MSC October: Snickerdoodle Cupcakes or Yay for Cinnamon

I love cinnamon, so I was super excited to make these snickerdoodle cupcakes.  Katie from Katiecakes picked these cupcakes for October for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club.  I really liked these cupcakes.  The only issue I had with them is that I had no cake flour, so I had to make a substitution, which made the cupcakes slightly gummy, but they still had good flavor.

I served these cupcakes two different times (I intended to make half the recipe, but forgot when I went to cream the butter).  One time, I used Martha's fluffy white frosting, sprinkled with cinnamon.  I served them on Sukkot and they were a hit with everyone in our very first sukkah.

Then, I put unfrosted cupcakes in the freezer, figuring I would deal with them before the October 15th posting date.  And then, we went to New York for an amazing wedding -- the bride is like our 4th sister -- and when I got back on Monday, I realized it was time for single-mommydom, which is not great for baking.  However, the other day I was finally able to whip up a new frosting.  This time, I decided to make cinnamon, to compliment the cinnamon flavor in the cupcakes. I'm sure there is a recipe out there somewhere, but I just made the fluffy white frosting and tossed in a bunch of cinnamon until it tasted right.  I really liked the way the cinnamon frosting tasted.  I also experimented with piping.  I haven't gotten it exactly right yet, but I'm working on it.

We took the cupcakes to our friends Mike and Kim's house, since they just had a new baby.  We had a yummy (but meat) dinner, so I didn't get to taste the cupcakes, but hopefully everyone there enjoyed them.

You can find the cupcake recipe here, on Martha's website.

My Go-To 5 A.M. Muffins

The other day I woke up at 4:30 a.m. for no reason and couldn't go back to sleep. This is not unprecedented. At Cambridge, there was an entire week in March where I saw the sunrise every morning, and not because I was going to sleep super-early. Sometimes, it just happens. And when it does, there's usually nothing to be done for it, except to make muffins.

I don't know why these have become my go-to 5 a.m. muffins. I guess it's because they contain ingredients that I'm likely to have lying around in the kitchen and thus I don't need to make any fruitless 5 a.m. trips to the supermarket. Like most muffins, they don't require a lot of thought, which is lucky since I usually don't have thought in spades before the sun rises. So next time you need something simple, quick and tasty for an early morning, you too can go to these muffins.

Allspice Crumb Muffins

From "Baking From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

For the Streusel:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

5 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

For the Muffins:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

3/4 cup whole milk

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

To Make the Streusel: Put the flour, brown sugar and allspice in a small bowl and sift them through your fingers to blend. Add the bits of cold butter and toss to get irregularly shaped crumbs. Set aside in the refrigerator for the moment. (You can make the crumbs up to 3 days ahead and keep them covered in the refrigerator.)

To Make the Muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice and salt. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough--the batter will be lumpy, and that is just the way it should be. Stir in the lemon zest, if you're using it.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Sprinkle some streusel over each muffin, then use your fingertips to gently press the crumbs into the batter.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Flavors of Fall

One of the best recipes we have ever made from Dorie is Applesauce Spice Bars, which are unbelievable and perfect for fall. You know what else is perfect for fall? Ice cream. But no, Sarah, you insist, ice cream is perfect for summer. To which I reply, Shut up, ice cream is for all seasons, you fascist.

I got an ice cream maker this month. Great excitement, except that it has not really been functioning as expected. The problem is that it doesn't churn the ice cream, which I guess defeats the purpose of having an ice cream maker. I'm going to try one more time, since I promised my friend Emily some coffee ice cream, and then I'm going to send it back to the manufacturer if it doesn't work. But enough griping, on to the recipe.

What would go well with applesauce spice bars? I wondered. Perhaps something that brings out the subtle caramel-y flavors in the bars. Burnt sugar ice cream! Leave it Dorie to improve on perfection. Even though the ice cream didn't churn to my satisfaction (at all) and it ended up with a more sorbet-like texture, it was amazing. Dorie describes the flavor as "intense," which is precisely the right adjective, and though she recommends pairing it with something bland for that reason, I found that it went beautifully with the bars. My one note for the recipe: when she says not to worry about the caramel sticking to the bottom of the pot, listen to her! I spent so much time trying to scrape it off the bottom with my spoon as I mixed and ended up splashing custard all over the kitchen! Oh no! Trust me, once you taste this ice cream, you'll want to have as much custard as possible.


