Late Birthday Good Wishes and a Baby

NoHandle, my favorite Guest Blogger recently had a birthday...which I somehow missed remembering...so Happy Birthday NoHandle!

In honor of his big day, we are again turning the blog over to him for a Guest Post. GO NoHandle!

Browning Up Baby
By NoHandle

A few years ago, Natasha sent me a recipe for something called "German Baby". It looked interesting, and I tried it. I wasn't sure how it was supposed to come out, and I wasn't too impressed with the results; it didn’t rise very much, yielding an unappealing texture.

Later, when I was poking around the Internet, looking for some recipe to devour, I found references to Dutch Baby, some of them with apples. Some had pictures, and better descriptions of the finished product. I had misplaced the original recipe, but this seemed similar. It was time for a second try.

The recipe I decided to take on was one found on cooks.com. No pictures, but it just seemed right. And it was simple too. They use Dutch here like you would say Pennsylvania Dutch, meaning German. I don’t know where the Baby part comes from. Perhaps it a corruption of another German word.

So, I pulled out my shiny new mandolin (the slicing kind) that daughter-in-law Jennifer had given me for Christmas (at my prompting; I must have been thinking ahead to just this application) and sliced up a couple of apples. The recipe allows that a cast-iron skillet is OK; I would say preferred. Into my skillet went the sinful amount of butter, then sugar and cinnamon, followed with the sliced apples. I cooked the apples in two batches for better carmelization. Fairly quickly the whole mass was browned nicely, and keeping warm in the pan.

While it was cooking, I put together the batter, using a hand mixer rather than the blender the recipe calls for. It worked as well as the blender would have, although I did beat it at high speed for extra time to whip in a bit of air, which probably helps the batter to rise better. I wouldn’t recommend the stick blender approach unless you have a fairly powerful one. Then it's into the frying pan with the batter, pouring it on top of the cooked apples, and into the oven with the skillet. I think that part of getting this to rise properly is to keep the pan warm. I live at altitude and it took fully 20 minutes to brown the baby. I didn’t feel the need to make any adjustments to the recipe because of altitude though.

After resting a couple of minutes (that seems to be immediately enough), and topping with powdered sugar, the dish is ready to serve. It makes enough for four delicate, or two hungry, people. We were somewhere in the middle; there will be a wedge or two to cheer up lunch. I made this as a breakfast treat, but I think Natasha and Walt cook it up for afternoon tea.

I recently received another copy of Natasha's recipe, and it was nearly identical to the one from cooks.com. Here is the Natasha's recipe (with minor editorial changes, and unconventional decimal measures because the fractions don’t always display correctly):

German Baby

3 Tablespoons butter
2 apples (Braeburns or McIntosh)
3 Tablespoons confectioners’ sugar (plus more for topping)
.125 teaspoon cinnamon (1/8 teaspoon)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice (ReaLemon is OK for this)
3 eggs, at room temperature
.25 teaspoon salt (1/4 teaspoon)
.5 Cup milk (1/2 cup)
.5 Cup flour (1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Melt butter in (oven-proof; I prefer cast iron) skillet and take off heat. Remove 2 T and set aside in tall bowl (suitable for stick blender) or blender.

Peel, core and slice apples. Put slices in large bowl; add confectioners sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice; toss to mix.

Return skillet to burner and heat to medium. Add apples and cook, stirring often about 3-4 minutes until tender, but still hold shape.

Add eggs, salt and milk to butter in bowl/blender and blend together. (If blender, add flour too.) Blend in flour until smooth.

Spread apples evenly on bottom of skillet and pour batter on top. Bake in the PREHEATED oven for about 20 minutes, until golden, but not brown in the middle, and puffy around the edges. Turn over onto platter. (You can just server from the skillet if you want.)

Dust with confectioners’ sugar (optional) and serve immediately. Serves 2-3. To satisfy a 3rd person, add an additional apple. To serve 4-5, use 4-5 apples, double other ingredients, and use a 12 inch pan.

Sweet, Light and Orange Cake

Times with family are such a delight and I especially enjoy Sweetie's family. Yesterday we had the treat of combining a gorgeous day in a bright, sunny San Francisco with both a picinic in Golden Gate Park and a delicious coppino dinner at Sweetie's sister's beautiful home.

His niece, her husband and their lovely daughters were visiting from Tennessee. It was fun to catch up with them and what is happening in their lives, plus we took the opportunity to join them in exploring the new Natural History building, including the cute penguins and the living roof (covered with regional drought tolerant plants). We also had the treat of seeing Sarah, Straight Shooter Man, and Sweetie's sister and her charming husband (who makes a superb cup of coffee).

