mix, mix… stir, stir

It is time for a bit of a cookie run with the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group. December should be National Cookie Month, but apparently it was in October along with celebrations for National Apple Month,  Country Ham Month, Popcorn Poppin’ Month, Restaurant Hospitality Month, and the one I am really kicking myself for not celebrating - National Toilet Tank Repair Month. Next October is going to be a non-stop party!

photo by David Peterman

A few weeks ago I was making cut-out cookies and decided I really don’t like making cut-out cookies. They are time consuming, messy, and generally frustrating. Surprisingly Dories Linzer Sables aren’t any of those things. She instructs to roll the dough out right after mixing it with the aid of waxed paper. By sandwiching the dough in the waxed paper for rolling, no added flour is necessary alleviating the primary mess of cut-out cookies. Additionally, rolling warm dough is a snap because it is willing to go in any direction it is pushed without a fight. Once the dough is rolled it goes in the fridge or freezer to chill, then after it is really cold the cutting happens. What do you know, cutting out really cold dough is fast, easy, and because the dough is so stiff the shapes don’t distort when lifted onto the baking sheet. Ta-da, fast, easy, cut-out cookies and I didn’t get flour all over the kitchen. Dorie’s technique may just convert me.

Sablés aren’t a standard sugar cookie, but a French cookie named for the word that means “sand” because they have a very delicate and crumbly texture. Sablé is pronounced SAH-blay, which I generally forget and feel silly every time I realize I am pronouncing them incorrectly. In addition to their distinct texture, sablés (think SAH-blay) are often flavored with almond, lemon or orange zest. Dories version uses almond flour and a touch of spice for a really nice flavor.

I deviated from the flavors in Dorie’s recipe by not using the Linzer namesake flavor of raspberry for the filling and filled half the cookies with chocolate ganache and the others with the last bit of my favorite fig, pear and rosewater jam. Both fillings worked beautifully with the touch of spice in the dough. Dorie went with cinnamon and clove, but I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to grind cloves, so I tested out my new “Over-grind Blend.” This is a blend of all the little extra bits of ground spice that I have accumulated from the previous month. Anytime I grind more spice than I need, I toss the extra in a little jar. All the sweet type spices such as allspice, clove, nutmeg, cardamom go in one jar and the savory spices in another. Anytime I need a quick hit of spice for a recipe I just use this blend. I try to use it up by the end of the month and start again fresh. Every month the blend will be unique depending on what I have been grinding, but it works great and makes those little bits of extra ground spices easy to use up.

Thank you to Noskos of Living the Life, for selecting a recipe this week that has changed my outlook on rolled cookies. He has posted Dorie’s recipe, but you can also find it in Dorie’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours.

My special twist on this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie baking adventure is adding a charcoal finish to the beautiful Thanksgiving Twofer Pie (pumpkin and pecan pie all in one!) that Vivi of La Casserole Carree selected for the group to make this week.

photo by David Peterman

This is the result of multi-tasking gone bad. Thanksgiving was celebrated on Sunday at my house because of my desire to cook the full-blown feast and spend Thanksgiving Day at a friend’s house. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have your pie and eat it too - unless you get distracted.

The Thanksgiving Twofer Pie is Dorie Greenspan’s answer to the age old question “Should I make pumpkin or pecan pie?” Her smart solution is to make both in one pie; a classic pumpkin pie filling scattered with pecans and covered with a sugary-gooey pecan pie filling. Assembly was fine, so into the oven at 450 degrees F for ten minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F for the remainder of the bake time; this doesn’t seem so hard.

An undetermined amount of time passes and as I breeze past the oven I notice the pie is getting really brown and decide to grab some foil to cover the top, but by the time I get to the other side of my kitchen (all of about five steps) I am fully distracted with prepping brussels sprouts, checking the temperature of the turkey, strategizing on the timing of starting the potatoes…then I get a whiff of something burning…the pie! I am a bit shocked to notice the oven temperature still says 450. Well, fancy new-fangled electronic control panel ovens are great for all that they do, but if you don’t hit “enter” after resetting the temperature, the temperature does not get reset. The charcoal finish overwhelmed the pie and I finally admitted that it wasn’t really salvageable after eating a piece for dessert. It was no bother for David, who is not a pumpkin or pecan fan, as he had stocked the freezer with some Ben & Jerry’s for his early Thanksgiving feast dessert.

