SeeCharlieBake

See Charlie Bake, and occasionally cook

[seecharliebake-blog]

Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting and Flaming Strawberries

It's a birthday!  I made a cake.  It only seems appropriate, right?

I've seen on foodgawker for a while now some outrageous flaming strawberries.  I wanted to make a birthday cake with these strawberries instead of candles.  They were very impressive, although not easy to light. I used a long handled lighter and had to dip it very close--almost into--the alcohol.  I prepped the strawberries at a restaurant, and everyone from the kitchen peered out to watch.  It was pretty impressive.

The cake I made was "eh" but the frosting was delicious and the strawberries are outrageously fun.

Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

6 oz white chocolate chips

8 oz cream cheese (almost to room temp)

2 oz butter (almost to room temp)

2 T creme fraiche

1 1/2 T bourbon

In a double boiler, melt the white chocolate.

In a stand mixer or food processor, whip together the cream cheese, butter, and creme fraiche.  Add the melted white chocolate and the whiskey.

Allow the frosting to cool at room temperature for ~20 minutes.  If you try to frost immediately, the residual heat from the melted chocolate will cause the frosting to run.

Frosting technique: place strips of wax paper on the platter under the cake.  This allows you to get as messy as you want, then you can carefully wiggle out the wax paper strips and keep the platter clean.

This recipe makes just enough frosting for a 9 in round cake.  The frosting is delicious, and you wouldn't be remiss to make a recipe and a half and just heap on the deliciousness.

Flaming Strawberries

1 dozen large, pretty strawberries

1/2 c of alcohol >100 proof (I used Wild Turkey 101, but I imagine Bacardi 151 would be easier to light)

Carefully slice off the stem end of the strawberries and hull out the middle.

Place the pointed end of the strawberry in the top of your cake to stand it up.

Using a squeeze bottle filled with your high proof alcohol, fill the strawberries as full as you can.  You can also carefully spoon in the alcohol, but this method is likely to be messy.

Using a long handled lighter, light the alcohol on fire.  You will achieve a delicate blue flame than may be difficult to see, so turn the lights off while you sing Happy Birthday!

[seecharliebake-blog]

Passover Macaroons with Macadamia Nuts

These are not your standard Passover macaroons.  For starters, those store bought macaroons are white.  These use the whole egg, not just whites, so they end up quite yellow (especially when I use my hens' eggs).  They are also more tender and chewy, less tough, less dry.  Your standard macaroons are only coconut flavored, but I like to walk on the wild side and I added macadamia nuts.

This is a really simple, forgiving recipe.  Add different flavors, skip the macadamia nuts, add chocolate chips, or dip in melted chocolate.

Macaroons

2 cup shredded coconut

2 eggs

1/2 c sweetened condensed milk

1 t vanilla extract

2 pinches salt

1/2 c macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

In a 350 degree F oven, pre-toast the shredded coconut.  My coconut took ~10 minutes to show some color, but I lost patience and kept opening the oven door.  Keep an eye on the toasting coconut!  Do not leave the kitchen! The coconut can burn in the blink of an eye.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, and salt.  Add the macadamia nuts.  Add the toasted coconut and mix to form a dough.  

Using a 2 T scoop, measure out macaroon dough onto the cookie sheet.  You don't need to leave much room between the cookies, they shouldn't spread much.  The coconut is not absorptive, so you might need to continue to mix as you form balls.  After you've formed balls, use the back of a spoon to squish them down a bit.  Macaroons are often large mounds, but these will be a more disk-like cookie.

Bake for ~18 minutes, until the cookies take on a firmer texture and a deeper brown on top and on the edges.  Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Matzo-sagna

This is a recipe I got from a friend's mom.  Admittedly, her mom's was wayyyyy better.  Apparently, where the recipe calls for sour cream, she actually uses cream cheese.  THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO PASS ON, FRIEND.  I guess it just got passed-over.  (Did you see what I did there?)  My mediocre version was still awesome.  Like, not just passover awesome, but awesome.

We had a discussion as to what to call this.  It's a matzo and cheese layered casserole.  Is it like matzoh 'n cheese?  Or is it more like lasanga?  It's great with tomato sauce poured on top, so we took the italian route.  Feel free to use different cheeses and layer with vegetables.  Definitely a recipe to revisit next passover.