Since this was a triple birthday celebration I brought a cake. Since the cake had to sit in the trunk of the car for a while, buttercream and chocolate and such were not an option. It helped that I had a request for something light and orange flavored.

Marion Cunningham had the perfect recipe in her book The Fannie Farmer Baking Book. For years I didn't have a plain tube pan since I never make angel food cakes, but a few months ago I found one at a thrift store for $1. It even has a removable bottom and those cute little "feet" for cooling the cake upside down.

With a great recipe and the right pan, the rest is easy. Eggs are separated, orange zest shaved off the oranges with my trusty microplane grater, oranges juiced and the juice strained through a fine mesh strainer, flour measured and sifted twice with salt, some of the sugar put in a bowl and half the zest rubbed into the sugar ( a trick from Dorie Greenspan), and then the fun begins with the whites beaten with some of the the sugar until firm but still a bit droopy.


In another bowl the yolks get beaten until lemon colored, then the rest of the zest and the juice is added and sugar and zested sugar. I used a hand whisk to stir the sifted drifts of flour, a little at a time, into the yolks, then switched back to the machine whisk to add the first part of the beaten whites. The last part is folding in the rest of the whites with a spatula, down the center, to the bottom, up the side, then turn the bowl a bit, repeat, repeat, repeat just until the whites combine with the batter but are still full of air. The air helps it to rise...see below...it rose pretty well!

I must admit I was a bit nervous since I don't usually make this kind of cake (I like those dense crumbed chocolate cakes the best), especially since we wouldn't know how it turned out until I was slicing and serving at the birthday dinner. When I turned the cake over to rest and cool on those little legs, I was sure the whole thing would fall out of the pan and deflate! Fortunately that didn't happen, the cake came out of the pan just fine, high and light, and the orange glaze added just the right touch of sweetness and fancy.

We served each slice with some of our locally grown, small and sweet and delectable strawberries. The combination was great and all the berries were eaten before I got a photo, so here it is garnished with grapes!

As you can see the crumb is light but much firmer than an angel food cake (because of the yolks). The sweetness is offset by the tang of the orange zest. All in all a lovely cake. Give it a try while fresh berries are around. It would be equally good with blueberries or blackberries.

Fresh Orange Sponge Cake
The Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup egg whites (about 8)
1 ¼ cups sugar, divided
2 tablespoons grated orange rind (orange part – zest only), divided
1/3 cup egg yolks (about 6)
1/3 cup strained freshly squeezed orange juice
Orange Glaze (recipe follows)

Have all ingredients at room temperature!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Take ¼ cup of the sugar and put into a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of the zest and rub them together with your fingers until thoroughly combined.

Combine the flour and salt and sift them together twice; set aside. Put the egg whites into a large mixing bowl and beat until foamy. Gradually add ½ cup of the sugar and continue beating until the whites are stiff but moist, and stand in peaks that droop slightly when the beater is lifted.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks until they have thickened slightly, then slowly add the remaining ½ cup sugar and the sugar-zest combo, and continue beating until the mixture is thick and lemon-colored. Add the remaining orange rind and the orange juice and blend well.

Sift the flour over the yolk mixture, and stir gently until smooth, with no drifts of flour visible. (I used a hand held whisk and sifted in some flour, whisked it gently, some more flour, whisked it gently, and so on instead of putting all the flour in at once.)

Gently stir one quarter of the beaten whites into the batter. (I used the whisk attachment and the stand mixer, only mixing until the whites were barely into the batter. Then I took the bowl away from the mixer and used a silicon spatula to finish folding in the whites.) Pour the remaining whites on top, and fold them into the yolk mixture, cutting down in the center with the spatula, taking it to the bottom and up the side of the bowl, then turning the bowl a bit and repeating until smooth and blended.

Spread the batter evenly in an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a straw inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and invert it. If it has little feet, invert onto those. If not, invert over a wine bottle or similar bottle with a thin neck.

Let cool completely before removing from the pan. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the Orange Glaze. Let glaze harden before serving. Marvelous with fresh berries.

Orange Glaze
1 1/3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange rind (orange part – zest only)

Put the sugar in a medium bowl. Add the orange juice and zest and stir briskly until smooth and well blended. Pour or spoon over the cake once it is cool. (I poured, using a spatula to spread the glaze over the top of the cake and letting it drip down the sides.)

Happy 37th Peabody!

Dim the lights, light up the candles, cue the Birthday playlist on the iPod, start the Birthday celebration!

