SECRET RECIPE CLUB: LEMON POPPY-SEED MUFFINS

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Sweets, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

At the risk of repeating myself over and over and over, I must say the last Monday of each month makes me feel as happy as a kid in a toy store… Why? It is the day in which bloggers of my group at The Secret Recipe Club reveal which blog they were assigned to cook from, and post their recipes. This month, I could not be more pleased with my assignment. I got April’s blog, Angels Homestead. April is a very active participant of the club. You see, we have a Facebook group to discuss issues, make sure everyone is aware of what needs to be done (participation forms to be filled, upcoming Reveal Days), and April is always there with her very unique and personal touch. I was thrilled to cook from her blog! It took me just a few minutes to settle on a recipe, because right when I got the assignment I was wondering about something to bake and take to our department. Lemon poppy-seed muffins seemed perfect. And perfect they were! 😉

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If you want to make a batch of muffins to cheer your co-workers early in the morning, here’s the way to do it: before going to bed, measure the dry ingredients, place the flour in a large bowl, the baking powder and baking soda on small bowls next to it. Get the two eggs ready to go, same for poppy seeds, sugar, and lemon. Place paper liners in your muffin pan. Measure the butter, the yogurt (or sour cream), and place both in the fridge. Marvel at your uncanny sense of organization, and go to sleep. Have pleasant dreams.

Next morning, turn the oven on. Grab the yogurt from the fridge, zest and juice the lemon, add the poppy seeds and mix them al together.

Beat the sugar with the butter and the eggs, add the poppy seeds mixture, incorporate all very well. Add the dry ingredients and mix gently. Add scoops of the batter to the muffin pan, trying to add the same amount to each paper liner. If you are like me, at this stage of the day the caffeine has not kicked in yet, so your consistency won’t be stellar. Oh, well… Do your best.

Now, all you have to do is bake those babies, and get ready to brighten up the morning of your colleagues. If you can make that a Monday morning, even better… 😉

for a printable version of the recipe, click here

For some serious fun with the productions of my fellow Secret Recipe members, click on the blue frog that is smiling at you at the bottom of the post. She is a bit cross-eyed, but still pretty adorable.

April, I hope you know how much I enjoyed getting assigned to your blog this month! A real special treat… 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Secret Recipe Club: Mascarpone Brownies

TWO YEARS AGO: Salmon Tacos

THREE YEARS AGO: Cinnamon Turban Bread

FOUR YEARS AGO: Summertime Gratin

3Jul2013

ROASTED STRAWBERRY-BUTTERMILK SHERBET

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Tomato, tomahto = sorbet, sherbet? Not quite. Tomato and tomahto are the exact same creature, whereas the other pair refers to different concoctions. Sorbet has no dairy in it, sherbet contains up to 3% milk fat (from milk or cream). Pass the 3% level and you’ll get to ice cream territory. Feeling enlightened yet? 😉 I found this recipe in the latest issue of Bon Appetit, and the words “roasted strawberry” and “buttermilk” made me dream. The stars must be in a lucky alignment, because very little time elapsed between reading the recipe and getting to work. Fresh blueberries were a perfect match for this slightly tangy dessert.

ROASTED STRAWBERRY-BUTTERMILK SHERBET
(adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2013)

4 cups strawberries (about 1 pound), hulled, halved or quartered
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup sour cream
Pinch of kosher salt

Heat oven to 425°. Combine strawberries and sugar in a 13 x 9 inches baking pan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean and add pod; toss to combine. Roast berries, stirring occasionally, until juices are bubbling, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Discard vanilla pod. Purée berries, buttermilk, sour cream, and salt in a blender until smooth. Place in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Process mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer sherbet to an airtight container and freeze until ready to serve.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: My modifications of the recipe involved cutting down the sugar (the original called for 1 full cup) and reducing the buttermilk amount. The reduction in sugar had to do with our personal preference. The reduction in buttermilk had to do with the size of my blender. One cup filled it almost to the very top, a little more and we would have a buttermilk tsunami in the kitchen. I don’t think it made much difference, but check the link to the original recipe online in case you prefer to follow it. If you use the recipe I posted, please taste the mixture before you place it in the ice cream machine. You might prefer it a little sweeter than we do.

Add a little marshmallow topping and you’ll have a perfect dessert for the 4th of July celebrations: red white and blue, with Summer written all over it. 😉

For those who live in the US, have a wonderful 4th of July!

ONE YEAR AGO: Amazing Ribs for the 4th of July!

TWO YEARS AGO: Baby Back Ribs on the 4th of July

THREE YEARS AGO: Blueberry Muffins

FOUR YEARS AGO: A Pie for your 4th of July

16Jun2013

THE BEWITCHING KITCHEN TURNS FOUR!

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

June 16th, 2013

My beloved blog turns 4 years old today! To celebrate, I assembled all the cake suggestions my readers offered two years ago, assigned numbers to each of them, and drew the winner cake. Celia’s suggestion was the lucky one, so I gathered all ingredients, took a deep breath and made her White Chocolate Bundt Cake to celebrate the occasion…

She wrote a great post about this cake, one that made the process almost pain-free to a person who hyperventilates with just a glimpse of a Bundt pan. Those crevices are evil. To make matters worse, the cake included that dreadful step of creaming sugar with butter. But, a woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do. I did not run away from it, kicking and screaming. Sometimes it is good to resist a first impulse.