I have no doubt the pie would have been fantastic had I not burned it to smithereens. I will make it again once I get over the pain of ruining a cup and a half of beautiful pecans. You can test your oven temperature setting skills and make it yourself from the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, or click over to Vivi’s blog where she has posted it (scroll down for the English version).

photo by David Peterman

Thankfully there were other delicious things to eat for early Thanksgiving dinner (recipes below). The red kuri squash stuffed with cornmeal stuffing made with apples, currants, hazelnuts and a nice dash of curry powder was wonderful and the baking vessel adds a side vegetable for no extra work!

photo by David Peterman

Roasted brussels sprouts and pearl onions with caraway and juniper were tasty and beautiful. The turkey was baked with a delicious herb, orange, and fennel compound butter that takes just minutes to create. And of course a bowl of my favorite fall delight, spiced cranberry sauce.

With the inevitable Thanksgiving disaster all ready out of the way, now I can relax, enjoy early leftovers and a fun Thanksgiving Day with friends eating more delicious food. Have a wonderful holiday and keep an eye on that oven temperature!

Citrus Herb Compound Butter
 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1 Tbsp. fresh sage, chopped
zest of one medium orange, finely grated
1/2 tsp. aleppo pepper, or dried red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. fennel seed, ground
1/4 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground

Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Rub under the skin of a turkey or chicken before roasting. A dollop placed on hot grilled chicken breasts just before serving is nice as well.

Cornbread Stuffing Baked in a Squash

Serves 6

For the cornbread (can be made a day early)
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. sea salt
1 large egg
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the first 4 ingredients to mix well.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg and mix in the brown sugar, oil and milk. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cornbread is slightly puffed and golden brown. Let cool in the pan, then remove from the pan and cut cornbread into half-inch cubes. If starting a day ahead, leave the bread cubes sitting out overnight uncovered to stale. If proceeding the same day, place bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake in a 325 degree F oven for 15-20 minutes to dry out the cornbread. Let cool and proceed with stuffing recipe.

For the stuffing
1 medium-sized red kuri or other winter squash
6 cups (about) dried cornbread cubes (one batch of above cornbread recipe)
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 apple, peeled and diced
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 cup dried currants
11/2 -2 tsp. curry powder (depending on your taste and your curry powder)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock, have a little extra on hand if needed
2 large eggs

Cut the top off of the squash and set aside. Scrape the seeds and stringy bits from the inside of the squash and sprinkle the cleaned interior generously with salt, pepper, and a bit of the curry powder. Set the squash aside.

Place a heavy-bottom large pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sauté for a few minutes, then add the celery, apple, thyme, curry powder and continue to cook for 6-8 additional minutes until the vegetables are soft. Deglaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the white wine reduce until the pan is almost dry. Remove from the heat and stir in the currants and hazelnuts. Add salt and pepper to taste, seasoning on the strong side to account for the cornbread, stock and squash that has yet to be incorporated. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl.

Add the cornbread to the bowl of vegetables and mix to combine. Whisk the eggs and 1 cup of stock together and add slowly to the stuffing letting each addition be absorbed before adding more. Add additional stock, 1/4 cup at a time, until the stuffing is quite wet and holds together easily, but not so much that it pools at the bottom of the bowl.

Place the Squash in a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Fill the squash with the stuffing and put the lid on the squash, any extra stuffing can be baked in a buttered baking dish covered with buttered foil. Place in an oven at 350-375 degrees F to bake for about 2 hours. The squash can bake alongside a turkey or other dishes and the exact oven temperature is not critical. After an hour check the sidewalls of the squash to determine the baking progress, the squash will probably be rather firm at this point. Remove the lid of the squash and tuck it in the baking dish so the squash can bake uncovered (if your squash lid has a stem, it will be very brittle and likely break off if you try to lift the lid using the stem). Let the squash bake until it is easily pierced with the tip of a knife and the stuffing is hot through. Cover loosely with foil if the top begins to brown too much. Check the squash every 20 minutes for doneness.

