Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

I found a nice little gem in South End area of Charlotte. Savory Spice Shop is exactly what its name says it is, a spice shop. They have your regular spices, variations of those same spices, and your ethnic specific spices. I'm fascinated by the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) differences in the variations of spices and extracts. There is a small salt display that has varying types of salts and salt blends: fleur de sel, pink, black and truffle salt to name a few. The truffle salt smells divine. I plan on getting some on my next visit. This time I got Ceylon cinnamon (also known as "true" cinnamon), Tahitian vanilla, coffee and raspberry extracts, Dutch and Black Onyx cocoas. Ceylon cinnamon has a more delicate, floral, sweet smell than the traditional cinnamon you find in the grocery store. This doesn't mean that it has less flavor, but think of it having its sharp edges rounded. I have already baked with this one and I definitely prefer it over the other cinnamons. Tahitian is similar in its comparison to the other vanillas.  The Tahitian is definitely my favorite. Next in line is Madagascar vanilla followed by Mexican. They have several different kinds of cocoas, plain and Dutch cocoas as well as Mexican and Mayan blends. There is one that is called Black Onyx Cocoa, which smells like Oreo cookies and is black as midnight. I couldn't resist getting that one and I look forward to playing around with that one in the kitchen. I’m thinking homemade oreo cookies. If you have Savory Spice shop or another spice shop near where you live, you should definitely check it out.

Decorating Like Crazy!

I’ve been decorating cakes for a very long time, but I’ve never had any formal training. So, I decided to sign up for some cake decorating classes. I had a lot of the basics, but I wanted to tweak my method and learn a few new techniques in course 1. I have to say that my absolute favorite is the icing tip. I LOVE the icing tip. It makes frosting a cake so much easier. It helps you put a relatively consistent layer of frosting on the outside of the cake, it goes on more smoothly, and for me it’s quicker. You still need to smooth the frosting with a spatula, but it is so much nicer. Getting your frosting nice and smooth is a real pain in the butt, but if you use the paper towel technique, you can get an awesomely smooth frosted cake! 

Have you ever made a layer cake with a non-frosting filling (i.e. lemon or raspberry curd) and have the filling ooze out and the layers slip and slide everywhere? A couple of summers ago, I was visiting my in-laws and made a coconut cake with a lemon filling for my father-in-law’s birthday and the filling was too thin and completely oozed out taking some of the side frosting with it. It’s beyond frustrating, but now that shouldn’t happen. If you pipe a ring of very thick frosting around the edge of the layer of cake that you’re going to put the filling, the filling and the cakes should stay put.  We also learned some fun ways to decorate and fill cupcakes. In our very first class, the teacher demonstrated how to make a ribbon rose that she would teach us in our last class. We were celebrating my mom’s birthday that weekend, so I attempted to make a ribbon rose. I couldn’t get it to work. After several failed attempts, it dawned on me to look for a video online. I ended up finding a video for a “lazy” ribbon rose. That seemed to work out well, but the edges ended up a bit raggedy. I found out later that adding corn syrup or clear piping gel will correct that problem.

I made a violet flavored cake with violet flavored frosting for Mom's cake. The trick it to put just enough extract in without it tasting like soap. It was a success!

Here is the first cake I decorated in class. It felt quite easy after the one I made for Mom's birthday.

This is the final cake that I made for Course 1. I was able to get the cake very smooth using the icing tip and the paper towel method. It's a peanut butter cake with peanut butter filling and chocolate frosting on the outside. I need to make it again because I forgot to write down the chocolate frosting recipe.

Here is the final cake. It was during this class when I learned about the corn syrup/piping gel trick to smooth out the frosting.

Last month I signed up for the fondant and gum paste class. I really had a lot of fun with this class. It made me feel like a kid playing with clay.  I thought working with fondant and gum paste would be much more difficult. My favorite part was learning how to make flowers. The botany classes that I had to take in college and grad school weren’t a complete waste. There is something captivating about shaping and forming a flower and seeing it come together before your very eyes.

Calla Lilies

Carnation. Carnations hold a special place in my heart. When I was little, every so often I would walk up to the flower shop and buy my mother a carnation. It was usually a single carnation. I loved to see the look on my mother's face when I gave it to her.

Rose

I spent a good bit of time that following week and weekend making roses and playing with the technique, thinking about how the flower is formed and the characteristics of each petal. 

