 hours.

Puree the apples with an immersion blender until smooth.  Spoon into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks or freeze.
Printable Recipe

If you have never had apple butter, either come on over and try some or get out your slow cooker and make some anyway.  It is sort of like a creamier kind of applesauce.  Put it on toast, on a peanut butter sandwich, cook it with a pork tenderloin, spoon it over vanilla ice cream... the uses are endless.  I guarantee you will be sad when it is all gone!  Yum.  It is so good!

TWD: Baking with Julia - Pumpernickel Loaves

Our recipe this week for Tuesday's with Dorie is Pumpernickel Loaves.  The recipe is on pages 95-98 of Baking with Julia, and can also be found here.  Though I have never made pumpernickel bread before, this recipe is a bit different in that the ingredient list includes unsweetened chocolate, espresso powder, molasses and prune butter.  Now, I must be totally honest here and admit that pumpernickel bread is not my favorite.  I like it okay, but it is never something I would choose at a deli or anything.  Honestly, I am not really a rye fan and since pumpernickel is in the rye family, it's just not my fave.  However, I gave this bread my best efforts anyway.  (to not such great results, unfortunately!!)

I actually made the dough twice.  The first time, I got all the flour in that the recipe called for and thought that it just didn't seem to fit the description that the recipe claimed.  It said the dough should be a very moist dough, very soft and elastic.  Not so much in my bowl.  I went through the first and second rise and then decided that it just was not right and pitched it right into the trash.  In the mean time, I watched the video as to how to bake this bread.  If you have ANY desire to bake this bread, I HIGHLY recommend watching this video.  The recipe gives this complicated description as to how to roll and shape the bread which makes a ton more sense after watching the video.  You can see the video here.   It is always fun to watch these clips to see Julia Child's expressions and hear her comments, so you might just want to watch it for the pure entertainment value!

 
When I attempted the dough for the second time, I really tried to channel Lauren Groveman (the recipe author) and imitate what I watched in the video.  I failed somewhere along the way, however.  This time I did not put in as much flour, yet still my dough was not "very moist and elastic".  She quite specifically stresses that you will need about 6 cups of flour in the dough, though the second time I only added closer to 5 cups  Still, I felt like my dough was closer to what she described when I was closer to 3 cups.  But I was hesitant to just stop there since she was so adamant on the 6 cups!  Maybe this is where I went wrong??  I don't know.  What I can say is that my bread turned out very dense, not nearly as light and puffy as they should have been.  The dough did rise well during both the first and second rise.  It did not rise much while it rested (suspended by cabinet pulls in tea-towel slings - how fun!), and then didn't rise a whole lot in the oven either. 

Please, fellow TWD bakers, help me figure out where I went wrong.  I really want to bake bread better than this!

The clever girl and I had some of the bread with breakfast - hers with a schmear of peanut butter and mine with a schmear of homemade apple butter.  Even though the bread was more dense than I prefer, it was pretty tasty!  I used less caraway seeds than the recipe called for, using only the whole seeds, none of the ground, so there was less RYE taste.  Stay tuned this week for the crock pot apple butter recipe!

Be sure to check out some of the success stories for this bread by heading to the TWD site and checking out the blogs of the other bakers! 

A Pumpkin Cheese Ball!

As I mentioned a few days ago, I have gotten into the fall/halloween spirit and as such went with the theme when preparing snacks for church last week!  Here is a pumpkin cheese ball!  No, there is no actual pumpkin in the cheese ball, it just looks one!  When looking for a pumpkin cheese ball, I found many recipes that used crushed nacho chips on the outside.  While I am sure that could be quite good, when I found this one I knew it was a keeper.  The recipe is based on a Cook's Country cheddar cheese ball.  All that is added is a bit of paprika around the outside to make it a bit more orange in color! 

Pumpkin Cheddar Cheese Ball
adapted from Cooks Country

Ingredients:
2 cups shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 TB mayonnaise
1 TB Worcestershire sauce
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
paprika
1/4-1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
greens to set the cheese ball upon
crackers, chips,veggies for serving
stem of a bell pepper

Instructions:
Mix the cheddar, cream cheese, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and cayenne in a food processor until smooth.

