Pumpkin Pie Pancakes

Sorry for the lack of good quality in the picture. I need to get a tripod for my camera so I can take better pictures.

So I decided to scrap the whole panna cotta thing since I didn't feel like getting more buttermilk. A poster at the Nigella board told me that it was probably because I did not melt the gelatin all the way which I think is entirely possible. I was reading a Cooks Illustrated recipe that said you needed to stir the gelatin and milk mixture for at least 10 minutes before chilling it. Gale's recipe just said to stir it in and then pour them into the ramekins so poopies on her (and me for not knowing I guess :P).

After the all-savory breakfasts last weekend, my boyfriend finally said he might like something sweet for breakfast so I made these pumpkin pie pancakes since he loves pumpkin pie so much. They actually do taste like pumpkin pie... at least just the custard part of the pumpkin pie and not the crust, mind you. :P They are very soft and fluffy (kind of a melt in your mouth type of pancake) but it was a big pain to flip them so I suggest making smaller versions of these.. not more than 4 inches wide (Personally I like my pancakes bigger than 4 inches but its hard to get away with that with this recipe.)

Note: This recipe is actually served with Spiced Pumpkin Ice Cream and has the recipe included. I don't have an ice cream maker (boo!) so I'm not going to post the recipe (scrooge, I am!). It tastes lovely with whipped cream and maple syrup though. :)

Pumpkin Pie Pancakes
(from Pancakes: From Morning to Midnight by Dorie Greenspan)

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp (packed) brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
Pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp dark rum (optional)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

To fold in:
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin


Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another bowl. Make sure everything is at room temperature, otherwise your melted butter might scramble your eggs.

Combine your wet and dry ingredients together. Do not overmix! Lumpiness is good! Next, fold in your pumpkin.

Preheat your griddle or skillet to about 350F. I don't have an electric skillet so I just set my electric stove to medium heat. You can also lightly oil or butter your skillet but I've always found that to get in the way of a nice-evenly browned pancake. Only oil if you are using nonstick (IMO). Have your oven slightly warmed so that you can keep your pancakes warm while you are cooking the rest of the batch.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle for each pancake and allow space for spreading. When the bottoms are golden brown and bubbles are coming up to the top, flip over carefully.

Serve immediately with warmed maple syrup, fluffy whipped cream, and nice cup of joe. :)

Recipe #4: Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Strawberry Mash

I am starting to lose faith in Gale. This is the third failure out of the four recipes I've tried in the book. I'm not sure what I did wrong but when I made this custard dessert, the gelatin totally separated from the custard leaving a clear liquidy mess speckled with my precious vanilla beans. I am a bit disappointed since the custard part still tasted good... but just a bit powdery (not sure why). Maybe the gelatin didn't soften enough before I added it to the buttermilk mixture (it was a least 3 or 4 minutes though) but why would it separate? Most of the recipes I see online are pretty similar to Gale's... I wonder why it messed up. Blah.

On a more positive note, I jumped on the bandwagon and baked a Minimalist Loaf. Its actually my second once since my first one didn't get such a good rise. I'll post some pictures as soon as I've cut it open.

Ladyfingers with strawberries and cream

I'm finally back to Gale's book. These turned out to be quite divine... they were like little cakes with a sweet, slightly crunchy exterior but a warm, soft, velvety delicate "cakeness" inside. They are definitely pretty different from the crunchy ones you can buy at like Trader Joes... I hope they will hold up in a tiramisu because I'm set on making one. :)

Since the only leavening in these cookies is the egg whites, I was pretty careful about not overbeating the whites. I did this by using an egg method I had read about in one of Chris Kimball's books. For soft peaks, a raw egg placed in the beaten egg whites will fall to the bottom; for medium peaks, the raw egg falls into the egg whites but not all the way to the bottom; and for hard peaks, the egg sits right on top of the beaten egg whites. I wouldn't recommend using this test each time you need to beat egg whites but if you're not familiar with the egg whites being at one of these stages you can try it. By the way, when I stuck my hand in the egg white foam it felt like I was touching cotton... or a cloud. It was actually something I wasn't expecting but nice. :)

Ladyfingers

(from Chocolate & Vanilla by Gale Gand)

5 large eggs, separated (Note: I think you will need to let these go to room temperature before beating them)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for dusting the ladyfingers

1 scant cup cake flour

On a piece of parchment paper, draw 2 parallel lines 4 inches apart to use as a guide for piping the ladyfingers. Draw a second set of lines 1 1/2 inches from the first set. Turn the paper over and place pencil-side down on a cookie sheet.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Have a large pastry bag fitted with a large (1/2-inch) plain tip ready.

To make the ladyfingers, in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg yolks and granulated sugar on medium speed until the mixture is light and thickened and falls back in a ribbon when the whisk is lifted from the batter, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.

In another clean, dry bowl, whip the egg whites on low speed until they're foamy, then increase the speed to medium and whip while adding the powdered sugar gradually, increase the speed to high and whip until the whites hold a stiff peak.

