Accidental Baker

Peanut Butter Tart at Ceres’ — blurry ‘cause...

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 21:06:02 -0400

Peanut Butter Tart at Ceres’ — blurry ‘cause we ate it so fast. Yea Chicago! (Taken with instagram)

Who needs gluten when you have flourless cake from Bittersweet...

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:21:31 -0400

Who needs gluten when you have flourless cake from Bittersweet in Lakeview Chicago (Taken with instagram)

Day 2 in the windy city. Yum at the Gage. (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:13:39 -0400

Day 2 in the windy city. Yum at the Gage. (Taken with instagram)

It isnt deep dish but it’s good! Socca Chicago (Taken with...

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:48:21 -0400

It isnt deep dish but it’s good! Socca Chicago (Taken with instagram)

Favorite beachside sweets are at Gayle’s in Capitola, CA....

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:54:47 -0400

Favorite beachside sweets are at Gayle’s in Capitola, CA. A definite day trip must.

Playing in the Mud: Mississippi Mud Pie It seems like only...

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:35:30 -0400

Playing in the Mud: Mississippi Mud Pie

It seems like only yesterday that I was pounding out mud desserts in my childhood friend’s backyard. I’m not sure if I loved playing the mud because I was never allowed to it at my house or whether our mud pies reminded me of my real favorite dessert, the Mississippi Mud Pie.

Traditional Mud Pies fall into two camps – a pie with ice cream or pudding filling or a dense cake or brownie-like dessert. The key ingredients being chocolate and whipped cream. I love the ice cream version, particularly with chocolate that has a hint of coffee. While ordinarily I’m not one to mess around with chocolate desserts, as part of getting my feet wet in pie making, I tried out this recipe in the new Martha Stewart Pies and Tarts cookbook (see recipe at the end of the post).

The pie is of the pudding filling persuasion and I found it fairly easy to make. I only needed Mr. F’s help while trying to transfer the filling into the pie crust since I selected a bowl that was too heavy. Another added bonus is that only the crust uses the oven and rest is made on the stove keeping your home relatively cool.

I did make a few adjustments. The recipe calls for pecans in the crust and on the top but my family has a strong aversion to nuts in baked goods so I skipped the nuts in the crust. Also, for the part where you are supposed to strain the pudding mixture through a sieve, I used an old colander with small holes. It seemed to work, removing any lumps from the pudding filling.

The result was creamy and rich with a great cookie crunch but not overpowering or sweet. A perfect chocolate dessert for the summer. I recommend using a good cocoa since most of the flavor comes from that ingredient. The pie got rave reviews particularly among those who don’t like sweet desserts.

Mississippi Mud Pie

From Martha Stewart’s New Pies and Tarts Cookbook

Ingredients:

For the crust
25 chocolate wafer cookies (6 ounces) broken into pieces
½ cup pecan halves
4 tbs unsalted butter, melted

For the filling
2/3 c sugar
1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 c cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
2 ½ c milk
4 large egg yolks
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the topping
½ c heavy cream
1 tsp sugar
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
Coarsely chopped pecans, for garnish

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor, grind wafers and pecans until fine crumbs form. Add melted butter; process until combined. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Bake 8 to 10 minutes; transfer pie plate to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Make the filling: Combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Slowly whisk in milk. Cook over medium-high, stirring constantly, until bubbling and thick, about 7 minutes (about 2 minutes after it comes to a boil).

Whisk egg yolks in a medium bowl until combined. Whisk in milk mixture in a slow, steady stream until completely incorporated. Return mixture to saucepan, and cook over medium heat stirring constantly, just until it returns to a boil, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into bowl. Stir in vanilla and butter, 1 piece at a time, until completely smooth.

Pour filling into crust. Press plastic wrap directly on surface of custard; refrigerate 4 hours or up to 1 day.

Make the topping: Just before serving, in a chilled bowl, beat cream, sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Spread whipped cream over pie, and sprinkle with pecans.

Chocolate salted caramel delight (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 20:38:39 -0400

Chocolate salted caramel delight (Taken with instagram)

It’s over 90 degrees, after 8 PM and my oven is on strike

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 13:01:01 -0400

My oven and I are on strike and the BBQ has become employee of the month. Mr. F and I came up with random errands that we could do last night to find refuge in locales with A/C. Yea, Target!

When the temperature gauge start to creep up, I get my baking obsession fix with food fiction or food books. This is also good for those who love food stuff but are baking challenged.

Here are a few of my favorites to add to your summer reading list that won’t make you break into a sweat. (I’ve linked to Amazon so you can see the descriptions but you can usually get these books almost anywhere).

