Challenge, Part 1

Phase one of our recent renovations was our master bathroom. Instead of going with the same contractor who was going to work on our kitchen, we chose a smaller company that we have used in the past for handy-man-type work. We know the guys quite well, and trust them to not only do a thorough job, but to honestly critique new recipes that I spring on them. They expected our bathroom to take about two weeks, and I set myself a challenge: bake something for them every day that they were here. I got to try out a few new recipes, tweak some old ones, and get honest feedback, and they got fresh treats and coffee daily and felt appreciated. It was a win-win situation for all of us.

In no particular order, here are the first four days' efforts:

Peach Pocket Pies

Adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's Pie & Pastry Bible

Individual hand-held peach pies. Ok, but not great. I think peaches are best eaten fresh. The crust did turn out nicely though, as Rose's always do.

Schrafft's Butterscotch Cookies

Very subtle flavor. I don't know that I would even go so far as to call it 'butterscotch'. I found that to be misleading, as people were expecting a much bigger flavor once they heard the name. They were tasty, but I think they need something else to bolster them. They'd be great as the base for an ice cream sandwich.

Good old peanut butter cookies, by request.

I did half the batch with milk chocolate kisses, and folded dark chocolate chunks into the other half. I liked the dark chocolate better. The guys were divided: half for classic with kisses, half for dark chocolate.

Raspberry Bars

Adapted from Favorite Brand Name Baking

A shortbread-like base, filled with jam, and topped with crumbles of the same base dough. Simple, delicious, and always a hit.

Strawberry Bars

Adapted from Favorite Brand Name Baking

Varying the temperature of the butter will change the texture of the cookie. Keeping it on the chilly side with give you more of a crisp shortbread, and room temperature will make it more like a slightly crumbly butter cookie. Both are delicious. The quality of the jam you use will directly affect the flavor of the bar, so get one that you really love. I've used almonds in the crust before, and they work very well but have a much milder flavor than the pecans. You can, of course, also use a preserve other than strawberry. I used raspberry in the photo above.

2 C all-purpose flour

1 C granulated sugar

1 C butter, softened or still slightly cold

Heavy pinch of salt

3/4 C pecans (or almonds) coarsely chopped

1 egg

10 oz strawberry preserves (or flavor of your choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8" or 9" square pan with butter or cooking spray.

Combine the flour, sugar, butter, salt, nuts, and egg in a large bowl and mix until combined. If you use colder butter the mixture will be crumbly, which is fine. Scoop 1 cup of this dough out of the bowl and set it aside for the topping. Pour the remaining dough into the prepared square pan and use your fingers to press it evenly into the bottom of the pan. Spread the preserves on top, keeping a 1/2" border around the edge free of preserves, if possible. (Preserves at the edge bake onto the pan, making the bars harder to remove.) Crumble (or dollop) the reserved 1 cup of dough over the top of the preserves and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool completely in the pan, then cut into bars.

Tea for Two (or Three, or Four...)

Another one from the archives: Welsh Tea Cakes! I made these about a month ago, just before my ankle surgery. I had a very busy week scheduled, after a very busy week before that, and realized that I finally had one day when nothing was going on. I pledged to do whatever I felt like that day (plus a load of laundry and tidying whatever mess I made), and decided that I felt like baking. I pulled out a recipe that I've had for years, and peeked in the pantry for a way to enhance it. The recipe was for a Welsh Tea Loaf, molasses-flavored and raisin-studded. Normally molasses and raisins are two big hints that something will be delicious, at least to my mind, which is I'm sure why I saved the recipe in the first place, but when I have made it in the past, the flavor was lacking. It was good, but muted; it needed some tweaking. I wanted the molasses flavor to be much stronger, but without the hint of bitterness that lots of molasses can sometimes impart. I also didn't want to drastically alter the texture of the loaf by adding so much extra liquid. Moistness is nice, but I didn't want a sog-fest. A rummage through the pantry revealed a small bag of dark muscovado sugar left over from gingerbread baking last Christmas. Muscovado has big molasses flavor without so much of the moisture, so it was exactly what I wanted. I replaced two thirds of the white sugar in the recipe with the muscovado, and baked it in muffin tins instead of an 8x8" square. 

The little tea cakes came out perfectly! Moist, with rich molasses flavor, they were just what I had been hoping for. Hubband didn't like the original recipe when I made it for him way back when, but he just couldn't get enough of this more flavorful version. Who knows if this cake is authentically Welsh or not, but it certainly goes wonderfully with tea, or coffee for that matter. They were even better when eaten outside in the garden, slathered with homemade strawberry preserves. 

