Baking with Ginger

Microwave Popcorn, without the bag!

2011-12-17T11:44:00.002-07:00

Last year for Christmas, I made everyone I knew caramel corn, peppermint bark, and homemade nuts and bolts. The caramel corn recipe that I used called for bags of microwave popcorn, which I thought was ridiculous. Not only is microwave popcorn expensive, but imagine all the extra chemicals and calories that are totally unnecessary! After a quick google, I discovered that it was easy to microwave your own popcorn, but I needed at least 10 quarts of popcorn, so I wasn't about to do it one lunch-bag at a time. After a bit of trial and error, I discovered that using a large, glass or ceramic mixing bowl, and a microwave plate cover (which I got from the dollar store) worked perfectly! It works best with a bowl large enough for the microwave cover to fit completely inside, so its resting on the bottom of the bowl (at least to start). I initially tried a plate over the top of the bowl, but I found that the popcorn popped better when it was more closely enclosed. Plus, the plate was too heavy to be pushed up by the popcorn.

Anyway, at the family gift exchange last year, I got a home popcorn kit. It had a bottle of popping corn, some seasonings, and a microwave popper! Its basically a melanine bowl with a loose-fitting plastic lid (sound familiar?). I decided to try it out this year, and what I found is that it doesn't pop popcorn any better than my initial set up. So, I suggest if you want to make microwave popcorn for yourself, without the added chemicals, etc. Just buy a $1 microwave cover and use the heavy, microwave-safe mixing bowls you already have!

C4 Week 1

2011-11-06T13:26:00.005-07:00

Softening butter is difficult when you don't have a working furnace and it is -5C outside. Thankfully we have a fireplace and access to free firewood! Oh, and having the oven on for several hours doesn't hurt either.

Today marks the start of my C4 study. I have 14 recipes, each of which has been assigned a number 1-14 so that I could use Random.org to randomly select which recipes are baked each week.. I am baking two recipes per week, from now until December 21. I sent out e-mails to my friends, family, and skating teammates and currently have 16 respondents plus myself (I'm eliminating myself from analysis because I will have bias because I know which cookies are which). Final results won't be available until the New Year because my sister is taking samples of each recipe to two of her former roommates in Germany (I am going to freeze the cookies for them, so each cookie should still test the same because they will have all been frozen).

I am also keeping a detailed research journal, in true scientific fashion. I am also taking photos of the cookies in dough form and after they have been baked.

The original list of recipes I had was 21 strong, but some of the recipes were not different enough for me; I actually did an ingredient ratio comparison to pick recipes that differed the most. Over the next 7 weeks I will be testing:

Ad Hoc Chocolate Chip Cookies
Anna Olsen's Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Best Cookies
Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate & Zucchini's Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate Chunk and Vanilla Bean Cookies
Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Hummingbird Bakery's Chocolate Chip Cookies
New York Time's Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Pudding Cookies
Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies
Smitten Kitchen's Favourite Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm really looking forward to it, are you?

Uh-oh...

2011-09-30T11:47:00.002-06:00

I just volunteered to make a cake for my Aunt's 50th birthday.

For which relatives whom I rarely see are coming from half-way across the country.

And I have no idea how many people will actually be there.

Or what day the party actually is (I know its a day next weekend).

What have I gotten myself into!?

Excitement

2011-09-08T11:28:00.002-06:00

I've been really excited lately.

Not about any one thing in particular, but about a lot of things.

I'm excited to move in to my new condo once the bathroom (and painting) is finished. I'm excited to have my very own kitchen.

I'm excited about the trip to Las Vegas we're taking. We leave on Wednesday! I can't wait to buy new gadgets and utensils and cookwear to stock my new kitchen. I'm especially anxious to get to the Williams-Sonoma outlet in the Prim Outlet Mall. Last time I was there, I bought a gorgeous large royal blue serving bowl by Emile Henry - for $5 (regular retail $62!).

