For more Wordless Wednesday check out 5 Minutes For Mom.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tuesdays with Dorie.
This week's Tuesdays with Dorie challenge was Brioche Raisin Snails chosen by the amazing Peabody. I, unfortunately, had to sit out.
I could list all my excuses. I could go into detail about Landon's pinkeye and the wonderful mood he's been in the past few days. Or I could tell you how Spencer took most of last week off and we spent that time doing family things. Or I could just tell you that I've been super bored with kitchen related projects lately.
But I'd just be making excuses.
My real reason is that I hate raisins. And last week's challenge had already pushed my limits when it comes to the little feet-smelling things. Sure I could've used one of the 5 bags of dried cranberries I have sitting in my pantry but even those are a little too raisin-like for me.
I'll be back next week though. I promise.
I could list all my excuses. I could go into detail about Landon's pinkeye and the wonderful mood he's been in the past few days. Or I could tell you how Spencer took most of last week off and we spent that time doing family things. Or I could just tell you that I've been super bored with kitchen related projects lately.
But I'd just be making excuses.
My real reason is that I hate raisins. And last week's challenge had already pushed my limits when it comes to the little feet-smelling things. Sure I could've used one of the 5 bags of dried cranberries I have sitting in my pantry but even those are a little too raisin-like for me.
I'll be back next week though. I promise.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Greek Burgers and Pasta Salad.
I've been so uninspired lately. I've just been in a rut. A big, nasty, can't-come-up-with-anything-to-cook rut. I can't even tell you the last time I cooked anything new.
But last night, long after I had decided to just stick with Spencer's favorites this week, I was checking my blog reader and saw this post over at Culinary Infatuation. I wanted to make them immediately.
They were so good. Spencer bumped something off his "Top 10 Meals" list in order to make room for these. Yes, he keeps a running list of his favorite meals. I can't keep track of them but at any given moment he can name each one.
I didn't do the ground up pita shells though because my main man has pinkeye at the moment and spent most of the day in my arms. I'm sure it would make these burgers even better. I did stuff them with blue cheese though. I would've preferred feta but I ended up using all my feta for the side dish and I always have a ton of blue cheese in the fridge. Yum. And the tzatziki... amazing. And this is coming from someone who hates cucumbers.
I wanted a simple side to go along with the burgers and somehow decided that pasta salad would be perfect. I browsed a few recipes and finally came up with this. It turned out really good. Spencer didn't even put up a fight about the artichokes.
"Greek" Pasta Salad
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon sugar
3 cups cooked pasta
1 jar drained artichoke hearts, quartered
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup crumbled feta
3/4 cup sliced black olives
1/2 cup sliced green onions
Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic powder, dried oregano, pepper, and sugar. Add pasta, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, feta, black olives, and green onions. Gently toss to combine. Refrigerate for atleast an hour before servings.
But last night, long after I had decided to just stick with Spencer's favorites this week, I was checking my blog reader and saw this post over at Culinary Infatuation. I wanted to make them immediately.
They were so good. Spencer bumped something off his "Top 10 Meals" list in order to make room for these. Yes, he keeps a running list of his favorite meals. I can't keep track of them but at any given moment he can name each one.
I didn't do the ground up pita shells though because my main man has pinkeye at the moment and spent most of the day in my arms. I'm sure it would make these burgers even better. I did stuff them with blue cheese though. I would've preferred feta but I ended up using all my feta for the side dish and I always have a ton of blue cheese in the fridge. Yum. And the tzatziki... amazing. And this is coming from someone who hates cucumbers.
I wanted a simple side to go along with the burgers and somehow decided that pasta salad would be perfect. I browsed a few recipes and finally came up with this. It turned out really good. Spencer didn't even put up a fight about the artichokes.
"Greek" Pasta Salad
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon sugar
3 cups cooked pasta
1 jar drained artichoke hearts, quartered
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup crumbled feta
3/4 cup sliced black olives
1/2 cup sliced green onions
Whisk together olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic powder, dried oregano, pepper, and sugar. Add pasta, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, feta, black olives, and green onions. Gently toss to combine. Refrigerate for atleast an hour before servings.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Pot Roast.