Once it is fully cooked carefully lift the whole squash onto a serving platter. This move is best executed with the help of an additional person to peel away the parchment paper once the squash is lifted from the pan. It works well to slide a sturdy spatula under the squash while supporting the side with a hot pad or kitchen towel. Serve by scooping out the stuffing along with some of the squash meat.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Pearl Onions

Serves 4

20 brussels sprouts
30 pearl onions
2 slices of thick bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 garlic cloves, whole and unpeeled
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. caraway seeds, whole
1/2 tsp. juniper berries, ground
1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Trim the bottom of the sprouts, peel off the dark outer leaves, and cut an X in the stem end. Bring a 3 qt. pot of water to boil and add 2 tsp. of salt to the water. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside. Add the brussels sprouts to the boiling water and simmer uncovered for 4-5 minutes. Remove the brussels sprouts from the boiling water and place in the ice water to cool for 3-4 minutes. Scoop the brussels sprouts from the ice water, drain and dry them.

Add the pearl onions to the pot of boiling water and simmer for 2 minutes then remove them to the ice water. Once the onions are cool enough to touch, drain them. Cut the root end off and peel the outer papery layer off and pat them dry. (This can be done one day ahead, store the brussels sprouts and onions in the refrigerator).

Slice the brussels sprouts in half and place in a medium-sized bowl along with the onions. Mix in the olive oil, caraway seeds, juniper, unpeeled garlic cloves, diced bacon, as well as a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Spread the vegetables out on a sheet pan and place in a hot oven to roast. After 15-20 minutes give the vegetables a stir and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes more until they are nicely browned and cooked through.

Remove the pan from the oven and collect the unpeeled garlic cloves. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the papery shell into a mixing bowl. Using a whisk mash the roasted garlic into a paste and whisk in the sherry vinegar. Add the brussels sprouts and onions and toss to coat. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed and serve.

Once again the Tuesdays with Dorie group expands my dessert boundaries. I had never made rice pudding until this week, and I made a lot of rice pudding this week.

photo by David Peterman

The recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, uses Arborio rice, which is the type of rice used to make risotto. This rice pudding is a deliciously comforting dessert that takes me right back to all the tapioca I used to make as a kid. The only variation I made to Dori’s recipe is using half a vanilla bean rather than vanilla extract. The little vanilla specs look lovely and with such a minimal ingredient list of milk, rice, and sugar, it is a perfect place to splurge a little by using a vanilla bean.

After cooking the rice pudding I was initially put off by the texture of the rice. The grains were cooked to the point of being quite mushy making the rice pudding a disappointment from a texture standpoint, though the flavor was lovely. I wondered what rice pudding would be like if it were cooked like traditional risotto, so I embarked on a second batch starting by sauteing the rice in a little butter and then stirring in hot milk bit by bit as it was absorbed. This rice pudding had lovely toothy risotto grains nestled in a sweet creamy sauce of milk and sugar. I was thrilled with delicious results, so into the refrigerator to cool.

The next day I sampled my risotto rice pudding and it had transformed into hard little pellets in a sweet creamy sauce, where as Dorie’s rice pudding had chilled to perfection. The rice firmed up to be perfectly toothsome, but still tender. Hum… then I remembered a little lesson I had learned some time ago about retrogradation, which explains what’s going on.

photo by David Peterman

Harold McGee in his book, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, and Shirly O. Corriher in her book, Cookwise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed, give detailed explanations of different starches and how they react to heat and refrigeration. The bottom line is the type of starch found in rice, amylose, binds together really tightly when it is cooled after having been cooked, and the rice gets very hard once it is refrigerated. The term for this process is retrogradation. Once reheated, the crystallized amylose molecules melt and the rice becomes soft again, so if you want to eat chilled rice pudding you either need to cook the rice to a very soft consistancy (ah, Dorie knows what she is doing!) or use a medium or short grain rice which has less amylose than long grain rice. Arborio rice is a medium grain rice, but I cooked the rice pudding to the same texture I cook risotto, and it was fine while hot, but once chilled, it was like eating raw rice pudding. So, hot overly-mushy rice pudding will transform, once chilled, into perfection.

photo by David Peterman

All this rice pudding experimenting got me to wondering about black sticky rice. Sticky rice (also known as glutinous or sweet rice) has a predominately amylopectin starch structure, so retrogradation is not issue. Once it is cooked it is very sticky and if refrigerated will remain soft. Sticky rice is sold as black, containing the outer bran and germ layers, or white with the outer layers removed. It is typically soaked overnight and then steamed rather than boiled, though I have seen reference to Black sticky rice being boiled, cooked like risotto, and steamed for anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. The traditional application of sticky rice in Asian cuisines is as dessert, but I have also come across numerous savory applications and after trying this rice for the first time, I think it has fantastic potential in savory applications. It has a nice nutty, wild rice type flavor and the color is stunning.

