Banana Crunch Cake

My friend M was supposed to stop by today. She's on a diet that is now dairy and gluten free and LOVES sweets. I figured I'd try to throw something together. Pros: it's delicious. Cons: M isn't coming over and I have to eat it ALL (Mister's experimenting with whether or not avoiding sugar and alcohol will cure what ails him. You don't want to know.)

CHANGE OF PLANS! M literally just called me and said "f--- it I'm coming over". I knew she couldn't resist a sweet. :-P

But here's the recipe, for what it's worth. It's all stuff I have in stock, and I now have TWO friends who are gluten and dairy free... both named M (actually their names are both unusual and ridiculously, eerily similar).

Banana Crunch Cake:

-- gluten free mix (I have a biscuit/all purpose mix in stock)
-- oil
-- non-dairy milk (I used coconut)
-- sugar
-- granola
-- banana
-- cinnamon

I oiled the bottom of my cast iron frying pan and preheated the oven to 350F. Put a healthy amount of gluten free mix in a bowl (about 1.5-2 cups). Add 1/4 c. of sugar and a pinch of salt if desired. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and 5 oz or so of milk. Basically, you want this to be a thick batter, but still thin enough to pour.

Pour into the frying pan and even out all the way to the edges.

Sprinkle a layer of granola over the batter.

Slice a banana very finely (I used a frozen banana -- worked like a charm -- just peel it AFTER slicing) and put slices over the top of granola.

Sprinkle a crap ton of sugar on top (around a half cup maybe?) and some cinnamon.

Put in the oven until batter is cooked through.

** Optional: I added more sugar and attempted to caramelize the top. I just had a few burned sugar spots and lots of non-melted sugar. Eh.

But this is delicious! I think the next time I make this I might try to make it an upside down cake.

Hungarian Sour Cherry Coffee Cake

I was lured by the beautiful sour cherries at the farmer's market to buy two containers. I double checked -- "What do I do with them?" Bake was the immediate answer.

So I did a quick search on Tasty Kitchen, and found this recipe. It looked pretty tasty, so I figured I'd give it a go.

I was going over to my friend J's house for cards and home made pizza, so I thought it'd be nice to bring dessert. And he was raving about how awesome sour cherries are at band practice yesterday :-P.

Although the directions are quite fiddly, the results are delicious. And no, I did not follow them to the letter. I used fresh cherries instead of canned (I sprinkled some sugar over the top to compensate). As my friend M was to be at cards, I subbed out the butter for Earth Balance and the flour for oat flour. Oh, and I used four whole eggs total, instead of two eggs and two yolks. I'll never use those whites as I hate meringue. I also didn't chill the dough as long as I should. The step at the end with the final topping? Super obnoxious to deal with. But, as I said, it's delicious.

So, as long as you're willing to put up with a bit of finickyness, this is a good recipe to play with. I could also see a similar tart fruit like rhubarb, blueberry or cranberry doing well too.

Kaiser Rolls

Mister and I have a friend who's coming to stay for nearly two weeks. In an endeavor to have food at home, we actually bought cold-cuts. This means that we needed either bread or rolls. Being much more a fan of rolls for sandwiches, I figured I'd make some rolls with my sourdough starter.

I had had a sponge in the fridge getting sadder and sadder for almost a week, so I tried to wake it up first. I added another cup of flour, a half cup of water, and put it in a warm oven. As it rose quite beautifully, I searched for roll recipes. I based my rolls upon this recipe. I poured one cup of bread flour on the counter, added 4 tsp of salt, about 3 or 4 Tbs of sugar, 3 Tbs of powdered milk, and another cup of bread flour on top of that. I whisked it all together and into a flat circle. I poured my healthy sponge onto this dry mix and proceeded to combine the two. While kneading this all, I also added about 4 Tbs of oil, in 4 increments and a single egg. After working it all together, I let it rest for about 5 minutes while I washed out and oiled the bowl. Re-kneaded the bread for a few minutes, then put it in the oiled bowl to rise in a warm oven.

After it had doubled in size, I dumped it on the counter (the oil helped prevent sticking), and divided it into 16. I shaped each piece into a little ball, and placed it on an oiled pan while working with the others. After balling each of the 16 balls, I then covered the balls with a damp towel while shaping the rolls.