Since I'm not a fan of huge pieces of beef, I normally make my roasts in the crockpot. That way I don't feel like I wasted any time on a meal that isn't any good anyway. But last week I it occurred to me that maybe if I spent a little time working on a good roast recipe, I'd actually like it. Hmm.. brilliant or what?
So today we tried The Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast. Her recipes are just so fun. I think it's because I take my computer into the kitchen and try to make every step I do look exactly like Ree's pictures. And this time I even got to put a pot in the oven for for the first time ever.
It was exciting ya'll.
I'm sad to say that I still do not like huge pieces of beef. But I will say that this was the best pot roast I've tried. I think it was the rosemary. It made the apartment smell amazing and even though I couldn't taste it, I knew it was there.
Spencer loved it, of course. And shortly after cleaning his plate he started talking about the sandwiches he's going to have for dinner tomorrow. Bread, pot roast, and ketchup. Makes me a little sick just thinking about it but he loves them.
Thank you!
I want to thank Brooke of ...and a cookie for dessert for giving me the E for Excellent award. It's hard for me to believe that someone out there not only reads me blog, but enjoys it too. So thank you Brooke!
Now I shall search for other blogs to pass the award on to.
Tuesdays with Dorie.
It's Tuesdays with Dorie time again!
This week Natalie of Burned Bits chose Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake and for some reason I was dreading it. I don't like a lot of fruit and the only time I've ever liked apple pie was during my pregnancy. Luckily, we were allowed to use Dorie's "Playing Around" options which included turnovers.
I put off making my turnovers until yesterday because I assumed, without reading the recipe, that these turnovers were going to take all day and be really tough. They were so easy. The hardest and most time consuming part was waiting for my dough to come to room temperature since I let it sit in the fridge overnight.
For some reason I couldn't use all my apples. I peeled and chopped 10 apples like Dorie said and ended up throwing over half of them away. I used all of my dough and stuffed as much apple mixture as I could in them without tearing the dough so I'm not really sure what I did wrong. Maybe I should've chopped the apples smaller.
I think these are pretty amazing. Spencer thinks they don't have enough apple in them but I blame myself for that. Landon, however, gives them two thumbs up:
Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake
For The Dough
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
3 1/4 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
For The Apples
10 medium apples, all one kind or a mix (I like to use Fuji, Golden Delicious and Ida Reds; my grandmother probably used dry baking apples like Cordland and Rome)
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar, for dusting
To Make The Dough: Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the baking powder and salt and mix just to combine. Add the lemon juice - the dough will probably curdle, but don't worry about it. Still working on low speed, slowly but steadily add 3 1/4 cups of the flour, mixing to incorporate it and scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough is meant to be soft, but if you think it looks more like a batter than a dough at this point, add the extra 1/4 cup flour. (The dough usually needs the extra flour.) When properly combined, the dough should almost clean the sides of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or for up to 3 days. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.)
To Make The Apples: Peel and core the apples and cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick; cut the slices in half crosswise if you want. Toss the slices in a bowl with a little lemon juice - even with the juice, the apples may turn brown, but that's fine - and add the raisins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle over the apples and stir to coat evenly. Taste an apple and add more sugar, cinnamon, and/or lemon juice if you like.
Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a 9x12-inch baking pan (Pyrex is good) and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Remove the dough from the fridge. If it is too hard to roll and it cracks, either let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin to get it moving. Once it's a little more malleable, you've got a few choices. You can roll it on a well-floured work surface or roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. You can even press or roll out pieces of the dough and patch them together in the pan - because of the baking powder in the dough, it will puff and self-heal under the oven's heat. Roll the dough out until it is just a little larger all around than your pan and about 1/4 inch thick - you don't want the dough to be too thin, because you really want to taste it. Transfer the dough to the pan. If the dough comes up the sides of the pan, that's fine; if it doesn't that's fine too.
Give the apples another toss in the bowl, then turn them into the pan and, using your hands, spread them evenely across the bottom.
Roll out the second piece of dough and position it over the apples. Cut the dough so you've got a 1/4 to 1/2 inch overhang and tuck the excess into the sides of the pan, as though you were making a bed. (If you don't have that much overhang, just press what you've got against the sides of the pan.)
Brush the top of the dough lightly with water and sprinkle sugar over the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut 6 to 8 evenly spaced slits in the dough.