From L-R, Muenster, Cheddar, Butter.  I grated the butter so that it would be easy to sprinkle into layers.

Serving suggestion: top with tomato sauce, serve with steamed asparagus.

Matzo-sagna

3 eggs

6 whole matzot, broken into pieces

1 cup milk

1/2 t salt

1/4 t ground pepper

8 oz cheese (I used 6 oz white cheddar, 2 oz muenster)

1 pt sour cream (or probably 8oz cream cheese)

4 T (2 oz) butter

Beat 2 of the eggs in a large bowl.  Add the matzoh pieces and toss to coat as much of the matzoh as possible.

In another bowl, combine the remaining egg (beaten), milk, salt, and pepper.

Grate your cheeses, butter two.

Layering time!  In a 9x9 greased pan, add half the eggy matzoh.  Top with half the cheese, half the butter, and half the sour cream.  Cover with the remaning matzoh, then finish off the sour cream and butter.  Pour the milk mixture over it all.  Top with the remaining half of the cheese.

Cover tightly with foil and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes.  Uncover and continue to bake to allow the top cheese to brown (~10-15 minutes)

Allow the cheesy goodness to settle for a few minutes out of the oven before slicing into squares and serving.  Top with tomato sauce for an extra yummy experience!

[seecharliebake-blog]

Passover Kugel

Just in time for passover to be over, I've got some kosher for passover recipes to post.  Creative ways to get around the misery of a week of unleavened bread.

Kugel is basically a traditional jewish twist on bread pudding.  There are savory versions of kugel, but I'm most familiar with the sweet version with raisins and cinnamon.  When it's not passover, some people do creative things to get a crunchy topping (like cornflakes) but we're just going to sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar.

This kugel recipe uses uncooked potato noodles.  This was my first kugel, and I was surprised that the noodles weren't pre-boiled.  Some recipes do prepare the noodles before turning into a delicious, delicious casserole, but this way we 1) eliminate a step and 2) make it extra rich because the noodles soak up milk and eggs instead of water.

One last awesome thing about kugel: it's sweet like dessert, but it's usually served as a side dish with the meal.  Dessert early, yes please!

We've been feeding the chickens beet tops lately, and it has made their yolks a gorgeously vibrant yellow.

Potato Noodle Kugel

6 eggs

2 c milk (I used 1%, but I dare you to use whole)

2 c unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 t salt

1/2 c raisins

1-12oz package of kosher for passover noodles

4 T sugar

1 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter or oil a 9x13 baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, applesauce, vanilla, brown sugar, and salt.  Add raisins and noodles, mix.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.  Even out the mixture a bit as to not have a solid clump of noodles.  Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil.  Bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove from the oven.  Mix up the casserole, carefully scraping from the bottom.  At this point, you'll look like you've got half scrambled eggs (with extras for funsies!).

Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small ramekin and sprinkle over the top of your kugel.  Cover again with foil and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.

Kugel will be done when it is firm to the touch (we are NOT aiming for a cheesecake jiggle) and the sides pull away from the pan.

Allow to cool a bit before serving.  Whenever I've had kugel, it's been almost room temp.  But that might be because I'm used to having it in a potluck buffet when everything is close to room temperature.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Roast Chicken

Once we were slaves in Egypt, now we are free.  Let's eat!

That was the gist of our "seder" tonight.  We couldn't really get it together for the real deal.  We said the prayer over the matzoh and had a kosher meal.  Does swiss chard count as a bitter green?  Maybe we had that covered, too...

A roasted chicken starred in tonight's dinner.  There might have been an intention to do a brisket, but we couldn't really get it together (see above) to start it the day before, so chicken it is!  It also used up some of our still colossal supply of lemons.

Roast Chicken

1/2 t ground black pepper

2 lemons, sliced

1 handful of fresh thyme sprigs (6 or so?)

leaves of 2 sprigs of sage

1 whole roasting chicken (brined is nice, no need for giblets)

Prepare your black pepper in a small bowl, citrus, and herbs before you start handling the chicken so you don't have to stop and wash your hands 9,000 times.

Rinse your chicken in the sink and pat dry with paper towels.  Remove any giblets if necessary.

