Chocolate Banana Muffins

These are very very good. The original recipe is from Vegetarian Times but I added some chocolate chips to the batter and they now double as a semi-healthy breakfast/mostly-healthy dessert. The best part? No eggs, which means you can lick the bowl clean without an ounce of guilt.

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk
3/4 c mashed banana
1/3 c canola oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 to 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray and dust with sugar for an extra sweet crunch.

Whisk together all dry ingredients. In another bowl combine the buttermilk, banana, oil, and vanilla. Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Gently add chocolate chips.

Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes. SO GOOD.

Daring Baker - Traditional British Pudding

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Now I really feel like a daring baker. Have you heard of suet? I hadn't prior to this challenge. Suet is a hard and flaky fat taken from the area around the kidneys of a cow or sheep. No joke. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find suet? I finally tracked some down at a local butcher and was slightly grossed out when he handed this to me:


Yep. This is daring for me. I was both excited and confused when I saw this month's challenge. Excited because it is something I've always wanted to make but confused because I think of this as a cold weather dish. The weather cooperated however and today was perfectly cold and overcast, making it an excellent day to eat a steamed pudding.

I took my recipe from an extremely old black 3-ring binder that used to belong to my Nana and I think used to belong to her mother. Inside was a recipe for Nut & Date Pudding, which fit the requirements of the challenge in that the recipe called for suet and it was a steamed pudding.

Honestly, the most difficult part of this recipe was finding the suet. I put the pudding together in about 10 minutes. First I had to separate the suet from the membrane and crumble out a cup to use in the batter. (Bryant was completely grossed out by the suet, luckily I had him taste the pudding before showing him the suet. He couldn't believe that something that looked so disgusting could make something so amazingly delicious.)

The recipe didn't contain many instructions, so I combined the dry ingredients in own bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Then I rubbed the suet into the dry ingredients (kind of like when making pie dough) and added the chopped dates and walnuts. I added the wet ingredients and briefly stirred until combined. Next it was into a greased bowl, covered with 2 layers of greased parchment paper and 2 layers of foil, and then into my canning pot to steam.

Perfectly steamed after only 2 hours.

The unmolded pudding.

The pudding after receiving a bath of hot caramel toffee-ish sauce.

I am not a very good food photographer, but these will have to suffice.

I made up the sauce because my great-grandma's recipe seemed lacking a bit, but I used her general idea and added a bit of molasses, some cream, and omitted the flour and boiling water. This is going to become my new Christmas tradition. Suet is so incredibly high in fat that I can only justify eating it once a year, and I can't think of a better way to honor my British heritage than by making a traditional British pudding.

Date & Nut Pudding

This is the original recipe, I halved it for the 2 of us and still have quite a bit tucked away in the freezer for a future midnight snack.

2 c suet

3 eggs

1 c sugar

3/4 c buttermilk

pinch of salt

1 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp vanilla

2 c flour

1 T baking soda

1 c chopped walnuts

1 lb chopped dates

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another. Mix suet into dry ingredients and add dates and nuts. When evenly combined add wet ingredients and mix. Put batter into a greased pudding mold/ceramic bowl/#10 can and cover with 2 layers of greased parchment paper and 2 layers of aluminum foil. Place on a steamer rack in a steamer/canner/really large pot with a lid with boiling water that reaches up to the middle of the pudding. (The idea is that the pudding bowl should never touch the bottom of the pan, which is why I propped it up with my steamer rack. Cover pot and let steam for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. To check for doneness (is that a word?) insert a skewer through the foil and parchment paper. If it comes out clean the pudding is done. Remove from pan, unmold and serve with sauce.

I need a clever name for this sauce.

1 c sugar

4 T butter

1 c cream, divided

2 T molasses

Combine sugar, butter, molasses, and 1/2 c cream in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. When sugar has melted remove from heat and add remaining 1/2 c cream. Serve immediately with pudding.

