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Rosemary Lavender Salted Caramel Corn

September 20, 2012 in Desserts, Recipes, Snacks

Homemade caramel corn is something I didn’t have until a year ago.  (Is that weird?)  I was planning a Halloween dinner party and wanted to have something that would evoke the little kid in all of us post-college wanderers, and caramel popcorn came to mind.  In general, I had always indulged in store-bought or gifted tins of caramel corn, but had never embarked on creating the cheap and easy snack on my own.  In a collection of my husband’s recipe cards his mother lovingly put together to help her son feed himself and survive college lay a simple recipe for caramel popcorn.  I wanted to jazz it up and do something somewhat fancy, but not really fancy.  Faux-fancy.  Brainstorming flavor options, I realized I had a packet of lavender I had bought from work.

Ah-HA!

Lavender Caramel Corn!

But, oh, wait… I’m not a huge fan of lavender on its own… what else do I put in there?

Rosemary!  I enjoy the scent of rosemary and lavender scented bath products, so why wouldn’t it work as a flavor? Thus, rosemary lavender salted caramel corn was born.

I didn’t really want awkward chewy bits of lavender and rosemary ruining the crispness of the popcorn and thin caramel layer, so I infused the herbs in the butter called for in the recipe.  To keep with the salted caramel trend, I sprinkled coarse ground sea salt over the cooling mess.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out! (Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What’s it all about? see Beastie Boys.)

Rosemary Lavender Salted Caramel Popcorn

You need:

  • 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
  • 1/2 tbsp dried lavender
  • 1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter (I used unsalted european style, which has a higher fat content than regular run-of-the-mill butter.)
  • 3 qt plain popped corn
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup corn syrup (don’t be confused with high fructose corn syrup.)
  • a few pinches of coarse salt. (I used sea, but you can try with with flakey kosher salt.)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

First, take the butter, the rosemary, and the lavender and put them in the saucepan you will use to make the caramel.  Heat on low-medium until the butter is completely melted then dial it back to the lowest setting to keep the butter melted and allow this to steep for 10-15 minutes.  Then turn the burner off and allow to steep for 10 more minutes or as long as you wish until the butter tastes as infused as you want it to be.  If you haven’t already, pop your corn while you are letting this infuse.

Preheat your oven to 250°F.

Strain the butter.  Be sure to remove each bit of the herbs.  Return the butter to the sauce pan and add in the sugar and corn syrup. Stir. Bring to a boil on medium heat stirring as it begins to bubble.  Once it is boiling, STOP STIRRING and let it boil for 4 minutes.  If you go one minute over, it may or may not be detrimental to the finished product, so be sure to watch it and keep track.

When the time is up, stir in the baking soda and vanilla.

Spread the popcorn out in either cookie sheets or large 13×9 in pans.  I used two 13×9 in pans to avoid being incredible messy… which is a tendency I have in the kitchen.  Pour the caramel evenly over all of the popcorn and toss to coat.  Put the sheets in the oven for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes to re-coat and allow it to dry more evenly.  After 30 minutes, take a few pinches of coarse sea salt and sprinkle over the acres of caramel coated corn.

DO eat some when it’s right out of the oven at the end of the process. It is SO GOOD!

Happy cooking!

 

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Homemade Toaster Pastries, or Those Tarts that Pop

September 4, 2012 in Desserts, Pastries

I have fond memories of going to the vending machine during 3rd period study hall and spending $1 for my ritual of strawberry Pop Tarts.  I rarely ate breakfast at home because it was way too early for my stomach to take anything more solid than a glass of milk.  If I had breakfast too early, I would end up feeling nauseous for the first few hours of the day.  I didn’t quite like feeling nauseous at school, so I opted out of breakfast at home and had something later in the morning.  My breakfast of choice?  Those lovely “pastries,” not really in need of toasting, filled with fruit and high fructose corn syrup and iced with some mixture of high fructose corn syrup and colored sugar sprinkles.  Every now and then I’ll crave one not for satiating hunger alone, but a bit of nostalgia to boot.  It’s the same type of craving I get for McDonald’s cheeseburgers.

These are ridiculously easy to put together.  The simplest form is to take your favorite pie crust, roll it out, cut out rectangles and fill with your favorite jam.  I was going to do just that, but I wanted a crust that may be a little stronger than the typical butter/flour/sugar/salt/water combination.  I looked to the King Arthur Flour site (as I have been more-so lately) and found a recipe for their “Toaster Tarts.”  The dough has the addition of milk and egg, which I think makes the pastry tastier and richer (if that’s possible with all of that buttah).