Transfer the mixture to the center of a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a mound with a spatula.  Bring up the four corners of the plastic wrap  and twist tightly to form a round ball shape. Set the plastic-wrapped ball in a small bowl if you have one, to help maintain the round shape on the bottom, and place in he refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 2 days. 

Remove the cheese ball from the refrigerator and reshape as needed while still wrapped in plastic.  Unwrap, leaving the ball on the plastic wrap.  Gently sprinkle paprika all over the outside of the cheese ball an then roll in the toasted almonds.  Press the bell pepper stem into the top of the cheese ball, making a pumpkin stem.  Set on some greens in the center of a platter.  Let it sit out a bit before servings so it is not too firm.  Serve with crackers, chips, carrot sticks, red pepper slices, etc.
Printable Recipe

Obviously, you do not need to make this cheese ball look like a pumpkin.  It is a delicious cheese ball for whatever event you might plan/attend that needs a great appetizer.  Why purchase a cheese ball from the store when this one is so easy and so delicious? 

From Ballerina to Cinderella - A Costume Transformation!

The clever girl was in a dance recital this summer, and had THREE, yes THREE different costumes.  I decided then and there that one of those costumes would have to be re-purposed for Halloween in some way!  So, when the clever girl said she wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween, I thought, "PERFECT"!  I knew that her blue ballerina costume would be just right.

So I lugged that tutu to the fabric store to pick out some matching fabric, and found a satin and some sort of shimmery organza-ish fabric for an overlay.  I also picked up some white satin with some silver sparkles for those weird hip things Cinderella has on her dresses.  What are those things, anyway?  What woman in their right mind wants some sort of accent to their hips??

I was so intent on getting this costume created that I neglected to take any photos along the way.  However, hopefully I can explain what I did in case anyone else out there wants to create a Cinderella costume someday! 

For the skirt, I knew I would put it on elastic and it would be worn OVER the tutu part of the ballerina costume.  The tutu would give it the ball-gown body.  And the skirt had to be very twirly, of course.  The clever girl is 25 inches from waist to foot.  I needed enough length to hem the bottom and to encase a 1 inch elastic for her waist.  I used about 1 1/2 yards of the blue fabrics for the skirt, and cut those fabrics into two pieces of 3/4 yard each.  Thus, there were two pieces of the blue satin that were 3/4 yard and two pieces of the blue sparkly fabric that were 3/4 yard.  I sewed the selvages together to make a gigantic tube of each, separately. 

For the bizarre hip things, I used 1 yard of the white fabric, and cut it in half to make two pieces, 1/2 yard each.  I rounded the corners of those rectangles so they looked like two big half moons.  I did an overlock (serge type stitch) over the curved edge, turned it under, and sewed it flat.  Hem done!

Then I stacked up my blue skirt fabrics:  blue satin on the bottom and blue sparkly on top.  I pinned the white pieces on top of the skirt, so that the middle of each moon met the seam of the blue pieces.  This way, the seams would be on the sides, not on the front and back.  Get it?  And I did an overlock stitch all the way around, catching all those crazy wisps of these fabrics.  I folded this edge down 1 1/4 inches and sewed near the edge, leaving an opening for the elastic.  String in the elastic, close the opening, done!  The blue skirts got a simple "sort-of" 1/4 inch rolled hem.  I say "sort-of" because I didn't measure one darned thing, I just folded the fabric over twice as I sewed it all the way around.  It is probably terribly uneven, but hey, it is a Halloween costume!  Skirt, done.

Now for the accessories:  In my online perusal of Cinderella costumes, I saw that Ashley of Make It & Love It made gloves, a choker, and a headband for her little Cinderella.  I would have probably forgotten these very crucial elements if not for her!  I didn't actually look at her blog when I made the accessories, but we pretty much did them the same way.

For the gloves, I measured the clever girl's arms in three places:  length from bottom of middle finger to upper arm, circumference of upper arm, circumference of wrist.  Then I just made a pattern that took those measurements into consideration - I knew I would cut the fabric on the fold and one end should have a point to attach to her middle finger.  Thus the length of the pattern was the same as the length of her arm from finger to upper arm, and the widths were about an inch (total) bigger than her wrist/upper arm measurements.  It looked something like this: 

I cut two each from both blue fabrics, placing the longest side (with the finger point) on the fold.  I overlocked the point end and the upper arm end, sewing a blue satin fabric to the blue sparkly fabric.  Then I folded the glove right sides together and overlocked the edges together.  I sewed a small loop of elastic at the point to go around the clever girl's finger.  Done.

