Angel Food Cake

Pedro really enjoyed my Mom's angel food cake this summer during a makeshift trax farms strawberry festival we created over Father's Day while in COVID-19 quarantine. Peter did too :)

Pippy's Angel Food Cake

Makes 1 Large Cake = 12 servings

Preparation:  assemble ingredients and utensils needed.  Use 10-inch deep tube cake pan (do not grease).  Remove eggs from refrigerator, separate.  Let whites stand at room temperature.  Sift flour once before measuring.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift together 5 times:  

1 cup all purpose flour 

2 tbsp corn starch

3/4 cup sugar

(if using cake flour, 1 cup plus 2 tbsp)

Put into large bowl of mixer:

1-1/2 cup egg whites (11 to 13 whites)

1/2 tsp salt

Beat on medium speed until foamy - about 20 seconds

Add:

1-1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Continue beating on medium high speed until whites are stiff and stand in points - about 45 seconds.  Do not overbeat until dry.

Sprinkle in rapidly:

1 cup sifted sugar

While beating on medium high speed.  Beat only until sugar is blended - about 30 seconds.  Scrape bowl gently toward beaters and up and over with a folding motion.

Turn mixer to low speed and add:

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

Sprinkle in sifted flour mixture evenly and quickly.  Beat only enough to blend - about 45 seconds.  Scraping bowl gently toward beaters with folding motion to blend in quickly.  Gently put into tube pan.  Carefully cut through batter with a knife or spatula, going around in circular motion 6 times, to release large air bubbles.

Bake the New Way:

Preheated oven 375 degrees - moderate oven - 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown.

Bake the Old Way:  Cold oven to start (250 degrees F) - 15 minutes then (300 degrees F) - 15 minutes, then (325 degrees F) - 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven, invert pan until cool (I invert over an empty wine bottle).  Loosen with spatula and remove from pan.

Rosemary Olive Oil Shortbread

Deb Perelman has done it again with this delicious and simple recipe. I made this recently when my husband asked me to make a dessert for a friend's casual get together. It came together literally in minutes and the ingredients are ones we always have on hand. They're surprisingly tender and not overly sweet. Would go great with morning coffee.

Ingredients 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (195 grams)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (60 grams)
• 2 tablespoons turbinado (raw) sugar (25 grams), plus 1 teaspoon (5 grams)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup mild olive oil (120 ml)
• 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks (85 grams)
• 1 egg white, beaten until loose (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 325° F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar, and the salt. Add the olive oil and rosemary and stir to combine. Add the chocolate chunks and stir again. Gather the dough with your hands into one mass.
3. Roll out the dough to an 8- to 9-inch roundish slab between two sheets of parchment paper. Remove the top sheet and use the bottom to slide the cookie round onto the back of a large baking sheet.
4. If desired—it merely provides a little shine—brush the cookie with the egg white. Sprinkle with remaining 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Slide the cookie round carefully onto a cutting board while the cookie is still totally hot. Cut with a sharp, thin knife into desired shape(s). Let cool completely, then separate.
6. Do ahead: This dough keeps well in the freezer. Baked cookies keep for 2 weeks in an airtight tin at room temperature.
7. Note: For a milder flavor, replace half of the oil with a neutral/flavorless one. You can cut this into shapes with cookie cutters, too, but the chocolate provides a little resistance.

Tarte au citron

I've always wanted to try a tart crust. I relied on Leslie Mackey's recipe. Leslie was Julie Child's pastry chef and offers a helpful video that I also used as reference available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0SnTmahPF0. I then filled the tart with a most delicious lemon curd. Recipe also follows, and a helpful youtube video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E55gHIOXZEU.

Note that Leslie Mackey's recipe makes four 9-inch pie shells. Two of those shells make twelve 4-inch tarte shells. The amount of lemon curd produced by the below recipe fills 12 tartletts exactly! I froze the leftover pie dough and made baby quiches.