Homemade Toaster Pastries (with a crust from King Arthur Flour)

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, cut up (omit salt if you are using salted butter)
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp of milk
  • fruit preserves or jam (I had a surplus of strawberries and made my own.  Some time later in the fall I’ll do a post on quick fruit preserves.)

First, mix your dry, powdery ingredients.

Next, cut up your cold butter into small chunks and add it to your dry mixture, cutting/mixing with a pastry blender/two knives/a spatula/your hands until it looks like unsifted gravel or sand.

In a separate bowl, mix together the egg and milk, then add to the mixture, stirring until just combined.

Divide the dough into two discs and wrap in plastic wrap.  Put these in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  Well, really, it depends on how warm your kitchen is.  Mine is very warm, somewhere around 80 degrees (Fahrenheit) during the day, sometimes warmer.  I had to keep putting the dough in the fridge after working with it for about 5 minutes so I wouldn’t go insane.

When the dough is cool and stiff enough to work with, roll it out to about 1/8 in thickness.

Cut into rectangles.  Make them however small or large you want, just make sure you cut an even number of rectangles so the bottoms have tops.

Fill! I wouldn’t do more than a tablespoon.

Top with a similarly sized rectangle and seal the edges with a fork and prick holes on the top. This ensures the steam can escape while they bake. Put these in the fridge for about half an hour so the dough firms up a bit.

Bake at 350 until golden brown, which took about 30 minutes for my oven.  Be sure to let them cool before you bite into them.  The filling will most likely be molten.

If you like, make a glaze of powdered sugar and milk or water to frost ‘em.

I didn’t get to that point.  I shared them with my mom and my husband and they were gone in a day.

Happy baking!

 

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The Stereotypical No-Bake Cookies Appropriate For a HOT Summer

September 3, 2012 in Cookies, Desserts, Recipes

That’s right.  You read that correctly.  Mountains of blogs and food magazines have those features every year that allow some kind of baked good craving go answered without having to turn on the oven.  Count this as one of those.  Easiest thing to do in the kitchen when you’re bored.

 

You need:

  • 2 cups of sugar
  • 1/4 cup of cocoa powder (I used an ultra-dutched black cocoa that you can find here.)
  • 1/2 cup of milk
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter
  • 1/2 cup of peanut butter (I used a creamy natural peanut butter that was basically just ground peanuts and salt.)
  • 3 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. Kahlua or coffee extract (I add this to ALL of my chocolate baked goods.  The coffee is a more interesting flavor complement to the chocolate.)

What you do:

In a saucepan, mix together the sugar, cocoa powder and milk. Add your stick of butter and let it all come to a boil.

Once it’s boiling, let it do it’s thing for a minute without stirring.  Meanwhile, tear some cookie-sheet-sized pieces of wax paper to drop the “dough” onto later.

Remove from stove and add the peanut butter and extracts.  Mix well and then add in the oats.

Stir until evenly combined and let sit for a few minutes.  After a few minutes, it should be cool enough to handle without the fear of molten sugar burning into your skin.

Using a teaspoon, tablespoon, wooden spoon, whatever spoon, drop small piles of “dough” onto the wax paper you prepared earlier.  These will spread depending on how warm they are.  They are officially done when they are completely cool and not falling apart when you pick one up. Feel free to eat some straight out of the pan while you are making your cookie discs.  I keep mine stored on a plate in the fridge.  They are gone before freshness issues come into play.

Voila!  Decadence without the oven.

 

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Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

April 3, 2012 in Cakes, Desserts

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This trial wasn’t anything too special, other than the fact that it may or may not have been the first time the dear husband had pineapple upside-down cake.  According to him, he hasn’t in his life had the pleasure of shoveling bits of yellow cake-y, brown sugary, pineapple-y goodness into his mouth.  We had a few fresh pineapple slices left in the fridge, and I was itching to bake something with what I had on hand.

I followed a recipe for pineapple upside-down cake because it had been awhile since I made one.  I used the one found on the King Arthur Flour site.  I might also note that the company’s yellow cake recipe actually yields an INCREDIBLE yellow cake that is miles ahead that any other I’ve attempted to make on my own.   Pineapple upside-down cake is essentially a butter and brown sugar mixture and fruit lined pan with yellow cake batter poured on top of it all. I would have just used my favorite yellow cake recipe, but the last time I tried halving it, the cake ended up drier than normal.