I'm excited to cook meals for myself and Patrick. I'm excited for Meatless Mondays! Don't get me wrong, I love bacon and steak just as much as the next small-town girl, but after nearly a year of eating nothing but meat-and-potatoes kind of meals, it will be nice to at least have the option of something lighter. Something more exotic, and with less heavy cream... (Seriously, I have never seen anyone go through heavy cream like Patrick's grandmother. I'm pretty sure she goes through more than a gallon a month, and that's not including the stuff she whips to put on dessert a couple times a week!)

I'm excited to start skating after the long summer break, and I'm excited to start bowling with Patrick and our couple friends. It's something we can do together to spend time together without being stuck at home or spending lots of money. And, maybe we'll make new friends too, since Patrick's only ever bowled in youth leagues until this year.

Lots of exciting things are happening, I just hope life continues on this way for a while, with lots for me to look forward to!

- Ginger

P.S. The cookie comparison study will be starting once we are back from Vegas, probably in early October. Any locals (Edmonton and Area) that are interested should leave me a comment!

In the works....

2011-08-28T15:48:00.003-06:00

Methodology is in the works for my Chocolate Chip Cookie study. I've run across a couple of more recipes which might yet make the cut; I've been too busy the last couple weeks to compare them to the recipes already on the list. In the past two weeks I've baked and decorated 2 cakes, helped a friend pack up her house for her move across the country, and baked a 3rd cake which hasn't been decorated yet, and that's just a few of the things I've accomplished this week. In a little bit I'm going to go visit my cousin and help her frost 322 cupcakes. It should be a real riot. Photos probably to come.

A neat salad and a revelation

2011-08-16T11:29:00.005-06:00

I find lots of recipes that I would love to try, but am pretty sure I would hate by because I detest goat cheese. That's right, I've said it. That ultimate, creamy, tangy topping for soups, salads, crostini, you name it - I just can't stand it. I've tried, I really have. I really wish I could like fresh goat cheese; every six months or so I convince myself that its not that I dislike it, I've just never had it prepared this way, or with these ingredients, or this is a smoother, sweeter variety... only to rediscover miliseconds later that the tangy-ness that other people appreciate in goat cheese, to me tastes simply acrid and reminds me of things too gross for a food blog. To date, the only way I have had goat cheese and not wanted to immediate spit it out is on pizza and baked into a pasta dish.

Which is too bad, because I really, really want to like goats cheese so I can enjoy this salad by Joy of Joyliciousand guest posted to 6 Bittersweets.

It has all the components I love in a salad - fresh greens, sweet, juicy fruit, crunchy nuts.... but that darned goat cheese just has to ruin the party for me. Its okay, goat cheese, its not you its me. Its just a shame that I can't hang out at the awesome party you're throwing because we just don't get along. I guess I'll go hang out with some cupcakes instead...

NEW! Chocolate Chip Cookie Comparison Study

2011-07-13T14:08:00.008-06:00

Hello readers whom I'm not sure exist. (If you do, please leave a comment!)

It recently occurred to me that there are a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes on the internet. It also recently occurred to me that while I have a favourite recipe, and it usually turns out quite well, there might be a better one out there somewhere. Combined with my compulsion to bake things, the ever-accumulating amount of recipes in my recipe box, and my love of science, I've decided to do a little investigation.

I looked through my Google Reader feed for all the Chocolate Chip Recipes on all of the blogs I follow. I came up with a total of 15. Four of those recipes were eliminated because they were duplicates (3) or near-duplicates (1). Once I move into my new place, I will bake one or two recipes a week, precisely as recorded, and feed them to a carefully selected panel (i.e. my friends and family) of cookie enthusiasts. Each participant will fill out a baseline survey indicating chocolate chip cookie preferences (i.e. chewy vs. crispy, soft vs. crunchy, large vs. small). After sampling each recipe, participants will then fill out a short questionnaire about that particular recipe.