Flaky Pie Dough
Makes enough dough for four 9- to 10-inch tarts or open-faced pies or 2 double-crusted pies.
Bakers like to talk about the "secrets" of making great pie crusts. In truth, there are tips, but no unknowable secrets and nothing daunting enough to explain why cool, calm, collected types turn nervous at the thought of tackling a pie crust.
Like the fillings they cradle, crusts have personalities: crisp, tender, and flaky--or some combination thereof. Which traits are dominant is, in good measure, a result of ingredients: Butter is the great giver of flavor and vegetable shortening the flake maker; together they produce a crust both flaky and tender, sweet and full-flavored, the kind most prized by American pie hands. This mixed crust (the best example of which follows) can be used for pies and tarts, sweet and savory, American- or European-style.
An all-butter doughwill give you a crisp, sturdy crust with little flakiness (unless the butter is left in largish pieces). When prebaked on its own, a butter crust will stand firm against juicy fillings. Handled properly, a butter crust is strong enough to be rolled out and molded into a free-form shape or a galette. For most bakers, an all-shortening crust is usually not an option, because, although it produces lots of flake, it delivers almost no flavor.
If you could have only one pie dough in your repertoire (heaven forbid), it would have to be this one, the classic dough that earns blue ribbons at county fairs and stars at esteemed pastry shops. The mix of butter and shortening guarantees that the dough will be flaky, flavorful, and tender. You can use this dough to make any kind of pie or tart, sweet or savory, plain or fancy. It is easy to roll and crimp and is made quickly by hand, in a mixer, or food processor. The recipe is large and can be cut in half or even quartered, but since the dough can be frozen for up to a month, it's practical to make the full batch. You can freeze the dough in disks, rolled out in circles, or already fitted into pie pans or tart molds, ready to go into the oven-without thawing--when you're in a crunch for a crust.
5-1/4 cups pastry flour or all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 3/4 cups (11 ounces) solid vegetable shortening, chilled
1 cup ice water
To make the dough by hand, mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using a pastry blender (or your fingers, if you prefer), cut it into the flour until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Be patient--this takes a while. Break up the shortening and add it in bits to the bowl. Still working with the pastry blender (or your fingers), cut in the shortening until the mixture has small clumps and curds. Switch to a wooden spoon and add the ice water, stirring to incorporate it. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and fold it over on itself a few times--don't get carried away. The dough will be soft, but it will firm sufficiently in the refrigerator.
To make the dough in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, put the flour and salt into the bowl and stir to mix. Add the butter and mix on low until it is cut into the dry ingredients and the mixture looks coarse and crumbly. Add the shortening in small bits and continue to mix on low. When the mixture is clumpy and curdy and holds together when a small bit is pressed between your fingers, add the water and mix only until it is incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and fold it over on itself two or three times, just to finish the mixing and to gather it together.
To make the dough in a food processor, start with very cold ingredients and take care not to overwork them. Place the dry ingredients in the food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse just to mix. Take the top off, scatter the chilled cubed butter and shortening over the flour, cover, and pulse again, working only until the fats are cut in and the mixture resembles slightly moist cornmeal. Add a little of the liquid and pulse a few times, then add more liquid and pulse again. Continue until the mixture has curds and clumps and sticks together when pressed between your fingers. Don't process until the dough forms a ball that rides on the blade--that's overdoing it.
Chilling the Dough: Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or for as long as 5 days. When the dough is thoroughly chilled and firm, it is ready to roll out and use in any recipe calling for flaky pie crust.
Storing: The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 5 days or frozen for 1 month. It's a good idea to divide the dough into quarters for freezing since one quarter of the recipe is generally enough for one pie crust or tart shell. Defrost, still wrapped, in the refrigerator.
Contributing Baker Leslie Mackie

For the Lemon Curd

French-Style Lemon Tart Serves 4-6 INGREDIENTS Lemon Curd: 4 egg yolks 4 eggs 150 grams sugar 200 milliliters lemon juice Zest of 2 lemons 170 grams butter 1 pre-baked tart shell PREPARATION 1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F 2. Prepare the lemon curd by whisking the egg yolks, eggs, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest over a bain marie (a large bowl placed over a pan of simmering hot water). 3. Once combined, mix in the butter and whisk the mixture for about 10 minutes, until thick. 4. Pour into a pre-baked tart shell. 5. Bake for 6 minutes. 6. Whilst the tart is baking, prepare the raspberry chantilly by whipping the raspberries, sugar, vanilla extract and cream together. 7. Leave the tart to cool before dusting with icing sugar. 8. Serve with the raspberry chantilly, fresh raspberries and mint for garnish. 9. Enjoy!

Missouri Feels Just Like Home

Pedro and I had a blast at the Holiday Acres lake cabin with Grammy and Grandad over Memorial Day weekend. It was also great to spend time with Janice, Daryl, Brandon and Dana. We enjoyed some yummy food throughout the weekend but a few of our favorites were fresh caught crappie and blue gill fried filets and Grammy's homemade peach pie. Whatever you do, make sure you find the Aunt Jemima's yellow course-ground corn meal for the fish! (Grammy sent us to Walmart to refill her  stock :)) Time at the cabin with Grammy and Grandad will always be home.