On my bookshelf so I can’t vouch for these:

Out of the Kitchen by Jeannette Ferrary
Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury

Stay cool everyone! I’ll be posting a recipe for Mississippi Mud Pie with very little baking soon.

Super chocolatety birthday cake for my Aunt Beth. As an extreme...

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:00:06 -0400

Super chocolatety birthday cake for my Aunt Beth. As an extreme chocolate lover, I wanted to make something extra special for my Aunt’s birthday. Admittedly, I went a little overboard with this cake…double chocolate cake recipe from Miette, chocolate ganache and white chocolate cream fillings and white chocolate buttercream. By the end of the party all that was left was smudges on the tablecloth so I guess it all worked out! Um yes, the small sliver that was taken out by me…I had to make sure the cake was okay of course. :)

Like Cookie Monster or Godzilla, Mr. F and I recently ate our...

Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:16:00 -0400

NYC here we come!

The famous Zabar's was a must see.

TimeOut Ap took us to Insomnia Cookies

Amazing Eleni's red velvet cupcake

Lobster Place in Chelsea Market

Like I'm in Italy pasta at Macelleria

Choc. chip pancake at Building on Bond

Stolen breakfast sandwich from Mr. F

Mr. F tries to eat cupcake thru window

Like Cookie Monster or Godzilla, Mr. F and I recently ate our way through New York. So many wonderful things, too little time and not enough extra room in our pants.

A highlight of our trip was spending time in the Chelsea Market and staying in Brooklyn. Our first visit was through the Foods of New York tour. A tour about the city where you get to eat. What more could you ask for. I highly recommend this tour group for any foodie visiting New York.

Two must stops at the Chelsea market are The Lobster Place where the seafood couldn’t be any fresher and Eleni’s for the most amazing red velvet cupcakes. Be sure to try the lobster roll sandwich box at the Lobster Place — one of the best Mr. F has ever had. As a lobster lover I take his evaluation very seriously.

We also had fun in Brooklyn at the Building on Bond (eat the breakfast sandwich) and Henry Public (must have the turkey leg sandwich).

Other fun places to try include: Sarabeth’s, Amy’s Bread, Blaue Gens (have the spatzle), Momufoku Milk Bar (try the cookie milk soft serve), Jacque Torres for amazing hot chocolate and Chocolate Bar for liquid chocolate.

Whew, I think I need to go and ate some carrots just thinking about all we ate! With all this good food, good thing there’s so much walking in New York.

Peanut Butter dreams at the Brooklyn Farmacy yippee (Taken with...

Sun, 15 May 2011 20:59:05 -0400

Peanut Butter dreams at the Brooklyn Farmacy yippee (Taken with instagram)

Oh Martha Stewart, how I love to love and hate you! My sister...

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 15:05:50 -0400

Oh Martha Stewart, how I love to love and hate you!

My sister Karen for my birthday gave me the newest Martha Stewart cookbook, New Pies and Tarts. While I admire the how Martha inspires one to be a domestic goddess, when you roll up your sleeves to conquer one of her activities it always drives me a little batty. The fact that I even have to say “conquer” tells you that being a Martha goddess isn’t easy.

For example, for a recent event I thought I would try out the Thin Pear Tart recipe. It seemed simple enough. The thing I didn’t count on is that I’ve never made a crust with cream cheese. When I made the crust I wasn’t sure if this very soft, goopy mess I had made was going to turn into any kind of crust. Now to be fair, the instructions say “(Dough will be sticky.)” but talk about understatement of the year.

Despite slightly unhelpful advice from Mr. F, I decided after making the dough a second time with basically the same result – it must be fine. The rest of the recipe was a breeze and the tarts came out looking more or less like the picture. Oh, and they were scrumptious.

So just when I wanted to really hate Martha, I couldn’t.

World’s Best Hot Fudge Sauce With summer right around the...

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:29:25 -0400

World’s Best Hot Fudge Sauce

With summer right around the corner, I’m taken back to Sunday family outings to a sandwich and ice cream shop with the most amazing sundaes. While I think the ice cream was good, what really stands out in my memory was the hot fudge. In today’s foodie world, its all about the ice cream – slow churned, local, organic, exotic flavors – but when it comes to sundaes all you need is really good hot fudge. Bad hot fudge can leave you sharing your fountain dish with your brother.

Surprising really good hot fudge isn’t hard to make. Who knew?

My favorite recipe is from Maida Heatter’s New Book of Great Desserts adapted slightly by a good family friend and amazing chef, Joanne Donsky. You’ll want to eat this straight of the jar its so good.