I can understand if you are grossed out by the suet, but honestly, this is amazing. Rich, decadent, and a family recipe at that. Now that's my kind of family history.

Pie Notes

I made the blackberry tonight for my parents but couldn't get the same type of berries (Stahlbush Island Farms Marion Blackberries) and the pie was good, but not life changing. So, if you make this pie, try really hard to get the right blackberries, because you want them to impart amazing flavor, not just so so flavor. That's all.

These are a few of my favorite things!

Insert Julie Andrew's song here. It all began Thursday night, when I realized it was already 6pm and I had no idea what I was making for dinner. Both Bryant & I were exhausted, and I had a whole chicken that had been sitting in my fridge since Monday, begging to be cooked. French chicken in a pot sounded good, so I searched the Internet for a recipe (I've never made or eaten this before, so don't ask how I knew it sounded good, it just did) and decided that no matter what, I was going to make that chicken fit in my pot. The 4 1/2 lb bird barely fit in my 3 qt le creuset, surrounded by chopped onion, celery, garlic, a sprig of rosemary and a single bay leaf. The first 30 minutes left us both drooling, and wondering how we were going to wait the allotted 80 minutes before we could devour the bird. I had just finished cleaning up from the chicken when I was hit with the intense need for pie.

Do you have a pie need? Mine is most certainly a need, and not simply a want. There is no denying it, and no other dessert substitution will do, so I decided to make a blackberry pie. At this point Bryant asked if I knew what it meant to be exhausted, to which I replied that I did which was exactly why I had to make a pie because that was the only antidote to my fatigue. I quickly made the filling and then realized I was completely out of all-purpose flour. Going to the store at this point was out of the question, so I decided to take a gamble and made my crust using 1 1/3 c whole wheat pastry flour and 1 c 00 pizza flour. This turned out to be the perfect crust to compliment the blackberry filling. We ate dinner at 9pm, both amazed at the perfection of the chicken and the pie. I couldn't think of a better meal. On Saturday we spent time with my in-laws who live nearby and my sister-in-law Ginny made what just might be my all-time favorite green salad. This time I was smart enough to write down the recipe, because after eating 3 bowl fulls I realized that I truly need to make this salad on a regular basis when strawberries are in season. What a perfect food week.

I am not a very good food photographer, and this doesn't look amazing from the photo, but if you could smell it you would make it tonight.

French Chicken in a Pot - Cooks Illustrated recipe

1 whole roasting chicken (4 1/2 - 5 lbs), giblets removed and discarded

2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 T olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and trimmed

1 bay leaf

1 medium sprig fresh rosemary

1-2 to 1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat to 250 degrees. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken (breast side down) and scatter onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and rosemary around chicken. Cook until lightly browned, about 5minutes. Using a large spoon inserted into the cavity, flip chicken breast side up and cook until both chicken and vegetables are well browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat, cover pot with foil and then cover foil tightly with lid of pot. Transfer to oven and cook until 160 degrees when a thermometer is inserted into the breast, about 80 to 110 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a carving board (or platter) and tent with foil to let rest for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, strain chicken juices from pot and skim off fat. Pour liquid into a small saucepan and set over low heat. Season to taste with lemon juice and serve with chicken. ***This is so good that I am seriously considering never again cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving because this is far superior to any poultry I have ever had before.

My Blackberry Pie

I call this my pie because it is my favorite. I have never had a pie before. Up to this point when asked about my favorite pie I would answer apple because apple pie and I go way back. It is my favorite pie to bake because it is Bryant's favorite pie to eat. But blackberry pie is my pie. It brings me to pie nirvana, a place full of happiness and comfort. These are weighty promises from a pie, but I only write the truth. The best part of all is that it is made with frozen blackberries, so you can make this any time of the year! I am going to give the recipe for the whole wheat crust because I haven't tried it with the regular crust yet, although I am sure it is sublime.

