Monday, October 11, 2010

Orange Lace Cookies - An Amature Trial


makes about 60, even after casualties





Ingredients
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (8 oz) sugar
3/4 cup (3 oz) flour
1/2 cup (4 oz) orange juice
1 stick (4 oz) butter
1 orange zest - I was lazy and simply used orange juice with pulp

Needs
Silpat 11-5/8-by-16-1/2-Inch Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat - I don't have. Used parchment paper instead.
Professional Offset Spatula Set, Ateco - I don't have
. Used my hands, shhhh.
Not the right way to do it...
1. Stir together the flour and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Melt the butter. I like to stick it in the microwave in 30-second intervals until it’s liquefied.
3. Add the orange zest to the bowl with the juice…then pour the juice over the flour.
4. Whisk until it’s smooth as a baby’s bottom.
5. Then pour in the butter and whisk until that’s completely incorporated. There’s still stubborn butter pooling at the edges of this bowl. Better get that all incorporated.

This needs to be refrigerated before proceeding. At least 2 hours or overnight. Actually this batter can be kept in your fridge for up to 3 days, as long as it’s wrapped tightly.


6. Now it’s later and we’re ready to bake. First preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Then fill a pastry bag, outfitted with a small plain tip, with batter. (You can also fill a ziplock back, then snip off a bit of the corner.)
7. Pipe nickel-sized rounds on Silpat-lined cookie sheets, spaced 3 inches apart. Yes, space them far apart. You’ll thank me later. And use the flattest sheet pans you’ve got or the batter will slide around. You will have way more batter than sheet pans, so you’ll need to bake them in batches. Or bake some today, and then some tomorrow.
8. Bake for about 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on these. You want them golden orange. If they get into the brown palette, they start to get bitter.
Comments:
Fun crunchy cookies; not worth the work. Also, I thought I was supposed to squeeze them onto the cooking sheet as perfect dots and they would naturally spread out to form a lace shape. Turns out I was wrong, simply squeeze zig zag circle mess and it turns out to be beautiful crunchy lace.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Fun Fruit Marzipan

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces almond paste
  • 2 cups confectioners' sugar
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup
  • 3 drops any color food coloring
Directions:
Watch cute video of little girl making pumpkin marzipan and learn. Watch here.Okay let's be real and cut out the girl, this is a much faster and self explanatory video on how to make the shapes.

Voilà

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Fruit & Vegetable Season Chart

Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Asparagus
Apricots
Apples
Beets
Blackberries
Blueberries
Broccoli
Cabbage
Green Onions
Cherries
Brussels Sprouts
Carrots
Leeks
Eggplant
Cauliflower
Citrus
Lettuces
Fresh Herbs
Collards
Daikon Radishes
New Potatoes
Green Beans
Grapes
Onions
Peas
Hot Peppers
Kale
Rutabagas
Red Radishes
Melons
Pears
Turnips
Rhubarb
Okra
Persimmons
Winter Squash
Spinach
Peaches
Pumpkins
Strawberries
Plums
Winter Squash
Watercress
Sweet Corn
Yams
Sweet Peppers
Tomatoes
Zucchini

Warm Granny Smith Apple Pie

Fresh Apple Pie
+

4-Ingredient Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean

Here's How:
★ Recipe Serves 8  ★ Total Prep Time 25 Minutes. Total Bake Time 60 Minutes  ★  Serve Warm With Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop on the Side  ★


Ingredients:
1 box Pillsbury refrigerated pie dough (comes with 2 x 9" inch pie doughs) 

Filling:
from Judy's Perfect Apple Pie recipe. Modified version posted below.

7 cups thinly sliced peeled baking apples (Approx. 7 apples. Recommend using Granny Smith apples. I also added in 1 Pink Lady and 1 McIntosh)
2 tablespoons lemon juice (Approx 1 fresh lemon squeezed)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 egg yolk


Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. In bowl 1, place peeled and cut all apples. Add lemon juice.
  3. In bowl 2, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Mix and then add to bowl 1. Toss.
  4. Place pie dough into 9" inch pie pan. Pour filling into pie pan. Dot with butter on top of filling.
  5. Either decoratively cover the pie as I did in picture above, or cover flat pie dough on pie and cut slits in the middle. Seal top and bottom pie crust together and decoratively wave pie edges.
  6. Beat egg yolk and water; brush over pastry top.
  7. Bake at 425 degrees F for 14 minutes. Reduce hat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 40-45 minutes until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.