Cranberry Orange Muffins

I saw these on Good Things Catered and thought they'd be a great addition to the basket I was making for a friend that recently had surgery. Even though I found out a little too late that my orange extract had evaporated, they still turned out fabulous! I can't wait to make some that I can keep for myself!

Cranberry Orange Muffins
Source: Good Things Catered

~2 c. all-purpose flour
~1 Tbsp baking powder
~1/2 tsp salt
~2 large eggs
~1 c. milk
~2/3 c. sugar
~6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
~1 tsp vanilla extract
~1/4 tsp orange extract
~2 Tbsp orange zest
~2 c. fresh cranberries

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper cups
-In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt
-In another bowl combine eggs, cream, sugar, butter, extracts and zest.
-Whisk until thoroughly combined.
-Add dry ingredients and fold until just moistened.
-Fold in cranberries and divide batter among muffin cups.
-Bake for about 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.
-Let cool 2 - 3 minutes before removing from pan.

Chocolate Biscotti

I didn't think I liked biscotti, but decided it would be a good addition to some gifts I was making for some friends. I absolutely fell in LOVE with this chocolate biscotti recipe and ended up making it three times in the week before Christmas! I made some more this weekend to give to a friend after surgery. It is so hard not to steal some for myself! I substituted the almonds (since initially I made them for a number of people and wanted them to appeal to the masses) with chopped white chocolate, and ended up loving that direction and have continued to make them that way!



Chocolate Biscotti
Source: Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours)

~2 cups all-purpose flour
~½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
~2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (I replaced with cocoa powder)
~¾ teaspoon baking soda
~½ teaspoon baking powder
~1 teaspoon salt
~¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
~1 cup sugar
~2 large eggs, lightly beaten
~1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
~1 cup chopped almonds, blanched or unblanched (or about 4 ounces white chocolate, chopped)
~4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or ¾ cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
~Sugar, for dusting

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until pale, about 2 minutes; the mixture may be crumbly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes; don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until a dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the chopped nuts and chocolate, then turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead in any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough into 12-inch-long logs. Flatten both logs with the palm of your hand, so that they are ½ to 1 inch high, about 2 inches across and sort of rectangular, then carefully lift the logs onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle each log with a little sugar.

Bake the logs for about 25 minutes, or until they are just slightly firm. The logs will spread and crack - and that’s just fine. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, put it on a cooling rack and cool the logs for about 20 minutes. (Leave the oven on.)

Working with one log at a time, using a long serrated knife, cut each log into slices between ½ and ¾ inch thick. Stand the slices up on the baking sheet - you’ll have an army of biscotti - and baking the cookies again, this time for just 10 minutes.

Transfer the biscotti to a rack to cool.

Spiced Shrimp and Barley Risotto

After Christmas, I finally found time to organize my recipes. I came across a lot that I have been meaning to make, so I decided that I'd make new recipes every weekend to work through the list. This weekend, I pulled out my Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, Bridal Edition. I decided to go with a shrimp dish, and saw a recipe for spiced shrimp with rice. I didn't want or have long grain rice, but as I read through the directions, I thought it would be perfect as a risotto! I remembered seeing barley used in risotto recipes, and thought it would be a great way to use up some leftover barley.

I removed all the heat from the original recipe, so while it's not hot-spicy, it's still plenty flavorful. The five-spice powder and saffron play so well together! The green onion garnish adds a wonderful burst of bright flavor, so don't leave it out!


Spiced Shrimp Barley Risotto
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Bridal Edition

~3/4 pound fresh or frozen medium shrimp in shell, peeled and deveined
~1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
~1 teaspoon ground coriander
~1/2 teaspoon 5 spice powder
~1/2 teaspoon paprika
~pinch of saffron threads, or 1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
~3 tablespoons margarine or butter
~1 tablespoon cooking oil
~1/4 cup finely chopped onion
~3 cloves garlic, minced
~3/4 cup pearl barley
~6 cups water (with 1/2 teaspoon of salt) or chicken broth (I did 4 cups broth and 2 cups water)
~2 green onions, sliced

Directions:

In a large bowl combine ginger, coriander, five-spice powder, paprika, and saffron or turmeric. Toss the shrimp in the spices, and let stand at room temperature for up to 30 minutes. Heat the water or broth in a pot until simmering. Meanwhile, heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add butter and oil and when butter is melted, add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add barley and toss to coat, then heat 2-3 minutes in pan. Add a ladleful of water or broth and stir gently until almost absorbed. Repeat with remaining water or broth. When barley is fully cooked, stir in spiced shrimp and cook until shrimp turn opaque (about 5 minutes). Top with green onions.

