Brainfully Delicious

I’ve mentioned my friend Dean several times, but there is one thing I haven’t mentioned yet, one of the things that make him so fun and loveable.

You see, my dear friend is obsessed with zombies. Yes, zombies, those rotting, brain eating, undead creatures that might just bring about the apocalypse one of these days.

And no, I am not exagerating by calling this dear man obsessed. He has games and an unbelievable amount of movies (I believe he said he has 4 copies of Night of the Living Dead and I, being such a great friend, convinced him to buy Zombies Gone Wild… ). He loves to pretend to eat his fiancee’s brains…..he even dressed up as Zombie Elvis for Halloween last year!

Yes friends, the King still lives….just not the way you might hope *g*

Anyways, I really wanted to do something special for Dean for his birthday, and what could a zombie lover enjoy more than brains?

This is more about the decoration than the cupcake itself, but as I wanted to post this I’ll give you the recipe anyways.

Brain Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
4 oz white chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 325F. Place liners in cupcake pan

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time then the melted chocolate and vanilla.

Working in two or three additions, alternate adding in the milk and flour mixture, making sure the flour is last. Mix just until well blended.

Divide batter into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Whipped Cream Frosting

2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon chocolate liqueur
1 box white chocolate instant pudding
Red food coloring

Mix all of the ingredients for the whipped cream except the pudding mix in a bowl and put in the fridge with your beaters/whisk to chill while you make the cupcakes.

Beat until stiff peaks form then stir in the pudding mix and add food coloring until you reach a nice brain color shade.

Scoop the icing into a frosting bag with a medium round tip or a ziplock bag. Draw a line of icing down the middle, then squiggle the two halves to make it look like brains. Invite all zombie friends over and enjoy

This is really a fun cupcake. If you really wanted to get into the swing of things you could use food coloring to color the cupcakes themselves and even add a gooey filling. I have a hard time believing my dear friend is not one of a kind, so it isn’t likely you’ll know someone with the same obsession, but these would be great for a theme party or for halloween…as long as you don’t mind eating a twisted treat

Taste & Create XII: Birthday Madelines

This month is very special for Taste & Create. Though it has only been a few months for me, this monthly event has been bringing food bloggers together for a year. Yes it is Taste & Create’s first birthday!

I was hoping to special birthday cupcakes or something like that to help celebrate, and instead my partner, the talanted woman behind Fuss Free Flavorsoffered something I had been considering making for a while. Instead I made chocolate drizzled birthday Madelines

Madelines
Source: Fuss Free Flavors

75g Unsalted butter – melted and cool
100g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
2 Large Eggs
90g Granulated Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
Pinch of salt

Whisk the eggs and sugar together until they have doubled in size and are light and fluffy. Slowly fold in the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the vanilla. Slowly add in the melted butter, gently folding all the time.

When mixed cover the bowl and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, the batter should be foamy and full of air. Put a dollop of the mixture into a well buttered Madeleine tray, each mold should be about 2/3 full.

Place in an oven at 375F for around 7 minutes until risen, golden and shrinking away from the edges of the mold.

Leave for a few minutes and then turn out. Add a drizzle of melted chocolate and enjoy.

Happy Birthday Taste & Create

Taste & Create XI: Sugar and Spice…

For a while now, a friend of mine has been unwittingly torturing me with his many tales of waffles for breakfast. I have been a good girl, and have resisted so far (it’s more about resisting the syrup that must go on those waffles than the waffles themselves) but when I saw that one of the recipes my partner, Magpie from je le vous dirais had on her blog was for a Dutch Baby, I knew I had to finally break down.

Now, I have never had a Dutch Baby before, but from what I have heard it is much like pancakes, so I went for it, and I am glad I did cause even if I messed something up, it was well worth it.

Dutch Baby
Source: je le vous dirais

1/2 tablespoon butter
3 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the over to 400F. Please empty glass pie plate in oven to preheat.

Mix the eggs, milk, flour, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.

Take the pie plate out of the oven and add the butter. Pour the batter on top and sprinkle with additional cinnamon and/or sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. Cut into wedges and devour immediately with topping of choice. Enjoy.

This recipe called for way too much better, so I adjusted the numbers for the recipe here. If you try it yourself and it doesn’t look like it’ll be enough to grease the pan, just add a touch more.