Separate the skin from the breast, back, and thighs of the bird.  This can easily be done by slowly pressing your hand under the skin.  Be careful to not be too forceful as to rupture the skin.

Once the skin is separated, rub the ground black pepper on top of the meat under the skin.  Also tuck in some lemon slices and herbs.  Do this both for the breast and the back.  This technique of separating the skin from the meat with aromatics will make the meat delicious, but will likely burn the top skin over the breast.  I don't mind this because I'm not a fan of skin.  If skin is important to you, this might not be the way to go.  I find, however, that it makes the meat so juicy that there is zero need for gravy (hence no recipe attached!).

With your left over citrus and herbs, tuck them into the cavity of the bird.

At this point, you can tie up the legs with twine.  I didn't have any, so I didn't.  It also doesn't matter to much if we lose a lemon slice or two (but I didn't!).

Place the chicken breast side up on a roasting rack.  Roast in a 450 degree F oven.  Be sure to have lowered the racks enough to have sufficient space between the chicken and the roof of your oven.

Roast the chicken for about 20 minutes per pound.  My chicken was 4.33lbs and was done in about 1 hr 25 (pretty spot on for 20min/lb, huh?).  Baste with juices periodically.  I have found that they don't seem to release sufficient juices for basting until ~40 minutes in (half way through).  I basted ~3 times between that 40 minute mark and the end.  Basting is most important for the white meat, but get the legs, too.

The chicken will be done when a thermometer, when inserted into the thigh, reads 190 degrees F.  Be careful to not touch the thermometer with bone because the hollow bones will read an inappropriately high temperature.

Allow the meat to rest at least 10 minutes before carving.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Lemon Meringue Pie

I still had some of the leftover lemons that I tried to use up in the lemon bars when a friend gave use lemons from her tree.  MORE LEMONS.  I'm lemon barred out, so instead, I thought I'd chip away at our pile of lemons with a lemon meringue pie.  It's getting warmer and the chickens are laying more, so we also have plenty of eggs to spare.

Lemon meringue pies usually use a standard pie crust, but for funsies, I thought I'd try a shortbread crust, just like that from the lemon bars.  This time, it's a half recipe.

Lemon Meringue Pie

For the Crust:

1/2 c butter (1 stick)

1 1/2 c flour

1/4 c powdered sugar

Melt the butter in a 350 degree F oven in a pie pan.  Add the flour and powdered sugar, pat down into the pie crust, return to the oven for 20 minutes or until the crust starts to turn golden brown at the edges.  Because the pie is only going in again for the meringue, you can bake it a bit darker now if you like.

For the Filling:

1 1/2 c sugar

1/3 c + 1T cornstarch

1 1/2 c water

3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

3 T butter

1/2 c lemon juice

2 t lemon zest

In a double boiler, mix the sugar and cornstarch.  Gradually add the water over heat, and stir constantly for 8-12 minutes, until it thickens.  Add about half of the mixture to the yolks while stirring.  Add BACK to the mixture on the stove and heat for about 1 minute.  Remove from heat again and add butter, stir to melt.  Add juice and zest and mix.  Pour over baked crust.

Meringue topping:

3 egg whites

1/4 t cream of tartar

6 T sugar

1 T vanilla extract

Whip the whites and tartar until foamy.  Add the sugar 1 T at a time until it forms shiny, stiff peaks.  Add vanilla extra at the end.

Top the pie with meringue.  Bake in a 400 degree F oven for ~8 minutes, enough for it to get some color.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Fondant Filled Chocolate Eggs

I love Cadbury eggs.  Oddly, my boss uses them as punishment at work.  I never try to get in trouble, but when Cadbury eggs are "punishment" I might not try my best to behave.  They are better punishment for the foreigners at work who are not used to american candy, and my boss is right that after one Cadbury egg, you are so full of sugar you don't want to eat anything sweet ever again.

I saw posted on boingboing.net a recipe to make my own cadbury eggs.  There are two techniques posted here, one where the fondant is hand formed, and one where it is poured into egg shaped molds.  Although I was somewhat successful with the handshaped eggs, it was a big mess.  Perhaps someone who is more patient would have made more and prettier eggs than I, but I used about half of the fondant to make 10 eggs and gave up.  I definitely recommend pouring into the molds.  Furthermore, the eggs are more delicious with a runnier fondant, and this is easier to do with pouring, whereas handforming them requires a more play-dough like consistency.

