REVVING THE ENGINES FOR HALLOWEEN!

Posted in Chocolate Bonbons, Cookies, macarons by sallybr

It is almost time!!!! I share with you three baking ideas to keep you appropriately spooked…

SKULL AND SPIDER MACARONS

The idea for these came from my friend Dorothy, who tagged me on Instagram after seeing this post. I opted for a filling of Caramel Buttercream and Apple Jelly for these scary creatures.

CARAMEL AND APPLE MACARONS
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

for the shells, use my default recipe.
I dyed the shells with a very small amount of AMERICOLOR CORK

For the filling:
60g butter
120g powdered sugar
pinch of salt
5 soft caramels (Werther’s)
2 tablespoon milk
apple jelly (store-bought is ok)

Pipe the shells in skull shape or round (if you prefer to simplify). Bake them, let them cool, and pair them.

Draw the design of your choice (skull or spider) on the shells.

Make the buttercream: beat the room temperature butter for a couple of minutes. Add the salt and powdered sugar, beat until almost incorporated (mixture will be dry). Microwave the caramels with the milk until very hot, and whisk the caramels to dissolve. Let them cool slightly and add to the buttermilk. Finish creaming everything together, you should not need to add any more liquid, but if necessary, add a few drops of milk to achieve piping consistency.

Add a circle of buttercream to the bottom shell, a little blob of apple jelly in the center, and close the macaron with the top shell. Keep in the fridge for 24 hours before eating.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The idea for the filling came from this post. That is a great site for macaron ideas, by the way. I did not make a template for the skulls, just improvised them starting from a regular circle, so they are not all the same shape, which I think is even better for a spooky bake.

SPOOKY CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS

Use your regular mold for covering Oreos and use a contrasting color of chocolate to drizzle and glue sprinkles. The ghost is made with a smear of white compound chocolate on parchment paper, and orange sprinkles for the eyes. Once that is set (within a few minutes), place on the covered Oreo with a tiny amount of melted chocolate.

NINE BLACK CATS

These are my default Chocolate-Chipotle cutout cookies, iced with orange Royal icing and painted with Sugarprism. I just did a free-hand drawing, following the design of Kathy Barbro (IG page here).

ONE YEAR AGO: Happy Halloween from my Cookie Blog to You!

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FOUR YEARS AGO: A Really Big Announcement

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EIGHT YEARS AGO: Two Takes on Raspberries

NINE YEARS AGO: Spice Cake with Blackberry Puree

TEN YEARS AGO: Own Your Kitchen with Cappuccino Panna Cotta

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Wild Mushroom Risotto

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28Oct2023

SCARY SKULL BAKES

Posted in Cake by sallybr

One pan, many possibilities to scare your family and friends, because now is the time to really go for it!

RED VELVET SKULL CAKES
(from the Bewitching Kitchen, inspired by Jo-Ann)

275g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 tsp Red Velvet Emulsion (LorAnn)
red food gel (I used Super Red Americolor, about 1/2 tsp)
113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
300g sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

chocolate buttercream (home-made or store-bought)

Fondant (I used Renshaw)
Gun Metal food gel (Americolor)
Air-Brush silver (or Wilton silver spray)

Skull pan from Nordicware (available here)

Heat oven to 350F. Spray your skull pan with baking spray or coat with butter and flour. Reserve.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, mix food coloring, Red Velvet emulsion and cocoa powder to form a smooth paste.

In the mixing bowl of your stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the 2 eggs, one at a time, then add the cocoa-red gel mixture, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mix well, then add half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula. As the mixer is going, whisk the baking soda with the vinegar, and as it is sizzling, add to the mixer.

Fill the cavities of the skull pan about 2/3 of the volume. You might have a little batter leftover. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan, then invert on a rack for the cakes to cool.

Coat them with a very thin layer of buttercream, place in the fridge. Grab a portion of fondant and dye it with gun metal gel. Roll it thin to a size large enough to coat one of the cakes. Remove the cakes from the fridge, and coat with the fondant. Use a fondant baller tool to get the fondant to go into the eyes and nose cavities. Trim the excess. Air-brush the surface with silver, or spray with Wilton Silver Shimmering Mist. Once the fondant is fully set, you can carve out a small portion to reveal the red cake underneath.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I saw these mini-cakes at Jo-Ann site, but the instructions were a bit vague, and it also used a boxed cake mix, so I took baking matters into my own hands. My only shortcut was to buy buttercream icing at the store because my schedule was tight and I figured that the buttercream was such a tiny component, basically just a glue to get the fondant to stick to the cake. You can serve it in two different ways, intact or with some of the skull exposed…

.
Just grab a fork and go at it… yes, the baker can eat the piece removed, and call it “quality control”. I really wanted to make a knife in fondant to stick into the cake, but my skills were not good enough and I don’t have a knife mold. I know, SHOCKING!

The red cakes can also be decorated with a simple buttercream, if you prefer them to be more festive. I think they get a little scarier this way.

The skull mold also works for savory bakes, but I cannot share a recipe yet because it is a work in progress…. I need to tweak the tortilla component.

The tortilla was gluten-free and the recipe I used was impossible to roll out thinly. It turned out too dense and heavy. But I will work on it some more. The filling was ground turkey with the usual taco seasonings, corn, black beans and peppers. But I definitely like the way the mold behaved for a savory bake.

I am already sad that Halloween is almost gone… I feel that for one reason or another, I did not bake enough scary things. Oh, well… there are much more serious problems in life. Let’s go with the flow and embrace…………. THANKSGIVING!

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24Oct2023

IT’S SOURDOUGH, WITCHES!