This recipe was very tasty, and well worth breaking down….let’s just hope that now i have syrup in the house again I will be able to continue resisting it’s call

Love at First Bite

Thanks to the lovely Economic Stimulus check I finally have a replacement pasta machine! And this time I didn’t go cheap, I went for the more expensive one with the highest ratings, so hopefully it will last me for many years.

I’ve already done plain homemade pasta on this blog, and wanted to test it straight before doing something special so instead I decided to write about a new sauce. I am absolutely infatuated with this recipe. Seriously, it’s just…awesome.

This was a recipe done by the Greedy Gourmet several months ago for Presto Pasta Night hosted by Once Upon a Feast. When I saw the recipe it looked good. I thought it might be fun but honestly when I actually got around to trying it, it was love at first bite I hope you’ll try it yourself cause even though it’s about as unhealthy as a sauce can get, it is soooooo worth it. This is just as creamy as any alfredo sauce with a zing of lemon that just gives it so much life. 

Creamy Lemon Romano Sauce
Adapted from: The Greedy Gourmet

6 oz Pecorino Romano, finely grated
Grated rind of 1 lemon
12 fl oz Heavy Cream
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic

Brown the garlic lightly in a sauce pan. Mix in the cheese, grated lemon rind and cream.

Heat gently, stirring frequently until all of the cheese has melted and sauce begins to thicken. Season to taste. If it isn’t getting as thick as you would like it, add a little bit of corn starch, dissolved in milk.

Pour over pasta of your choice. Enjoy

I don’t know what it is about this sauce but I really can’t get enough of it. I can’t wait to try it over chicken or something like that. It really is a great recipe.

The Best Part of Waking Up

Even before I moved to New York I have loved bagels. Every once an a while, when I could convince my mother to go to the mall (she’s a people person, but can’t stand malls) we would treat ourselves to a perfectly evil dish. Salt bagels smothered in melted cheese. I refuse to think about what that might have done to our bodies cause it was well worth it to bite into those things.

That just makes it so much better that my wonderful city has perfected this tasty treat. I don’t know what it is about these things, but there is really nothing better to start your day with. Even if it isn’t smothered with cheese.

I don’t have them often now, and it’s even rarer that they have cheese on them, because there is no way I can convince myself that they’re even remotely good for me. Of course that rarity just makes them so much better, and the idea of actually having one fresh and homemade was impossible to pass up.

I admit, these aren’t as good as a real New York bagel, but it’s so much fun to make and so tasty, that I will definitely be doing this again.

Bagels
Source: The Fresh Loaf

Sponge:
1 teaspoon instant yeast
4 cups bread flour
2 1/2 cups water

Dough:
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
3 3/4 cups bread flour
2 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons malt powder (can substitute 1 tablespoon malt syrup, honey, or brown sugar)

1 tablespoon baking soda for the water
Cornmeal for dusting the pan
Toppings for the bagels

The Night Before:
Stir the yeast into the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the water and stir until all ingredients are blended. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for two hours.

Remove the plastic wrap and stir the additional yeast into the sponge. Add 3 cups of the flour, the malt powder, and the salt into the bowl and mix until all of the ingredients form a ball. You need to work in the additional 3/4 cups of flour to stiffen the dough, either while still mixing in the bowl or while kneading. The dough should be stiffer and drier than normal bread dough, but moist enough that all of the ingredients are well blended.

Pour the dough out of the bowl onto a clean surface and knead for 10 minutes.

Immediately after kneading, split the dough into a dozen small pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and set it aside. When you have all 12 pieces made, cover them with a damp towel and let them rest for 20 minutes.

To shape the bagel, punch your thumb through the center of each ball and then rotate the dough, working it into a bagel shape, making it as even in width as possible.

Place the shaped bagels on an oiled sheet pan, with an inch or so between one another. If you have parchment paper, line the sheet pan with parchment and spray it lightly with oil before placing the bagels on the pan. Cover the pan with plastic and allow the dough to rise for about 20 minutes.

The suggested method of testing whether the bagels are ready to retard is by dropping one of them into a bowl of cool water: if the bagel floats back up to the surface in under ten seconds it is ready to retard. If not, it needs to rise more. Place the covered pan into the refrigerator for the night.