Sift half of the cake flour over the yolks and fold in the flour using a rubber spatula. Fold the whipped whites into the yolks and then sift and fold in the remaining flour.

Fill the pastry bag with the batter and pipe finger-thick stripes 1 1/2 inches apart between the sets of parallel lines.

Sift powdered sugar heavily over the tops of the lady fingers.

Bake until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let the ladyfingers cool on the cookie sheet before lifting them off the parchment paper.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream and strawberries. :)

Spanakopita

I bought this lovely book I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence written by the comedian/actress Amy Sedaris. Its very entertaining and funny and has tons of recipes (that are not fake :). The best part that I like about this book is the retro-looking pictures of the food. It reminds me of my grandmother and all her old cookbook and recipe books from the 1960s. I highly recommend at least taking a look at this book the next time you go to the bookstore. The cover is gorgeous as well. ;)

So here is the recipe for Spanakopita or Greek Spinach pie. The filling turned out very tasty and didn't have an overly strong taste of greens. I actually used all fresh spinach for this recipe even though it calls for 30 ounces of frozen spinach. I don't really recommend this as you'll have to boil up a stockpot full of water and blanch all your spinach and then wring out the water. Well, you'll have to do that for the frozen spinach too but at least that's one less pot to clean. :P

Brushing each layer of the phyllo dough was very time consuming and as dinnertime was approaching fast I didn't do the whole entire 1 lb package. It still turned out fine and I've read some other recipes that used less phyllo dough.

Spanakopita

5 eggs
3 10-ounce packages of frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted (ring out any water using cheesecloth or dishrag) Note: You can use equal amounts of fresh spinach weighing it AFTER blanching them in boiling water
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces crumbled feta cheese
Olive Oil
2 bunches of chopped green onions, sauteed
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Dill, fennel (optional)
3 tbsp of Parmesan cheese
1 1-pound of box of phyllo pastry
1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a mixer or food processor, beat the eggs until fluffy. Add all ingredients (except for phyllo) and process. Note: I would put the ingredients in this order after the eggs: cream cheese, feta cheese, cottage cheese.. blend... spinach, green onions, parsley, parmesan cheese, and a dash of the olive oil... blend.
2. Butter a 9 x 13 x 3 inch pan. One sheet at a time, lay the phyllo dough into the pan and brush the butter onto each sheet inbetween. After about half the box, spread your spinach filling on top of the phyllo pastry. Continue with rest of phyllo dough until box is finished (or until you get tired of doing it :)
3. You can precut the pie at this point and place in the freezer until ready to bake. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until top is brown and crispy.

Tyler's Videos

Food Network has a series of holiday cooking videos done by Tyler Florence that you can view. It's actually pretty cool and his dishes look very yummy. I'm most especially interested in the chocolate mousse and chocolate bourbon pecan pie.

I didn't realize Tyler got a little chubby now. hah


Click here for the videos

Apple Crisp

Yesterday was very lame. I decided to make a peach cream pie (one of Nigella's of course) but I forgot to add in the beaten egg to the filling so the pie came out of the oven too watery. Then, I was wondering why the crust tasted so grainy and wheaty and then I looked at my pastry flour bag and discovered that it was whole grain pastry flour. No wonder the dough was a doll to work with. Blech.

So today it was apple crisp and I had been craving it for some time now. I got the recipe from About.com Southern Food section since I was too lazy to go through my books. It turned out quite well and now I'm going to eat it with some vanila ice cream. :P

Get your Apple Crisp!

P.S. Lovely new cooking forum has opened up at Violets :)

Rachael Ray Crowd

Unfortunately after the sauce hollandaise incident on Sunday morning (see last post), we got to the Rachael Ray book signing pretty late. It was supposed to start at 1pm but we got there around 1:30pm. It really didn't matter anyways because this is what we saw when we got there and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have made much difference getting there on time! Unfortunately, this picture does not really show you the enormity of the crowd -- this line basically wrapped around an entire block. Most of the crowd were young women and a lot of them were holding 5 or 6 copies Rachael Ray's newest book. It was pretty crazy.

Well since getting my book signed was pretty much out of the question at this point, we decided to venture into the store anyways to get my pizza peel (ended up getting a Mario Batali one.) The place was a zoo and there were police officers and store clerks all over the place navigating crowds and barking at customers who were shopping in blocked-off aisles. We managed to get a glimpse of Rachael Ray signing books -- it was pretty much an assembly-line work -- people would walk up the table, Rachael would sign the book and an officer would rush them along so the next person could come up. People were yelling "I love you, Rachael!" all over the place -- it was quite funny.

She was only signing until 3pm that day so I doubt everyone in the line got their book signed. What a zoo. hah

English Muffins and Sauce Hollandaise

I was surprised that these turned out pretty well. It was my first time making english muffins and so I was totally unsure as to how the dough was supposed to be during the entire time. It was very wet and pretty much batter-like up until cutting them out into circles. These were a bit of a pain since it required about 3 different waiting times but I do think they were well worth it. The muffins were very tender, soft, and chewy. They even looked like those Thomas English Muffins you buy at the supermarket! :)

Note: Try saving up your tuna cans and cutting both ends off to use as the muffin rings. They tend to spread a bit if you don't have the rings in place. Also, I used a baking stone instead of a baking sheet and this proved to make the crust extra crispy as I like them. I highly recommend getting a baking stone if you do a lot of baking.