For the last class we had to make a cake, cover it with fondant and decorate it with fondant and/or gum paste. I made this fabulous strawberry spice cake that I adapted from Cooking Light magazine with a strawberry frosting. It wasn’t as difficult cover the cake in fondant as I thought it would be. Using fondant makes a very pretty cake and the taste of the fondant that I used wasn’t bad, but I prefer to eat cakes covered in frosting.  I am quite pleased with how my cake turned out. The hardest part was cutting the cake. I stood there with the knife poised over the cake for a couple of minutes before I could bring myself to make that first cut.

Kolaczki: My version of a traditional Polish Cookie

I remember the first time Mike and I were going to Poland and I told a friend about our upcoming trip and she said, “Poland? Why Poland?” My first thought was, “Why not?” Poland is a beautiful county with a very rich history and wonderful people. My paternal grandfather was born in Łodz. We have some very, very dear friends who live Poznań. They have become part of our family. And 2 years ago we adopted our daughter from Poland. Poland is very dear to my heart.

Kolaczki (pronounced: kolachkee or kowachkee*) is a popular traditional Polish cookie. It is also referred to as a cream cheese cookie.  The cookie is a very light and flaky cookie that isn’t very sweet. I like how the raspberry preserves provide a slight tartness with its sweetness. The confectioners’ sugar adds a light sweet finish. They all combine for a very pleasant experience.

Kolaczki

1 stick + 6 tbsp margarine

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1 ½ cup all-purpose 

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 jar of raspberry preserves (or your favorite preserves)

confectioners’ sugar

·      Combine and whisk the flour and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

·      In a mixing bowl, beat the margarine and mayonnaise until well combined and fluffy.

·      Add vanilla extract.

·      Slowly add the flour and sugar mixture ½ cup at a time until thoroughly mixed.

·      Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour (wrap the dough in plastic wrap).

·      Preheat the oven to 350°F.

·      Dust your pastry mat or counter with a mixture composed of equal amounts of granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar (approximately ½ cup of each whisked together).

·      In small batches, roll the dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch.

·      With a 2 inch square cookie cutter, cut the dough and place on a lined cookie sheet.

·      Place ½ tsp of raspberry preserves in the center of each square. Overlap the opposite corners of dough over the center of the filling.

·      Bake for 15 minutes or until the corners are just turning light golden brown.

·      Cool.

·      Store in an airtight container.

·      Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Did you know that peanuts are not really nuts, but are members of the legume (bean) family? I had no idea until I took a botany classification class in grad school. It is also known as a groundnut because the flower of the peanut plant bends to the ground and pushes the ovary underground where it matures. Peanuts were domesticated around 2000 BCE in South America.

They can be prepared many different ways, but one of my favorite ways is in the form of peanut butter. Peanut butter is one of life’s comfort foods or at least it’s one of my comfort foods. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich can instantly take you back to your childhood. Peanut butter cookies are one of my absolute favorite cookies. I’ve spent a long time and made MANY batches of them and according to my husband I have perfected the recipe. I don’t know if it’s really perfect, but I LOVE them. While it’s not necessary to put the fork marks on the top of the cookies (I skipped that part for a while), I kinda like having the marks. They are characteristic of peanut butter cookies and they do seem to alter the texture just a little bit by compressing the center of the cookie. I have tried several different brands and types of peanut butter. We prefer the results that I get with Jif’s creamy peanut butter*. I tried using their natural peanut butter, as that is the one I use on my toast and for sandwiches, but we didn’t care for the texture of the cookie. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

*I do NOT receive any compensation from Jif. This is just the particular brand I use and I like the results that I get. You can use whatever brand you like.

Ingredients:

1¼ cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ cup Fleischmann’s unsalted margarine sticks

⅔ cup creamy peanut butter (you can use chunky if you prefer)

¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

¼ all-purpose flour for making cross marks (optional)

·      Preheat oven to 375°F.

·      Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners. (I use both)

·      Combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl and whisk.

·      Beat the margarine and butter on high in your mixing bowl.

·      Add the brown and granulated sugars. Beat until combined.

·      Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until combined.

·      Pour the flour mixture in to the mixing bowl and beat until completely combined.

·      Roll 1 tbsp of dough into a ball and place on a lined cookie sheet.

·      Place balls about 2 inches apart.

·      If you are going to make the cross marks, lightly rub the tines of a fork in the flour.

·      Press the tines across the center of the cookie twice, once going horizontally and then vertically.

·      Bake for 7-9 minutes. The bottoms should be lightly browned.

·      Cool on a wire rack, if you can wait that long.