Bake for 65 to 80 minutes, or until the dough is a nice golden brown and the juices from the apples are bubbling up through the slits. Transfer the baking pan to a cooling rack and cool to just warm or to room temperature. You'll be tempted to taste it sooner, but I think the dough needs a little time to rest.
This week Natalie of Burned Bits chose Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake and for some reason I was dreading it. I don't like a lot of fruit and the only time I've ever liked apple pie was during my pregnancy. Luckily, we were allowed to use Dorie's "Playing Around" options which included turnovers.
I put off making my turnovers until yesterday because I assumed, without reading the recipe, that these turnovers were going to take all day and be really tough. They were so easy. The hardest and most time consuming part was waiting for my dough to come to room temperature since I let it sit in the fridge overnight.
For some reason I couldn't use all my apples. I peeled and chopped 10 apples like Dorie said and ended up throwing over half of them away. I used all of my dough and stuffed as much apple mixture as I could in them without tearing the dough so I'm not really sure what I did wrong. Maybe I should've chopped the apples smaller.
I think these are pretty amazing. Spencer thinks they don't have enough apple in them but I blame myself for that. Landon, however, gives them two thumbs up:
Russian Grandmother's Apple Pie-Cake
For The Dough
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
3 1/4 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
For The Apples
10 medium apples, all one kind or a mix (I like to use Fuji, Golden Delicious and Ida Reds; my grandmother probably used dry baking apples like Cordland and Rome)
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar, for dusting
To Make The Dough: Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the baking powder and salt and mix just to combine. Add the lemon juice - the dough will probably curdle, but don't worry about it. Still working on low speed, slowly but steadily add 3 1/4 cups of the flour, mixing to incorporate it and scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough is meant to be soft, but if you think it looks more like a batter than a dough at this point, add the extra 1/4 cup flour. (The dough usually needs the extra flour.) When properly combined, the dough should almost clean the sides of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or for up to 3 days. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.)
To Make The Apples: Peel and core the apples and cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick; cut the slices in half crosswise if you want. Toss the slices in a bowl with a little lemon juice - even with the juice, the apples may turn brown, but that's fine - and add the raisins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle over the apples and stir to coat evenly. Taste an apple and add more sugar, cinnamon, and/or lemon juice if you like.
Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a 9x12-inch baking pan (Pyrex is good) and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Remove the dough from the fridge. If it is too hard to roll and it cracks, either let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin to get it moving. Once it's a little more malleable, you've got a few choices. You can roll it on a well-floured work surface or roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. You can even press or roll out pieces of the dough and patch them together in the pan - because of the baking powder in the dough, it will puff and self-heal under the oven's heat. Roll the dough out until it is just a little larger all around than your pan and about 1/4 inch thick - you don't want the dough to be too thin, because you really want to taste it. Transfer the dough to the pan. If the dough comes up the sides of the pan, that's fine; if it doesn't that's fine too.
Give the apples another toss in the bowl, then turn them into the pan and, using your hands, spread them evenely across the bottom.
Roll out the second piece of dough and position it over the apples. Cut the dough so you've got a 1/4 to 1/2 inch overhang and tuck the excess into the sides of the pan, as though you were making a bed. (If you don't have that much overhang, just press what you've got against the sides of the pan.)
Brush the top of the dough lightly with water and sprinkle sugar over the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut 6 to 8 evenly spaced slits in the dough.
Bake for 65 to 80 minutes, or until the dough is a nice golden brown and the juices from the apples are bubbling up through the slits. Transfer the baking pan to a cooling rack and cool to just warm or to room temperature. You'll be tempted to taste it sooner, but I think the dough needs a little time to rest.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Landon's Birthday Party.
Whew... the party is finally over and now, two days later, the house is finally clean. I, of course, put everything off until the last minute. I seem to think I work better under pressure but I've proven (once again...) that I'm wrong.
My first disaster of the day was The Case of the Missing Tomatoes. Landon and I got up early on Sunday and went to Winn Dixie for last minute shopping. I know I bought 4 tomatoes. I know this because it says so on my receipt. But I didn't come home with any tomatoes. So in the middle of prepping my avocado feta salsa I had to run to Bruno's.