For my Sticky Black Rice Pudding experiments I tried two different cooking methods. One batch I soaked for 4 hours and then cooked it like risotto using the soaking liquid. The other batch I soaked overnight and steamed for about 45 minutes. Both were good, but for the rice pudding I preferred the steamed version. In savory applications stirring in a flavorful stock like a risotto might be the way to go. I didn’t follow an existing recipe, but started with the classic base of coconut milk and added a few more layers of flavor; pandan leaf, palm sugar, and true cinnamon.

photo by David Peterman

Pandan or pandanus leaf is a fantastic flavor and fragrance to add to both sweet and savory dishes. It is available in Asian markets and looks like long palm leaves. I have heard it described as the equivalent of vanilla in Asian cuisines. A leaf simply tied into a loose knot, to release the flavors, and tossed into a pot of oatmeal or rice adds a warm fragrant flavor that is subtle and exotically satisfying. I don’t make oatmeal without it. The leaves store well in the freezer tightly wrapped in plastic. Palm sugar can easily be found in Asian markets and is use frequently in Thai cooking. True cinnamon (Cinnamomun zeylanicum) is almost exclusively grown in Sri Lanka and offers a slightly more subtle, but far more complex flavor than the common cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) sold in the U.S. The sticks, called quills, are much softer and more papery than cassia cinnamon sticks. I usually always opt for True Cinnamon in savory applications like soups and braises. If you have not experimented with it, you should give it a try.

Here is my recipe for Black Sticky Rice. I really enjoyed it as a black and white combination with Dorie’s recipe. A big thank you to Isabelle of Le Gourmandise d’Isa for selecting this week’s recipe, and setting me off on a grand rice pudding cooking adventure. Dorie’s Arborio Rice Pudding recipe can be found on Isabelle’s post (scroll down for the English version) and of course in Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: from my home to yours.

Sticky Black Rice Pudding

1 cup black sticky rice
3 cups water, plus additional for steaming
2 six to eight inch pieces of pandan leaf, each tied into a loose knot
1 cup coconut milk
1.5 ounces palm sugar
2-3 inch piece of True cinnamon quill, or a cassia cinnamon stick
Pinch of salt

Place black sticky rice in a bowl with 3 cups of water and let soak at least 4 hours or overnight.

Set up a steamer for the rice by placing a steamer insert in a pan with a tight fitting lid. Ideally the steamer will allow for 2-3 inches of water. A colander or vegetable steamer lined with cheese cloth set into a large pot works well. Drain rice and place in steamer with one pandan leaf that has been tied into a loose knot. Steam the rice for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until soft and tender, adding additional water throughout steaming as needed.

While the rice is steaming, melt the palm sugar in a heavy bottomed pan over low heat. Once melted, turn up the heat to medium and bring the sugar to a gentle boil and let boil for 30 seconds to a minute. Carefully add the coconut milk to the melted sugar. The sugar will clump up just like caramel does when the cream is added. Stir over medium low heat and the sugar will melt into the coconut milk. Add the cinnamon quill and second pandan leaf and bring the mixture to a gentle boil for a minute or two. Remove from heat and cover for 20 minutes to let the cinnamon and pandan infuse into the coconut milk. Remove the cinnamon quill and pandan leaf.

Once the rice is cooked add it to the coconut milk and stir over medium heat. Add a pinch of salt. Cook until the rice and coconut milk are nicely combined, stirring continuously. Let rest 10 minutes if serving warm, or refrigerate and serve chilled. Additional plain coconut milk can be poured over the rice pudding for serving if a thinner consistency is desired.