Of course, being a scientist, I have to have some controls to help provide the best results. First, I will control for chocolate. This is the only alteration to the recipes I am making: I am going to use the same chocolate chips in all of the recipes. What I really want to test is the texture of the cookie, not the quality of the chocolate called for. I am also controlling for production variances: there is only one baker, ergo the techniques called for in each recipe should be performed consistently. I am controlling for environmental conditions (i.e. the oven) by using an oven thermometer to ensure the oven is at the correct temperature called for by the recipe, and I am using the same oven and cookie sheets for each recipe (which is why I can't start until I move into my new place in September; all my cookie sheets are currently packed away!). I will also be controlling for materials variance, because I will be using the same ingredients across all recipes where called for. E.g. I will use the same brand (and probably bag) of flour in all recipes that call for all-purpose flour.

Once all the data has been collected, it will be entered and analyzed by yours truly. I'm really interested in what kinds of features make a great cookie recipe. Will the recipes with melted butter score higher over the recipes with chilled or warm butter? Will recipes with white AND brown sugars score higher than recipes with either sugar by itself? With the famed NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe be rated the best like everyone claims?

The recipes I will be using have been linked to below. Please feel free to suggest any improvements to my methodology!

Chewy Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies from Joy the Baker

Ad Hoc Chocolate Chip Cookies from Baking Bites

Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies from Baking Bites

New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies posted on My Baking Addiction

Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies is currently my default recipe, also posted on Best Friends for Frosting

Big Chocolate Chip Cookies from My Baking Addiction

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies from 6 Bittersweets

Chocolate Chunk and Vanilla Bean Cookies from Coconut & Lime

Chocolate Chip Cookies from Chocolate & Zucchini

Giant Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies also from Baking Bites

And lastly, Our Favourite Chocolate Chip Cookies from Smitten Kitchen

2010-03-16T07:46:00.003-06:00

I can't believe its been over a year since I've posted! I definitely still bake, and have definitely tried new things in the last year, which I will hopefully try again and then relate here. My resolution from now on: bake one new thing a week. Between my skating team, and the office, I should be able to keep my new pants a perfect fit.

Easy, Breezy Granola Bars

2009-03-07T23:27:00.006-07:00

When I was in school, mom rarely ever bought granola bars. She maintained that they were too expensive, and so instead would sometimes make us homemade granola bars which were, of course WAY better than any storebought granola bar I've ever had. When I moved out to go to school, I didn't get these tasty treats anymore, so I asked mom for the recipe. I was surprised at how simple they were! Really, only two essential ingredients, and everything else is completely customizable. In the past, I've done rasin/peanut (which is what my mom always used), and cherry/cashew. Today, in a stroke of brilliance, I used ready-made trail mix, which is a lot cheaper than buying all of the ingredients seperately. Anyway, onwards!

Easy Granola Bars (turns out its the same as this recipe!)
Ingredients
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease, or line with parchment paper a small cookie sheet (with sides) or jelly roll pan.
In a large bowl, mix everything togther. You can use your hands if you want, but its kind of sticky! I just use a rubber spatula.
Dump mixture into prepared pan and spread it out so its even. Grease the bottom of a pancake flipper and use it to smooth the mixture out, pressing it into the pan quite firmly. You really can't do any damage to it during this step, so press away!
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, depending on how crunchy you want them. Lightly browned just around the edges will give you moist, chewy bars. Easiest way to cut them is to turn them out onto a cutting board (run a knife down any edges not coverd by parchment paper first, or the ends will break), remove parchment paper (if applicable) and then cut into desired pieces. I usually get about 16. I haven't tried using cookie cutters yet, though I bet that would be fun!

The only two ingredients I haven't messed with are the oats and the condensed milk. You can substitute anything else for whatever seeds, nuts, dried fruit or chocolately pieces you'd like, and they should turn out, so you can make them healthier (or less so) to your tastes.

2009-02-25T10:02:00.004-07:00

I was at the grocery store to pick up chicken thighs to make Sticky Lemon Chicken (which by the way was super delicious and so easy even I couldn't screw it up!) when I noticed that roasting chickens were on sale. What a delicious way to celebrate my sister/roommate leaving for four days (she is going to the Canadian Nationals of Synchronized Skating in Oshawa and won't be back until Sunday) leaving my boyfriend and I gloriously alone. It was also a good excuse to have leftovers for the rest of the week, and a chicken carcass to make soup with this weekend! So, I picked up a a chicken, some yukon gold potatoes, green beans, garlic, lemon, etc. and planned out a fabulous dinner, which would've been 10 times more fabulous had I two ovens, or more time (the boyfriend got last minute hockey tickets right behind the visitor's net, row 2!). Or at least one oven that was capable of retaining more than 70% of its heat. Anyway, it was tasty and I'll definitely be reusing all of the recipes I used, listed at the end of the post.