The Next Day

Preheat the oven to 500. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add one tablespoon of baking soda to the pot to alkalize the water.

When the pot is boiling, drop a few of the bagels into the pot one at a time and let them boil for a minute. Use a large, slotted spoon or spatula to gently flip them over and boil them on the other side.

Before removing them from the pot, sprinkle corn meal onto the sheet pan. Remove them one at a time, set them back onto the sheet pan, and top them right away, while they are still slightly moist. Repeat this process until all of the bagels have been boiled and topped.

Once ready, place the sheet pan into the preheated oven and bake for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to 450 degrees, rotate the pan, and bake for another 5 minutes until the bagels begin to brown. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for as long as you can before digging in. Enjoy

I need to work on the shaping a bit (okay, a lot…they were kinda ugly) but they were also very tasty. Definitely worth trying again, especially if I can bribe one of my male friends to knead this very tough dough for me

Sweetness By Request

I am one of those people that try to please everyone. I know, I know, it’s never a good idea, but I do enjoy making people happy. So when not just one, but two people commented about their interest in the cinnamon-sugar crackers, I just had to try it

I am pretty happy I did cause they really did turn out great, so ladies, I hope you’ll try it yourself. They’re well worth it!

Cinnamon Sugar Crackers
Source: Straight From the Farm

2 ½ c. flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 t. salt
4 T. olive oil
¾ c. cold water

For sprinkling on top:
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl being sure to get everything well blended.  Add the oil and half of the water and begin mixing.  Add more water as necessary to form a rough dry dough.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until it comes together into a cohesive ball.

Divide dough into even quarters.  On a piece of parchment paper, roll dough as thin as possible.  Cut the dough into squares or other desired shape and use a fork to prick each square.  Sprinkle generously with cinnamon/sugar mix.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown, turning the sheet once half way through.  While the first batch is baking, roll out another quarter of dough.  Let baked crackers cool before breaking apart.  Store in a ziplock bag. Enjoy

This is a wonderful treat, and it would be something fun to make with kids since it is so very easy.

Oh and I was tagged, so I might as well add it here. Grace from A Southern Grace was tagged for a new game called “Look What I Made” and decided to pass on the love. Basically, you compile a list of five recipes that you’ve tried from other blogs. Not so hard for me since that seems to be where I’ve gotten most of the recipes on this blog

The creator of this little game, Farida of Farida’s Azerbaijani Cookbook, says that “this is a great opportunity to give kudos to the fellow foodies whose recipes we used and inspire them to post more of their yummies. A way to say thank you for what they do. I also think this tag will help us discover some interesting recipes and blogs out there. There are a lot of delicious recipes hidden somewhere in the archives, and this tag may actually give them another chance to shine.”

So here we go five things I’ve made:

Artisan Herb Crackers from Straight From the Farm
Buttermilk Biscuits from For the Love of Food
Cheesy Bread Braid from Cookie Baker Lynn
Kahlua Hot Chocolate from We [Heart] Food
and
Hearty Potato Bread from A Year in Bread

Unfortunately I don’t have that many readers yet, so I don’t have many people to choose from to tag back. However, I will go with Krysta, the Evil Chef Mom, Either/both Todd and Diane from White on Rice Couple and Lisa Rene from Little Bits. Hopefully you guys will have fun with it and not hate me forever

The Hands-On Approach

So a while ago I mentioned that my pasta machine broke. It’s very sad. I missed making pasta enough that I got to the point that I even opened the damn thing up and tried to fix it myself. I thought I got it but of course when I tried to use it again it refused to play nice. *sigh* No problem, once I get that stimulous money I will be buying myself another.

In the meantime, I still miss making pasta, and friday night it hit me that there were types of pasta that didn’t need to be rolled out! I could make some of that easily! So yesterday I did just that. I made Cavatelli!

It’s an easy enough process, but takes a while so make sure you have the time before you start. It is well worth it though. It’s always so soothing to work with dough.

Cavatelli
Source: Eating Cleveland

16 oz. Ricotta Cheese
2 Eggs
1 Pinch of Salt
3 Cups (1 pound) All Purpose Flour 

Pour about 2 1/2 cups of the flour into a bowl and make a well in the middle.  Add the eggs and cheese and stiring in circles, mix everything up well. Add more flour it needed.