1 c. heavy cream

6 Tb. Unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2/3 c. granulated sugar

2/3 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed

Pinch of salt

1 c. strained Dutch-process cocoa powder (this can be found at any supermarket – Hershey’s even makes this kind of cocoa)

1 tsp. vanilla

Put the cream and butter in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Stir until the butter is melted and the cream just comes to a low boil. Add both sugars and stir for a few minutes until they are dissolved. (The best test is to taste until you don’t feel any undissolved granules in your mouth. But be careful – it will be hot!)

Reduce heat. Add salt and cocoa and stir briskly with a whisk until mixture is smooth. Add vanilla. Remove from the heat.

Optional Extra Step: Put the mixture through a strainer to make it smooth.

Serve immediately over ice cream.

Do ahead: Put sauce in a straight-sided glass jar and refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove the top of the jar and microwave the sauce until hot.

Makes 2 cups, enough for 6 to 8 servings.

Amazing berry biscuit from Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park. I was...

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:44:18 -0400

Amazing berry biscuit from Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park. I was suspicious of this sweet and savory item but it was lighter than a typical biscuit and softer than a scone. The powder sugar cuts the tart of the berries. Yum! Two thumbs up. (Taken with instagram)

Now that all the partying from my birthday and the somewhat...

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:40:00 -0400

My "double boiler" it works great!

Getting dry ingredients ready to go

The cake part is a snap - almost done.

See what did I tell you

Looking much better than the first cake!

Looks store bought but better, right!?

Yum, can you guess is this piece 1 or 2?

Now that all the partying from my birthday and the somewhat boring finish to the NCAA March Madness, I can finish my birthday cake or should I say “cakes” posting.

After the disaster with the Bon Appétit too much stove-top and whipping recipe (see earlier post), I opted for the tried and true Junior League of San Francisco San Francisco Flavors Chocolate Fudge Cake. While I botched the frosting a little by adding too much vanilla, Mr. F, always a problem-solver and part-chemistry genius saved the day but suggesting I add a little brewed coffee to balance it out. Since I had coffee from the aforementioned BA mess, this was a winning recommendation. As you can see from the photos, all turned out great and I didn’t regret making my own birthday cake(s) for a second. The frosting job turned out much better than I thought (if I do say so myself) thanks to a class I took last year at the fantastic Miette bakery in Oakland.

Here’s Junior League recipe below. I strongly recommend all their books – tried and true recipes that always turn out great if you follow the directions and none of this Martha Stewart obscure equipment business. (Sorry M.S. but you know it’s true)

Junior League of San Francisco’s Chocolate Fudge Cake

(Adapted from the San Francisco Flavors cookbook)

(Serves 10)

Ingredients:

Cake
2 ½ oz unsweetened chocolate, preferable Scharffen Berger or Ghiradelli, chopped
2/3 c unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¾ c sugar
2 eggs room temp
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 ¼ c all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 ¼ c ice water

Chocolate Frosting
5 oz unsweetened chocolate, preferably Scharffen Berger or Ghiradelli, chopped
4 cups powered sugar
6 tbs hot water
2 eggs at room temperature
2/3 c butter at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter and lightly flour two 8-inch round cake pans. (I only have 9-inch pans which work fine but just remember to reduce the baking time). In a double boiler (or in heat-proof bowl in a skillet with about 2-inches of water) over barely simmering water, melt the chocolate. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and blend. Beat for 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the cooled melted chocolate and mix until well incorporated.
In a small bowl, stir the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add ¼ of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly. Alternatively add the remaining ice water and remaining flour mixture in thirds to the butter mixture, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center STILL has a few moist crumbs. Let cool on wire racks for 3 minutes, then invert the cakes onto the wire racks, unmold, and let cool completely before frosting.
TO MAKE THE FROSTING: In a double boiler over barely simmering water, melt the chocolate. Set aside and let cool.
Prepare a pan of ice water large enough for you to set a large bowl in the center, and put in enough ice water to come at least 3 inches the side of the bowl. (I used our giant lobster pot which worked quite well).
In a large bowl, combine the powered sugar, hot water, eggs, butter, vanilla, salt, and melted chocolate. Beat until thoroughly incorporated. Place the bowl in the pan of ice water and continue beating the frosting until it becomes lighter and forms a ribbon on the surface of the frosting when you pick the beaters up. Do not overbeat, the frosting should just be spreadable. Remove the bowl from the ice water.
Place one cake layer on a serving plate and spread the top with some frosting. Place the second layer on top. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Let the icing set before serving.

Cake for my b-day (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:21:42 -0400

Cake for my b-day (Taken with instagram)

Most people buy cakes for their birthdays. I like to make mine....

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:59:42 -0400

Eek are there English instructions?

Mixing wet ingredients

Things look good...

Ack disaster strikes - flour clumps

Most people buy cakes for their birthdays. I like to make mine. Call me a control freak but its hard to find a cake that I think is chocolately enough. I had been eyeing this recipe on Bon Appetit’s website for Irish Chocolate Mousse Cake. Sounds good right? Well, any recipe that makes you do a lot of stove top cooking always makes me a little nervous and almost every part of this cake uses the stove. What was I thinking! Not one to change my mind, I rolled up my sleeves and told Mr. F I would just start with the cake. That should be easy right? Eggs, flour, sugar, coffee, salt…no problem. (Note at this point Mr. F quickly left the kitchen)

As you can see in the slide show things did not go as planned. Oh, it started out good — I beat everything for what seemed like forever (BA said 8 minutes…mine took closer to 20 min!) Things started to go really wrong when I had to fold in the flour and the flour sunk to the bottom. Unfortunately somehow I left pockets of flour in the batter (see white chunks in the last picture). It was like bad pancakes. On the bright side this was part one of four…stayed tuned for the back up cake.

Huge pot of pasta sauce for my sis Jor’s fundraiser. I...

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 13:37:00 -0400

Huge pot of pasta sauce for my sis Jor’s fundraiser.

I know this isn’t a baked item but I thought a pot of 40 cups of pasta sauce cooked in a lobster pot deserved a posting. This is a double recipe of a long-time family favorite that comes from my cousin Jana and Kara’s mom, Anita Baker. Super easy to make and very yummy — the perfect sauce for a simple pasta meal on these rainy days.

Anita’s Amazing Spaghetti Sauce
5 cloves garlic - minced
1 large onion
fresh mushrooms, sliced (lots)
5 Tbsp. olive oil

Saute above ingredients together in 8 qt. pot. Then add:
3 29 oz. cans of tomato sauce
2 29 oz. cans of tomatoes chopped
1/2 Tbsp. dried parsley
2 Tbsp. dried basil
1 Tbsp. oregano
1 bay leaf
sugar to taste

Simmer (uncovered) until thick, stirring occassionally (at least 4 hrs.). Makes 4-5 qts. and freezes well.

Anita recommends using Contadina brand sauce and tomatoes.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies. They have such a distinct...

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 02:10:15 -0500

Whipping up a little dough

Chocolate Chip Crunchies

Homemade chocolate chip cookies. They have such a distinct flavor – even “homemade” versions sold in stores don’t taste the same as what your mom, aunt or grandmother made for you when you were little. There seems to be two distinct camps of choc. Chip lovers – cakey or crispy. I tend to like the cakey version best, probably because that’s what my mom always made, but I thought I would try a very crispy version for a change.

The recipe, Chocolate Chip Crunchies comes from book, The Chocolate Chip Murder by Joanne Fluke. I’ve become slightly addicted to these light, baking murder mysteries so I thought I would try one of the recipes from the book. It’s a pretty standard chocolate chip recipe except you melt the butter and add cornflakes. The dough is excellent…the cookies need a little work.

I made these once before with Crispix (we didn’t have corn flakes) but the corn aftertaste was too strong. While I have been happily eating these cookies from the freezer, the corn flakes gave the cookies a slightly chewiness that wasn’t all together pleasant. I think for the next batch I would tone the sugar down and use the Milk Crumbs by Cristina Tosi (check out the recipe her from Bon Appétit) to give the cookie a little crunch without the chew.

Which camp are you in…cakey or crispy?

Eager to redeem myself from the last recipe disaster (see Carrot...

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 20:07:27 -0500

Blueberry and Cream Cookies Ingredients

Blending into more of a cake batter

Cookies taking over my fridge!

Yum! Look just like the picture!

Eager to redeem myself from the last recipe disaster (see Carrot Cake posting), I thought it was high time I made Christina Tosi’s of Momofuku and David Chang fame Blueberry and Cream Cookies. My sister Karen brought her cookies to my husband’s aunt the first time the families met. While I tried to be polite, a blue cookie monster just took over me and I think you can imagine what happened to these cookies for my in-laws. They were just so good. I’ve been known to travel distances for a good dessert but to New York? Fuhgettaboutit. Boy, was I excited when I saw the Bon Appetit feature on Christina and her awesome desserts last September. Bon Appetit did not steer me wrong - no user error with this one. Crispy on the edges and chewy in the center just like I remembered. While Mr. F wasn’t thrilled about the blueberries, I did my awesome cookie dance. I definitely recommend making these treats. Check out the Blueberry and Cream cookies on the BA’s website.