To top off the delightful home-cooked meal I was preparing, I thought, what better than fresh, homemade apple pie! Now, I know my crusts need work, but I have never had someone complain about my pie filling... so I decided to make a galette. Just like pie but half the work? I am SO there! Plus, I had just spent a good 20 minutes drooling over this recipe and accompanying photos at A Finger in Every Pie.

I used her pastry recipe, but substituted the shortening for butter. I also used all-purpose flour instead of pastry flour which I haven't done since my first pie. I'm attributing the attrociousness of this pastry crust to those to alterations, not the recipe itself. I may give it another try next time I make a galette... which, aside from the diasterous crust, was fantastically easy, and totally delicious topped with a scoop of Nesle's Real Dairy Natural Vanilla... though I would've loved to have had homemade ice cream, there was just no time. I had a lot of left over apples, but I also prepared 6 apples instead of 5. I froze the extras to use for apple crisp at a future date.

Pi Day Apple Galette
Pi Crust
1.5 c. flour
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
8 T. unsalted butter
2 T. shortening (I replaced the shortening with more butter... bad idea).
2 T. vodka with 1 T. water and 3 ice cubes. (I didn't understand this bit... am I supposed to let the icecubes melt and then add them also? That's what I did...)

Process flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until cornmealy and there are still some small, pea-sized pieces of butter and shortening. Empty mixture into medium bowl. Sprinkle vodka/water over mixture. With rubber spatula or your hand, use folding motion to mix, pressing dough until it just clumps together. Flatten dough into a 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate at least 45 minutes, up to 2 days.

Pi Apples
5 Granny Smith apples, peeled cored and sliced into 1/8 inch slices
1 t. grated lemon zest
3 T. sugar
1 T Calvados (Research led me to believe you can substitute with brandy if you have some... I didn't so I used Triple Sec, but I bet amaretto would go great)
1 t. cornstarch (I just realised I completely forgot the cornstarch.... Oops! It turned out anyway; the amaretti really do their job well!)
4 T. apricot jam/preserves
6 hard amaretti cookies, crushed into rubble
2 T. butter
Cream
Crystal sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350F. Toss apples with zest, sugar and Calvados. Roll out pie crust into a 15-16" circle on a piece of parchment paper. Slide paper and rolled out crust onto a rimless baking sheet. Spread apricot jam in a circle in the center, leaving a one-and-a-half to two-inch border for folding up over the apples. Sprinkle jam with crushed amaretti. Arrange the apples over amaretti in concentric circles. Add the cornstarch to the liquid left in the apple bowl and sitr until dissolved; drizzle this over the apples until it disappears. Dot the apples with bits of butter and fold up and pleat the crus to make a nice rim around the apples. Brush crust with cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes in the bottom third of the oven. Rotate the tart and bake for another 30 minutes in the top third of the oven, until the pastry is golden brown, the apple juices are bubbling nicely and the apples yield tenderly to a knife point. Cool for a while, and serve while still warm.

Lemon Rosemary Roast Chicken:
I sliced up half lemon and cut 8 garlic cloves in half. I then slid these under the skin in various places. I squeezed the rest of the lemon juice onto the chicken, and shoved the remains into the chicken's cavity with some rosemary and some more garlic. Then I sprinkled the bird with rosemary, salt, and pepper. I let the chicken sit in the fridge (uncovered, despite my sister's misgivings) for an hour so the skin could dry so it would get nice and crispy in the oven. Next time I roast a chicken I'm going to use a larger roaster, and more garlic and rosemary. It was roasted at 350F for the first half, 450F for the second half (because of temperature differences between baking the galette and the potatoes. This is where the second oven would've come in REAL handy).

