Thanksgiving Baking - Part II

Flourless Chocolate Cake w/ Sugared Cranberries

Sugared Cranberries (My printer friendly version)

Yield: 2 cups Sugared Cranberries

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups fresh cranberries, washed and picked through
1 cup medium grain sugar (I used Domino brand Organic Demerara)

Freshly washed cranberries

Simple Syrup:

Combine water and granulated sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium high heat until completely dissolved. Set aside and allow to cool. If simple syrup is too hot cranberries will burst and you will have to start over :(

 



Cranberries:

Once syrup has cooled to room temperature cover cranberries with syrup and refrigerate overnight.



Drain syrup and dust cranberries in medium grain sugar. Start slowly, pour a light layer in a dish and shke until coated. Continue adding a bit of sugar, shaking to coat and repeating until cranberries can no longer take up any sugar.

Recipe suggested a cookie sheet, but a deeper glass casserole worked very well.

Transfer to a cookie sheet lined in parchment paper and allow to dry to a hard candy shell for several hours.


Line cookie sheet with parchment paper to prevent from sticking.



Flourless Chocolate Cake (Printer friendly)

A recipe gifted to me from my very talented (pastry chef) friend, Jennifer.

Yield: 1 10 inch cake

Ingredients:

(for cake)

1/2 lb (8oz) chopped semisweet chocolate

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup (4oz) hot coffee (or boiling water and 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee)

1/2 lb (2 sticks) softened butter, cut into small chunks

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

(for ganache)

4oz chopped semisweet chocolate

4oz (1/2 cup) heavy cream

Cake:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Place chocolate in mixing bowl and melt over double boiler.

         

Add sugar and coffee, add stand mixer set to lowest speed and while running add butter, blending until completely smooth.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth again. Scrape down bowl at regular intervals.

Grease and parchment a 10" round cake pan. Fill pan with batter and bake at 350 degrees for exactly 55 minutes. Cakes will souffle and then fall and crackle once cooled. A toothpick inserted into the cakes should come out wet - moist crumbs, not batter.

Refrigerate overnight.

To unmold, run knife around edge, set pan in hot water for a few second and turn over on a cake plate.

Ganache:

         

Bring cream to a steady simmer over a medium-low heat. Remove from heat and stir in chopped chocolate until completely smooth.

         

To serve, cover with ganache and allow to cool completely. Start covering by pouring warm ganache on the top of the cake and smoothing with the back of a spoon, gently pushing over the edge of the cake. Smooth the outside edge of the cake, but don't go too crazy, this will be easier when the ganache has cooled slightly.

Garnish with the sugared cranberries and enjoy!

Thanksgiving Baking - Part I

This year I am not cooking Thanksgiving, we are going to my Mom's house for dinner, but I am still in charge of dessert. I offered to bake the pies and my Mother, who is incredibly fond of my flourless chocolate cake, asked me to make one of those - more on that later.

Anyway, I couldn't decide between pumpkin or pecan pie, and didn't want to make both, since I was also making the flourless chocolate cake, thus my recipe for Pumpkin-Pecan Pie was born. My favorite part is that the pecan pie layer uses NO CORN SYRUP, resulting "goo" is much tastier and not so sickly sweet as the toothache inducing alternative.

Pumpkin-Pecan Pie (Printer friendly)

Yield: 1 10 inch pie, 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

1 pie crust

(for pumpkin layer)

1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese (sour cream or cream cheese would probably substitute just fine)

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

(for pecan layer)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup melted and cooled butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out and prepare pie crust, line pan, trim and crimp crust. If desired decorate crust edge with cutouts and apply with egg wash (1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon milk). Set aside and chill until needed.

Pumpkin Layer:

In large mixing bowl combine pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, mascarpone cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk thoroughly until completely smooth and combined. Set aside and chill until needed.

Pecan Layer:

In stand mixer on lowest speed or large mixing bowl beat eggs until foamy and stir in melted butter. Add brown sugar, white sugar, maple syrup, and flour, mix until smooth and combined. Finally, in vanilla and milk, then stir in nuts by hand.

Assembly:

Retrieve pie shell and pumpkin filling from refrigerator. Carefully spoon in pumpkin filling and smooth top with back of spoon or spatula, chill for 5-10 minutes in freezer.

Remove pie from freezer. CAREFULLY begin to ladle pecan mixture over pumpkin, being sure to cover (without disturbing) the pumpkin layer.