Dump the dough out onto your work surface and knead it well, working in more flour as needed until you have a soft but not sticky dough. Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes or more.

Divide the dough into at least eight balls (the smaller the balls, the easier it is to work with so you might even want to make it 16) cover all but one ball of dough. Take the ball you’re working with and roll it between your palms above your work surface, working it into a long thin tube. Once it gets harder to work with like that, place on the work surface and roll out with your palms until you have a long thin tube about 1/4 inch diameter.

Cover and work out the other balls the same way then cut each tube into pieces 1/2 to 1 inch long. 

With a pastry cutter or the flat edge of a butter knife, angle the blade at approximately 45 degrees, then starting at the far edge and pulling the dough towards you, drag the blade across the dough. It should roll up around the edge of the blade. Drop your cavatelli into a well floured pan and continue working till you’ve done all of the dough.

To cook, drop by handfuls into well salted boiling water and cook until it begins to float. Test one before taking them off the heat but fresh cavatelli should only need a few minutes to cook. Enjoy

Just a Little Snack

I don’t really need more forms of bread in my life. A true carbovore, I actually have to ration the amount of bread I eat every day, or I will just eat the entire loaf in one sitting. Seriously

HOWEVER, when I saw this very easy recipe for homemade crackers I decided right away that I just had to make them. Yes, you read that right. Homemade Crackers. The only hard part (well, besides actually trying to make them last) was what spices to use… rosemary? garlic? parmesan? Italian herbs? something with sugar and cinnamon? mmmmmm

The site I got this from, Straight From the Farm, is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Not only does she seem to be as smitten with homemade bread as I am, but I think it’s pretty great that all her recipes include something from her farm. Pretty cool, huh?

I figured this would be a good way to start in on my “more spices” resolution. I went back and forth on it for a while before finally deciding on rosemary, garlic and pepper.

I cannot tell you how great this dough smelled while I was kneading it. I just wanted to keep sniffing it the whole time.

Artisan Herb Crackers
Source: Straight From the Farm

2 ½ c. flour
3 t. dried herbs/seasonings
1 t. salt
4 T. olive oil
¾ c. cold water
coarse salt for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl being sure to get everything well blended.  Add the oil and half of the water and begin mixing.  Add more water as necessary to form a rough dry dough.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead just until it comes together into a cohesive ball.

Divide dough into even quarters.  On a piece of parchment paper, roll dough as thin as possible.  Cut the dough into squares or other desired shape and use a fork to prick each square two or three times.  Sprinkle with course sea salt. 

Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown, turning the sheet once half way through.  While the first batch is baking, roll out another quarter of dough.  Let baked crackers cool before breaking apart.  Store in a ziplock bag. 

These things are great for any day, but considering all the rain we’ve been getting, what could be better than a bowl of soup and some homemade crackers?

I think I added too much pepper, and they definitely needed more garlic, but they were really great and a lot of fun to make. And again this is a recipe that’s only limited by your imagination. I am thinking about trying a cinnamon sugar blend next

Therapeutic Biscuits

Everyone has a different name for those Pillsbury biscuits-in-a-tube. In my family, they were always called thump biscuits. It’s a fun name and of course accurate, since more often than not you have to thump them against the counter to get them to pop.

Since I started this blog I have not even remotely been tempted to buy those, so rest assured that is not what this recipe is about. No, these are BETTER than thump biscuits, because it’s made from scratch and you’re not just thumping a carton against the counter, you’re gonna beat the actual dough! How fun is that??

I think that’s actually one of the things I love most about making bread. You can work out all your frustrations. I’ve seen recipes that you have to slam it against the counter, this one you have to give it a good beating, and of course we can’t forget the wonderfully satisfying process of kneading. Bet you didn’t realize just how violent bread making could be.

I found this recipe on For the Love of Food (the host of the Taste & Create I just did). It was actually a recipe that she had adapted from another blog, and now it’s adapted here as well. I don’t think these will replace the buttery biscuits I made last month, cause I am kinda proud of how much I did to perfect that recipe but these were damn good and will be high on my list.

