Bunnies and Eating Contests

So a few weeks ago on a trip to the San Marcos outlets I came across this $50 3-D bunny pan on sale for $14.. So clearly I had to get it!



I of course wanted to make the bunny cake for easter, and decided on a nice lemon cake with vanilla buttercream.

Ingredients for Lemon Bunny Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3⁄4 tsp. lemon oil
4 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat an oven to 325ºF. Grease the bunny!

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and lemon oil. Add the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Reduce the speed to low and fold in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour, beating until smooth and combined.



Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.



Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Set the rack over a sheet of waxed paper, invert the pan onto the rack and lift off the pan.

I actually ended up having to double this recipe because it didn't fill up the bunny all the way, and since i had some left over, I just made a few cupcakes:



Here is bunny cooling:



And here are where the issues start:



I COULD NOT get the buttercream to stiffen and stay on the bunny so I ended up just having to move the whole process INTO the freezer:



All issues aside.. he turned out great, and tasted even better!




On another note.. Last weekend was the Poteet Strawberry Festival. I had never been, so I decided to go with one of my co-workers, April, and her 2 year old daughter.

Here is Mikayla, adorable as ever:



As we were walking around.. we noticed that there was a Strawberry eating contest.
There was an 18-20 year old category.. and April jokingly said that I should enter... so I did... and I won!



Showing the judges I was done:



A proud moment :)

March: Herbs & Cake

So since i've moved out and been doing all my own cooking, i've discovered how expensive fresh herbs are. They give you a plastic container of way-too-many-for-one-recipe herbs that spoil before you get the chance to use all of them, so I decided to start an herb garden. :)


Oregano, Basil, Cilantro, and Rosemary

Also...

Max's Great Aunt and Uncle are in town on vacation from France, and I was asked to make his Aunt Karin's 70th Birthday cake.

The cake that I decided to make is a recipe from the the Rather Sweet Bakery in Fredericksberg.

The Tuxedo Cake:

For The Cake



1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 cups water
1 cup canola oil
4 cups sugar
1 cup high-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For The Whipped Cream Frosting
4 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

For The Chocolate Glaze
4 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate , chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup lyle's golden syrup (*this is imported from britain if you can't find it you can substitute light corn syrup)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
To make the cake: For a three-layer cake, place one baking rack one-third from the bottom of the oven and the second two-thirds from the bottom.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°.
Line the bottom of three 9-inch or two 10-inch pans with parchment paper rounds, grease with butter, and dust with flour (Or spray with Baker's Joy).

Combine the butter, water and canola oil in a medium saucepan set over medium heat.


In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, cocoa and flour.


Pour the butter mixture into the sugar mixture and whisk until smooth.
Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, then whisk in the buttermilk.


Whisk in the baking soda, salt and vanilla all at once.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pans.


For a three-layer cake, stagger the cake layers on the oven racks so that no layer is directly over another.
Set two layers on one rack and the third on the other.

For a 2-layer cake, stagger the layers on the middle rack with one placed more toward the front of the oven and one toward the back.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Monitor the layers carefully for doneness; each one may be done at different times.

Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on racks for about 15 minutes before inverting onto baking racks.
Cool the cakes completely, at least two hours, before frosting.


Since I needed to make this cake a day ahead of time, I actually decided to freeze the layers overnight so that they wouldn't dry out. all i did was wrap each layer in saran wrap, and then again in foil, and froze them overnight.

This is traditionally just a three layer cake, but I decided to experiment with torting the layers. This basically just means to slice in half through the center of the cake to make 2 thin layers instead of the 1 thin layer. I actually found a cool little contraption for $3 that used a wire to cut evenly through each layer so that they were all even.


Here are all 6 after torting each layer:


In order to lock in as much moisture as possible, I made up some simple syrup with 2 parts water, 1 part dissolved sugar in a little spray bottle. I sprayed each layer with just a little bit of the syrup before frosting.



To Make Frosting:
Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the cream in a large bowl on high speed until soft peaks form.
Add the powdered sugar and whip until thoroughly combined.
Place one cake layer on a plate and spread some of the frosting over the top.
Top with the remaining layers, thickly coating the top and sides of each with frosting.
Refrigerate the cake until the whipped cream frosting has stabilized, at least one hour.



To Make The Glaze:
Place the chocolate in a medium bowl.
Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it is very hot and just beginning to steam.
Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until it has melted completely.
Stir in the syrup and the vanilla.
Pour the glaze into a medium pitcher or measuring cup and let cool for ten minutes.
Do not let the glaze sit longer because it will stiffen and become difficult to pour over the cake.
Slowly pour the glaze over the cake, ensuring that it covers the top of the cake entirely, but make sure some of the cream frosting shows through the drizzles on the sides. (If the glaze doesn't flow easily over the edge of the cake,don't be afraid to add an extra tablespoon or two of the syrup. I probably should have added a little bit more on this one).

Refrigerate the cake until the glaze is set and the whipped cream frosting is firm, at least one hour.



Even after 12 people, there was still quite a bit of cake left-- even though it didn't look as pretty anymore. But it was definitely very tasty--(Tasty enough to keep a 5 year old quiet for a full 5 minutes.)


As a side note:
Here is my new strategy to working off all of these cake pounds:

Lately...

I feel like I'm kind of bad at this whole blog updating thing... but I am taking 20 hours and working this semester, so I feel like that's kind of ok.

So I recently decided that buying all this bread flour is getting a little bit expensive, and that I'm using it all really, really fast. So obviously I just went to Costco and bought a 50 lb. bag of bread flour. I mean it WAS only $12...



Also, the last couple of weeks I have really latched on to a certain Amish White Bread Recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amish-White-Bread/Detail.aspx

I swear to you, ANYONE could bake this bread.

You need:

2 cups warm water
2/3 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast (About 1 of those little packages)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cups bread flour (You really can just use all-purpose if you don't have any bread flour at home. It's not worth a trip to the store.)

In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam. (I had never had trouble with this until the last time I tried it. I left it for the usual 10 minutes or so, and nothing happened. I think that if the water is TOO hot, it kills the yeast, so you want to go for just warm enough to dissolve the sugar and yeast, but no warmer.)

Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth.

Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.



Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes, and divide in half.

Shape into loaves, and place into two well oiled 9x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.




Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.



SO GOOD!!

Also, I think that I am officially a foodie nerd. I didn't throw a party to celebrate the beginning of spring break..I made a celebration dinner! :)

On the menu:

Tilapia with Mango Salsa and Black Beans
Fresh Asparagus
New Potatoes

Tilapia:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (6 ounce) tilapia fillets

For Mango Salsa:

1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.



For the Tilapia Marinade:

Whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the tilapia fillets, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. (I just make it whenever I have time in the early afternoon, and let it sit until I am ready to use. There is really no such thing as over-marinating.)




I don't have access to a grill right now, so i just lined the bottom of a baking dish with aluminum foil, placed the filets in and poured the rest of the marinade over the top. Cover the baking dish and cook in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, and then uncover and cook for about another 10, or until done.

I just roasted some new potatoes and asparagus to go along with it, but really anything that you have (rice, pasta..) could go well with this also.

I served on a bed of black beans, with the salsa on top. This plate is so PRETTY!



and since this is spring break I will probably be doing a lot of baking...

(Way Past Due) Valentine's Day Dinner For Two

So.. Since Max and I actually were living in the same state during this Valentine's Day, and I actually sort of have my own kitchen, I wanted to make dinner instead of go out to an over-crowded, overpriced restaurant. I wasn't entirely sure what to make, but Max had requested some sort of jalapeno- cheese bread or rolls, so that was definitely going on the menu. This is what I decided on:


Jalapeno Rolls with Cheddar and Parmesan



Ricotta, Gorgonzola, Spinach and Bacon stuffed Chicken Breasts




Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes




Chocolate Souffles with Amy's Just Vanilla Ice Cream and a Chocolate-Covered Strawberry (I may have gotten a little carried away with the dessert, but it just looked SO pretty!)






I actually had a lot of trouble finding a jalapeno cheese ROLL recipe that I liked, so I just used a loaf recipe and crossed my fingers. They really turned out great for the amount of improvising that I ended up doing.

The chicken was a little bit interesting because it just really would NOT stay together. You can probably see all of the toothpicks sticking out that I tried to use to hold them together. In order to "stuff" them, you basically have two options: You can get really thick chicken breasts and cut an actual pocket into them, OR you can try my way. (I actually think the first would have probably been a better choice.) I got fairly thin breasts and actually pounded them out even thinner under some parchment paper. Then I piled the filling mixture (Spinach, Ricotta, Gorgonzola, Crumbled bacon, garlic and 1 egg) into the middle, and sort of rolled it up. This worked ok, except that the filling started spilling out the sides. The toothpicks are all there to try to hold the sides together. This was a little complicated, but VERY tasty.

Now i've never actually had a twice baked sweet potato in this form, but i've had lots of sweet potato casseroles, so I figured I could sort of re-create that for a nice in the skin presentation. I cooked the sweet potatoes in the oven for about an hour, and after they had cooled down, scooped their contents into my mixing bowl. I mixed in butter, cream cheese, brown sugar, and a little bit of cream, whipped it together, put it in a plastic ziplock and squeezed it back out into the skins in cute little dollops.

Now for dessert:

I've never made a soufflé before, so this is the recipe that i used:

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/160/Dark-Chocolate-Souffle

There are very step by step instructions that are very helpful.
In a souffle, the whipped egg whites are what give it the rise. In the recipe, he gives you the option of putting an extra egg white or two for extra rise, but I ended up forgetting to do that, so mine didn't really rise as much as they should have. They were still good though!

Finished Dinner Plate:



And Dessert:






YUM

Bread Bread Bread Fridays

SO. I have a challenge. Is it possible to go an entire year without buying a loaf of store-bought bread?? (Although I do admit I bought probably 2 loaves the first few weeks of January before I got my mixer..But i'll just extend my challenge into January 2011.)

So on Fridays, since I don't have class or work, I've sort of made it my baking/laundry/baking/cleaning/baking day.

This past Friday I baked FOUR loaves of bread!

1 Loaf of Honey Oat (For Sandwiches for the week.)
3 Loaves of Cinnamon Raisin (1 for my family, 1 for Max's family, and 1 for us!)

They both turned out much better than I expected!


Honey Oat during 2nd rise:




This is the Finished Honey Oat:



Now the Honey Oat was good, but the Cinnamon Raisin was awesome! My roommates don't even like raisins and they've still been eating this as toast in the mornings. The Cinnamon raisin bread is based off of this recipe: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/cinnamonraisinoatmealbread

If you've never visited TheFreshLoaf... go there now! It is so inspiring! I read for hours before deciding on this recipe, and this will probably be one of my main sources of inspiration for friday bread day.

Anyway... Here's my spin on The Fresh Loaf's Cinnamon Raisin:

(Warning: this is a THREE loaf recipe.. I didn't feel like doing the calculations for fear of messing it up.. so i just ran to TJ Maxx and bought 2 more loaf pans for $4.99 each-- this way I could rise and bake all 3 at once. ) I don't think dividing everything by 3 would have too much of an impact on this particular recipe though.

What you need is:

5 cups of all purpose or bread flour
2 cups of whole wheat flour (I've been using a lot of whole wheat since I scored 2 bags of King Arthur in the Discount Bins at HEB)
1 1/2 cups of rolled oats
2 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of milk
3 Tbs of Honey
5 1/2 Tbs of Vegetable Oil
1 Tbs + 1 tsp of Salt
1 1/4 Tbs of dried instant yeast
3 Tbs Cinnamon (It only called for 2 but I like a lot of cinnamon)
2 cups soaked and drained raisins


Before you begin:

Go ahead and start soaking the raisins and the oats (separately) in water to plump them. In the finished bread you can DEFINITELY tell that the raisins have been plumped- especially the ones on top. (For the oats you will use 2 of the 2 1/2 cups of water listed above.)



Right before you add the raisins to the loaf, you'll pour them through a strainer to remove the water- but the oats will go directly into the dough- water and all.

Next, warm the remaining 1/2 cup of water, and dissolve the yeast into it. I usually just do this with a 1 cup measuring cup, and use warm water from the sink. This step-- if you're using dried yeast like I do-- just activates the yeast before it's added in- which will later cause the beautiful rise in your loaf.

Next, mix the soaked oats (water and all), flours, yeast, milk, honey, oil, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well, until all of the flour is hydrated. Knead by hand for 5 minutes or in a standmixer for about 3.

After it all kneaded and ready, it should look about like this:



Now, after draining the plumped raisins, they are ready to be kneaded in. I would definitely do this by hand, sort of spreading the dough out and then folding it over with the raisins distributed. You have to be fairly patient with this so that all the raisins aren't clumped together.



Put the dough back into the bowl, cover it, and let it rise for 1 hour. (This is when I made my dash to tj maxx for the loaf pans)

After an hour, take the dough out of the bowl, and set it on a floured countertop. In this step you are going to degas the dough. (Degas as in this is the DEGASSING step.) You basically want to flatten the dough out just a little bit with your palms, and then fold it in thirds like a letter one way, and then again on top of that. (I don't have pictures of this step- but if you go back to the original recipe site, they have good step by step instructions.)

After this step, place the dough back in the bowl, cover, and let it rise for another hour. (Ugh I know, another hour. But it is So worth it-trust me.)

After the hour, take the dough out and shape into 3 loaves. If you have a kitchen scale you can get really technical about this- but I just eyeballed it and it turned out semi-even.

Place each shaped loaf into a greased (I just use PAM for baking) loaf pan--(Just to reiterate, these are NOT expensive. I've bought 3 for about $5 each in TJ maxx's awesome house-ware section) Cover the pans and let the loaves rise until they are about as tall as the pan, maybe a little above.




