For the most part I am not wild about baking things that everyone is baking… You know, the pumpkin-shaped bread in the Fall, or other hot items of a particular moment. Pie on March 14th? No, not interested. But, how could I resist trying my sourdough with a little turkey? I could not. So if you are tired of seeing those around, apologies, but I have one more for you!
I used a basic sourdough recipe (500 g bread flour, 75 g sourdough at 100%, 345g water, 9g salt, 1/2 tsp paprika). Did my usual method that starts with a 4-minute ride in the KitchenAid at low speed, then folds every 45 minutes for 4 and half hours. Shaped, into the fridge it went for its beauty sleep. Next morning, the fun began, shaping it as a small bird. Most of the examples I’ve seen around turn out with the legs and wings away from the body and I thought it was a little awkward to slice and eat. I decided to contain it all in a more round shape. Maybe it did not end as “turkey-ish” as some, but I like it this way.
Start from a round proofed dough, dust with flour (I like to use tapioca flour).
Cut two small slits on top for the wings…
Then shape those twisting gently and tucking under the body. Next, cut the larger slits for the legs…
Shape them, tie them with a string, and do a little decorative slashing with small scissors and a razor blade…
Bake at 450F inside a Dutch oven, covered for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more. Your turkey is DONE!
It is not that common for me to rave about a soup, but this one leaves me no other option. Absolutely delicious, super simple to prepare, just a few ingredients give it a lift from the humble to extraordinary. I modified it quite a bit to accommodate food sensitivities, but whatever you do, do not change the almond topping. Tamari-Roasted Almonds. Superb!
THAI CARROT AND SWEET POTATO SOUP WITH TAMARI-ROASTED ALMONDS (adapted from cookieandkate)
2 tablespoons olive oil 3 ribs celery, diced 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger 1 tablespoon red curry paste 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth ¼ cup raw almond butter 3 cups diced peeled carrots 3 cups diced peeled sweet potatoes 1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt Freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup raw almonds, finely chopped 1 heaping tablespoon tamari Fresh lime juice
Make the roasted almonds. Heat oven to 325F. Mix almonds with tamari, spread over a small baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Roast for 10 to 12 minutes, until fragrant and starting to get some color. Reserve.
To make the soup: In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the celery and ginger and sauté for a couple of minutes, until fragrant. Stir in the curry paste. In a small bowl, whisk together some of the broth with the almond butter until smooth. Add the mixture to the pot, along with the carrots, sweet potatoes, salt, and remaining vegetable broth. Stir until combined.
Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 20 to 30 minutes (depending on how small you cut your pieces), until the vegetables are fork-tender. Transfer the soup to a blender (a Vitamix would be awesome here), and blend in batches until super smooth. If too thick, add more vegetable broth or water. Transfer the soup back to the pot and reheat if necessary.
Serve the soup with some almonds on top and squeeze a little fresh lime.
Comments: This is a vegan soup, so if you need to entertain someone who follows this type of nutrition, this would be an excellent choice. Hearty, flavorful, satisfying, perfect in taste and texture. As the weather cools down, soup becomes more and more attractive. We enjoyed it with sourdough bread, a little ham and a fried egg, so let’s say it was not even close to vegan by the time we were done… I highly recommend that you incorporate the tamari-roasted almonds in your cooking, it would go well with many different soups, salads, and even pasta.
Today I share six recipes from blogs I follow and love. You can find the links to each recipe so you can visit the original source and get to know them too…
Here they are, in the chronological order they showed up in our kitchen…
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HANIELA’S CHOCOLATE WHIRLS
Haniela is a cookie decorator, but her blog covers all kinds of cooking, including savory stuff. Definitely worth subscribing to her feed. This particular recipe can be found here. The chocolate variation is in the end of the post, I made no changes and used the highest amount of powdered sugar listed. I made them as sandwich cookies, and used a little caramel buttercream that I had leftover from another project. Recipe for the filling is here. I loved the contrast of the chocolate with the caramel buttercream, so keep that combination in mind.
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MARTIN’S LEMON VERBENA SHORTBREAD COOKIES
Martin blogged on these cookies right after the Botanical Episode from Great British Bake Off aired in the US. He’s been very diligent about baking along with the show, and of course, he is the best person to do that, having won the last Great American Baking Show, with a totally stellar performance. I was lucky to meet him in person when we were in London taping season 5. The recipe for these super tasty cookies can be found here.
If you’ve never baked with lemon verbena, please do so, it has very unique flavor and works absolutely perfectly in a shortbread format. I made no changes whatsoever to his recipe, and it turned out wonderful!
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KAREN’S SIGTEBOLLER
Sigteboller are Salted Rye Rolls, made with a little rye sourdough starter and some commercial yeast. Rye is a very tricky flour to work with, but I had no issues with this recipe. Both hubby and I absolutely LOVED these rolls. The salt on top is a touch of genius, but everything works with them. The taste and texture, spot on. I think Paul Hollywood should send a virtual handshake to Karen for these! Recipe available here.
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HELEN’S HASELNUSSMAKRONEN
Also known as German Hazelnut Macaroons, these should go into the OMG files of Baking… Helen does it again, shares a recipe that is super simple to prepare but amazes the tastebuds once you try a bite. My only change was to use Nutella to fill them because I realized too late that I had no seedless raspberry jam in our pantry. You can find her recipe and super detailed tutorial here.