Buttermilk Biscuits
adapted from recipe on For the Love of Food

2 cups flour
1 tbl baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 oz butter
3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the butter in smaller chunks and cut together with two knives or pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs with some pea sized pieces. Then, add the buttermilk and mix in, once it gets too sticky, use your hand to mix.

Spread a thin amount of flour on your work surface and roll your dough into a ball.

Now comes the fun part. Thwack the dough with the rolling pin a few times then fold it in half. Close your eye, take a deep breath, visualize those who have annoyed you lately and…Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Repeat the process until you’ve done it about ten times and all the days frustrations have passed.

Roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick or so and cut with whatever you want (knife, cookie cutter, biscuit cutter, glass, etc.) Go through the fold-and-thwack-and-cut process with the remaining dough until you’re done.

Place them on a baking sheet with the sides touching so that they rise up and not out. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm, and enjoy!

These came out incredibly soft and tasty. I (as always) added a little extra sugar cause that’s just me, but you can adjust it according to your own tastes. The process of making them was almost as good as using a dammit doll!

Also, the very last bit of dough I shaped into a flatish-round with my hands since it was too small to cut and I actually liked how that looked after baking than the cut ones. It’s all a matter of taste but…and please excuse the pun…no matter how you cut it, these are sure to turn out great.

A Taste of Yellow: Sunny Caramel Cupcakes

With so many different foundations and charities out there, it’s always hard to choose which ones to support. Do you go with the big ones that already have a huge backing and are more likely to make a bigger difference with the money? Or a smaller one that can really use even the smallest amounts?

It’s a hard decision, but one of the ones I try to support is the LiveStrong Lance Armstrong Foundation. It’s one of the bigger ones out there (you see the LIVESTRONG bands everywhere now), but his story, coming back from a tough battle with cancer to not only succeed, but to completely dominate his sport, is incredibly inspiring.

So when I saw there was a food blogging event created by Barbarah of Winos and Foodiesto support this foundation I knew I had to join in. Barbarah is asking all bloggers to participate in the blog event A TASTE OF YELLOW by making a dish containing some type of yellow food in memory of those we have lost and those still fighting cancer.

The deadline for this event is April 19th, 2008, and the roundup of all entries will be posted on LiveSTRONG Day, which falls on May 13th this year. If you want to participate simply cook and blog about some type of yellow food and send a picture and a link to Barbarah. This is blog is about my small contribution.

I wanted to make something that could bring a smile to anyone. Something happy and sunny, that would bring thoughts of spring. The season that at least to me, represents changes, and new beginnings. I saw this recipe on Katie’s Kitchen for caramel cupcakes, and I knew it was perfect. Hopefully these sweet treats will usher in a nice warm spring, and I dedicate them to everyone out there fighting cancer, with the hope of many more springs to come. 

Caramel Cupcakes
Source: Katie’s Kitchen 

125g butter, chopped
100g white eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
2/3 cup milk
1 cup plain flour
1/3 self-raising flour
1 egg

Preheat oven to 325F

Combine butter, chocolate, sugar, syrup and milk in a saucepan; stir over low heat until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl, cool for 15 minutes.

Whisk sifted flours then egg into mixture.

Divide among cupcake tray and bake for 30 minutes for standard size cupcakes. Move to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

I tried to make an Italian Meringue for the icing but it didn’t really turn out and I didn’t have enough eggs to try again so I just used a whipped cream frosting. Just whip some cream until it’s nice and thick and peaks begin to form then add a box of instant pudding. I chose french vanilla.

 

Frost the cupcakes by either spreading it with a knife or pipe it on. Make or buy some fondant, roll it out as thin as you want it then using cookie cutters, cut out as many flower shapes as you want. If you want to do layers of different sizes, brush some water on one side of the smaller one to seal the two pieces together. Place on cupcakes as desired.

Just a few notes about the recipe. It calls for golden syrup and self rising flour. According to Wikipedia, golden syrup is used as a substitute for honey for those who can’t eat honey, and it’s much like corn syrup. You can use either if you can’t find it in a store, or you can order it on amazon.

As for self-rising flour, if you don’t have any you can make it easily by mixing 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Just make sure you mix it well.

As for these cupcakes, they are really easy to make and have a wonderful, subtle caramel flavor. They are definitely worth trying.

There is still plenty of time to join in this event and it really is well worth it. Give it a try if you get the chance.