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By mlb, on February 12th, 2013%
Valentine’s Day Baking Tips & Tricks at Darigold in Seattle
I was recently invited to a dairy baking demonstration at Darigold headquarters in Seattle. And of course, when someone invites you to spend the day in Seattle tasting fancy desserts and pastries made with mountains of cream and butter, the correct response is, “Yes! Of course I will attend!”
Upon arriving at Darigold, we had a butter and sour cream tasting, learned a bit about the company and then it was time for the demonstrations and dessert tastings.
Chef Pierre Fauvet was on hand to take us through the creation of not three or even four desserts but five! Five dairy-rich, decadent desserts. Such a difficult way to spend an afternoon. In addition to Sour Cream Raspberry Chambord Cheesecake, we also sampled Salted Caramel Tart, Cream Puff Swans, Raspberry Cream Tart and Chocolate Eclairs.
I’ve posted the cheesecake recipe below. It would definitely make a wonderful Valentine’s Day dessert, but it does need to chill overnight, so plan accordingly.
 . . . → Read More: Valentine’s Day Dessert: Sour Cream Raspberry Chambord Cheesecake
By mlb, on January 19th, 2013%
I received the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook for Christmas and besides being a beautiful cookbook, it also appears to have my most favorite muffin recipe ever in it. Originally, the recipe was for carrot muffins but I have been using squash (once butternut and most recently delicata) to make wonderful, somewhat healthy, winter muffins.
The cookbook gives all the measurements in gram weights as well as cups/teaspoons/etc…and while I can see how that’s useful, I really only weighed my flours and squash. You, of course, are free to weigh your eggs and baking soda, but you’ll need to buy the book for those amounts. Or not weigh anything at all, of course.
These are seriously the best muffins ever. Not too sweet (but with a nicely sweet topping) and enough healthy ingredients to not make you feel too guilty about the butter and sugar. And of course, feel free to substitute the original grated carrots for the squash.
The struesel topping recipe make more than you will need for one batch of muffins. Store the leftovers for the next batch in the fridge and you should have just enough to cover those as . . . → Read More: Butternut Squash Muffins with Oat Streusel Topping
By mlb, on January 10th, 2013%
The French Fridays with Dorie recipe this week was Long & Slow Apples and the recipe is posted in the LA Times Food section, so I’ll supply the link.
But, here’s my thing — whispers — I didn’t really like this one.
I thought it was a lot of work (not even counting the two hours, inactive roasting time) and had surprisingly, very little flavor. And the fault totally could have been with my apple choice (I used what we had on hand, two Pacific Rose apples, which I love for eating, so I’m kind of bummed I wasted them here). But. Meh.
Notes: I used the one side of a box grater for making thin slices out of things and subbed parchment for plastic wrap because I just do not trust putting plastic wrap in the oven. Instead of another ramekin, I weighted the tops down with pie beads wrapped in foil.
For a topping, I didn’t have any cream to whip or ice cream, so I flavored some Greek yogurt with a little maple syrup, ginger and cinnamon. I loved that, actually.
Okay, my photos below and everyone’s posts are . . . → Read More: FFwD: Long & Slow Apples
By mlb, on December 19th, 2012%
Over the weekend, I had a plan to make holiday cookies, the kind with frosting and everything. And at the end of the day (and a fairly cramped right hand later), I’m proud to say that I ended up with these cute little fireplace cookies.
They’re especially nice because you can make them as Christmas-y as you want or even adapt the decorations to whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year. You could also just make and eat them because it is winter and you are sitting in front of a warm, toasty fire (meta). They are very versatile cookies.
I also made these using one of my new favorite ingredients — black cocoa powder.
Black Cocoa Cookies
Original recipe origin unknown
1 1/2 cups butter, softened (I have also used 1 cup shortening and 1/2 cup butter in this recipe and it works just as well)
2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups AP flour
1 /2 Dutch process cocoa
1/2 cup black cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, combining well. Add . . . → Read More: Holiday Cookies: Festive Fireplaces (and Skeletons)
By mlb, on December 2nd, 2012%
It’s funny, I’ve had this blog since 2005 but it seems just in the last year or so, I am getting so many offers to review/cook with/bake with/asked to enter cooking contests for a whole bunch of products and ingredients. This has been interesting and a lot of fun. On that topic, this post features a short review of Gevalia Coffee that I was recently sent.
First up: the coffee: Now, I don’t really talk about beverages very often on this blog, but this opportunity intrigued me. Mainly because I am familiar with Gevalia and although hadn’t had any for a number of years, I remember it specifically, when I tried some at my Grandfather’s house many years ago.
I liked the Cinnamon blend so much one year when we were visiting for Thanksgiving, I think he either gave me some to take back to school or maybe I bought some. I’m not sure now (because I am old), but I was very interested in trying some again.
Gevalia generously sent me 1853 Heritage Blend, Café Sperl in whole . . . → Read More: Applesauce Oat Spice Muffins Plus Adventures with Gevalia Coffee
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