I ultimately used WAYYY more than 3 drops of food coloring.  More like 13.

Fondant Filled Chocolate Eggs

6 T butter, brought to room temp

1/2 c light corn syrup

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

3 drops orange blossom water (optional)

2 1/2 c powdered sugar

yellow food coloring

12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips

In a stand mixer, whip butter.  Add corn syrup, salt, vanilla, and orange blossom water and mix.  Reduce speed and add powdered sugar.  Mix thoroughly.  Remove about 1/3 of the fondant to a smaller bowl.  Add yellow food coloring, a little at a time, to make the yolks of the eggs.

Place both fondants in the freezer for about an hour to firm up.

Take about 1/2 t of the yellow fondant and form balls.  Place on a cookie sheet and pop back into the freezer to firm up.

Make a patty of about 1 T of the white fondant.  Place a yolk in the middle, roll of to form a ball, then elongate it to form an egg shape.  Make as many as you can, returning the fondant back to the freezer if it becomes to warm to work with.  Pop whole eggs back in the freezer to firm up.

Melt chocolate chips.  Stick toothpicks into the bottom of the frozen fondant eggs.  Holding the eggs by the toothpicks, dip into melted chocolate.  While the chocolate hardens, stick the toothpicks upright in an apple so you can keep dipping other eggs.

Once the chocolate sets, you can remove the toothpicks with a careful twisting motion.  If you like, you can use a little more melted chocolate to fill in where the toothpick was removed.

Enjoy your eggs with a glass of water or milk and a shot of insulin.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Pomegranate Grilled Chicken and Israeli-ish Salad

I've had Israel on my mind lately, so I felt like cooking a Middle Eastern inspired dinner.  This dinner was super easy and not very precise.  Add a bit of this, a bit of that.  Yofi Tofi!  Yalla balagan!

Pomegranate as been so hot lately.  I'm usually one to vehemently fight food fads, but pomegranate chicken is just delicious.  I use pomegranate syrup (aka pomegranate molasses), which I bought at my local middle eastern grocer.  You can also make your own (http://theshiksa.com/2011/09/07/pomegranate-molasses/), but http://media.tumblr.com/83966b4fc9d4fbea745cb71b1985a074/tumblr_inline_mj2346kIVu1ryeraf.gif  You can also garnish with some extra pomegranate seeds.

My marinade trick: Make the marinade in a Ziploc bag.  Mix it by zipping and tossing in the bag.  Add the chicken and marinate in the bag.  Easy.  Cleanup is even easier!

For the salad, I used white balsamic vinegar.  Admittedly, white balsamic doesn't have the same great, super syrup-y flavor of traditional black balsamic vinegar, but I didn't want to dye my pretty veggies black.  It's not important that you use white balsamic if you don't want to.

Pomegranate Chicken

1 lb chicken breast (2 breasts)

1/4 c pomegranate syrup

juice of half a lemon

1/4 t ground cumin

1/8 t cayenne

dash of ground cloves

dash of cinnamon

1 T olive oil

Mix all ingredients together except for chicken to make a marinade.  Add the chicken and toss to coat.  Let marinate in the refrigerator for no more than 1 hour.

Grill on the barbecue until cooked, ~10 minutes on one side and ~8 minutes on the other.  Let sit for about 5 minutes before cutting as to not lose the meat juices.

Israeli-ish Salad

1 bulb fennel

1 cucumber

3 tomatoes

handful of fresh parsley

1/4 c white balsamic vinegar

juice of half a lemon

2 T olive oil

black pepper to taste

1/4 c chopped/crumbled feta (or more. Or optional. Whatevs.)

Slice the fennel as finely as possible.  Add sliced cucumber and chopped tomatoes.  Top with chopped parsley.  Toss with vinegar, lemon juice, olie oil, and black pepper.  Top with feta.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Irish Soda Bread

For St. Paddy's day, I made Irish soda bread.  I considered making little green shamrock cookies, but soda bread is infinitely easier, more delicious, and most importantly, more Irish.