The choker is a rectangle of both blue fabrics made into a tube that is a couple inches longer than the clever girl's neck circumference.  I sewed velcro to the ends to put it on/take it off.

Finally, the headband is another tube, though this one is angled down at the ends a little bit. 

Something like that.  I attached a piece of elastic to each end to keep it snug on the clever girl's head. 

And, her costume was done.

And, she LOVED it!

She spent lots of time looking in the mirror!  

 And then she turned right into a princess!

 But pretty much, she couldn't stop TWIRLING!

 and DANCING!

 and SPINNING!

 She loves her Halloween costume!

Oh, and in case your are wondering, of course the clever baby had to get in on the action as well.  You can't have a Cinderella without a Prince Charming, can you?  And who (in my world anyway) is more charming than the clever baby? 

 Yes, indeed, I did do that to my little guy. 

But seriously, is he handsome, or what?

His easy, peasy costume consists of some red knit pants and a grey/silver jacket that I found at a consignment shop.  I bought some gold braid, some gold fringe, and some gold rope and went to town.  I sewed the gold braid down each side of his pants.  Then I made little epaulettes with dark red felt and glued the fringe around three sides underneath and the gold braid around the four sides on top.  I sewed these to the shoulders of his little jacket, looping a piece of gold rope from one shoulder to the other, and another loop around his arm.  You can't see that too well on the photos, but it is under the arm closest to Cinderella. 

And here you go, Cinderella and Prince Charming.

So cute, I could eat them up!

Happy Halloween!

TWD: Baking with Julia - Raspberry-Fig Crostata

This month has 5 Tuesdays, so we have an extra week for our Tuesday's with Dorie posts!  It is sort of a catch-up week for those of us who might have missed a recipe, or maybe a re-do week if there was something we wanted to try again.  For me, it is a catch-up week.  Back in August, we had a week where we could do a choose-your-own-adventure recipe, in that there were two recipes suggested and we could pick which one we might want to make.  Personally, this was stressful as I don't want to miss any recipe and I knew that I wouldn't be able to make both recipes that week!  Ack!  So I actually made this Raspberry-Fig Crostata a week later and set the photos aside to post at a later date.  And that date has finally come!

By the way, as a side note, do you recall the choose-your-own-adventure books from when you were a kid?  I LOVED those things.  I would read them again and again, trying to figure out every permutation of choices to get to the different endings.  I will have to find some of those books for the clever girl... Don't you wish life could be more like a choose-your-own-adventure book sometimes?  In that if you start down one path and you don't like the consequences, you could say "re-do", jump back a few pages/days/months and make a different choice?  Sometimes we actually can to that, but many times, once a choice is made we just have to deal with the developments that come.  Sort of like that movie "Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow from the late 1990s.  Have you seen it?  I loved that movie.  Still do, when it comes down to it! 

Anyway, on to the recipe!  This crostata, aka TART or PIE has a sesame-almond dough for the crust.  It is sort of like a shortbread cookie in texture, thus is a bit more crunchy than I am used to for a crust.  It was also quite sticky and kind of a pain, however at the same time it was very forgiving, for when it broke (which it did often) I could just press it back together and keep on moving!  I did not make a true lattice top for my crostata, as that was just too much work with such a tricky dough.  I just criss-crossed the strips and decided it looked wonderful as it was!

The filling is what really speaks for this crostata.  It is made of fresh figs, fresh raspberries, sugar, lemon zest, flour and butter.  Can you go wrong with that?  I think not.  It was delicious! I served the crostata with a dallop of almond whipped cream.  YUM. 

So here is to those days where you really can choose-your-own-adventure and have re-dos if you want, and to those other days when you have to go with the flow and follow where your choices might lead.  I hope the choices you make this week end with some successful baking and a tasty dessert!  You deserve it!


The recipe for the Raspberry-Fig Crostata can be found here, and the Sesame-Almond Dough can be found here.