Cookish: Something Sweet

My fiancé and I did a cooking class at the New Orleans School of Cooking (www.nosoc.com)--so fun! I thought I would share one of the recipes for you, since we actually do use it at home. Prior to this class, my fiancé had claimed he didn't like pralines. Turns out, he didn't know what they were! Now he knows they are delicious.

Pralines (makes up to 50, depending on size)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup milk
6 Tbs butter
1 1/2 cups of pecans, roasted
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients and bring to the "soft ball" stage (238-240 degrees--a candy thermometer helps!), stirring constantly. Remove from heat and continue to stir til the mixture thickens, becomes creamy and cloudy. You can actually hear the difference once the sugar starts to recrystallize and your spoon has to scrape through. Spoon onto buttered wax paper, foil, or parchment. Allow to cool and try not to eat them all yourself!

Cookish: Gingersnaps

I'm posting my Christmas cookie recipes late this year, but they are good ones! I am a big fan of gingersnaps, but I've only made gingerbread cookies or chewy molasses spice cookies at home. Well, this year I discovered America's Test Kitchen's gingersnap recipe. Perfection! I love ATK's recipes--they test them meticulously and the results are accordingly excellent, and this was no exception. A quick note: I cut this recipe in half because it says it makes about 80 cookies! But the cookies are small, and they go quickly, and I'm not sure I got 40 out of the 1/2 batch, so I think you'd be fine doing the whole shebang. Also, the dough freezes well and the baked cookies stay fresh for quite a while, so don't fear making a full batch.

Original recipe here: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/6840-gingersnaps?extcode=LN13N2AAA

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2cups (12 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2teaspoon salt
• 12tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2tablespoons ground ginger
• 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4teaspoon pepper
• pinch cayenne
• 1 1/4cups packed (8 3/4 ounces) dark brown sugar
• 1/4cup molasses
• 2tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
• 1large egg plus 1 large yolk
• 1/2cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 
   
   1. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in bowl. Heat butter in 10-inch skillet over medium heat until melted. Lower heat to medium-low and continue to cook, swirling pan frequently, until foaming subsides and butter is just beginning to brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer butter to large bowl and whisk in ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and cayenne. Cool slightly, about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, molasses, and fresh ginger to butter mixture and whisk to combine. Add egg and yolk and whisk to combine. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
   2. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place granulated sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate. Divide dough into heaping teaspoon portions; roll dough into 1-inch balls. Working in batches of 10, roll balls in sugar to coat. Evenly space dough balls on prepared baking sheets, 20 dough balls per sheet.
   3. Place 1 sheet on upper rack and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, transfer partially baked top sheet to lower rack, rotating 180 degrees, and place second sheet of dough balls on upper rack. Continue to bake until cookies on lower tray just begin to darken around edges, 10 to 12 minutes longer. Remove lower sheet of cookies and shift upper sheet to lower rack and continue to bake until cookies begin to darken around edges, 15 to 17 minutes. Slide baked cookies, still on parchment, to wire rack and cool completely before serving. Cool baking sheets slightly and repeat step 2 with remaining dough balls.
   TO MAKE AHEAD: Dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Let dough stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before shaping. Let frozen dough thaw overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding with recipe. Cooled cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 weeks in airtight container.

Cookish: Snacktime

I call this recipe Crack Corn, though Paula Deen has her own name for it. Click here for Paula Deen's caramel corn recipe

The recipe works really well. You need about 8 quarts of popped corn. I pop 3 bags of light butter microwave popcorn, because it is easy. I usually use 2 1/2 bags of it, approximately, which is a little less than 8 quarts, but it works out well. I also usually add some peanuts when I have them on hand. Fair warning: only make this when you have a crowd coming over. It's virtually impossible to stop eating this, so you really don't want to be the only one in the house--this is not exactly health food, folks.

Cookish: Something Sweet

It's fall; time for caramel apples! I adapted the recipe from Chow: http://www.chow.com/recipes/12223-basic-caramel-apple. Sorry for the odd measurements; I cut the recipe in half and had to make some substitutions due to what I had on hand.


INGREDIENTS

• 4 large apples
• 4 chopsticks or craft sticks
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 7/8 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup  corn syrup
• 1/8 cup molasses
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Wash the apples under hot water to get off any wax coating, then dry thoroughly. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside. Set the apples stem side up, and push the sticks down into the apple cores; set aside. Prepare an ice water bath by filling a bowl halfway with ice and water.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until the mixture registers 250°F on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes. [I lost my candy thermometer, so I just went with the ice bath test: http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/sugar-stages.html You're looking for "firm ball" stage.) Immediately dip the bottom of the saucepan in the ice water bath and let it chill until the bubbles have subsided, about 1 minute. Stir until stiff caramel from the bottom is incorporated into the warm caramel on top. Remove from the water bath.
3. Dip the apples one at a time into the caramel, rotating once to coat 3/4 of the way up the sides. Lift the apple straight up from the caramel, letting the excess drip back into the pot until the drips have slowed, about 10 to 15 seconds. Flip the apple so the stem is facing downward and let the caramel set, about 10 to 15 seconds more. Place on the prepared baking sheet, stem side up, and repeat with the remaining apples. (If the caramel gets too hard to coat the apples well, set the pan over low heat and rewarm, stirring constantly, until the caramel is loose and pourable.)
4. Refrigerate the apples until set, at least 10 minutes. The apples can be made and stored in the refrigerator up to 1 day in advance.

NOTE: I was taking these to a party, so I wanted slices instead of the whole apples. First, I cut the apple and dipped just the slices. Don't do this. The caramel only sticks to the peel, not the inner part of the apple. So, dip the whole apple, and then slice it. That's your best bet. 

Cookish: Fixing a screw-up

So, a few days ago, I made some Amish Friendship Bread, but it didn't turn out quite right. It just didn't taste the same and it was rather dry. So, what to do? I didn't want to just throw it away, but it wasn't all that tasty.

The solution? Bread pudding. The bread is already cinnamon-y and sugar-y--a great start. Of course, you can make bread pudding with any bread, preferably a little stale. French bread, challah, brioche--take your pick. I had about a loaf and a half of friendship bread, which I cut into large cubes. I tossed these cubes in 1/2 stick of melted butter and placed the cubes in a 9-in. square baking dish. In a bowl, I mixed 4 eggs with a scant 3/4 cup of sugar and a hearty sprinkle of cinnamon--keep in mind that the bread already had sugar and cinnamon in it, so if you are using regular bread, you may want to increase the quantity of both. I also added 2 tsp of vanilla, but I'd up this to a tablespoon next time. Add a pinch of salt. Heat up some milk--I used 3 cups, but it made too much liquid, so I think I'd just heat 2 cups next time. Add the warm milk to the eggs and pour the mixture over the bread cubes. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar and bake in a 375-degree oven. Begin checking after 25 minutes, but it will probably take 30 to 40 minutes to set up.

It was quite yummy! Next time I might bake it in a bigger dish for a better crunchy top to squishy middle ratio. Mmm-mmm, good.