To shape the rolls, I based it off of these directions. I sprinkled rye flour over the counter, and flattened a ball on the flour. Picking up little bits of the edge, I brought the edge into the center much like folding flower petals inward and with the final one, gave the center a good smoosh. I inverted the rolls onto a dish of poppy seeds, and put it poppy-seed-down on a pan lined with parchment paper. After all of the rolls had been shaped, I covered them with plastic and let them rise overnight in the now-cool oven.

This morning, I preheated the oven to 425F and, after turning each roll poppy-side-up, baked the rolls for ~25 mins, rotating the trays halfway through the bake.< br />
The only thing that I would do differently for the next batch is to twist the "petals" of the kaiser knot as I brought them to the center, as most of my rolls recombined and didn't have distinct markings on the top. But they're delicious! Mister and I have already made a breakfast sandwich with them with great success.

Recipes to Make

Omg blogger changed their new post format. This is scary looking. (But on the plus side, when I add a pic, it puts it in the correct spot instead of at the top... hmm) But yeah! I have a few tabs up and even more saved that I need to catelogue. Black Bottom Cupcakes

Banana Bread Crepe Cake with Butterscotch

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Pastitsio

Cream Cheese Filled Banana Muffins

Crispy Potato Roast

Black Magic Cake

Ukrainian Honey Cake
Ukrainian Walnut-Almond Torte
Romanian Cabbage Soup with Bacon
Walnut Filling

And now a massive block of Rye Breads and other sourdough treats.
Polish Cottage Rye
Méteils Au Bleu
Greenstein's Corn Rye Bread
Tom Jaine's German Sourdough Rye Bread
Russian Rye
German Sourdough Rye
Sourdough Rye with Seeds
Hansjoakim's Favorite 70% Sourdough Rye
Russian and German 100% Ryes - 4 Recipes
Making Russian Rye
Swedish Limpa Rye
Karin's German Feinbrot
Sourdough Pretzels#1
Sourdough Pretzels#2
Sourdough English Muffins
Marcel's Grandmother's Potato Bread
Sourdough Pretzels#3

New Beginnings!

I recently nursed started back to health. Last Saturday, in fact. I probably had ignored her for almost a month -- if not more! She had a solid inch of alcohol on top when I finally pulled her jar out and was all huddled in the bottom of the jar. But with warm air, warm clean jars, and fresh food, she soon perked right back up.

I pulled her out to feed today, although I probably could have done this yesterday or maybe even Tuesday. I had PLANS for her today. But when I washed out my Official Starter Mixing Bowl and tried to pour some starter in, she refused to budge. I shook the jar a bit. She made a huffing noise as air whooshed in and out. Left with no recourse, I pulled out a big spoon and ruthlessly divided her in half.

And onto the project! Y'see, Mister and I have been sneakily, behind starter's back, looking into recipes for rye bread. Apparently, most traditional german rye breads were sourdough based and cooked over a looooooooooong time to get that dark color (it's now common to use caramel coloring and cook it faster). With that in mind, we even bought rye flour. We bought this... oh probably close to two months ago now. And today I implemented it.

Half of starter got fed with rye flour and water. The other half got fed with all purpose and water, like normal. It did mean that this feeding I would not be able to bake, as when dividing in half, normally with the second half one would make two loaves of bread.

But so now I have two little jars of starter in the fridge. We'll see how the rye comes out! I probably won't be able to bake with it for at least 3 feedings or so, as I want the rye to be the dominant flavor.

Theoretical Cream Puffs

A friend of mine has a horrible collection of food allergies. Wheat and gluten, cow milk products (but not sheep or goat), and chicken. As she's also not a cook, she often EATS horribly as well.

I rather extravagantly informed her that I could cook and bake her whatever, as both Mister and I love to feed people and we merely look upon her allergies as a challenge. She replied: cream puffs.

So I've looked into it, and thankfully, I made eclairs last Sunday with another friend (at her instigation -- it just happened coincidentally), so I have a general idea of what I need to work with.

The basic recipe goes like this:

2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs

For the pudding, I can make vegan vanilla pudding based off of this:

1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups soy milk
1 tsp vanilla

However I would use tapioca starch as it's finer, and either almond, rice or coconut milk as I don't like soy.