WHITE CHOCOLATE BUNDT CAKE
(from Celia’s blog, Fig Jam and Lime Cordial)

for the cake:
450g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
250g unsalted butter, softened
440g white sugar
1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
5 large (59g) eggs, at room temperature
115g white chocolate, melted and still warm
250g thick Greek yoghurt
115g white chocolate chunks or chips

for the topping (optional):
115g (4oz) white chocolate
65ml (¼ cup) heavy cream
115g (4oz) milk chocolate

Heat oven to 350F. Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with oil.

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Slowly beat in the melted white chocolate. Scrape down the bowl.

Add the flour mixture to the butter in thirds, alternating with the Greek yoghurt. Beat for 45 seconds after each addition. You want to end with flour rather than yoghurt (improves the final texture of the batter). Place the batter in the pan in three layers, separating each layer with the white chocolate chips.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, but start checking after 45 minutes. The top will be brown and a sharp thin knife inserted in the center will come out with a few crumbs on it. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then gently loosen around the edges before inverting onto a wire rack to allow the cake to finish cooling at room temperature.

Topping: In a glass or ceramic bowl, heat the white chocolate with the cream until just melted. Stir until smooth. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then drizzle over the cake. In a separate bowl, heat the milk chocolate in the microwave until just melted. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over the cake.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Things went extremely well with this cake from making the batter to inverting the pan to reveal a perfect cake in all its gorgeous glory!
I was already thrilled because contrary to 99.5% of the cake recipes I’ve tried, this one actually produced enough batter to fill the pan to proper capacity. Every other recipe leaves me wondering if my kitchen has some type of black hole that sucks cake batters and takes them to another dimension. Now, this is a nice looking Bundt pan, ready to be baked.

I baked the cake, allowed it to cool for 15 minutes in the pan, chronometer in hand, heart pounding fast. And voilá, when I inverted the pan, this is the vision I was rewarded with:

Is this a thing of complete beauty or what? I BAKED THAT! I know, I know, unreal… I did several victory laps around the kitchen island, then a few around the house. Oscar followed me, wagging his tail, Buck got scared and ran away to hide. Chief? He slept through the whole celebration, but I won’t take that personally. A 14-year old dog earned his right to sleep through anything!

Time to ice the cake. That’s when the road got a little bumpy. I should have read Celia’s post more carefully. She added a note to say that the white chocolate ganache is usually too liquid, so she prefers to simply melt the pure white chocolate to drizzle on top. Well, my ganache was so liquid it disappeared into the cake. I also did not do a very good job with the dark chocolate drizzle, so in the end I covered the whole cake with powdered sugar on top of the drizzle for cosmetic reasons. Over-kill? Maybe. I do agree with Celia, though. This cake is so amazing, a simple dusting with powdered sugar is more than enough. We took a platter to the department and everyone loved it!

One thousand four-hundred and sixty-one days blogging. Food blogging brings many wonderful things with it. First, the virtual connections made with readers and other bloggers. Too special for words. Second, it provides a journal of our adventures: travels for work and/or pleasure, a sabbatical with its nano-kitchen challenge, the move of our home and lab to Kansas. Third, it is a valuable database of recipes we tried and enjoyed. I normally don’t blog on a recipe that didn’t work, unless I feel it’s worth re-visiting it. Sometimes I like to pick a recipe at random from the index, and read about what was going on with us at the time. Were we in Los Angeles when I baked that? Was that post written during a dreadful ice storm in Oklahoma? Was Pits, our beautiful dalmatian still hanging around in our kitchen, stealing butter and T-bone steaks from the countertop? Has it really been four years? 😉

A very wise and dear mentor, Leon Rosenberg once told me: “Memory fails. Keep a diary. You will be glad you did”. I am sure glad I started this site, the closest thing to a diary I can keep up with…

To my readers, followers, fellow food bloggers, friends in real and virtual life, thanks for stopping by and warming up this place with your presence!
Now, I invite you to join me as I start the fifth year of Bewitching Kitchen!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen Turns Three!

TWO YEARS AGO: The Bewitching Kitchen turns two!

THREE YEARS AGO: Bewitching Birthday!

FOUR YEARS AGO: Welcome to my blog!

2Jun2013

STRAWBERRY FROZEN YOGURT

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

A note to subscribers: Google Reader will shutdown on July 1st, 2013. If you have a subscription to this blog through Google Reader, please sign up for email notifications, or switch to another reader. I recommend Feedly or Bloglovin. They will automatically retrieve all your Google reader subscriptions.