I came back home, diced the tomatoes and then went to chop the avocados. I couldn't even get my knife to go through them. I knew they weren't super ripe when I bought them but I had no idea this was going to happen. I enlisted Spencer to help and his first cut went all the way through the avocado, cutting even the pit in half. Yeah, thanks for that. I tried to dig the pit out but just couldn't do it. Off to the store I went. Again.
The Fresh Market is our closest store. I spent $10 on three avocados! And I practically destroyed their bins trying to find the ripest ones. Thankfully those worked out for me.
On to the cakes... I got one cake done with no problems. I was all gung-ho about the second one. I figured that since I was using the exact same cake pan, nothing could go wrong. But as I went to flip it out, it completely tore in half. I cried. A lot. After that I gave up on my cute cake pan and threw together the french chocolate cake that I made not too long ago.
When our first guests arrived Landon was in the bathtub, I was sitting next to him straightening my hair, and Spencer was icing the impromptu cake.
And to top everything off, our air conditioner chose that very moment to stop working. Ya'll, March is practically summer in Alabama. And with the oven going. It was HOT.
Oh, and Landon didn't nap at all that day.
That's the cake that actually turned out. The party was football themed so I was super excited when I found out that Wilton makes a football cake pan. Spencer did the decorating of the cake and he was very proud of himself.
I did a plain yellow cake that I found over at Blonde Ambition and cut the football in half to make it layered.
Chocolate Buttercream
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir together butter and cocoa powder. Beat in powdered sugar and milk alternately until you reach desired consistency. Stir in vanilla.
This is the only food picture I managed to take. We had a ton more. The big hit of the day was the sweet lil' smokies from Amber's Delectable Delights. I think I made close to 50 of them and we had 4 left in the end, all of which got shoved in my mouth as soon as everyone was gone.
I also made spicy roasted chicken legs from The Pioneer Woman. They didn't make it into the picture because I believe my grandfather was hoarding them. He loved them. And he's a picky man.
My favorite buffalo chicken dip also made an appearance but for some reason it didn't go over well. It's okay though. I've got it in the fridge waiting for me.
The flat red thing is a "cheeseball" that my mom made. My dad told her it looked like a meatloaf when they were driving over and she wasn't happy with him.
This cheeseball was always my favorite growing up and after my dad dropped it at one of my birthday parties it became known as "Cheese-on-the-Floor" among my family. A few years later my college roommate and I started referring to it as "that thing we lived on during a week long drunkfest".
Cheese-on-the-Floor
8 ounces shredded cheddar
8 ounces shredded monterey jack
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 bunch green onions, chopped
pecans (a cup or so, finally diced)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
strawberry jam
Mix all ingredients except strawberry jam. Form into ball (or whatever shape you like). Spread strawberry jam over top.
Avocado Feta Salsa
1 avocado, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 ounces feta
Toss together avocado, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and parsley. Gently stir in red wine vinegar and olive oil. Stir in feta. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Once everything was finally done the party ended up being a lot of fun. Landon walked from person to person the whole time and I think he enjoyed himself even though he was obviously exhausted by the end of it. He got way too many toys and a lot of practical things that I was more excited about. I still can't believe my baby is one though.
My first disaster of the day was The Case of the Missing Tomatoes. Landon and I got up early on Sunday and went to Winn Dixie for last minute shopping. I know I bought 4 tomatoes. I know this because it says so on my receipt. But I didn't come home with any tomatoes. So in the middle of prepping my avocado feta salsa I had to run to Bruno's.
I came back home, diced the tomatoes and then went to chop the avocados. I couldn't even get my knife to go through them. I knew they weren't super ripe when I bought them but I had no idea this was going to happen. I enlisted Spencer to help and his first cut went all the way through the avocado, cutting even the pit in half. Yeah, thanks for that. I tried to dig the pit out but just couldn't do it. Off to the store I went. Again.
The Fresh Market is our closest store. I spent $10 on three avocados! And I practically destroyed their bins trying to find the ripest ones. Thankfully those worked out for me.
On to the cakes... I got one cake done with no problems. I was all gung-ho about the second one. I figured that since I was using the exact same cake pan, nothing could go wrong. But as I went to flip it out, it completely tore in half. I cried. A lot. After that I gave up on my cute cake pan and threw together the french chocolate cake that I made not too long ago.