For the heavy cream, it's apparently as easy as this:

2 cans full fat coconut milk (13.5 oz cans)
1/3 cup powdered sugar or to taste
1 - 4 Tbsp coconut flour or tapioca flour (add 1 Tbsp at a time)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract or to taste

1 - Chill the cans of coconut milk overnight in the fridge
2 - Open the cans, drain off the clear liquid and transfer the cream to a chilled bowl, using a rubber spatula to scrape all the cream out of the cans
3 - Beat the thick coconut cream in the chilled bowl with a hand mixer until thick and fluffy
4 - Add the vanilla, then gradually beat in the powdered sugar and coconut or tapioca flour, 1 or 2 Tbsp at a time, testing for flavor and consistency
5 - Using a rubber spatula, transfer the coconut cream to a covered storage container, and chill for 2 hours until the mixture firms. Serve chilled.

For the actual shell recipe, I'd replace the butter with butter-flavored Earth Balance, and probably just buy Bob's Red Mills GF Mix, as that's the easiest way to sub consistent results.

For presentation, I wish I had a pastry bag to fill the cream puffs, but I don't. :-( Looks like I'll have to slice the tops to fill them.

The directions to make the cream puffs are:

1 - Whip the coconut milk. Refridgerate.
2 - Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
3 - In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. 4 - Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.
5 - Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
6 - Mix up pudding. Fold in coconut milk cream. Refridgerate.
7 - When the shells are cool, either split and fill them with the pudding mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells.

And I'm done! I have figured out the "challenge" and found it wanting! I also, while searching through things, rediscovered the Chocolate Oblivion Torte which is both gluten and dairy free! :-D

Success!

And there are my first two loaves of sourdough! Let's get a closer look...



Oh my, I cannot wait to slice into this beauty! I realized, as I was staring longingly into my oven as these baked, that I have not mentioned my little sourdough project. It all started when over at Pinch My Salt she started a new sourdough starter and invited the internet to join in. This bread has been two full weeks in the making, as I started on a Saturday two weeks ago. It was all going decently, but my starter was moving MUCH slower than the one on Pinch My Salt. I realized it was probably due to it being in the window, and it was probably chilly. I moved it next to the stove, and it perked right up.

I also followed the recipe for her bread, since I was using her starter. I started the sponge last night, popped it in the fridge so it wouldn't overproof, and let it rise for its three rises all day today, as it was beautiful and over 80 degrees F. The only change I made when making it was to mist it with water 3x in the first three minutes of baking. It is now sitting on my counter, on a cooling rack, tempting me.

I will let you know if it's as tasty as it looks!

Photos of Food

So I had a bunch of pictures on the camera of food that I've made recently, so here's a nice big post of them!

The shepherd's pie that I made for dinner on Friday, using leftover beef from the chili Thursday.

A close-up of the layers in the shepherd's pie. Ground beef, then frozen corn and peas, then mashed potatoes -- all baked until golden brown.

Making Vanilla Rhubarb Compote in order to make a rhubarb pie. I'm using chopped, frozen rhubarb.

After stewing and cooking down the 1.5 lbs of rhubarb (minus one cup or so), sugar, molasses and vanilla to a smooth texture.

After taking the compote off the heat, I stirred in the remaining cup or so of frozen rhubarb -- as it was frozen, I tried to submerge it in the compote and left it overnight.

Making awesome pie crust using the magic technique of grating frozen butter rather than using a pastry cutter.

I forgot to take a picture of the bottom crust, the layer of crushed corn flakes (to absorb excess moisture), and the filling added. But here's the top crust prior to trimming and crimping.

Crimped and with vents sliced in. I always tuck the top crust between the bottom crust and the pie pan, to ensure that it doesn't leak, and then crimp it between my fingers to seal.

All baked!

I also made "cookies" using the excess pie crust and cinnamon sugar -- the best part of baking!

Delicious Squash Bread

So the other day I made a delicious squash bread from this recipe.

Here are some pictures!



Roasted Squash.



Empty squash shells.



Being kneaded by my machine (I think my machine needs oil -- anyone know how to oil KitchenAid stand mixers?)



One loaf looked like a turkey while in-pan.



Lookit how tasty it is!

Things to make note of for next time: we don't eat two whole loaves of bread in the time needed. Freeze one. (I used an entire loaf for a breakfast strata because it went stale.) Use unsalted butter for the butter on the top afterwards because as this is a sweet bread, the saltyness of the butter threw off my tastebuds.