Mad About Macarons

This post could easily become the longest post I've ever written. I'm on week 6 of my obsession with making macarons. It started with a "just-for-fun" search on YouTube (Pedro's fault) and has since turned into a literal obsession with making macarons. So far I've tried lemon shells (zest) with vanilla buttercream, coffee shells with vanilla buttercream, almond shells with strawberry buttercream, mint shells with dark chocolate ganache (don't be such a ganache!) and sea salt, and lavender shells with vanilla buttercream. In addition to making the macarons, I've gotten into packaging the macarons as gifts for people (I told you I was obsessed). I'm copying the base recipe below that's been working for me with a few notes about each step.

Update: 10.29.16 I continue to make macarons. I've now tried cardamom shells with lemon curd filling, pumpkin pie spice shells with dulce de leche filling (don't use the isotopic leche de cabra!).

For dry flavoring in the shell, it's best to use about a tablespoon of flavoring. For wet flavoring, you only need a teaspoon and it almost always messes with the shell's macronage.

Beth's Foolproof French Macaron Recipe

Prep time

40 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

1 hour

Author: Beth Le Manach

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Serves: 24 sandwiched cookies

Ingredients (CW: Measure all ingredients by weight, not volume)

• 3 Egg Whites (at room temperature)
• ¼ cup white sugar (50 g)
• 2 cups confectioners sugar (200 g)
• 1 cup almond flour (120 g) (CW: 3 lb bag available from Costco for same price as 1/2 lb bags at super markets - make sure to use almond flour, not meal. Just look at the picture of my first attempt at macarons to see the difference. The finer ground the product, the better).
• pinch of salt
• ¼ tsp cream of tartar (2 ml)
• RASPBERRY BUTTER CREAM
• ¼ cup salted butter (60g)
• ¾ cup powdered sugar (75 g)
• 1 cup (150 g) fresh raspberries, worked through a sieve to extract 3 tbsp of juice (CW: Can replace this with vanilla from a bean, or zest from an orange, etc.)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300F degrees
2. Beat egg whites until foamy, then add salt, cream of tartar and white sugar for 8-10 mins. TIP: #1 egg whites should be room temp. To create room temp eggs, submerge in warm water for 5 mins.
3. Whip until they form a peak that stands upright. Think Seattle Space needle.
4. Then add the food coloring. TIP#2 Color does fade as it cooks, so do a shade or two darker than you want them to be.
5. TIP#3 Sift almond flour, and powdered sugar. What remains will be the larger lumps of almond pieces. Just discard those, or use them to snack on :) You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top to your cookie.
6. Fold flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture. TIP#4 This is where all your hard work can really go wrong. Under mix and your macaroons will be lumpy and cracked when the bake with no feet, over mix and your macaroons will be flat and won't have feet, the mark of a well-made macaron. In my experience 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding is about the right amount of time. But again, it can be tricky, depends on how strong you are, Ha! So it can take a few tries to get it right. But when you do, the trumpets will blare and you will feel SO accomplished!
7. Transfer batter to a pastry bag.
8. Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
9. TIP#5: tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.
10. TIP#6 Let them sit out for 20-30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips. This is another important step to assuring your macarons develop feet! When they dry out they can't spread out in the oven, and are forced to rise up. That's what creates the feet!
11. Bake for 20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise they will stick to your tray.
12. Meanwhile mix the buttercream. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar. Then place sieve on top of a bowl the same size. Work raspberries through the sieve with a spatula, pushing them through, mashing them around until you extract their juice. You want 3 tablespoons of juice.
13. Add juice to buttercream, and whip until combined. Transfer to a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip (about ¼ " in diameter)
14. Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell et Voila!
15. If not eating right away, keep refrigerated.

Recipe by Entertaining with Beth at http://entertainingwithbeth.com/foolproof-french-macaron-recipe/

Don't make fun of this one! :)

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

The extent to which I bake. And the humidity made them flat like pancakes. Pedro ate them anyway. :)

Plantains 2 Ways ::: Sweet

Just when you thought this blog would only cover one way to prepare plantains, there's more!

Once plantains are ripened (they will get soft and dark brown in color - the ripening process can take days or weeks once you buy the green plantain), remove the peel as you would a banana.

Slice the plantain diagonally in about .5 inch sections. Drop these pieces into fry-temperature vegetable oil in a cast iron pan until the brown and caramelized on each size. The caramelized plantains have a really nice sweet flavor that goes great with a drizzle of sweetened condensed milk or butter pecan ice cream (pictures below). 

Pedro and I served this dessert to celebrate Mother's Day with my mama in Morgantown 2014.