Crust

1 1/4 c whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/4 c all-purpose or 00 flour

2 T sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks butter (very cold and cubed)

1/2-3/4 c ice cold milk (I was also out of milk, so I used half and half)

Combine dry ingredients. Rub in butter with fingers or cut in with pastry cutter. When butter is even distributed add milk, a bit at a time, mixing gently with fork until dough just comes together. Form into 2 disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill 30 minutes.

Filling

2 pkgs frozen blackberries, unsweetened (use the best quality! I used 2 10 oz Stahlbush Island Farms pkgs), mostly defrosted and watery juice drained off (about 30 to 45 minutes out of the freezer)

2 T flour

1/2 to 3/4 c sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 to 1 vanilla bean

Toss blackberries with flour. Add sugar, lemon zest, and seeds from vanilla bean. Stir to combine. Let juices macerate and thicken.

Roll out crust, put in pie plate. Fill with berries. Top with crust. Brush with cream (or a beaten egg yolk) and sprinkle evenly with turbinado sugar (adds a lovely crunch). Cut an X in the center of the top crust for those lovely juices to blubble out of while baking. Bake at 400 degrees until juices are bubbling and crust is golden, about 40 minutes. (Oh! Please put your pie on a rimmed baking sheet that has been preheated with your oven otherwise you will have blackberry juice everywhere.) Serve with best quality vanilla ice cream (preferably homemade) or sweetened freshly whipped cream with pure vanilla extract.

Try to make this pie last at least 2 days. It is divine warm, and the lemon really comes out. But let it cool and sit overnight and you can really taste that vanilla bean. I hope you love it.

Ginny's Amazing Strawberry Salad

I have incredible sisters-in-law. My brothers-in-law are pretty good, but these girls have them beat. This salad is but further evidence of Ginny's greatness.

8 c spinach or mixed greens

2 c sliced strawberries

1/4 c sunflower seeds

2 to 3 T diced onion (to taste)

2 T canola oil

2 T red wine vinegar

4 1/2 t sugar

1/2 t dried dill weed

1/8 t garlic powder

1/8 t salt

1/8 t ground mustard

Toss salad ingredients in a large bowl. Combine dressing ingredients (starting with canola and ending with ground mustard) in a separate container. Dress salad and prepare to be blown away. This is delicious!

In other food news, I made a blueberry version of Nana's pancakes today and substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the all-purpose and added 2 T sugar and 1 c frozen blueberries that I tossed with a bit of flour and sugar. Very good, especially when served with lemon curd.

Speaking of lemon curd, the only reason I have any is because a friend gave it to me for an Easter gift. Isn't that a great idea?!? I am going to do that next year.

Have I posted the recipe for scones? I think so, but today I added a bit of uncooked millet, used whole wheat pastry flour for 1/2 of the flour, and added about 3/4 c frozen blueberries and raspberries. Very good.

Pasta e Faggioli

Dinner number two from Tastespotting this week: Pasta e Faggioli. Boise is currently seeing more of winter weather than spring, so soup season is still in full force. This soup is divine, hearty, and comforting. The only changes I made include omitting the rosemary (didn't have any on hand), using fresh thyme rather than dried, and I used De Cecco stellette pasta because who doesn't want darling little pasta stars floating in their soup?

If you are considering, even for a moment, using canned beans just forget about it. Dried beans are a must. Put them out to soak today and make this tomorrow. It takes a good 2 hours to simmer (I added more stock during the simmering because my beans soaked up a lot of liquid) and is the perfect soup to have cooking when you are getting other things done at home. \

Pasta e Faggioli (adapted from the link above)

Ingredients
1/2 tsp dried thyme or 3 sprigs fresh thyme (remove when soup has finished cooking if using fresh)
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large chopped onion
3 celery stalks chopped
4 cloves smashed garlic
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 cup white cannellini beans dried
2 - 3 cups chicken stock
8 oz Ditalini or Stellette pasta
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
parmigiano reggiano rind

Directions:
Soak beans overnight in 3 cups of water.Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and butter in a heavy large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and saute until the onion is tender. Open pealed tomatoes and smash or cut or chop tomatoes. Add the broth, tomatoes, cheese rind, beans (drained), and herbs. Salt to taste and pepper to taste. I like to use quite a bit of pepper! Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to low simmer until the beans are soft (about 2 hours). Stir occasionally.
Add 8 ounces of pasta, stir in pasta so it does not stick to saucepan. Cover and simmer for about 8 minutes until pasta is al dente. Remove bay leaves and cheese rind.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle with some Parmesan and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil just before serving if desired. Serve with good bread.