Cover the crust with a pie crust shield or tin foil to prevent burning and bake in preheated 400 degree over for 10 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 45-55 minutes. Remove pie crust shield or tin foil and continue baking for 10 more minutes to lightly brown the crust. Knife inserted into pie should come out moist, but clean.

Cool for at least 1-2 hours before serving. Enjoy!

The Elusive Day Off

*****NEW***** For the printer friendly recipes
Print One Pot Macaroni and Cheese
Print Pan Seared Pork Loin Chops with Sauteed Apples

Yesterday, I had a day off. By off I mean I still had an 8 am class, but the bank was closed for Veteran's Day. After class, we drove down to philly and volunteered as dog walkers for NGAP, something we've been meaning to do for a long time. Those little greyhounds are such lovely little dogs that just want some attention and fresh air.

After we cuddled the doggies and made our way home, I had plenty of time to drool over some recipes.

 

  

Today's recipe inspirations were One Pot, Stove Top, Creamy Mac and Cheese and this...
Pork Chops with Apples & Creamy Bacon Cheese Grits, but since I can rarely follow a recipe, they served more as inspiration. The Macaroni recipe I changed very little and after the fact, there are some changes I would make to get it a little creamier/wetter next time (stay tuned), but here it is.

Pan Seared Pork Loin Chops with Sauteed Apples

& One-Pot Macaroni and Cheese

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One-Pot Macaroni and Cheese

 

Crumbs:

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup dry unseasoned bread crumbs

dash of paprika

Macaroni:

2 cups elbow macaroni

2 cups 1% milk

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups shredded cheese

salt and pepper

Buttered Crumbs:

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet, add1/4 unseasoned bread crumbs and a dash of paprika. Toast briefly until crumb change color slightly. Remove from heat.



Macaroni:

Rinse macaroni in cold water and add to medium saucepan.

Add milk, butter, dry mustard, and salt, bring to boil over medium heat then reduce to a simmer over low heat. Stir frequently and cover for 15 minutes until milk is absorbed. (Be sure to stir constantly or the pasta will stick together.)

Remove from heat, stir in cheese and top with buttered bread crumbs to serve.

Pan Seared Pork Loin Chops with Sauteed Apples

2-4 boneless pork loin chops

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

salt and pepper

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, small dice

2 tart apples, small dice

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup apple cider

1/4 cup brandy

Mix flour, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper in a dish. Dredge chops in seasoned flour and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a heavy skillet and when hot, add chops and sear until nicely browned on each side (approx. 2 minutes each side) and remove from pan.

 Melt 1 tablespoon butter in same skillet, add onion and saute 1-2 minutes until lightly brown, add apples and saute until caramelized.

Add apple cider vinegar, apple cider, and brandy, return chops to pan, cover and simmer over medium low heat for 5 minutes. When internal temperature of the pork reaches 145f (varies depending on thickness of chop, mine only needed a few extra minutes) remove from pan and serve.

Ta da!



Butternut Squash Risotto

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Print

So I don't do much "by the recipe" cooking, if anything I use several recipes as a guideline and change things to my liking. This particular recipe was inspired by a recipe for Pumpkin Risotto from the Serego Alighieri winery in Italy, that was featured on Tyler's Ultimate on Food Network.

Butternut Squash Risotto (4-6 servings)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large shallots, minced (approx. 1/2 cup)
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, & diced (approx. 6-7 cups)
1 bay leaf
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 1/2 cups chicken stock (one 26 ounce container)
1cup water
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine (if using cooking wine, pay close attention to any additional salt)
1 teaspoon butter
2 teaspoons mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
minced chives for garnish

Squash Puree:

In a heavy bottomed pot heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and add the shallots, saute until translucent and add squash, bay leaf and thyme leaves (seperate leaves and discard stem). Add 1 cup of water, cover and simmer over medium-high heat for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and puree, set aside.

Risotto:

Heat chicken stock in medium sauce pan and keep warm over low heat.

In heavy bottomed pot heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and add the rice, stir quickly and toast briefly. Add wine and simmer over medium heat until absorbed.

Slowly begin adding the hot chicken stock 1-2 ladles at a time, waiting until rice begins drying out before adding the next ladle, stir constantly.

Continue stirring and adding stock to rice until all liquid is absorbed (approximatly 20 minutes) and rice is creamy and al dente.

Stir in squash puree, cover and simmer over low heat until any additional liquid is absorbed.

Remove from heat and finish with butter, mascarpone, parmesean cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve garnished with a hearty pinch of parmesean cheese and fresh chives. Enjoy!