Kung Pao Chicken

My husband's absolute favorite thing to order for Chinese food is kung pao chicken. Over the years, I have become a convert and now love it too! I wanted to be able to make it at home, since we try not to eat out a lot (and I'd say we are quite successful.. maybe 3 or 4 times a year). I came across this recipe aaaages ago... so long, in fact, that I didn't write down the source! Can you imagine such horror?! ;-) Luckily, a little googling and I was able to locate the original recipe. I added some vegetables we like and doubled the sauce since, well, it's light on sauce and I wanted to make sure everything was good and covered. I also nixed the red chilis because yeah, I like having feeling in my tongue! We found that just adding the crushed red pepper flakes provided the little kick of heat it needed. Overall, we LOVE this recipe and I can't wait to make it again!



Kung Pao Chicken
Adapted from about.com
Serves 2-3

For the marinade:
~2 teaspoons soy sauce
~2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
~1 teaspoon sesame oil
~1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

For the sauce:
~4 tablespoons dark soy sauce
~2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
~1.5 teaspoons sugar

~2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
~2 carrots
~1 rib celery
~1 small can sliced water chestnuts
~2 cloves garlic
~1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
~2 green onions (spring onions, scallions)
~1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
~6 tablespoons oil for stir-frying, or as needed
~1/2 cup peanuts or cashews
~a few drops sesame oil, optional

Directions:

Add chicken and marinade ingredients to a bowl or ziplock bag, adding the cornstarch last, and marinate for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, thinly slice carrots and celery. Chop the green onions into 1/2 inch pieces, and grate the garlic and ginger. Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Heat a large saucepan or wok over medium high to high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and allow to get hot. Add carrots, celery and water chestnuts and toss occasionally until cooked. Remove vegetables from pan.

Add 2 tablespoons oil to pan and allow to get hot. Add marinated chicken and cook until nearly done. Remove chicken from the pan. Add 2 tablespoons oil to pan and allow to get hot. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add red pepper flakes and ginger and cook for a few seconds. Add the sauce to the pan and bring to a boil. Return the chicken and vegetables to the pan, toss to coat in the sauce. Stir in the peanuts and green onion, heat through. Remove from the heat and stir in the sesame oil, if using. Serve with rice.

Pear and Ginger Brioche Snails

Here is a twist on a great Dorie Greenspan recipe... Brioche raisin snails. I wanted to incorporate pear, and while looking at her pastry cream variations, saw ginger pastry cream and thought it would go so well with pear! Dried cranberries seemed like a great substitute for the raisins. I was sooo excited to flambe something for the first time, and since I had the pear theme going, I went with some pear brandy. Yum!

Hello, gorgeous!





Pear Ginger Brioche Snails
Slightly adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

~1/2 cup craisins
~1/2 cup diced pear
~3 tablespoons pear brandy
~1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
~Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~1/2 recipe for Golden Brioche Loaves(page 48), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating overnight)
~1/2 recipe Pastry Cream (page 448)

Put the craisins in a small saucepan, cover them with hot water and let them steep for about 4 minutes, until they are plumped. Drain the craisins, return them to the saucepan, adding pears, and warm them over low heat while stirring constantly. When the fruit is very hot, pull the pan from the heat and pour over the brandy. Standing back, ignite the liquor. Stir until the flames go out, then cover and set aside. (The fruit and liquor an be kept in a covered jar for up to 1 day.) Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.

On a flour dusted surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 12 inches wide and 16 inches long, with a short end toward you. Spread the pastry cream across the dough, leaving 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Scatter the fruit over the pastry cream and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Starting wit the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it up to 2 months; see Storing for further instructions. Or, if you do not want to make the full recipe, use as much of the dough as you’d like and freeze the remainder.)

With a chef’s knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends if they’re ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into rounds a scant 1 inch thick. Place the snails on a parchment lined baking sheet. Lightly cover the snails with wax paper and set the baking sheet(s) in a warm place until the snails have doubles in volume–they’ll be puffy and soft–about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

When the snails have almost fully risen, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the wax paper, and bake the snails for about 25 minutes, or until they are puffed and richly browned. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove from sheet.

Golden Brioche Loaves

2 packets active dry yeast
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm

To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can– this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you’re doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you’ll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.

Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You’ll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. The next day, pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Use immediately for snails or wrap well with saran wrap and foil and store in the freezer.

Pastry Cream

1 cups whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cups sugar
8 teaspoons cup cornstarch, sifted
4 to 5 quarter sized pieces of fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature

Bring the milk and ginger pieces to a boil in a small saucepan. Cover and let steep for one hour.
Meanwhile, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the steeped milk through a strainer to catch the ginger – this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly (making sure to get the edges of the pot), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk in the vanilla. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are full incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape the cream into a bowl. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the pastry cream until cold or, if you want to cool it quickly–as I always do–put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water, and stir the pastry cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.

Cleaning up!