The Irish are known for soda bread, not yeast bread.  It's like a giant, savory scone.  It's super quick and super easier.  Like most bread, it's best eaten right away.  Like some breads, it does not last long.  It's pretty stale by day 2.  However, if you bake with currants or raisins, they preserve the moisture a bit and prevent the bread from turning stale so rapidly.

Irish soda bread traditionally has currants and/or caraway seeds.  I couldn't easily find currants so I used raisins.  A member of the household here (the one who I usually complain about for picky eating habits) does not like caraway, so I substituted fennel seeds for a little flavorful fun.  I thought it turned out great!  I've even seen recipes suggest flavoring with dill.

Irish Soda bread is really easy to make and very versatile.  Change the flavor, add some sweet.  Fatten it up a bit with some butter.  My only problem was that I flattened it out and baked in a pan too large (9in round) because I expected it to raise more than it did.  I would recommend baking in an 8in pan or larger because I prefer a fatter, more semi spherical soda bread.

Irish Soda Bread

3 c flour (whole wheat is more traditional)

2 T sugar

1 t salt

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1 c raisins

1 t fennel seed

1 1/3 c buttermilk

Mix all the ingredients but the buttermilk together in a medium bowl.  Add the buttermilk and mix to form a ball of dough.  Turn dough out onto a work surface and knead a few times over.  Place in a well greased (or parchment paper lined) pan and score the top of the loaf with an X.

Bake at 375 degrees F for ~40 minutes until golden on top and at the edges and is firm when you tap it.

Serve with dinner as a savory bread, with cheese for a snack, or top with jam for a sweet dessert!

[seecharliebake-blog]

Lemon Bars

I had some lemons I didn't know what to do with.  Well, I did know what to do with them.  I made cocktails.  But then I still had too many lemons.  When life gives me lemons, I make lemon bars.

I've always loved lemon bars, especially when the curd layer is extra thick and extra tart.  That's what these guys are like.  The recipe is from my mother's godmother, who wasn't particularly known for her cooking.  However, her lemon bars are great.

Lemon Bars

1 cup butter

3 c flour

1/2 c powdered sugar

1/2 c + 1 T lemon juice (~ juice of 3 lemons)

2 T lemon zest (~ zest of 2 lemons)

3 c sugar

6 T flour

6 eggs

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

In a 10inx14in pan (you can also use a 9x13, but the bars will be thicker) melt the butter in a 350 degree oven.  Add the flour and powdered sugar, mixed, and pat down to form the shortbread layer.  Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the shortbread turns slightly golden at the edges.

In a medium bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients together thoroughly.  Pour gently and evenly over the baked shortbread layer.  Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the curd layer sets (it should barely jiggle when you shake the pan).

Allow to cool entirely before cutting up and serving.  Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Chicken Shepherd's Pie

For Pi Day (March 14th/3.14) I made two pies, a shepherd's pie and an apple pie.  The apple pie was unfortunately not photo-worthy, but will be redone and posted in due time.

The Shepherd's pie is a delicious combination of a chicken pot pie and classic shepherd's pie.  It's full of veggies and topped with buttermilk mashed veggies before baking.

I used sprigs of garden fresh thyme for this recipe.  I forgot to remove the sprigs after cooking on the stove and before baking.  This is no big deal, I just had to warn my dinners to keep an eye out for them.  You can pluck the leaves from the sprigs (what a pain), remove the sprigs after some cooking so the flavor and the leaves are mostly in the pie filling, or you can just leave 'em in for a more rustic feel.

Chicken Shepherd's Pie

1 lb boiling potatoes

1/4 c buttermilk

5 slices applewood-smoked bacon

1 medium onion, chopped

12 oz baby carrots, halved

8 oz haricot verts, trimmed and halved (or cut into thirds if very long)

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 3/4 c low sodium chicken broth (because we use bacon, regular broth is really too salty)

2/3 c creme fraiche

2 previously cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite sized peices (~ 3 cups, dark meat is ok, too)

Place potatoes in a pot of room temp water, bring to a boil and boil ~20 minutes until for tender.  Drain potatoes.  Mash with buttermilk.  Some lumps are ok.

Cook bacon in a large pot.  Remove bacon, allow to cool, and cut it up into bits.

In the bacon grease, cook onion until transparent and starting to golden.  Add carrots, haricots verts and thyme and cook for about 1 minute before adding broth.  Bring to a boil and cook until the veggies are almost tender (but still a bit al dente---they will continue to cook) and the liquid reduced.  Add creme fraiche, chicken, and bacon.  Return to a simmer.

Place shepherd's pie filling into a casserole dish (or individual ramekins if you fancy mini pies) and top with mashed potatoes.

Bake in a 450 degree F oven for about 20-25 minutes until the potatoes on top make a bit of a golden crust.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Fig and Bacon Scones

Foodgawker is my porn.  I love it.  It is wrong in all the right places.  Like this little gem: http://www.cookingforkeeps.com/2013/02/20/fig-and-bacon-scones/  Fig and bacon scones.  I had to make them.  And it was awesome.

Just one note: The dough was really dry.  I was afraid that it wouldn't hold up well, but it was delicious.  They might be prettier with another tablespoon or two of buttermilk, but this recipe works.

And another one: In my infinite love for Trader Joe's, I buy their bacon ends and pieces.  They do not come in pretty little strips of bacon, but the flavor is definitely there.  Whereas CookingForKeeps recommends using 5 strips of bacon, I used 3.5 oz of ends and pieces.  Once they were fried and chopped, they were completely indistinguishable from their fancier brethren.  Yummmmm.

Fig and Bacon Scones

6 T unsalted butter

2 1/2 c flour

1/4 c sugar

1 T baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

3.5 oz bacon, cooked and chopped

3/4 c dried mission figs, chopped

3/4 c cream (+ another T or so to brush tops of scones)

1/4 c buttermilk

Grate the butter on a cheese grater.  What?  Yeah. It's a great technique.  Do it.  Then pop it in the freezer while you get the dry ingredients together.

That's not cheese. That's butter.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk in the figs and bacon.

Switch to a wooden spoon (otherwise you'll have a big ol' mess in the whisk) and add the grated butter.

Add cream and buttermilk and mix to combine.

Dump dough out on a workspace.  Roll or pat out to a rectangle (8x14 maybe?  I wasn't measuring)

Cut dough into a dozen pieces.  I chose triangles, but you could do rectangles.  Or get really fancy and cookie cutter some circles.  Brush tops with cream.

Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until golden on top and firm when tapped.

Eat only when heavy exercise is planned for the day.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Banana Bread

Sometimes I just don't go through bananas as quickly as I thought I would.  And those once lovely yellow fruits with a few brown speckles are overcome with brown and I do not want to eat them anymore.  But they aren't lost!  These overly brown bananas are still great for baking.  Especially banana bread.

Banana Bread

1 1/2 c + 2 T flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

2 eggs

2/3 c sugar

1/4 c butter, melted

1/4 c apple sauce

1 1/2 c banana (about 3 large), coarsely mashed with a fork

2 T nonfat yogurt

1 t vanilla

optional 2/3 c toasted walnuts or pecans (I don't do this.  Nothing against nuts, but I am not a fan of them in my banana bread.)

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

In a stand mixer, beat together the eggs and sugar until they form thick, pale yellow ribbons.

Add butter and apple sauce to the egg mixture, continue to mix.

Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla.

Reduce speed to the lowest setting and carefully add the flour mixture.  Mix just to incorporate, do not overmix.  If you're not cool and you like nuts in your banana bread, add them with the flour.

Pour batter into a well buttered loaf pan.  

Bake at 350 degrees F (or in glass 325 degrees F) for about 1 hr 15min, until golden on top and a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the middle.

Allow to cool on a rack for about 15 minutes before serving.  Goes great with peanut butter or cream cheese.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Raspberry Sweet Rolls

My boss loves to cook and bake, but she is deathly afraid of yeasted bread recipes.  If she sees a yeast recipe she would like to eat, but cry at the thought of baking, she asks me to make it.  And I can't say no to her.  Not that I'd want to.

She asked me weeks ago for raspberry sweet rolls, and I've totally dropped the ball.  Until now!  I brought them to work this morning and they were loved.  Enjoy with a cup of coffee.