Frustrating Frosting

I've been taking a cake decorating class and for the most part I love it. It's been a lot of fun and I like improving my decorating skills and learning new techniques. I don't care for the "buttercream" recipe, though. As you know from several of my recipes, I usually use all margarine in my "buttercream" frosting. The instructor's recipe calls for mostly shortening and a little margarine. I really don't care for the taste at all. Even with flavorings and extracts, the taste and texture is not pleasant to my personal palate. For a long time I have wanted to try my hand at Italian or Swiss meringue buttercream. For those of you who aren't familiar with this type of frosting, it's a egg white frosting (like a 7 minute frosting) with butter whipped into. Obviously, I can't use butter. I have tried several times to use margarine and so far, all attempts have been met with failure. It's been quite frustrating. I've asked someone who is quite adept at baking and unfortunately for me, they are a baking purist. You never use anything other than butter. Well, that's all well and good if you can eat butter, but if you are allergic or intolerant, that's just not possible. I am not giving up, yet! I will keep trying. I will try adding more margarine and also try a different dairy free brand.  Hopefully, I will get it and will be able to share a dairy free Italian/Swiss meringue buttercream frosting recipe with you all. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Update: The frosting is frustrating no more! Check out my Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe. This is the ultimate chocolate frosting!

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day! 3.14159…. The number used by mathematicians to calculate the circumference of a circle. In honor of Pi Day I am posting my recipe for Chicken Pot Pie.  Chicken pot pie is not only great comfort food, but also a great way to use left over chicken (or turkey for turkey pot pie). In this recipe, I use a whole chicken that I’ve picked up already cooked at the grocery store, but you can use left over chicken just as well. The Pilsbury piecrust is dairy free, but I ALWAYS check the ingredients just in case they have changed. You can use your own homemade recipe if you prefer. I have one, but sometimes this is just quicker at the end of the day.

1 onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

1 (10oz) bag peas and carrots

3 cups southern style hash browns (the ones that are cubed)

zest of 1 lemon

4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

32 oz chicken stock

1 whole chicken, meat cut up (or your left over meat)

1 pkg of Pilsbury piecrust

·      Sauté onion and celery until tender.

·      Add garlic, peas, and carrots.

·      Cook for 5 minutes (stirring occasionally)

·      Add hash browns, lemon, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper and stock.

·      Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 min.

·      Add chicken.

·      Remove from heat and let cool.

·      Preheat oven to 400°F.

·      Place the bottom crust into the pie pan.

·      Pour ½ of the cooled filling to crust.*

·      Place the remaining crust on top.

·      Fold edges under and crimp.

·      Cut some steam holes in the top of the crust.

·      Cover edges of crust with foil.

·      Bake for 20 minutes.

·      Move pie to the bottom rack for 10 minutes (it helps to brown the bottom crust).

·      Remove and cool for 10 minutes.

*Place the remaining filling in a container or zip top bag and place in the freezer for a quick and easy dinner at a later date!

Potato Soup

I like to try and keep a variety of soups in the freezer during the winter months.  Steaming hot soup and some fresh bread is a great quick and easy dinner. When you don’t feel like cooking it's always nice if you can pull some soup from the freezer.  Most potato soups have milk and/ or cheese in them. You’ll never miss the milk/cheese in this diary free potato soup.  The ingredients in this hearty soup are simple and straightforward, but the ham and prosciutto add fabulous flavor. The prosciutto is optional and don’t worry if you decide not to use it because you will have plenty of flavor with the ham.

4 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, 1 inch cubed (I leave the skin on)

2 onions, chopped

5 celery stalks, chopped

6-8 carrots, chopped (approximately 1 lb bag)

1 tsp garlic, minced

1-1.25 lbs ham (2-3 ¼ inch thick slices), cut into ½ inch squares

2 slices of prosciutto, very finely chopped (optional)

70-78 oz chicken stock

1 tbsp dried parsley

1-2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

·      Cut your ham.

·      In a stock pot, heat oil at medium-high heat. .

·      Add your ham and sauté until the pieces are slightly caramelized.

·      Remove from pot and set aside.

·      Add the prosciutto to the pot and cook until it starts to become crispy.

·      Add the chopped onions, celery, and carrots to the prosciutto. Cook until tender, approximately 20 minutes.

·      During the last 2-3 minutes of cooking the vegetables, add the garlic.

·      Dump the potatoes and ½ cup of ham into the pot of vegetables.

·      Pour 70 oz of stock into the pot. Add additional stock until the potatoes are covered.

·      Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Make sure the potatoes are tender.

·      Turn of the burner.

·      Blend with an immersion blender (food processor or blender) to desired thinness. I prefer to be pretty chucky.

·      Add the remaining ham and parsley to the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes.

·      Taste the soup before adding the salt. The ham (and prosciutto) will add plenty of salt.