I am always inspired by the cleaning tips, motivation, and organization over at the Hyper Homemaker. I got a label maker and slew of new Lock and Lock storage containers in all different sizes for Christmas, so I knew it was finally time to get a hold on the mess in my pantry and cabinet. I included the cabinet because I store some things in there that I use while cooking (breadcrumbs and such) and some baking items (cocoa powder, baking powder, etc), but store all the reserves for those items in the pantry. That was making it hard to keep track of what I had when it was time to go to the store. Now things are placed together and I reproritized what goes in the cabinet (in the kitchen) or the pantry (a short walk away).

Here is the cabinet before...


And after!

Note: the upper right is what happens when you ask your husband to pick up some butterscotch chips when he goes to the grocery store...

Here is the pantry before and after:

Eat to the Beat: Nutella Ice Cream

Your love is better than ice cream
Better than anything else that I've tried
And your love is better than ice cream
Everyone here know how to fight
...
Your love is better than chocolate
Better than anything else that I've tried
Oh love is better than chocolate
Everyone here knows how to cry
This song from Sarah McLachlan was always one of my favorites... namely because I could live off of ice cream, it is my absolute favorite food! The song embodied what I was looking for in a relationship... a love that was better than ice cream. Naturally, I believe I found that in my husband, and this is a timely post as we are nearing our first anniversary!


Still, I wanted to create an ice cream that would be pretty hard to beat... so for this installment of Eat to the Beat, I give you Cinnamon Nutella Ice Cream!
Well, I've just taken it out of the ice cream maker. Oh my. Oh my! This is roll-your-eyes-back-into-your-head good. (gosh, now I feel like a yogurt commercial!) The cinnamon ice cream ALONE is fantastic, but add the nutella and toffee chips... wow. Just wow! Yeah, I could, um, spend more time making coherent sentences but the pull of another bite is too strong and I'm going to give in. Just trust me and make it!



Ice Cream by Sarah McLachlan

Cinnamon Nutella Ice Cream with Hazelnut Toffee Chips
Base ice cream recipe adapted from Doc Wilson, see my note on adjusting fat content here.
If you don't like cinnamon, feel free to omit it, it will still be fabulous!

~4 oz milk (skim, 1%, 2% or whole is fine)
~8 oz heavy cream
~16 oz fat free half and half
~1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
~1 cinnamon stick
~3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
~1/4 cup eggbeaters
~3 tbsp brown sugar
~3 tbsp sugar
~7 oz fat free sweetened condensed milk
~1 cup hazelnut toffee (recipe follows)
~1/2 cup Nutella

Directions:

In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk, half-and-half, cream, vanilla, cinnamon stick and ground cinnamon. Whisk occasionally. When the cream mixture reaches a fast simmer (do not boil), remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

Whisk together the egg beaters, sugars, and sweetened condensed milk. Add the cream mixture by straining to catch cinnamon stick and vanilla bean. Chill a minimum of 4 hours, preferably overnight. Freeze according to ice cream maker directions. In the last 5 minutes of freezing, add hazelnut toffee chips. Place 1/2 of ice cream in container. Add 1/4 cup nutella and swirl gently with a spatula. Add remaining 1/2 of ice cream, and swirl in remaining 1/4 cup of nutella. Mine behaved almost like that magic shell ice cream topping, it started to freeze up and break into bits rather than make a proper swirl, but I am still happy with it! Place in the freezer to cure.

Hazelnut Toffee from About.com

~1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
~1/2 cup granulated sugar
~1 tbsp water
~1.5 tsp light corn syrup
~1/3 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts
~3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Set it aside. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it is melted, remove it from the heat and stir in the sugar. Once the sugar is mixed in, add the water and corn syrup and stir until well-incorporated.

Place the pan back on the heat and insert a candy thermometer. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the candy reaches 290 degrees. Watch it carefully near the end, as it can easily burn at high temperatures. Once the candy reaches 290 degrees, remove it from the heat. Stir in the cinnamon and the chopped nuts, and immediately pour the candy onto the prepared baking sheet. Tilt the sheet several times to spread the candy in a thin layer. Allow the toffee to sit at room temperature until it is completely cool.

Place the chocolate chips in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until melted, stirring after every minute to avoid overheating. Spoon half of the melted chocolate on top of the toffee, and spread it in a thin, even layer over the top. Place the toffee in the refrigerator to set the chocolate for about 15 minutes. Remove the toffee from the refrigerator and lift it from the baking sheet. Flip the toffee over so that the chocolate side is now resting on the bottom of the baking sheet. Spoon the remaining melted chocolate over the top of the toffee and spread it evenly. (If necessary, re-warm the chocolate briefly so that it is spreadable).

Refrigerate the toffee again to set the chocolate. Once set, break the candy into small pieces with your hands. Store the toffee in an airtight container in the refrigerator or in a cool room.