AAAKKK! Technical difficulties. The-computer-won't-work-and-I-can't-get-to-the-e-mail-because-have-forgotten-the-password!

Very, very sorry Pea, but no round-up.

Posting this at work as an emergency measure.

Know that your frined in the blogosphere, especially me, wish you the happiest of birthdays...and many more!

Elle

Happy Birthday Dear September Daring Bakers

As the blogroll of the Daring Bakers (those intrepid denizens of the kitchen enamored of ovens, butter, sugar, yeast and flour) grows larger with more and more birthday guys and gals, a single recipe stands as a Happy Birthday greeting to those born in the month of September from me to you.

This month wish a happy birthday to eleven talented women. (If I missed anyone I'm truly sorry.)They are Laura of Eat Drink Live, Anne of Simply Anne’s, Kellypea of Sass and Veracity, Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict, Baking Soda of Bake My Day, Sara of The Kitchen Pantry, Inne of Vanille & Chocolat, Deborah of Taste and Tell, Gilly of Humble Pie, Sara of I Like to Cook, and Morven of Food, Art and Random Thoughts.

The blackberry season is drawing to a close here in Northern California, but there are enough berries left to bake into the birthday treat for these lovely ladies. If you have almost any kind of fruit that is fresh and ripe, check out David Lebovitz’s book Ripe for Dessert for some terrific ideas of how to make the best use of them. I was quite taken with his Financier recipe. Combining the richness and almonds of Financiers with the juicy sweetness of blackberries is a winning combination. Using muffin cups instead of the little Financier molds also makes it accessible for most bakers. Happy year gals! Enjoy the little cakes.


Blackberry Financiers
From Ripe for Dessert by David Lebovitz
12 small cakes

7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups blanched almonds, sliced or slivered, or 157 grams almond flour
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup powdered sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites
½ teaspoon almond extract
one 6-oz basket blackberries

Position the oven rack in the center of the oven and pre-hear to 400 degrees F. Butter a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a skillet, heat the butter until it begins to sizzle. Continue to cook over low heat until the edges begin to darken and the butter gives off a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat. (The butter may sputter and splatter while cooking. If you want, place an overturned colander over the pan to protect yourself.)

In a food processor, grind the almonds with the granulated and powdered sugars (or, if using almond flour, just begin with the granulated sugar and almond flour and don't grind unless the flour is coarse). When fine, add the flour and the salt and pulse to mix. While the processor is running, gradually pour in the egg whites and add the almond extract. Stop the machine, and add the warm butter, pulsing as you pour until the batter is just mixed.

Divide the batter evenly among the buttered muffin cups Batter will come up about 1/3 of the way. Poke 3 or 4 blackberries into each cake.

Bake for 18 minutes, until puffy and deep golden brown. Watch so they don’t burn. (I had a little trouble with the edges being a dark brown...still tasted great.) Let stand a few minutes, then remove them from the pan and cool on a rack. Store cooled cakes in an airtight container for up to a week.

Variations: Substitute peach, nectarine, or plum slices for the blackberries, peeling first if desired. Cut the fruit into ½ inch slices and lay them over the top of each little cake before baking. You can also sprinkle the top of each cake with untoasted sliced almonds before baking.

Happy Birthday August Daring Bakers

Better late than never, I guess. It's August third and there are a bunch of birthdays in August for Daring Bakers, so I made all of them one dessert...a Plum Bread Pudding. This is similar to Peabody's, but with fresh off our tree plums. Hers was so good that an encore seemed appropriate.

We have two deer who have decided to live under the plum tree, so I didn't get too many this year, but there were enough to add a sweet fruitness and tang to the mellow custard of the bread pudding.

Happy Birthday to:

Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry, Freya from Writing At The Kitchen Table, Tara from Should You Eat That?, Ahn from Food Lovers Journey, Janet from Janet Is Hungry, and Christina from Wishing On Clovers.

Gale’s Bread Pudding with Cherries

A recipe from 1971, from a Fredricksburg, Maryland friend

4 cups dry bread cubes
3 cups milk, scalded
1 tablespoon butter
4 slightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup peeled, sliced sweet red plums. Cut into chunks if plums are large.

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the sugar, lemon zest, salt, and vanilla.
3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.
4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir plum slices or chunks into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.
5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

A Cobbler for Breadchick

A while back I had a photo of the hedge by the road with the berry bushes in flower. They are not the standard blackberries...those are just flowering now.

