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Showing posts from September, 2018

Classic Crème Brûlée

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This recipe is delightful. It gets an 8.5. It’s light tasting and pleasantly smooth. I like creme brulee with a bit of orange flavoring, but this was still good—it reminds me of vanilla pastry cream. They are also pretty simple once you know what you are doing. As usual, I overcomplicated my life by combining 2 recipes. I think the better one is the one below from Fine Cooking. However, I put some potential changes in bold. Classic Crème Brûlée By Kimberly Masibay Fine Cooking Issue 84 Ingredients 1-3/4 cups heavy cream I cut this down to 1 1/2 cups, and the other recipe suggested you could do 50% half and half, which is likely true 1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract I did almost 3 tsp. for a double batch 4 large egg yolks (ideally cool or cold) 1/4 cup plus 2 to 4 tsp. granulated sugar Pinch kosher salt I did about 1/4 tsp. for a double batch Recipe found at link below: https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/classic-creme-brulee So, I doubled this in

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Banana Bread

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I love raspberry and chocolate together, so this seemed like a good bread to make. I really enjoyed it and would give it a 6.8. The recipe came from recipeboy.com. ·        2 cups all-purpose flour ·        3/4 teaspoon baking soda ·        1/2 teaspoon salt ·        1 cup granulated white sugar I used 1/2 C. ·        4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature ·        2 large eggs ·        1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas) ·        1/3 cup plain low fat yogurt I used sour cream ·        1 teaspoon vanilla extract ·        1 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips ·        1 cup halved raspberries, tossed in 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour Here's the link:  https://www.recipeboy.com/2012/05/raspberry-dark-chocolate-banana-bread/

Peach Ice Cream

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I thought this was good, but Jared really liked it. It called for 8 eggs, so it was a very thick, custardy ice cream. I added fresh peaches to it about halfway through eating it, and thought it tasted fantastic, so I would recommend it with fresh peaches. It gets an 8, and the recipe came from marthastewart.com. 1 C. heavy cream 8 egg yolks 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1 TBS fresh lemon juice 1 C. whole milk 3/4 C. sugar (this could probably be cut down to 2/3 C. or 1/2 C.) 3 peeled, pitted and sliced peaches 2 tsp. vanilla extract Here's a link to the instructions:  https://www.marthastewart.com/1142643/homemade-peach-ice-cream

Dutch Apple Pie

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Version 3 in my quest to find the best apple pie. I finally figured out what I think I’m going to do about apple pie. The filling in this was the best I’ve ever had. The new crust recipe we tried was fine, but I wouldn’t use this again ever.  I will list what I did, and what I would do differently and combine them together. With the changes I suggest, this would probably be at least a 9. So, the inspiration for this recipe came from the following recipe: https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/12/dutch-apple-pie/ I used a Springform pan like she suggested, and that was fun. However, I used the following pie crust recipe I found in my Fine Cooking recipe, and I don’t like it: Lattice-Top Peach Pie By Rose Levy Beranbaum Fine Cooking Issue 65 For the dough: 6 oz. (12 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter 6-1/2 oz. (1-1/2 cups) bleached all-purpose flour 3-1/2 oz. (3/4 cup) cake flour 1/4 tsp. table salt 1/4 tsp. baking powder 4-1/2 oz. (1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs.) cold cream cheese 3

Apple Nougatine Tart

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This recipe came from the Tartine cookbook by Eliabeth Prueitt. It was really quite good (I still prefer apple pie). I would give this an 8.5. The crust was really flakey though, and the apple filling was amazing. I think this would be a good method to get the moisture out of the apples more before your bake an apple pie. Even though some people liked it better than apple pie, I’m pretty stubborn in my love. This is good enough for company though, and looks lovely. So, in theory this is pretty basic in terms of needed skills. It’s just lots of steps. Filling Apples 31/2 pounds 1.6 kg I used a mixture of Ginger Gold and Akale apples Unsalted butter 1/4 cup 2 oz/55 g Sugar 1/3 cup 21/2 oz/70 g I also added seasonings to my apples 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1/4 tsp. cloves Salt pinch Lemon juice and grated zest from 1/2 medium lemon I left out the zest So, for the topping, you cut up the apples and then I dumped the lemon juice on them and added the salt and the spi

ROASTED POBLANO AND WHITE CHEDDAR SOUP

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Ugh, this soup sucked. I think it’s a combination of things. First, I think that the poblanos were maybe not at their peak. Secondly, I just don’t know. It just was not what I was expecting. I think I was expecting more of a mild poblano flavor,, kind of like the one we tried at Communal restaurant, and this was not it. BOOOOO. This gets a 6, and I wouldn’t make this particular version again. And, it's not green because the poblanos I bought at the farmer's market were red. ROASTED POBLANO AND WHITE CHEDDAR SOUP Serves: 3-4 servings INGREDIENTS · FOR THE SOUP: · 2 roasted poblano chiles, sliced ( click for directions on roasting ) We did 5 for a double batch · 2 tablespoons canola oil I did half butter · ½ cup yellow onion, thinly sliced · 2 cloves garlic, chopped · 2 cups chicken stock · 1 teaspoon cumin · ½ cup heavy cream (you can also use half and half) · 2 tablespoons cornstarch I decreased this · 1 ¼ cups shredded white cheddar cheese I decreased this ·

Apple Pie

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Apple pie is both my favorite pie in the entire world and my nemesis. My dad used to complain about baking it, and now I totally, totally get it. It’s the most time consuming pie there is. SIGH. I' combined a few recipes and here is my first version. It tasted good, but I got a gap in between the top crust and the apples because I didn’t pre-cook them, so I won’t make that mistake again. This was an 8, and is a worthy effort that tasted really good. I used a recipe from Fine Cooking Magazine. Here are some takeaways: Don’t overslit the curst. Four slits is plenty. You need 5 pounds of apple per pie. Otherwise, it’s not good enough I think you need to pre-cook the apples if you don’t want that ugly gap between apples and crust https://www.melskitchencafe.com/blue-ribbon-apple-pie/ I also think a great variation is to do caramel apple. See here: https://everydayannie.com/2016/11/02/salted-caramel-apple-pie/ Classic Apple Pie Recipe By Carole Walter Fine Cooking Issue

Pie Crust, Version 2

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So, in terms of taste, this crust has been the best one that we have tried so far in our experiment with butter crust. It’s a beast to work with, but tastes great.  It probably tastes better than our original, but it’s an epic pain in the butt, and I’m not sure it’s worth the effort. I’m still deciding. Pie Crust (makes a double crust) Flaky Pie Pastry By Carole Walter Fine Cooking Issue 81 10-1/2 oz. (2-1/3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour 1 Tbs. granulated sugar 3/4 tsp. table salt 1/2 tsp. baking powder 4 oz. (1/2 cup) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 4 oz (1/2 cup) chilled vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces 5 to 6 Tbs. ice water; more as needed You pulse the dry ingredients together, then add half the fat. You pulse it 5 times and turn it on for 5 seconds. you add the second half of the fat and do the same thing. Then, you put it in a bowl. You add 1 TBS. of ice water at a time, sprinkling it around the edges and then tossi