We like to have a small bowl of fruit before we go to bed, often while watching a re-run of Law and Order. Actually, I should say Phil loves to have a bowl of fruit, he always offers to make one for me, I decline. Then we end up sharing. 😉 Sometimes we have apples & diced walnuts, sometimes sliced bananas, or blueberries & yogurt, but these days strawberries are the best choice. With ice-cream season starting, I showed my gratitude for countless evenings of hitting his bowl of fruit by making a batch of frozen strawberry yogurt. Very little sugar added, non-fat yogurt, this is as light as a dessert can be. If you have a sweet tooth, this may not be for you. Although you can always cover it with some chocolate sauce… it won’t hurt our feelings!

STRAWBERRY FROZEN YOGURT
(from Kitchen Daily)

4 cup strawberry
⅓ cup sugar
2 Tbsp orange juice
½ cup non-fat yogurt

Place berries in a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add sugar and orange juice; process for a few seconds. Add yogurt and pulse several times until blended. Transfer to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour or overnight.

Pour the strawberry mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Serve immediately or transfer to a storage container and let harden in the freezer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The frozen yogurt will be harder than ice-cream when kept in the freezer for several hours. We put the container in the microwave for 20 seconds and that makes it easy to scoop out our evening portion. Contrary to our normal routine, I’ve been enjoying my own bowl. 😉

A word about Kitchen Daily: I discovered this site by one of those fortunate accidents while net-surfing. Just like Everyday Food from Martha Stewart, this site offers a daily recipe arriving in your mailbox. For the most part, everything quite compatible with our style of cooking. If you want to check their website, and maybe join their daily feed, jump here.

ONE YEAR AGO: Baked Coconut and “The Brazilian Kitchen”

TWO YEARS AGO: Honey-Glazed Chicken Legs

THREE YEARS AGO: French-Style Rolls

23May2013

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE “LEGERE COMME UNE PLUMME”

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Paris will always be a home away from home for Phil and I. If we could, we’d fly back there more often, but unfortunately we go through several years of (switching briefly to Portuguese) “saudades de Paris”. Saudade is a word from my native language that has no exact match is English. From Wikipedia: “Saudade describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic or deeply melancholic longing for an absent something or someone who one loves”. The word originated in Portugal to describe the feelings of family members of sailors who would see them leave shore on the glorious days of Portuguese expeditions, uncertain of their return. And the exact same feeling hit the sailors themselves, as the distance between them and their beloved country would get bigger and bigger. It’s been 3 years since we’ve last been to Paris, so the “saudade” is intensifying quite a bit. How do I deal with it? I indulge in reading some wonderful French food blogs, like Du Miel et Du Sel, where I found this post about a chocolate mousse. It was described as “légère comme une plumme“, or “light as a feather”. It delivered exactly what it promised, a mousse without the cloying nature that often sends it over the top for my taste. The secret? No egg yolks and no butter! Just pure chocolate deliciousness

MOUSSE AU CHOCOLAT
(from Marie Claire, Du Miel et du Sel)

* 8 servings*

200 g dark chocolate (I used 72% cocoa)
200 g heavy cream
200 g egg whites (6 egg whites)
pinch of salt
60 g sugar

Cut the chocolate in small pieces and place inside a large bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a gentle boil, then pour it over the chocolate, one-third of the volume at a time, mixing well after each addition. After all the cream is added, the chocolate emulsion should be very smooth, without any lumps.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt for a few minutes until they start to get some body. At this point, add the sugar slowly, a little at a time, always whipping the eggs. Beat until they form firm peaks.

Mix 1/3 of the beaten egg whites to the chocolate, no need to be gentle at this point, just mix it all well to lighten up the chocolate mixture. Add the rest of the egg whites very gently, folding with a spatula, making sure not to deflate the egg whites too much. Divide the mousse into 8 serving cups, refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

We make desserts exclusively when we have guests over for dinner. For this particular occasion, we had three very special guests at home, a Brazilian scientists who came over to give a talk, and two friends from KSU. Our Brazilian guest not only is a great scientist and a dear friend, but once suffered through a tricky situation in our home in Oklahoma. He came to give a talk in our former department (just like he did now at KSU), and on that evening we hosted a lab party that ended with a strawberry genoise cake. By far the worst concoction I’ve ever made, one that my guests ate in silence, but not the “good” type of silence. The bottom layer of my “masterpiece” had somehow turned into a solid rock, hard to cut even with a serrated knife! I know, I know, how could anyone achieve that? It was very embarrassing. I wanted to disappear from the face of the planet. Of course, once the initial shock was over, we laughed about it, and everyone salvaged the top layer of the cake and left the concrete part untouched. I’ve never attempted a genoise again, although my friend Gary, patissier extraordinaire, keeps telling me to go for it. I will, once I get over that trauma (sigh). Anyway, I wanted to exorcise the demons of my past, and make a dessert that our guests would enjoy. A chocolate mousse light as a feather could not possibly turn into a rock, right? Right. This was the happy ending I was hoping for our pizza party. You can make them big, you can make them small, you can top with strawberries, you can add shaved chocolate, or go for the kill and top with some whipped cream. Whatever route you choose, Marie Claire said it all in her post:

Vous allez vous lécher les doigts. (It’s finger-licking good!)

ONE YEAR AGO: Black Olive Sourdough Bread