King Arthur Flour’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake (slightly tweaked):

Bottom (that becomes top)

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 3 or 4 pineapple rings

Cake

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon coconut flavor, optional (I did use it.)
  • 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (I’m sure it could be gluten free if you use appropriate flours/necessary add-ins.)
  • 1/2 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 375°F.  While your at it. Stick your 8×8, 9×9, 8 in. round, or 9 in. round pan in there, with the 1/4 cup butter in it and let it all warm up and melt the butter. (You’ll want to take the pan out of the oven when the butter is melted.)

In a bowl, mix together the oil and sugar, gradually adding the sugar so it actually mixes well.  It may or may not look like wet sand/fine gravel.  Add in the egg, vanilla extract, and coconut flavor (if you’re using it).

Sift together the salt, baking powder, and flour.  Add it to the sugar/egg mixture in parts, alternating with additions of milk.  Mix until it’s combined and the flour is fully incorporated.  Set this aside.

Remember the pan with melted butter? Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the buttered.  Lay in your pineapple slices.  Feel free to add nuts, cherries, whatever other fruits or nuts you may want looking at you when you flip the pan over.

When it looks all lovely, dump your batter on top of it all, and spread it evenly.

Pop it into the preheated oven.  Bake for about 30 minutes, and don’t forget to rotate the pan midway so it gets even heat exposure.  It will be down when the tried and true toothpick test yields a clean wooden sliver.

When it’s baked, take it out of the oven and let it sit for a few minutes.  Feel free to run a knife around the edges if the cake isn’t separated from the pan walls.  After the resting period, put your oven mitts back on and flip the pan over on a plate large enough to hold the cake. Wait a moment.  Carefully lift the hot pan off of the cake and plate and voila!  Pineapple upside-down cake right side up!  If part of the topping sticks to the pan, just take it off and put it where it belongs on the cake.  No one will notice.  I swear!

Oh yeah.  EAT IT.

 

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Sticky Sweet Biko!

March 29, 2012 in Desserts

Sometimes I get these cravings that come from what seems like no real rational place. Maybe it’s like scent memory, but working in the opposite direction where something subconsciously triggers a desire for a particular foodstuff.  This time around I was stunned by a deep hunger pang that could only be satisfied by that sticky and sweet Filipino rice dessert, BIKO.

This is something that’s I’ve grown up with.  Always on the lengthy buffet table at pretty much any gathering where the ratio of Filipinos to everybody else is at least 1:1, it’s usually in some circular bamboo basket lined with banana leaves.  Often times it will be in tandem with ube (we’ll get to that some other time) or leche flan (a.k.a. leche plan).  Growing up, whenever my mom made it, it was usually one of two versions.  The one I saw most of was a layer of sticky rice cooked in coconut milk, covered by a layer of condensed milk that browned when baked in the oven.  The second one was a rare occurrence; it was a little more involved.  My mom had to make sure the whole thing didn’t burn by constantly stirring as the rice cooked on the stovetop resulting in a stiff viscous ball.  The molten mass (it is extremely hot sugar we’re talking about here) is then transferred to a dish or mold, pressed, and left to cool.  This is the rendition I took a stab at this time around.

I used the biko recipe from a fantastic Filipino cuisine site Panlasang Pinoy.  In my version, I halved it, and used slightly less sugar overall, as well as part brown sugar and part cane sugar.

Biko!

  • 1 cup sticky/glutinous/sweet rice
  • 1 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup regular sugar (I recommend using an unbleached sugar)
  • 1 14 oz. can of light coconut milk
  • A few pinches of sea salt
  • butter or cooking oil (for greasing)

Put the water and rice in a rice cooker and let cook until cycle is finished.  If you don’t have a rice cooker, then pour the rice and water in an accommodating sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn the flame to low-medium, cover and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until the water looks like it is completely absorbed.

Lightly grease a dish or mold, whatever you have on hand that is about the size of a pie dish.

In a second pan (I used a skillet with 3 inch walls) pour in the coconut milk and sugars and heat on medium-high to get the sugar melted.  I recommend stirring with a wooden spoon to avoid burning the sugar that’s resting on the bottom of the pan.  I emphasize a wooden spoon because plastic can actually melt from the heat of the sugar.

Once it starts to bubble, turn the heat to medium. When it looks fully incorporated, it will look like a mocha color and be of a slightly thicker consistency.  Add the salt.

Add the semi-cooked rice and break up the rice if necessary.  Now comes the fun part.  Stir, stir, stir!  Don’t let the bottom sit still for too long or it will burn.  Burned sugar is great for some things, but not this.  Cook it until the liquid is evaporated/absorbed by the rice.  This will be stiff and almost form a ball when you stir it.

Pour it into your prepared dish and press the rice into it.  Let it cool on the counter.  When it’s a tolerable temperature, either warm or room temperature, eat it!

 

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