Rebecca also made this ice cream and you can check out her post here.

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream
From "Baking From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Stir the sugar and water together in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place the pan over medium-low heat and cook until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil, without stirring, until the syrup turns a deep amber color--from time to time, brush down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush and swirl the pan. (Depending on the size of your pan and the intensity of the heat, it could take about 8 minutes for the caramel to color properly.)

Stand back--things can get a little wild--lower the heat and add the milk and cream. Don't be concerned when everything bubbles and seethes and the caramel hardens; it will calm down and smooth out as you heat and stir. Continue to heat and stir and when the mixture is smooth, remove the pan from the heat.

In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the yolks and salt together until blended and just slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid--this will temper, or warm, the yolks. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon; if you run your finger down the bowl of the spoon, the custard should not run into the track. the custard should reach at least 170 degrees F, but no more than 180 degrees F, on an instant-read thermometer. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the custard into a 2-quart liquid measuring cup or clean heatproof bowl. Stir in vanilla extract.

Refrigerate the custard until chilled before churning it into ice cream.

Scrape the chilled custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions. Pack the ice cream into a container and freeze it for at least 2 hours, until it is firm enough to scoop.

Makes about 1 1/2 pints.

Serving: If the ice cream is very firm, allow it to sit on the counter for a few minutes before scooping or warm it in a microwave oven using 5-second spurts of heat.

Storing: Packed tightly in a covered container, the ice cream will keep in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

Fun with Open Flames

It's been an unacceptably long time since I've blogged, but between coming back to Brown and the holidays and all that nonsense, I've just been super-duper busy! But don't worry, I will be more consistent from now on. Because I know that was the biggest worry on everyone's mind, just ahead of global warming and Mideast peace.

I feel like I should start with the big excitement, which was the purchase of...(drumroll please)...a blowtorch! Ohmygod it is so much fun. If anything in this world can turn me into a raging pyromaniac, it's the blowtorch. "And what will you do with it besides make creme brulee?" ask my friends as they note the manic gleam in my eye and slowly step away from the flame. Yeah, you can brown meringue and melt cheese on top of onion soup, but let's face it, the blowtorch is pretty much good for one thing. But man, is that one thing good.

I was fortunate enough to be able to travel around Europe when I was studying abroad, and none of this would have been possible without the generous hospitality of my wonderful friends: Jennie and Evan in Israel, Rebecca in Paris, Mike in Bologna and Maya in Berlin. In order to thank them in some small way for hosting me, I made them a dinner with themed dishes appropriate for each country (except I couldn't find any good German vegetarian cuisine so I just bought some Riesling and called it a day). The obvious dessert, considering my new baby, was some French-ass creme brulee.

Of course I went straight to Dorie, but I have to admit that I kind of regret it. Not because it wasn't delicious - it was! - but because it was sort of nontraditional-tasting for my first attempt at creme brulee and it was a lot of aggravation. The custard was supposed to take an hour maximum to set up in the oven, but after ninety minutes I had had enough and just stuck the ramekins in the fridge. There, they set up fine, but I combed through some of the Tuesdays with Dorie posts about this recipe and a lot of people said the low heat and lack of water bath meant it took a lot longer than expected to cook. That said, making the custard itself was as simple as can be, and the creme brulee was very tasty. When I say it's non-traditional I mean that it tasted a lot lighter and less dense than a typical creme brulee, which was good because the dinner had been so large, but I think next time I'm going to try a different, higher-heat recipe and see how it turns out. After all the fun I had with my blowtorch, there's no doubt I'll be making creme brulee again!


Oh, and I used the leftover egg whites to make cocoa almond meringues. Delicious as always.

Creme Brulee
From "Baking from My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

1 ¼ cups heavy cream
½ cup whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1 / 3 cup sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
About 6 tablespoons sugar or sifted light brown sugar, for topping
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200ºF/ 93ºC. Put the six baking dishes on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.
In a 1 or 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla together until well blended but not airy. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid---this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the cream and milk. Give the bowl a good rap against the counter to de-bubble the custard, then strain it into the baking dishes.
Bake the custards for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the centers are set---tap the sides of the dishes, and the custards should hold firm. Lift the dishes onto a cooling rack and let the custards cool until they reach room temperature.
Cover each custard with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably longer. (The custards can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.) For the sugar to be successfully caramelized, the custards need to be thoroughly chilled.
Makes 6 servings.
Serving:
Serve the crème brûlée when the crème is really cold and the brûlée is still warm. You can serve the whole dessert chilled, but the sugar topping won’t have its characteristic crackle. And while I think crème brûlée should be served with nothing more then a spoon, you could offer berries and cookies as accompaniments.
Storing:
The custard for crème brûlée must be made ahead so it has plenty of time to chill, but once you’ve caramelized the sugar on top, your storage time is over if your want the sugar to have crunch.