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Once again I put a little wafer paper to work for some bewitched sourdough bread. I used just a basic recipe with my default method described many times in this blog of mine (click here). I lowered the hydration a bit to try to control the expansion of the design (for 500g total flour I used 335g water).

I was inspired by a Halloween bread from Kelsey (@3catsandapig) to come up with my design.
She is an incredibly talented bread artist.

It all starts with cutting the wafer paper in the spider web shape, and painting a little witch’s design (I used a stencil and air-brushing). Make sure to cut the wafer paper shape twice, as you will use one of them to cover the dough as you either rub cocoa powder or air-brush with black all over. Then you will peel that off and place a clean one on that spot, proceeding with the scoring around it.

After covering the surface with black, score the design with a razor blade, and then immediately spray some orange (or red) air brush color in the cuts. That will give a nice contrast, but of course you can omit this step.

Bake the bread normally, I do 30 minutes with the lid on, and 15 minutes without the lid. Allow it to cool completely before slicing.

I find that air-brushing the whole surface makes the crust a bit soft, so depending on how you like your bread, rubbing with cocoa powder or charcoal might be better. What I dislike about those options is that they rub off on your hands as you cut the bread later. But it is not a big deal, really.

ONE YEAR AGO: Raw Zucchini and Chickpea Salad with Tahini Yogurt

TWO YEARS AGO: Black Tahini Shortbread Cookies

THREE YEARS AGO: A Fruitful Trio (of Macarons)

FOUR YEARS AGO: Halloween Entremet Cake

FIVE YEARS AGO: Pork with Prunes, Olives and Capers

SIX YEARS AGO: Kansas Corn Chowder

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Impossibly Cute Bacon and Egg Cups

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Pulling Under Pressure

NINE YEARS AGO: Cooking Sous-vide: Two takes on Chicken Thighs

TEN YEARS AGO: Miso Soup: A Japanese Classic

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: On my desk

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FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Brazilian Pão de Queijo

21Oct2023

MISO-HONEY CHICKEN THIGHS

Posted in Poultry by sallybr

I cannot lie, I have a fascination with all things miso, both sweet and savory. In this preparation, the miso really comes through, so if you are part of my cheerleading team, MAKE IT! Sooner rather than later…

MISO-HONEY GRILLED CHICKEN THIGHS
(adapted from The New York Times)

4 tablespoons white miso
4 tablespoons mild honey
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chili crisp
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons water
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

Make the marinade: In a bowl, whisk together the miso, honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, chili crisp sauce -garlic sauce, oil and water. Reserve a little bit of the marinade for serving.

Place the chicken in a shallow dish or zip-top bag and pour the remaining marinade over the top. Toss the chicken until coated and let marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Grill the chicken for about 15 minutes, turning the pieces halfway through the cooking time. Serve with the reserved marinade. Adjust seasoning if needed, but remember miso is very salty so you should not need to add additional salt.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This one goes into our regular rotation for sure, I love the flavor and the way the honey gives that amazing color to the meat as it grills. We enjoyed it with asparagus and air-fried cauliflower, and leftovers were still delicious next day, which is a real bonus. We love our leftovers…

ONE YEAR AGO: Raw Zucchini and Chickpea Salad with Tahini Yogurt

TWO YEARS AGO: Black Tahini Shortbread Cookies

THREE YEARS AGO: A Fruitful Trio (of Macarons)

FOUR YEARS AGO: Halloween Entremet Cake

FIVE YEARS AGO: Pork with Prunes, Olives and Capers

SIX YEARS AGO: Kansas Corn Chowder

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Impossibly Cute Bacon and Egg Cups

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Pulling Under Pressure

NINE YEARS AGO: Cooking Sous-vide: Two takes on Chicken Thighs

TEN YEARS AGO: Miso Soup: A Japanese Classic

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: On my desk

TWELVE YEARS AGO: A must-make veggie puree

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Vegetarian Lasagna

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Brazilian Pão de Queijo

17Oct2023

CHINESE TIGER SALAD

Posted in Salads by sallybr

No, I have no idea why it is called Tiger Salad, but I can tell you it is delicious and you should make it… It is yet another recipe from Josette’s blog, and you can read her thoughts about it clicking here.

CHINESE TIGER SALAD WITH CORN AND AVOCADO
(slightly modified from thebrookcook)

2 T sesame seeds, I used black
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
3 T canola oil
2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp oil from a jar of chili crisp
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt
3 large ears of corn, husked, slightly rubbed with canola oil
2 avocados, cut into large pieces
1 English hothouse cucumber, seeds removed, halves sliced crosswise
1/2 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
2 T crumbled queso fresco or Cotija cheese, plus more for garnish

To Make the Dressing: toast the sesame seeds slightly in a dry small skillet over medium heat; transfer to a large shallow bowl. Add lime juice, oil, soy sauce, chili crisp oil, toasted sesame oil, unseasoned rice vinegar, and salt and stir vigorously until salt is dissolved. Set dressing aside.

To Make the Salad: air-fry or grill the corn and remove the kernels from the cobs, placing them in a large bowl. Add avocado, cucumber, and half of the cilantro. Add reserved dressing and toss gently to combine. Taste salad and season with more salt if needed. Top with the cheese, remaining cilantro and more black sesame seeds if you like.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This is quite a satisfying salad thanks to the corn, and very flavorful with all the lime juice, the sesame oil and of course the heat of the chili crisp oil. I took a picture without the cheese, as Phil prefers to skip it, so I added only to my plate. I’ve made the salad again using feta and it also goes super well with all other ingredients. It is an interesting recipe, a marriage of Chinese and Mexican cuisines. It also keeps well, leftovers were great next day, even the avocado was still fine.