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TANYA’S IRRESISTIBLE SPICE CAKE CUPCAKES
In case you don’t know, Tanya was my tent-baking friend in Season 5 of The Great American Baking Show and we have kept in touch ever since. Recently she and her husband visited us and we baked together, but that is a story to be told another time (SOON!). Tanya’s recipes always work, and if she says something is irresistible, I pay attention. I was forced to modify the buttercream icing, because her original post uses cream cheese frosting, but I never know for how long the cupcakes will sit at room temperature once I donate them. I felt it was safer to go the route of American buttercream, so I “spiced it up” to go along with the cake. They smell simply amazing, and although I did not get to try any, the reviews from the volunteers who served them made me super happy, and I am sure Tanya will be glad to hear that also! You can find her recipe here. For the buttercream, I used my default recipe adding 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp allspice.
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CARO’S EASY PEASY SMOKIN’ CHEESE CRACKERS
Caro’s blog is one of my go-to sites when I want a recipe that will not disappoint. As I mentioned before, her posts are real tutorials, all the details that matter to make a recipe work. These cheese crackers are addictive – salty, hot to the right level, great texture. I used two types of hard cheese for them, so play with what you have in the fridge and have fun. Recipe can be found here.
I admit that I had a little help while making them, as far as timing exactly when they were perfectly done!
I have quite a few Silikomart cake molds for the most part acquired before the Great Pandemic of 2020, when I was baking cakes to include in my donation box. Once Covid hit, I went through a long time of donating exclusively stuff that could be individually wrapped, and cakes went into the back burner. Now I am set on trying to bring my molds to play, and plan to bake one cake every week. Should be a fun little adventure. Today it is time for Raggio to shine! ( Mold available here).
RAGGIO VANILLA AND CHOCOLATE CAKE (adapted from several sources)
for the cake: 3 large eggs at room temperature 140 g white sugar (about 2/3 cup) 180 g butter, softened (about 3/4 cup) 1 tsp vanilla extract 225 g all-purpose flour (about 1 + 3/4 cup) 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 90 ml milk at room temperature (about 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) 60 g dark chocolate, finely chopped
for the ganache: 60 g dark chocolate 30 ml whipping cream sprinkles of your choice
Heat oven to 350F.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Reserve.
In the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer, cream the butter together with the sugar for several minutes, until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs to and mix each time until incorporated, then the vanilla extract.
Turn off the mixer. Add the sifted mixture of flour, and the milk, dividing the flour in three portions, and the milk in two. Start and end with the flour, eye-balling the amount it totally fine. Once all is incorporated, fold the chopped chocolate gently.
Spray your Silikomart or other Bundt pan (about 1.5 L volume). Pour the batter into the pan and level it gently with an offset spatula. Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and wait until the cake is warm before removing it from the pan. I left it sit for about 30 minutes and it un-molded easily.
Make the ganache: Heat the cream until almost boiling and pour over the chocolate. Wait a few minutes, then whisk gently to combine. It should be smooth and shiny. Once it cools a bit, but it is still runny, pour over the cake. It is important that the consistency is right, so that it won’t simply run off the edges. Decorate with sprinkles before it is fully set, so they glue to the surface.
Comments: The cake has such a beautiful shape that it would stand nicely with just a shower of powdered sugar. But the ganache is a perfect way to make it even more luscious. I cannot give personal feedback on the taste, as I donated the cake whole, but I heard that people really loved it… It is a simple cake, but the bits of chocolate add a lot, and of course the ganache makes it very festive. I hope that if you are like me, and have some Silikomart pans hiding in the depths of your basement, you’ll bring them to play…. Stay tuned for more in the future!
If you are a lover of Middle Eastern spices, this recipe will definitely please you… I adapted it from AverieCooks, a blog I’ve been following for a long time. My version reduced a bit the amount of carbs by substituting almond flour for bread crumbs, and also reduced the amount of fat added in the end. Still it felt rich enough for us. If you prefer, follow her original recipe instead.
BUTTER CHICKEN MEATBALLS (adapted from Averiecooks)
1 pound ground chicken 1 large egg 1/2 cup almond flour 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 small shallot, finely diced 1 tablespoon garam masala, or to taste 1 teaspoon curry powder 1/2 teaspoon turmeric 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste for sauce 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, for sauce one 15-ounce can low-fat coconut milk 1 cup water 6 ounces tomato paste 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt, full-fat 2 tablespoons butter (I omitted) 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely minced
Heat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, non-stick works great.
Make the meatballs: To a large bowl, add the ground chicken, egg, almond flour, salt, pepper, and using clean hands or a rubber spatula, mix gently until the mixture is uniformly combined. Form approximately 16 to 18 meatballs, using 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of mixture per meatball. Place them evenly spaced on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, or until lightly crisped on the outside, flipping them midway through cooking time.
Make the sauce: Add the olive oil to a large skillet, and sauté the shallot until soft and fragrant. Add the garam masala, curry powder, turmeric, salt, pepper, coconut milk, water, tomato paste, and whisk to combine. Bring the sauce mixture to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low or medium-low, and allow the sauce to gently simmer for about 20 minutes.
Add the meatballs to the sauce, simmer everything together for 5 minutes, then add the yogurt and butter in very low heat, mix to combine with the sauce, add the cilantro and serve.
Comments: The amount of garam masala seems excessive, as Averie pointed out, but it works. It is not spicy at all, but makes the whole dish quite flavorful, very intense. I often use almond flour in meatballs and meatloaves, the texture is a little different from breadcrumbs but I am now quite fond of it. The meatballs get a little softer this way. Of course, you can use Panko breadcrumbs instead, same amount. I omitted the butter to reduce a bit the saturated fat content, which immediately goes against the name of the dish, but sometimes I do crazy things.
We enjoyed it with a little cooked kamut wheat and broccoli puree. Very simple meal, but super satisfying!
Bewitching Kitchen 