Tasty Green Beans

2 pounds fresh green beans, rinsed and trimmed
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons beef bouillon
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add green beans and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Melt margarine in a large saucepan over high heat. Mixing well, add green beans, onions and garlic. Stir in soy sauce. While stirring, add bouillon and water. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes (20 minutes was too long for mine - 15 would've been plenty). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

1/8 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (I omitted these as I dislike them and don't have any)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
In a large bowl, combine oil, garlic, basil, marjoram, dill weed, thyme, oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes, and salt. Stir in potatoes until evenly coated. Place potatoes in a single layer on a roasting pan or baking sheet.
Roast for 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.

My potatoes were super crispy: I used a glass pan lined with parchment paper, and I tossed the potatoes with the olive oil 45 minutes before they went into the oven - I have no idea if either of these things contributed, and won't know until I try this recipe again!

Root Beer!

2009-02-20T21:28:00.001-07:00

Alright, alright. I don't normally bake this much, but its reading week so I have some spare time on my hands. On tonights agenda: Root Beer cupcakes.

Now, the idea struck me for root beer cupcakes when I was first reading about cola cupcakes on Bakerella's blog. I didn't think to google them at that point, so came up with my own recipe, which was... okay at best, though not my worst attempt at creating a recipe. I basically took the coca-cola cake recipe and combined it with the guiness cupcake recipe I used earlier this week, replacing the guiness/cola with root beer and root beer schnapps. Like I said, they were okay. I overbaked them slightly, and they have too much baking soda, but with a dollop of vanilla icing, you can't hardly notice. They needed more root beer flavour, however, so I set out via the world wide google and came across a couple of fantastic cupcake blogs with root beer recipes. After settling on one that appeared to be simple, and easy to follow, I set to work. I lacked root beer extract so I replaced it with schnapps. Aside from that, they are quite good. I still wish the root beer flavour was stronger, but that would probably be fixed by using root beer extract, or maybe doubling the amount of schnapps I used, or creating a reduction or something. I'm not that talented yet, however.

After making the frosting (I made the Vanilla Bean ButterCream as suggested) I came to two very stunning realizations:

1. Salted butter is not for icing

2. Do not buy vanilla beans online via e-bay

My sister insists it tastes like ice cream. I can only taste sweetened, vaguely vanilla-flavoured butter. I am going to try researching a way to turn whipped cream into icing, but I want it to be denser than whipped cream. And taste like my boyfriend's homemade vanilla bourbon ice cream. Is that so much to ask, really?

Yes, I am that lucky that my boyfriend is not only sexy and well dressed but he also cooks and makes confections! Not to mention spoiles me R-O-T-T-E-N!

Root Beer Cupcakes (Originally from BitterSweet)

makes 12 cupcakes

1 C rootbeer soda
1 t apple cider vinegar
3/4 C sugar
1/3 C canola oil
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 t rootbeer extract
1 1/3 C flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
Pinch of Salt

Combine the soda and vinegar and let stand for a few minutes.
Add in the sugar and oil, whisking vigorously until slightly frothy.
Integrate your extracts, and gently introduce the flour, along with the baking powder / soda, and salt, being careful not to over mix.
Fill cupcake liners approximately 3/4 of the way to the top.
Bake at 350 F for about 18 - 22 minutes.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting Recipe

1 1/2 C confectioners' sugar (add more until it reaches your preferred consistency)
1/2 C butter (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (add more to taste) (I used vanilla bean seeds right out of the pod)
1 tablespoon milk

Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy. Add vanilla bean paste and milk and continue to beat for another minute. If desired, add more vanilla bean paste to taste, or more confectioners' sugar to make it stiffer.

Chocolate Guiness Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing

2009-02-19T23:53:00.002-07:00

My foray into the baking-blog world all started by my own obsession with wedding dresses. Which then led to wedding cakes. Which then led me to Cake Wrecks, which led me to Bakerella, and then to several other blogs which I now read religiously, most especially when they involve some kind of baked good. All of this has led me to the discovery of several cake/cupcake recipes that I have been dying to try, including this one from Pinch My Salt which is the first one I decided to try. (Up next week Cola Cupcakes, and Red Velvet Cake balls).

I made a couple of changes to it because of availability of ingredients. Namely I didn't want to buy a 6 pack of Guiness (I can't drink much of it) and my local liquor store was out of singles, but had some singles of Road Dog Porter, which is dark and malty and worked quite well, I think, though it definitely lacks the chocolate undertones present in most stouts. I also used Liberte Méditterranée Moka yoghurt in place of plain. It was on sale at Safeway, and how could I possibly go wrong with a mere 8.5%MF? Plus I figured the coffee flavour would support the chocolatey nature of these cupcakes. Asside from those two small alternations, I stayed true to the recipe. Oh, and my eggs were right out of the fridge (not room temperature) and it still worked wonderfully.

As for the flavour... well, the cupcakes were very moist once cooled. The day after they seemed to have dried out a tad and gotten a bit denser, but I have several very good reasons to believe that the container they were in was not in fact air tight. This is definitely not an ordinary chocolate cupcake - they have a complex flavour, and while the stout/porter is noticible, its subtle and not a sharp stick to the tastebuds overpowering everything.Oh, and I only used 3.5 cups of icing sugar instead of 4 for the icing because Edmont

on is so dry this time of year. I actually had to give the icing two tries. The first time I wasn't incorporating enough icing sugar at a time and I over beat it. It turned into this runny mess with the consistency of warm yoghurt... not suitible for cupcakes but I couldn't let all that creamy cheese deliciousness go to waste so it is now sitting in my freezer until such a time as I make cinnamon buns (AKA, next week). I plan to use it like the milk/icing sugar glazes a lot of grocery store cinnamon buns have on them, except when you bite in - Surprise! cream cheesey delight! I can't wait.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes (from Pinch My Salt)

2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup plain, thick yogurt, at room temperature
6 oz. dark stout, at room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with cupcake papers; spray the whole thing, cupcake papers and all, with nonstick spray. Set aside.
3. Melt butter in microwave or on stovetop, then set aside.
3. In a large bowl, preferably with a pouring spout, whisk together eggs and yogurt. Add beer and vanilla whisk until well combined.
4. Sift all the dry ingredients together (cocoa powder, sugar, flour, baking soda, and cinnamon) into a separate bowl.
5. Add about a third of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and using a hand mixer, blend well. Add the rest of the flour mixture, a third at a time, mixing well after each addition. When all ingredients are blended, add the melted butter then continue mixing until very well combined.
6. Pour batter into the twelve cups, filling each only about 3/4 full.
7. Bake on center rack of the preheated 350 degree oven and for approximately 25 minutes.
8. When cupcakes are done (toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake will come out clean), remove the pan to a wire rack. Let cool for ten minutes then remove cupcakes from pan and let them cool completely on wire rack.

Altered Apple of my Pie

2009-02-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Back in October I promised a friend of mine I'd bake her an apple pie. I did, actually, bake her a pie but my sister/roommate decided she'd eat some of it without asking (before it was done cooling no less!) and I haven't had the time since to put it together. Marilee's birthday was last week and so I am baking her a pie as a belated birthday present (And 'cause I said I'd bake her a pie, and I am a woman of my word!) I don't often bake pies. Its not that I don't like them, I just find they take a lot of time and I'm a busy lady. Oh, and fresh fruit is really quite expensive in Alberta, Canada, in the dead of winter, especially for a student budget. Sure, I could cut some corners and use pre-prepared canned pie filling... but what's the point of baking if its not from scratch!
Because I am so busy, I like to do my pies in two or three phases. On Monday, I prepared my pastry. I usually make the pastry first - as long as its tightly wrapped in plastic it comes to no harm sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. This is the pastry recipe I used; its a slightly altered version of this recipe.

Pie Pastry
2 cups flour - I normally use pastry flour, but all purpose works just fine as long as you're gentle.
1/2 tsp table salt
2 tbsp sugar
2/3 cup vegetable shortening (can substitute butter, or mix and match)
100ml water (roughly 7 tbsp)

Sift together flour, salt, and sugar. Using a fork or a pastry cutter (or your fingers, if you're feeling ambitious) blend shortening and flour mixture until it forms fine crumbs and no chunks of shortening remain. Add the water a little at a time, tossing mixture with a fork until the dough starts to form balls about the size of a golfball, or larger - depending on humidity you might not need all of the water. You can also replace some or all of the water with the liquor of your choice. I have used spiced rum and Grand Marnier; both yielded fantastic results. Using alcohol also prevents gluten molecules from aligning, which is what causes pastry to become tough, so using alcohol allows you to be rougher with the dough while still giving a tender crumb.

Split dough in half and form each half into a disc (this makes rolling them out later slightly less work). Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap and store in the fridge until ready to use, for up to 3 days. Dough can be frozen but it will be softer coming out of the freezer than it was going in, so I'd recommend adding a bit of extra flour, or leaving out a tablespoon of water.

Once you're ready to use the dough, I find it easiest to roll it out on lightly floured waxed paper for easy transfer to pie tin. I'm working on learning how to roll the dough around my rolling pin and move it that way, but for now, waxed paper works well. Roll the larger of your two discs until it is several inches larger in diameter than your pie dish. Place in pie dish, and leave the edges hanging over. As you can see below, I didn't do a great job of this. Really, this was a terrible endevour all around.

Yesterday I started the filling by peeling and slicing 3.5lbs of apples and tossing with 1 tbsp of lemon juice. I added 1/4 cup sugar, tossed to coat and transfered apples to a large collander over a bowl to reserve the liquid that results and refridgerate for 2-24 hours. Tossing the apples with sugar causes them to give up some of their water so that when they are baked they have less water to lose and do not decrease as much in volume. To finish the apple filling, I use an altered version of Alton Brown's recipe from his show Good Eats. I've had to alter it because neither Apple Jack (the liquor) nor apple jelly are readily available in Edmonton. I searched no less than 10 different grocery stores, including two specialty stores and the farmers market and apple jelly was no where to be found so I gave up.

Altered Alton Brown Pie Filling
3-4 lbs apples, peeled, cored and sliced. You can use any variety (or combination) you'd like. I like using Granny Smith mixed with something sweeter - Jonagold, Gala, or Ambrosia. This pie has 2.5lbs of Granny smith, and just over 1 lb of Ambrosia.
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar

Toss collapsed apples with the rest of the ingredients:
another 1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbs tapioca starch (AKA tapioca flour. You can also use minit-tapioca but the pearl shape might affect the texture of your filling).2 tbs apple juice + liquid collected from collapsing the apples

Once apples are well coated, layer them in your pie shell starting at the inside and working your

way out, making sure the center is piled higher than the outside. Having a pie bird helps at this point because you can just pile the apples around the bird! And he's so darn cute. Pour any remaining liquid into the shell, and put on the lid. That is, the top pie crust.

Bake at 400F on the lowest rack for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes turn temperature down to 350F and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove pie from oven and let cool for 8 hours. The long cooling period allows the filling to set so you don't get a runny mess.

As you can see, after cooling, my pie is ugly as sin.

Even though I collapse my apples, I just can't get that top crust to look purdy. My boyfriend suggested it might be my lack of a wash for the top crust. Maybe he's right, or maybe I'm just not cut out to make pies. I guess only time/more pies will tell.

Apparently, though ugly, it was extremely delicious, Marilee ate over half of it in one sitting, AND some of the chocolate stout cupcakes I made!

Preface

2009-02-13T17:25:00.001-07:00

I've been baking pretty much my entire life, but it wasn't until last year that I started taking it seriously. Or more seriously, anyway. I bake mostly things that travel easily: muffins, cupcakes, cookies. Brownies don't last long in my house either, especially my Mexican Spice Brownies with creamy chocolate buttercream frosting.

I take a scientific approach to baking, probably be cause science has been ingrained in me from a young age (Dad was a power engineer until he met my mom, mom is a math teacher). This is intended to be my notebook - my scientific log book, if you will - of my baking adventures.