When our first guests arrived Landon was in the bathtub, I was sitting next to him straightening my hair, and Spencer was icing the impromptu cake.
And to top everything off, our air conditioner chose that very moment to stop working. Ya'll, March is practically summer in Alabama. And with the oven going. It was HOT.
Oh, and Landon didn't nap at all that day.
That's the cake that actually turned out. The party was football themed so I was super excited when I found out that Wilton makes a football cake pan. Spencer did the decorating of the cake and he was very proud of himself.
I did a plain yellow cake that I found over at Blonde Ambition and cut the football in half to make it layered.
Chocolate Buttercream
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir together butter and cocoa powder. Beat in powdered sugar and milk alternately until you reach desired consistency. Stir in vanilla.
This is the only food picture I managed to take. We had a ton more. The big hit of the day was the sweet lil' smokies from Amber's Delectable Delights. I think I made close to 50 of them and we had 4 left in the end, all of which got shoved in my mouth as soon as everyone was gone.
I also made spicy roasted chicken legs from The Pioneer Woman. They didn't make it into the picture because I believe my grandfather was hoarding them. He loved them. And he's a picky man.
My favorite buffalo chicken dip also made an appearance but for some reason it didn't go over well. It's okay though. I've got it in the fridge waiting for me.
The flat red thing is a "cheeseball" that my mom made. My dad told her it looked like a meatloaf when they were driving over and she wasn't happy with him.
This cheeseball was always my favorite growing up and after my dad dropped it at one of my birthday parties it became known as "Cheese-on-the-Floor" among my family. A few years later my college roommate and I started referring to it as "that thing we lived on during a week long drunkfest".
Cheese-on-the-Floor
8 ounces shredded cheddar
8 ounces shredded monterey jack
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 bunch green onions, chopped
pecans (a cup or so, finally diced)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
strawberry jam
Mix all ingredients except strawberry jam. Form into ball (or whatever shape you like). Spread strawberry jam over top.
Avocado Feta Salsa
1 avocado, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 ounces feta
Toss together avocado, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and parsley. Gently stir in red wine vinegar and olive oil. Stir in feta. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Once everything was finally done the party ended up being a lot of fun. Landon walked from person to person the whole time and I think he enjoyed himself even though he was obviously exhausted by the end of it. He got way too many toys and a lot of practical things that I was more excited about. I still can't believe my baby is one though.
Tuesdays with Dorie.
Amidst all the craziness that was last week I managed to take some time out to do my Tuesdays with Dorie baking. Lucky for me it was a quick and easy one.
Erin of Dinner & Dessert was given the opportunity to choose this week's recipe and she chose Snickery Squares.
I'm not a big candy bar fan, or really chocolate in general, but I figured I could manage a little chocolate if it included dulce de leche and caramelized peanuts. The recipe also called for a shortbread crust and anyone who knows me know that I love some shortbread. A few months ago I think I was making a batch of shortbread cookies every other day!
Jarred dulce de leche is nowhere to be found in good ol' Mobile, so I used this recipe. I don't know if it's just my oven or what but I had to leave it in for almost 3 hours to get it to a good color. It was quite tasty though and well worth the wait.
Overall the squares were okay. I think there was too much chocolate. I mean, 7 ounces of bittersweet chocolate in an 8 x 8 pan in a lot! Especially for someone who doesn't like chocolate, especially the bitter kind. Bleh. I ended up pulling the chocolate off the piece I tried so I could eat the center and crust. Both of those were amazingly yummy.
Snickery Squares
For the Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 TBSP powdered sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
For the Filling:
½ cup sugar
3 TBSP water
1 ½ cups salted peanuts
About 1 ½ cups store-bought dulce de leche
For the Topping:
7 ounces bittersweet, coarsely chopped
½ stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
Getting Ready:
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 8 inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.
To Make the Crust:
Toss the flour, sugar, powdered sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds-stop before the dough comes together in a ball.
Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork and slide the sheet into the oven.
Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, or until it takes on just a little color around the edges. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.
To Make the Filling:
Have a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet at the ready, as well as a long-handled wooden spoon and a medium heavy bottomed saucepan.
Put the sugar and water in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color. Toss the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white—keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet., using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature.