Homemade strawberry preserves? Yes, a few months ago Hubband and I ventured south a little bit and found a hydroponic strawberry farm, where we picked about 15 lbs. Mom came over a few nights later when Hubband was out and we washed, hulled, diced, simmered, and canned all fifteen pounds (with a few set aside to roast in balsamic for ease of future ice cream batches). It was my first time canning, and pressure-canning at that. Each jar sealed tightly, and after dividing them up with Mom, using them on pancakes and toast, and on these tea-cakes, we still have some to spare. I think we'll certainly be doing that again. Especially when you do it like this:
with a strawberry-basil-lemonade cocktail on the side! 

Welsh Tea Cakes

adapted from goodness-knows-where

I kept it simple for this first time, but I think adding cardamom, cloves, and/or a bit of nutmeg would be really nice as well!

2 2/3 C water

12 oz raisins

4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 C butter, softened

1 C dark muscovado sugar

1/2 C granulated sugar

3 eggs

2 Tbs unsulphured molasses

1 Tbs vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

4 C AP flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine water and raisins in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for 2 minutes, to plump the raisins slightly. After two minutes, remove from the heat and add the baking soda. Set aside to cool. Cream together the butter and sugars, then add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. When incorporated, add the cooled raisins, cooking liquid, molasses, salt, and vanilla. Mix, then add the flour and mix until incorporated. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan or divide among 24 greased muffin cups. Bake 50-60 minutes for 8x8, 30-35 for muffin tins. Once baked, let cool in pan (8x8) or turn out onto wire racks (muffin tin). 

House Guests

Things have been very busy in the Marshmallow household for the past two weeks, and that has meant not blogging as frequently as I had hoped. I'm sorry! We've had house guests for the last two weekends, and being as nit-picky as I am, that means that I want everything to be just so...of course, it never is, but I do try. 

This past weekend our house guests were Hubband's parents, so I (attempted to) pull out all the stops. I tried something new with my go-to apple pie recipe, baked scones, made cannelloni with homemade pasta, and whipped up some of Jude's Honey-Whole Wheat bread to go with my chicken salad. That was before they even got here on Thursday night. During the weekend, I also made a big batch of shirred eggs, Hubband grilled rainbow trout and corn on the grill, and I put together some light and fluffy buckwheat pancakes. We also took advantage of Orlando's large selection of restaurants and dined out two nights. 

Back to the baking: I made scones on Thursday morning, both because I know my guests enjoy them and because there is a scone recipe in my Tartine cookbook that I've been eyeing for some time. It is the recipe for their much-touted buttermilk scones, with Zante currants. I decided to rearrange things just a little, and used dried unsweetened Bing cherries instead, as well as replaced half of the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat pastry flour.

The scones baked up moist with a wonderful texture and some flaky layers. It's a little hard to describe these scones; they were dense and substantial, but didn't sit in the belly like a rock the way so many often do. I really liked the addition of the whole-wheat flour, both for nutrition and flavor, and am curious how they would turn out using 100% whole-wheat pastry flour. Next time I would add more citrus zest, and would maybe try orange instead of lemon. 

Buttermilk Scones

Adapted from Tartine

The original recipe calls for Zante currants. I used cherries, but these could easily be made with blueberries, raspberries, apricots, or raisins. If you fresh fruit, freeze it before adding it to the dough so the pieces don't leak juice and dye the dough as you mix. I think that next time, I will increase the amount of citrus zest, but I am listing the original amount here. I find it much faster to place a bowl on my kitchen scale and weigh out all of my ingredients, so those are the measurements I've included here.

100g (3 1/2 oz) Dried unsweetened Bing Cherries 

340g  (12 oz) All-purpose flour

340g (12 oz) Whole-wheat pastry flour

15 mL (1 Tb) Baking powder

3 3/4mL (3/4 tsp) Baking soda

100g (3 1/2 oz) Granulated sugar

6 1/4 mL (1 1/4 tsp) salt

255g (9 oz) Unsalted butter, very cold

375 mL (12 oz) Buttermilk

5 mL (1 tsp) Grated citrus zest 

Topping:

45 mL (3 Tb) Unsalted butter, melted

Large crystal sugar such as Demerara for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment. If using dried fruit, plump it by placing it in a bowl and adding enough warm water to cover, then let it sit for ten minutes. Sift together the flours, baking powder, and baking soda into the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add the sugar and salt and mix, then cut the butter into small cubes and scatter them over the dry ingredients. Pulse the mixer on and off until you have pea-sized lumps of butter throughout the flour. You don't want to break up the butter too much, so keep an eye on it. Add the buttermilk, zest, and fruit all at once and mix gently on low speed until you just have a dough that will hold together. You should still have some visible bits of butter in the dough. Dust a work surface lightly with whole-wheat flour and turn the dough out onto it. Use your hands to gently shape the dough into a rectangle that is 18" long, 5" wide and about 1 1/2" thick. Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar, then using a dough scraper or long chef's knife, cut the dough into 12 triangles. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake 25-35 minutes, or until the tops are lightly browned.