Raspberry Sweet Rolls

My challah recipe, minus the cranberries and egg wash (http://seecharliebake.tumblr.com/post/35946871019/cranberry-challah)

10 oz frozen raspberries

1/4 c + 2T granulated sugar

1 t cornstarch 

Prepare the challah recipe through the first rise (1 hour).

In a medium sized bowl, toss together the raspberries, sugar, and cornstarch.  Fresh raspberries can be used, but the frozen raspberries can be broken into workable raspberry pebbles.

On a clean work surface, roll out the dough to 10x24.  Use flour if too sticky to be workable, but try to limit excess flour.

Evenly distribute the raspberry mixture on the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch along a long border.  This bare strip will be used to seal the dough.

Roll up the dough into a tight, 24 inch long log.

Cut the log into roughly 16 even pieces.

Place in a well buttered 9inx13in baking pan.  Allow to rise for 2 hours in a warm place.  This is a particularly long rise because the frozen raspberries slow the action of the yeast.

I got impatient to bake because I had to get to work.  This is the bare minimum of a rise.  Wait the full 2+hrs to let them puff up.

After the second rise, bake at 400 degrees F (or 375 degrees F if baking in a glass dish like I did) for 30-40 minutes.  It will brown a bit on top, and should be firm when tapped.

Allow to cool for at least half an hour before serving.  Do not serve right away.  The raspberries have released a syrup that is dangerously hot.  It also tastes better when the syrup settles and reabsorbs into the rolls.

Top with cream cheese icing.

(Cream cheese icing: whip together 4 oz cream cheese, 2 T butter, and 1 scant cup powdered sugar until homogenous.)

[seecharliebake-blog]

Penne with Vodka Sauce

Wednesdays are Pasta Wednesdays at home because the Paleo eater is out for the evening.  This last week I wanted to make a red sauce, my boss suggested a cream sauce, but I split the baby and made a pink sauce.

Why is vodka in pasta sauce?  Honestly, I don't know why.  It's supposed to be a relatively flavorless alcohol, and it cooks enough to the alcohol to boil off.  But, the original recipe this is based from calls for it, and I didn't omit it.  Give it a shot.  It probably won't change much.  Or, in the Italian and Russian spirits, drink it on the side.

Pasta with Vodka Sauce

3/4 lb penne (I used whole wheat, but not necessary)

1- 28 oz can of San Marzano Tomatoes (again, if you can use fresh, do, but this is February...)

1 T olive oil

1/2 a white onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced/ lazily minced

1 T tomato paste

1/2 t red pepper flakes

1/2 t salt

1/3 c vodka

1/2 c heavy cream

leaves from a 2 sprigs of fresh basil, chiffonaded

Start boiling water for your pasta according to its directions.

Roughly mush up your tomatoes as to not have any whole tomatoes.  You can cut them if you like, I use my hands.

Heat olive oil in a large fry pan.  Add onions, cook until translucent.  

Add garlic, tomato paste, and red pepper flakes.  Cook until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the tomatoes and salt, cook to heat through.

Remove sauce from heat.  Add vodka.  Mix.  Return to heat.  (Removing from heat is to avoid flambéing.  Hasn't happened to me yet, but I guess it's a possibility).  Cook for 8-10 minutes for the sauce to reduce.  This is a good time to start your pasta in water.

After sauce has reduced, add cream slowly and mix thoroughly.  Be careful to not jump the gun when adding the cream.  If you add it before a sufficient amount of vodka has boiled of, the cream might curdle in your sauce.

Cook for another 2-3 minutes, enough to heat up the cream a bit.  Toss the cooked, drained pasta in sauce.  Serve, and top with basil.  Great with a glass of wine.  Or vodka.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Alfajores

My first alfajore was from San Francisco's Citizen Cake.  They were a favorite of the restaurant's staff, and for good reason.  They were crumbly, flaky, creamy, gooey, amazing.  They made a HUGE mess when you ate them, though.  They should have been served with bibs.  Sadly, Citizen Cake has closed its doors.  So I am forced to try and make my own alfajores.

Alfajores are a South American (Peruvian? Argentinian? Bolivian?--I've seen them attributed to all) sandwich cookie.  It's two flaky shortbread like cookies with dulce de leche in between.  The cookies are usually coated in powdered sugar, but sometimes they are rolled in coconut, too.  I'm opting for the simpler, no coconut recipe here.