Preheat the oven to 450. Place the loaves in the center rack of the oven. After 5 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 375. Rotate the loaves 180 degrees after 20 minutes, (I found this step to be very helpful, as my oven has been cooking very unevenly. Some of my loaves have risen several inches higher on one side, making for a tasty, but crooked loaf) and bake for another 15 to 25 minutes, until the tops of the loaves are nicely browned. I have an instant-read thermometer that I use-- 185 degrees or more means done for me-- but you can also use a skewer or knife. If it is coming out without goo on it, then the bread is probably done!

Also: When you take the bread out of the oven, it's ok to let it sit in the pan for a couple of minutes, but get that loaf out of there as soon as possible. The residual PAM on the loaf pan will start to soak into the crust, making for a not-so-yummy- texture.

Also Also- when you do take it out, don't leave the loaf on a paper towel or just sitting on the counter- this can cause some sogg also. I don't have any cookie cooling racks, so I used the rack from our toaster oven, upside down!

Here are the finished loaves!




YUM!

Next Post: Valentine's Day Dinner for Two

Monday Dinner: Maple-Glazed Salmon with Pineapple

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes from my mom's kitchen--(This is often what I would request for my birthday dinners.)

Salmon was on sale at HEB this week, so I couldn't really pass up the opportunity to make this...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup maple syrup (You really need to spring for the real stuff-- Aunt Jemima won't really cut it this time.)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I like a whole grain, stone ground type mustard)

4 6-ounce salmon fillets (Depending on how on-sale Salmon is at HEB)

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 fresh pineapple

2 cups cooked rice (or however much you need- depending on how many people are eating.)

Prep:

Whisk together the maple syrup and mustard in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place the salmon in a foil-lined 9-by-13-inch baking dish sprayed with non-stick spray. Season with the salt and pepper. Cube the pineapple, and scatter it around the salmon. Brush the salmon with the syrup mixture. Broil for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the salmon flakes easily when pricked with a fork and the inside is the same color throughout.

Serve salmon over a bed of rice (I used brown rice to try to be sort of healthy.) Definitely remember to drizzle the leftover glaze on the salmon-- it's the best part! Get a little rice, salmon, and pineapple with each bite.

Also, my parent's friend who is a produce broker brought over some amazingly huge asparagus that I stole from their fridge to have with this. I just coated it with olive oil, seasoned with kosher salt and cracked black pepper, and threw it in the oven to broil for a few minutes.

Try it!

Baking with my Beautiful Yellow Kitchen Aid

A few weeks ago for my 20th birthday, Max got me this amazing kitchen aid, and since then i have been on one huge baking spree. Here's what i've made in the last few weeks.... (I'm a little dough happy..)

French Bread....

(Actually Kind of made this one up!)

Sourdough Bread...

http://www.recipezaar.com/Basic-Sourdough-Bread-34753

Focaccia Bread...

And Delicious Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls...

They were so good I have to share...

This recipe is from Linda at http://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/SourCinnRolls.htm

1 cup sourdough starter (I will probably post on this next)
3/4 cup warm milk
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 1/4 cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant active dry yeast

For Filling:

1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, optional

For Frosting:

2 cups powdered (confectioners') sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons hot water

I just basically put everything into my mixer until it was combined, and then switched out the whisk for the dough hook, and set it to kneading while i made the filling.

After the dough was nice and elastic, I turned it out onto my floured counter, and rolled it into a sort-of-rectangle-ish shape. (The longer your rectangle, the fatter your cinnamon rolls will be.) Next, (with clean hands of course-- thank you Sanitation and Safety class for making me paranoid of food-borne illnesses) i just patted all the melted butter down into the rectangle of dough, so that the filling would stick to it. Then i rubbed the sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon mixture down into the buttered rectangle. I actually did have a dried fruit mixture to put into the rolls (that may or may not have been from a Starbucks' Oatmeal Packet) but i forgot about it until the end. i ended up just kind of shoving them into a few of the rolls when they had about a minute left to bake.

Next, loosely roll up your rectangle of dough and filling until it looks like a spiral-y log (or maybe like how rolls or biscuits look in a Pillsbury can?) Now for the cutting of the rolls: Cutting them with a knife tends to make them squish, so i used dental floss instead. (I actually only had mint waxed floss (ha ha) but no one seemed to notice any unwanted mint flavor- so I think it was fine.) Slide the floss underneath the roll about 1/2 an inch down. Cross it over the top, and then pull down in the opposite directions. This will cause the floss to slice cleanly through the dough, giving you a beautiful cinnamon roll! (Continue this through all the dough- it will yield about 12 rolls.

Put the rolls in a cake pan, or whatever you have, really, and let them rise for about 30 minutes. After they have risen they should be puffed up and touching each other in the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly brown and yummy looking. (These make the apartment smell SO good.)

Mix up the frosting, drizzle on top, and try not to devour all 12! (Between me, max, and my 3 roommates, these were gone in less than 24 hours.)