It’s fun to say and even more fun to eat. Kugelhopf is a buttery-rich bread along the lines of brioche, that is studded with dried fruit and often nuts. The traditional dusting of powdered sugar in addition to baking it in a fancy shape pushes this bread very much toward the cake world.

photo by David Peterman

I didn’t happen to have a true Kugelhopf pan, which is similar to a Bundt pan but taller and narrower with a shape somewhat like a spiraled turban. I can attest that there is no need to purchase a Kugelhopf pan to make Kugelhopf, a Bundt pan, mini Bundt pans, standard loaf pan or muffin tins will work just fine.

Originally an Alsatian bread, it is made all over Europe and as the bread has traveled, the spelling of the name has morphed. I have run across Kugelupf, Gugelhopf, Gugelhupf, Kougelhopf, and Koeglof, but because this is Tuesdays with Dorie, I will stick with Kugelhopf as Dorie uses in her book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

The most difficult thing about this bread, like many yeasted breads, is time. Dorie’s recipe calls for three risings that take about seven hours. Knowing I couldn’t fit that into my schedule the day I wanted to make this I made a few adjustments in the process. One option she gives is resting the dough in the refrigerator overnight, which with any bread is a great way to develop flavor. As a compromise I mixed up a sponge of 1/3 the yeast, the milk, and enough flour to form a thick, but still very liquid batter. After letting it sit at room temperature for three hours it got nice and bubbly and then I put that in the refrigerator to ferment the rest of the day and evening. Right before going to bed I pulled the sponge out of the refrigerator and let it sit overnight in a very cool part of the house. I needed to start the bread first thing in the morning and I didn’t want the sponge to be refrigerator-cold. It seems to have worked just fine. I then finished mixing, let the dough rise twice in a warm spot, molded it, and let it rise a final time in the mold and baked it. My “speedy” version still took all morning with the bread coming out of the oven about noon.

On the flavor front Dorie calls for plump raisins and I just couldn’t leave well enough alone, so I veered off here as well. I used golden raisins soaked overnight in dark rum and added a teaspoon of mahleb to the dough.  I also sprinkled a few slivered almonds in the mold before adding the dough which added a really nice crunch and flavor to the bread. Once these come out of the oven, Dorie takes things one step beyond simply dusting with powdered sugar and first paints the bread with melted butter then sprinkling on the powdered sugar. This makes such a nice sweet almost crispy glaze over the bread.

photo by David Peterman

I used a heavy metal pan of mini-Bundt molds to bake my Kugelhopf, but had more dough than the molds could accommodate, so I pulled out my silicone Cannell mold to finish off the dough. This is the only silicone baking pan I have and must admit that I don’t have much experience baking with it. The criticism I frequently hear of silicone pans is they don’t brown well. This was true for one side of my Kugelhopf buns. Each little bun had a very blond side that faced to the inside of the pan and a nicely browned side that was on the outer edge of the pan. Not the end of the world, but interesting to observe. The little Kugelhopfs were a great nibbling size.

Overall I was thrilled with the results and besides taking a fair amount of time, it’s not a difficult bread to make. If you feel like creating your own Kugelhoph you can find Dorie’s recipe on Yolanda’s post at All Purpose Girl. Thanks Yolanda for selecting the recipe for this week; I now know how to make Kugelhopf!

Oh no, my first really dud of a result in baking with the Tuesdays with Dorie group. I am very pleased with the way the cupcakes look, so enjoy the photo, but they were dry and lacked flavor.

photo by David Peterman

I was banking on the frosting to save the day, but no, it was hard as soon as it cooled. Chocolate, butter and sugar, seems reasonable enough, but when I stopped to think about the fact that the proportions of sugar and butter were small compared to the chocolate and butter is solid at room temperature, it is no surprise that it set up rather solid. Dorie refers to the frosting as a glaze indicating that it should just be a thin layer, which would be better, but I think it would still be too hard even as a thin glaze.

I did mix some smooth commercial peanut butter into the glaze to make a soft filling hoping to distract from the dry cake and it was delicious, but didn’t do much to hide the fact that the cake was dry. It would make a wonderful topping as well.
Quick Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting
Gently melt bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and mix in half as much smooth peanut butter, by weight. Whisk in powdered sugar by the tablespoon until the flavor reaches the desired sweetness.

I am so interested to go see all the other blogs on Tuesdays with Dorie and find out if I was the only one with these problems. Thanks to Clara of I Heart Food For Thought for selecting the recipe for this week.