Brilliant.

Lately I've been out of my menu-planning groove and our lives have been so hectic that I've felt completely incapable of making a simple grocery shopping list. The other night I got on to Tastespotting and found the inspiration I needed. The first recipe I decided to try was a butternut squash fondue and this dish is pure brilliance. One small squash will give 2 people a very filling meal and you get the best of both words - cheesey delicious fondue, roasted butternut squash, no fondue pot required. The original recipe is in metric so I just estimated the proportions.

1 butternut squash, halved

*I used a large serrated knife and it worked beautifully. After you halve the squash scoop out the seeds and strings and score the squash with x's. Place in an ovensafe dish or pan.

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1-2 Tbs butter or olive oil

2-3 Tbs creme fraiche (this is similar to sour cream, but oh so much better)

2-4 oz grated cheese (I used Emmenthaler)

1/2 tsp cornstarch

1 Tbs chicken stock

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

*The original recipe also calls for fresh thyme, which I bought but completely forgot to use.

Rub the hollow of each squash halve with minced garlic and place in pan. Whisk together cornstarch and chicken stock and then add creme fraiche and grated cheese and season to taste with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir until combined and spoon into squash hollows. Brush melted butter over scored squash and season (if desired) with salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 60 minutes (depends on the size of your squash) until squash is tender. When almost cooked toast slices of bread and cube for dipping in the fondue. Serve immediately.

Daring Baker Challenge - Orange Tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

My finished product!

I was a bit late with this challenge because March has been a crazy month, but I finally got it completed. This month's challenge seemed more difficult than the tiramisu, but that could be because I did the entire thing in one day. I made a few changes which I will bold in the recipe and liked this dessert more than I expected as I tasted the individual components along the way. I was most disappointed by the orange marmalade because I followed the directions exactly but could still taste bitterness, but Bryant liked the way all of the flavors worked together so perhaps it was just me. I don't think I would make this exact recipe again, but I will certainly use this concept with other fruit/flavor combinations in the future.

Recipe as provided for the Challenge:


Preparation time:- Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to rest, 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake- Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch- Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit- Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit- Whipped Cream: 15 minutes- Assembling: 20 minutes- Freezer to Set: 10 minutes

Equipment required:• Cookie cutters . Ideally, you should have about 6 cookie cutters to build the desserts in and cut the circles of dough. I chose to make this family style and used a 9" springform pan as my mold. The cookie cutters will be the size of your final dessert, so they should be the size of an individually-sized tart mold. If you don’t have round cookie cutters you could use an individually-sized cheesecake mold without its base.• A food processor (although the dough could be made by hand too)• A stand-up or hand mixer• Parchment paper or a silicone sheet• A baking sheet• A rolling pin

For the Pate Sablee:
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
Granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon
Vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons
Baking powder 1 teaspoon

Directions:Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.
Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes. Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices. Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar. In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes). At this point I added an additional 1 Tbs of brown sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:
For this step you will need 8 oranges. (I used 8 but didn't have enough, hence the meyer lemon decoration in the middle.)
Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice. [See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]

For the Caramel:
Granulated sugar 1 cup
Freshly pressed orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it. Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:
Heavy whipping cream 1 cup
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon (I omitted this from the cream)
Zest of 1 meyer lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer. Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel. Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.
Resources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-tian.htm (An article about the dessert known as tian.)
YouTube link on how to segment an orange: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG5mcEEBlcI
To learn more about Pectin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectin