Win A Cookbook!
Ari of Baking and Books has cookbooks taking over her apartment! These cookbooks have been donated as part of a fundraising effort for the 2007 Jewish Environmental Bike Ride in support of Hazon, a non-profit whose mission is to change our world by educating people about our environment, the food we eat, and the ways in which our relationship to these essential aspects of our lives influences our spiritual well-being.
Here’s how to get your hands on a new cookbook: For every $5 donation you make, you will receive one virtual raffle ticket which qualifies you to win a fabulous prize. And yes, you may win more than once! For more information or to make a donation, visit Ari’s site.
Pound Cake
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I had some time to kill and wanted to bake, but I didn’t have many ingredients in my house. Quite an embarrassing admission from someone who loves to bake, but I hope to remedy that problem sometime this week. Anyway, after sorting through recipe after recipe, I decided on a pound cake.
Well, I’m sad to say that once again, I’m disappointed by a Dorie recipe. The cake’s flavor is good, but it’s way too dry and crumbly. At first I thought I may have done something wrong, but after reading other people’s reviews, I’m not alone. Have no fear though, there are more Dorie recipes to be tried!
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour or 2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preparation
Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan or an 8 ½ x 4 ½ -inch loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or two regular baking sheets stacked on top of each other.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each egg goes in. As you’re working, scrape down the bowl and beaters often. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated – don’t overmix. In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, even all of it, by hand with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.
Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes. If it’s browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. If you’re using a 9×5-inch pan, you’ll need to bake the cake for 70 to 75 minutes; the smaller pan needs about 90 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes.
Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.
My notes: I used cake flour and the 9×5-inch pan.
Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
White Chocolate Brownies
I’m back! I finally have time to try new recipes. And with that…
I love chocolate, even white chocolate. I know, I know, white chocolate isn’t really chocolate, blah blah blah. But I don’t care. It’s still sweet and tastes good. Who cares about the technicalities when talking about desserts?
I also love Tartelette’s blog. Everything she makes is beyond gorgeous, and her recipes are always to die for. While these brownies do taste amazingly delicious, sadly, they look absolutely nothing like hers. Fortunately, these are just going to my guinea pigs at the office, and they’re more concerned about taste than aesthetics anyway.
Ingredients
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces white chocolate
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350.
Grease and flour an 8 inch square baking pan, or line with foil.
Melt butter and 4 oz of white chocolate together in top of double boiler over hot water. When melted remove from heat and add the remaining white chocolate. Stir to blend well. Set aside. Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and thick.Add white chocolate and butter mixture, vanilla and flour. Beat just until smooth. Add chocolate chunks and mix in by hand, being careful not to overmix.
Pour into prepared pan and bake 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Cut into squares or bars.
My notes: I thought I had two white chocolate baking bars in my kitchen when in fact, I only had one, so I had to use 4 ounces of white chocolate chips as well.
Recipe from Tartelette.
Happy 4th!
Yes, I’m a dork and made a cupcake flag (minus some stripes) to take to a barbecue later today. Mini red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The white stripes are just plain frosting; the red have sanding sugar; the blue have blue sprinkles; the stars are made from fondant.