I made eggs benedict this morning just for these muffins so please see recipe for sauce hollandaise at end.


English Muffins
(from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook)

11 ounces (about 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tsp instant yeast
1 cup warm water (about 110F)
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp nonfat dry milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 tsp coarse salt, plus more for sprinkling

Other Essentials:
Vegetable Oil for bowl, plastic wrap, parchment, and rings
Semolina flour, for pan
Anise seeds, for sprinkling (optional)
Unhulled sesame seeds, for sprinkling (optional)

In a medium bowl, combine 5 ounces (1 cup) all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon yeast, the warm water, and the honey; whisk vigorously until mixture is thick and slightly foamy, about 1 minute.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 6 ounces (1 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon yeast, and the dry milk. Sprinkle over the wet flour mixture, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on medium-low speed until all dry ingredients have been incorporated into the dough, about 2 minutes. Add the butter and salt, and continue to mix on medium speed until combined (the dough should be smooth but slightly tack), about 5 minutes. If the dough is too dry, add a little room-temperature water, 1 teaspoon at a time; if the dough is too wet, add more flour, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover bowl with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until the dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

With lightly oiled hands, gently knead dough in the bowl, covering all sides with oil. Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form dough into a flattened rectangle; wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 1 hour or overnight.

Line a baking sheet with parchment, brush with oil, and lightly dust with semolina flour. Lightly oil eight English muffin rings, and place on prepared sheet. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface, and roll out to 3/4 inch thick. using a floured 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut out right rounds; place each round in one of the oiled rings. (Dough can be rerolled in order to cut all eight muffins.) Set aside in a warm place until rounds have risen slightly, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.

Sprinkle rounds with seeds or salt, as desired (about 1 teaspoon per muffin). In a large skillet over medium heat, melt enough additional butter to coat the bottom of the pan. When the butter is bubbling, carefully transfer rounds to the skillet with a wide spatula, leaving muffin rings in place. Do not crowd the pan; rounds should fit comfortably without touching. Cook muffins until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Flip them over, and cook until golden, about 4 minutes more. Return muffins to the baking sheet, and remove muffin rings. Bake until muffins are cooked through, 7 to 10 minutes. (They should reach and internal temperature of 190F.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Muffins can be eaten warm, or allowed to cool and then split open with a fork and toasted. The muffins can be wrapped in plastic and kept at room temperature for up to 3 days.


Eggs Benedict

Did you know the McDonald's Egg McMuffin was modeled after Eggs Benedict? They replaced the hollandaise sauce with the piece of cheese though. The eggs benedict I made this morning tastes similar to the Egg McMuffin... not sure if that's a good thing but it was definitely yummy. :) Basically you just toast a split english muffin, add a poached egg and slice of canadian bacon (back bacon), and then spoon over the hollandaise sauce on top.

I have to say that it took me 5 tries to make the sauce (I wasted quite a bit of butter and eggs this morning lol.) You have to be really careful not heat the mixture too much or the sauce will curdle or separate. Some ideas for troubleshooting after recipe.

Sauce Hollandaise

2 sticks (1 cup) butter (Note: You may not use all of this)
3 egg yolks
juice of half lemon
salt and pepper to taste

First, clarify the butter (Note: I personally think this step is optional but I've read that the hollandaise sauce is a lot thinner if you don't.) Melt the butter on low medium heat in a small saucepan. Remove the white scum that has floated to the top and then strain the butter. Set aside.

Fill a medium saucepan half with water and bring to a simmer. Put the egg yolks into a heatproof bowl (stainless steel) and spoon about 3 tablespoons of the hot water into it. Start whisking immediately over the heat until the egg yolks turned into the consistency of thick cream (ribbon stage). Immediately take pan off the heat (Note: This is quite important. I didn't do this the first four tries and my sauce split.)

Slowly pour the clarified butter into the egg yolks. Do not put it in all at once nor pour too slowly. Your sauce should start becoming the consistency of mayonaise. You don't have to use all your butter and please be aware that if you add too much butter, the egg yolk-butter emulsion will no longer hold and it will curdle. Add your lemon juice, mix, and taste with salt and pepper.

Hollandaise sauce doesn't store very well so try and use it the same day.

Please see an excellent video of this recipe here.

Troubleshooting:
If your sauce curdles, try several of the following methods:

• If your sauce is too thin or has separated, try spooning a tablespoon of cold water into it. If that doesn't work, try the next tip.


• Take a teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the sauce and whisk together until thick. You'll have to pour the curdled sauce into this mixture slowly.


• I've read in one book that you can mix 1 egg yolk with a tablespoon of water and combine your mixture into that. I haven't tried it though.