Summer is Finally Here...In Fall!

So, those of you living in Southern California right now know that we are experiencing a heat wave.  It is the hottest it has been since we moved here in the beginning of June.  Who knew that summer came in late September...and on Sukkot no less?  Sukkot always seems to bring extreme weather, either hot, cold or rain.  Somehow, when we have to eat outside and we are supposed to dwell in little huts, we are reminded that we don't control everything, especially the weather.  

When the temperature creeps up (or in this case jumps...it was in the 70s a couple of days ago and it is going to be 97 tomorrow!), nothing is better than ice cream.  In this case, it is a duo of ice creams...lemon ice cream and strawberry frozen yogurt.  Both these frozen treats were born out of fruit and/or dairy products that were about to go bad.  I am glad I was able to save them with this yummy product.

Both of these are from David Lebovitz, guru of all things frozen.  The only thing I would say about both these recipes but especially about the strawberry, is to make sure you have really good, flavorful fruit, because that is all the flavor of both these desserts.  We had yummy farmer's market strawberries, so it turned out well.  As for the lemon, it had a nice tart and creamy flavor, different from the expected lemon sorbet.

The strawberry frozen yogurt can be found here.

The lemon ice cream can be found here.

MSC September: Cookies and Cream Cupcakes that Almost Didn't Get Made

Imagine for a moment that you just started a new job, and it is at a synagogue, and Rosh Hashanah is 2 days after Labor Day, and the kick-off for the religious school you are running is one day before Rosh Hashanah.  As you can probably imagine, I was super busy and didn't have a lot of baking time.

Then, I saw that this month's Martha Stewart Cupcake Club selection, by Nina from Nina's Cupcakes, was cookies and cream cupcakes -- also known as oreo cheesecakes with oreo cookie crusts.  Yummy.  And, they seemed fairly easy.  I decided I would take some of these to my office and give some to my friend Mike for his birthday.

We had to work on Labor day this year because of the holidays and the start of school, so I thought these would be a nice treat, even if it didn't totally make up for being in the office on a holiday.  The people in my office don't often eat that much.  They eat lunch and everything, but cookies and other baked goods don't seem to hold the same allure as they did in my husband's office.  I thought I would have a bunch left over and would drive them to Mike after work on Labor Day.

The best laid plans...these were devoured in an instant.  There were none left for Mike (sorry Mike!).  I guess people liked these cupcakes a lot.  They weren't too heavy, even for cheesecake and the oreos stayed pretty crunchy on the bottom, which was a nice contrast.  Nina, thanks for the great pick and the people in my office thank you too!

You can find the recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. 

Ethnic Flavor: Challah, Again

I'm never satisfied with my challah recipe. Part of the challenge, and fun, of making up your own recipe is that it never feels finished. I think I'm getting closer, though. So in honor of Rosh Hashanah, here is another recipe for you to try. (To make it for this time of year, coil the challah into a circle and bake it in an 8 inch circular tin instead of braiding.) Shabbat shalom and shanah tovah!

For the dough:
2 cups warm water
2 packets yeast
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tbsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup oil
2 tbsp. cinnamon sugar
6-8 cups flour (with potentially more needed, depending on the stickiness of the dough. Flour can be white or whole wheat, but should not be more than 50% whole wheat)

For the glaze:
1 tsp. warm water
1 egg
cinnamon sugar

Let the yeast sit in the water. Once it's dissolved, add the eggs. Mix until the eggs are blended. Add the salt, oil and sugar, and mix. Add about half of the flour. Mix in the cinnamon sugar. Add the rest of the flour. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350. Punch the dough down and knead. Divide it into 6 pieces. Subdivide the challah sections into three sections and braid. Allow the dough to rise again.

Mix the water and the egg. Using a pastry brush, spread it over the challah. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the challah sounds hollow when knocked.