For the dulce de leche: Sweetened condensed milk manufacturers DO NOT recommend boiling the whole can in water.  This can make the can act like a mini pressure cooker and possibly explode.  This has not been a problem for me, but it is something that looms in the back of my mind whenever I boil a whole can to make dulce de leche.  Take care and caution when you do so.  Also, I do not use the sweetened condensed milk that comes in the pop-tab cans.  I'm afraid that the easy-to-open edge might be more likely to blow under heat and pressure.

For the shortbread:  If you have a great aversion to cornstarch, you can do all flour instead.  Just do 2 1/4 c flour instead of 1 1/4 c flour + 1 c cornstarch.  I like using cornstarch sometimes in shortbread cookies because it gives them a lighter, crumblier, flakier texture.

Alfajores

1 10oz can of sweetened condensed milk

1 c cornstarch

1 ¼ c all purpose flour

1 t baking powder

½ t salt

½ c (1 stick) butter

¼  c white sugar

½ c powdered sugar

1 t vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

more powdered sugar for dusting

For the dulce de leche:

Place whole, unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot.  Cover the can with room temperature water, covering the top of the can with at least 1 inch of water.  Cover pot, place heat on low to bring to a low simmer.  Once simmering, continue to cook for 2 1/2 hours.  Keep an eye on the pot.  It will make some noises as the can of milk hops around occasionally, but it shouldn't reach a rollicking boil.  If the water level falls, add more water to keep the can covered.

After 2 1/2 hrs, carefully remove can from pot using tongs, and allow can to cool completely to room temperature before opening.

For the cookies:

Sift together cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugars, and vanilla.  Add egg yolks and mix to combine.

Add flour mixture and gently combine.  Tip out dough onto a work surface.  I used a roul'pat, but parchment paper would work well, too.  DO NOT flour the work surface.

Roll out dough to no thicker than 1/4 in.  Use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds, and place on a baking sheet.  My cookie cutter was a little bigger than a silver dollar.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees F for about 15 minutes.  You do not want the cookies to brown much, but stay pale.  They will lose their cookie dough gloss, and may crack a little on top.  This is when they are perfect.

Cool cookies on a rack completely before making the sandwich cookies.

To assemble, sandwich a ~2t dollop of dolce de leche between two cookies.  Dust both sides generously with powdered sugar.

YUM!  Goes great with a cup of coffee or tea.

[seecharliebake-blog]

Applesauce

Making your own applesauce is so easy, it's almost embarrassing that I'm sharing it as a recipe.  But seriously, do it.  Make your own applesauce.  It's delicious.

I've made applesauce with granny smiths and fujis.  Fujis are great eating apples so I'd suggest only saucing them if you've got them coming out of your ears.  The classic applesauce apple is Gravenstein, but I almost never find them available.  Many apples would work well for saucing, but try to use a tarter, zingier apple.  As apples cook, their flavors sweeten and mellow, so starting with a mild apple is likely to give you paste reminiscent of apples instead of applesauce.

I also add cinnamon to my applesauce.  It's not enough to make the applesauce truly apple-cinnamon flavored, but rather just enough to make a more well rounded applesauce.

Applesauce

6 large apples

1/4c liquid (water will do, but apple juice is better and apple juice concentrate is best)

2 dashes of ground cinnamon (optional)

Peel, core, and slice your apples.  I use an Applemaster because it's wicked fun, but a paring knife works just fine.  You don't have to be perfect with the peeling and slicing.  I find some skin and bigger chunks give the applesauce character.

Pile up your apple slices into a sauce pan with the liquid in the bottom.  Made sure there is enough room to cover with a lid.  Add cinnamon, cover, and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, every 3-5 minutes.  In the beginning, it will be difficult to stir: mostly apple chunks and a bit of sauce on the bottom.  As it continues to cook, you can stir it more homogeneously.  As the apples cook down, they release a lot of liquid.  It might appear in the beginning that all of the liquid has evaporated away, but don't fret.  It's just getting started.

The apple sauce cooks down a lot.  When it's ready, there will be mostly sauce with some chunks, but as long as the chunks are fork tender, it's good to go.  I like my applesauce chunky, but if you prefer yours smoother, take a potato masher to it.