When they are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in biggish pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.
Spread the dulce de leche over the shortbread base and sprinkle over the whole candied nuts.
To Make the Topping:
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.
Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle over the rest of the peanuts. Slide the pan into the fridge to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.
Cut into 16 bars.
I haven't looked at next week's recipe yet but I'm thinking it doesn't have chocolate in it. I can't wait to get started on it.
If you want to see the other Snickery Squares that were made hop on over the the TWD Blogroll.
Erin of Dinner & Dessert was given the opportunity to choose this week's recipe and she chose Snickery Squares.
I'm not a big candy bar fan, or really chocolate in general, but I figured I could manage a little chocolate if it included dulce de leche and caramelized peanuts. The recipe also called for a shortbread crust and anyone who knows me know that I love some shortbread. A few months ago I think I was making a batch of shortbread cookies every other day!
Jarred dulce de leche is nowhere to be found in good ol' Mobile, so I used this recipe. I don't know if it's just my oven or what but I had to leave it in for almost 3 hours to get it to a good color. It was quite tasty though and well worth the wait.
Overall the squares were okay. I think there was too much chocolate. I mean, 7 ounces of bittersweet chocolate in an 8 x 8 pan in a lot! Especially for someone who doesn't like chocolate, especially the bitter kind. Bleh. I ended up pulling the chocolate off the piece I tried so I could eat the center and crust. Both of those were amazingly yummy.
Snickery Squares
For the Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 TBSP powdered sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
For the Filling:
½ cup sugar
3 TBSP water
1 ½ cups salted peanuts
About 1 ½ cups store-bought dulce de leche
For the Topping:
7 ounces bittersweet, coarsely chopped
½ stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
Getting Ready:
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 8 inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.
To Make the Crust:
Toss the flour, sugar, powdered sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds-stop before the dough comes together in a ball.
Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough with a fork and slide the sheet into the oven.
Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes, or until it takes on just a little color around the edges. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.
To Make the Filling:
Have a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet at the ready, as well as a long-handled wooden spoon and a medium heavy bottomed saucepan.
Put the sugar and water in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color. Toss the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white—keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet., using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature.
When they are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in biggish pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.
Spread the dulce de leche over the shortbread base and sprinkle over the whole candied nuts.
To Make the Topping:
Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Remove chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.
Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle over the rest of the peanuts. Slide the pan into the fridge to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.
Cut into 16 bars.
I haven't looked at next week's recipe yet but I'm thinking it doesn't have chocolate in it. I can't wait to get started on it.
If you want to see the other Snickery Squares that were made hop on over the the TWD Blogroll.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Daring Bakers Challenge.
My second challenge! woo!
This month Mary of The Sour Dough and Sara of I Like to Cook were given the difficult task of choosing the recipe that would be this month's challenge. They chose Julia Child's French Bread.
I cannot even tell you how terrified I was when I printed the recipe and my printer wouldn't stop spitting out pages! I ended up with 14 pages of french bread instructions! For a brief second I considered bowing out of this one but I couldn't do it. I wanted to prove to myself that I could try a difficult recipe even if I failed.
And boy did I fail.
That was attempt number one. *sigh* They were hard as rocks. The inside was actually tasty but you had to crack open the concrete-like shell to get to it. I realized after they were done that I never moved the oven rack to the top third of the oven and I guess since they were so far away from the heat they didn't want to brown, so I just left them in. For way too long apparently.
The next day I woke up early, handed my motherly duties over to Spencer, and got started on attempt #2.
They aren't pretty, but they were edible!
If you're wondering why I only have two small loaves, well, it was about midnight when I was getting them ready to go in the oven and one piece of dough just really pissed me off. Yeah, that piece never made it to it's final rise.
My dough didn't rise well either time. It rose, but not to the great size that was talked about in the recipe. I'm still not sure what I did wrong either.
Overall the (edible) bread was really good but I don't think I'll attempt it again. It was a lot of fun but I don't think I have the patience to go through it ever again. I did realize that I do enjoy making bread and since then I've made some white bread and a couple loaves of (simpler) french bread.
I am looking forward to next month's challenge though. I bet it's gonna be a good one!
For anyone who wants the recipe, go check out Mary's blog.
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