I'm not really sure what kind they are since they were well established when we moved her over 20 years ago, but there are two kinds, both ripening at the same time. One kind has long, thin berries and they are very dark when ripe. The other has very rounded berries which are quite juicy and still have a red cast when ripe.


Today I picked enough berries to make a cobbler for dinner. I mixed the two types together. Usually I try to combine them with peaches in the cobbler, but peaches are still expensive since it is early in the season for them. For some reason the long thin and round reddish berries are earlier than usual, too.

A fruit cobbler is a fairly simple dish, especailly if you use pancake mix for the topping. A fresh berry one welcomes in the cobbler season. Once they are cooked, the berries are soft, sweet and give up lots of the juice that tastes so good with the cobbler topping and some rich cream or ice cream. Later in the season you can make it with regular blackberries, peaches, plums, apricots, and apples, too.

Since I will be gone again this weekend and will miss Breadchick's birthday, Happy Birthday!...this blackberry cobbler is for you! We joined the Daring Bakers the same month and you are a super baker. Wish I could eat it with you on your birthday, but I'll bet you'll have something wonderful that day.

Blackberry Cobbler
Based on my Mom's peach cobbler

2 cups fresh blackberries (or frozen, but thaw first)
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

For the topping:
1 cup Bisquick or other pancake mix
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F., Combine berries, sugar, nutmeg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and cornstarch in a shallow ovenproof bowl or casserole dish. Bake in the oven until hot and bubbly and juice thickens.

Mix the topping ingredients together. Batter should drop easily from a spoon. When the berries ar hot, open the oven, drop the dough on top of the hot fruit in globs, leaving small spaces between the dough. Sprinkle with additional tablespoon of sugar if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the topping is golden brown. Serve with cream or ice cream.

Since it is strawberry season, you can substitute equal parts of hulled, sliced strawberries and sliced rhubarb for the berries. Increase sugar to taste.

Happy Birthday Meeta!

One of the darlingest of the Daring Bakers, Meeta of What's For Lunch Honey is having a birthday in a couple of days. Since I'll be out of town and away from the computer, Happy Birthday Meeta!

Meeta hosts the Monthly Mingle and this month it's all about the birthday. Since I'm confident that there will be lots of birthday cake, I decided to make you an appetizer for early in the Mingle. Making good use of some more puff pastry left over after the Gateau, I decided to make flaky and savory salmon, mushroom and rice turnovers. I suppose this could also qualify for a leftovers event, but these are pretty swank leftovers. I used some other left over items, like rice and salmon that had been cooked the day before. This is a made-up recipe, but turned out well.

The pastry puffs and gets golden and flaky. The filling is a mellow combination of cooked salmon, sauteed mushrooms and green onions, cooked rice, thyme, and non-fat sour cream. A little egg white wash sticks the top and bottom pastry together and glazes the top for shine. Hot from the oven these make a great starter course, or, combined with salad or soup, a couple make a full meal. If you are going to have lots of cake and ice cream, you don't really need anything else...well, maybe some champagne!

Meeta's Birthday Turnovers

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 green onions, sliced, including some of the green tops
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 cup - 1 cup cooked salmon, in small chunks, no skin
(I used left over grilled salmon, which worked well)
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup non-fat sour cream
salt and pepper
2 sheets puff pastry, thawed if frozen
1 egg white

In small skillet, sautee the mushrooms and onions over medium-high heat until lightly browned. Add the thyme and stir in thoroughly.

Put the rice, salmon, sour cream, and mushroom mixture in a microwave safe bowl. Stir well to mix all the ingredients together. Heat on half power for one minute in the microwave. Taste. Adjust seasoning (add salt and/or pepper if needed) to your taste.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Take one sheet of puff pastry and lay it out on a lightly floured board or pastry cloth. Cut it into nine square pieces. Place some of the filling, about the size of a walnut in it's shell, in the middle of one of the squares of puff pastry. Brush egg white around the sides of the square and place another square on top. Press down all the way around to seal. Then using the tines of a fork, press the edge of the packets all the way around. Place the turnover on a Silpat mat or piece of parchment paper placed on a baking sheet. Repeat for the next three packets. Set aside the last square.

Take the next sheet of puff pastry and repeat as you did for the first sheet. The extra square will match up with the extra square from the first sheet to make another turnover. In all you will have 9 turnovers. If there is any filling left, save for another use (perhaps as an omlette filling?)

Place the baking sheet(s) into the preheated oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes. They are done when the turnovers puff and are golden brown.

These can be made with half the filling and each square folded over the filling to make a triangle for hors d'oeuvres. Serve hot.