Jasper's 2nd birthday cake

 Jasper enjoyed the cake making, the sprinkle administration, and the consumption of the final product. Cake was very adult approved too, so saving for next year!

1 recipe Smitten Kitchen big chocolate cake. Only substitution was part Greek yogurt and part milk for the buttermilk. Make 24 mini cupcakes, then divide the remaining batter between two 9" round cake pans.

1 + 1/3 recipe King Arthur ganache frosting: 1 package dark chocolate pound plus, 1+1/3c cream, 2 sticks butter. This made just a little bit more than I needed for all the cupcakes plus the inside and outside of the cake, but we ate a few cupcakes before I made the frosting, so really it's probably exactly right.

Rosh Hashanah roast chicken

A loose variant of the Salt Fat Acid Heat buttermilk roast chicken. It turned out even juicier and with crispier skin than the original, but not sure which of the many changes to credit. Photo is of the challah I made with it looking pretty, and the chicken looking like I don't know how to carve a chicken. Chag sameach!

1 whole chicken

1/2 c milk

1/2 c apple cider vinegar

1 T salt

1 T honey

1 small red cabbage

1 onion

2 apples

salt and pepper

The morning of, take the chicken out of the fridge, rinse and dry, and salt. Let sit while you mix the marinade ingredients (milk through honey) in a small bowl. Continue to let sit while you mix up a batch of challah dough. Put the chicken in a gallon ziplock, add the marinade, and put in the fridge.

2.5 hours before dinner, when you're putting the challah in the oven, take the chicken out of the fridge. Cut the cabbage, onion, and apples into thick slices. In a cast iron, lay the cabbage and 1 apple worth of slices around the edge, and pile the onion slices in the center. Drizzle with a little olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.

When the challah is out of the oven, preheat the oven to 425F. Take the chicken out of the marinade, drain any in the cavity, and lay over the bed of onions. Stuff the cavity with the second apple worth of slices. Roast following Samin's instructions (20min at 425F, 40min at 400F) (but maybe my oven wasn't holding temp because I needed to roast for an additional ~15min to get the skin browned all over).

Pour the juices from the chicken cavity into the pan, and transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Remove the apples from the cavity and add to the pan. While the chicken is resting, put the pan over medium heat to cook off most of the juices, stirring occasionally. Season the cabbage with salt and pepper if needed. Carve the chicken, and serve with the cabbage and challah.

Smashburgers and friends

 

2 day recipe, 4 component recipe. One component is a hike on the second day.

Morning of day 1: Mix up the dough for King Arthur's brioche burger buns as written. As advertised, this took 20-25 minutes kneading by hand to come together. Let rise until puffy. (This took longer than expected for me, so I ended up not having time to refrigerate for even a couple hours like I was intending to. They still turned out delicious and weren't a problem to shape.)

Afternoon of day 1: Shape and bake into 8 buns as written.

Also afternoon of day 1, or some other convenient time: Attempt homemade mayo as written. The first attempt failed, the second attempt worked. Changed quite a few variables in between, including using a Talenti container, pouring in the oil while mixing, and subbing vinegar for lemon juice since we're low on lemons. (Will have to do more experiments another time to figure out what matters here.)

Morning of day 1: Head out for a long day hike. We enjoyed this one in Purisima Creek, starting from the downhill parking spot. Don't really eat lunch, just some trail mix and snacks.

Evening of day 1: Return from hike. Make smashburgers as written. Non-beef ingredients: homemade buns, homemade mayo, Sonoma Brinery bread&butter pickles, chopped lettuce, TJs american cheese, plus KSA on the side. Cooking utensils: cast iron skillet to cook on, mostly-flat metal pan lid to smash, bench scraper to flip, regular metal spatula to lift and transfer. Anna was happy after one burger and overly full after 1.5; Matt was happy after two burgers and overly full after finishing the rest of Anna's second.

Actual wedding cake!

Passionfruit lemon curd
7x batch of this. Made in one go on Mon 4/18

300g deseeded frozen passionfruit cubes
260g lemon juice (half regular, half meyer)
28 egg yolks
350g sugar
1/2 t salt

Zest and juice the lemons, and reserve the zest for cake. Separate the eggs, and reserve the whites in 7 batches of 4 whites each for buttercream.

Whisk all ingredients together over a double boiler until thickened. Transfer to a 2-quart freezer-safe container, cool to room temp, then freeze. Makes ~6 cups.

Coconut swiss meringue buttercream
4.5 double batches total. 3 double batches made on Tue 4/19 using the egg whites left over from the curd. The remaining 1.5 double batches made at the last minute on Fri 4/29, and ideally would have been made earlier.

For each double batch:

8 egg whites
400g sugar
5 sticks butter
1/2 c coconut milk powder
10 drops Peychauds
2 t mezcal

Make into swiss meringue buttercream. Each double batch makes ~8c.

Cake

3 4x batches of practice cake, aka 3 double batches adapted from this cake. All made on Sun 4/24.

For each batch:

4 c milk + 1/2 c lemon juice
4 c cake flour (840 g AP flour + 120 g cornstarch)
4 t baking powder
3 t baking soda
2 t salt
4 sticks butter, softened
4 c sugar + 1/4 c lemon zest (750 g + 75g lemon zest sugar)
2 T vanilla
8 eggs

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter the pans, line with parchment, and butter the parchment. Combine milk and lemon juice in a 4c pyrex. Mix together dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl. Cream together the butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Beat in lemon. Add dry ingredients and lemon milk in alternating additions, mixing until almost combined after each addition.

For the first two batches: Put about 3.5 c, 7 c, and 11 c batter in the 6", 9", and 12" pans, respectively. Put the 6" and 9" pans on the upper rack in the oven, and the 12" pan on the lower rack. Bake for 40-45 min, 50-55 min, and 60-65 min, respectively, rotating the pans a quarter turn every 10 min and switching the 12" to the top rack when the 6" is done.

For the last batch: Divide the batter evenly between two 9x13" pans. Switch top and bottom and/or rotate a half turn every 10min. Bake for 55-65 min.

Cool completely, place on cake boards, wrap in several layers of plastic wrap, and freeze. Stash in the freezer at work ;)

Assembly

all curd

all buttercream

all cake

cake boxes

bamboo skewers for dowels

limoncello for brushing

coconut flakes for decorating

cake board and ribbon for presentation

ooni pizza pan and large spatula for stacking

On Thu 4/28, transfer the curd and buttercream from the freezer to the fridge.

On Fri 4/29, fetch all cake layers from the freezer at work. Put the rectangular layers in the freezer and home, and leave out the 6 square cake layers to defrost a bit. For all square layers: level the top, torte, fill with curd, and brush the top with limoncello. (Reserve a quarter of the curd for the sheet cake.) For each size: choose one layer to be the bottom, and frost the top with buttercream. Flip the other layer on top, leveled side down, brush the top with limoncello, and frost the top and sides. Transfer to a cake box and insert dowels. Bring the cake boxes to Pizzaiolo, where they lived in the fridge overnight.

On Sat 4/30 (wedding day!) around noon, go over to Pizzaiolo with decoration, presentation, and stacking supplies, plus extra buttercream and frosting spatula for touchups. Remove the cake boxes from the fridge and stack the cakes on the board. Touch up all frosting. Cover the exposed tops of all layers with coconut. Wrap ribbon around the base of each layer. Go get dressed, go get married, and come back a few hours later to enjoy at the reception! At midnight, bring the leftovers home and leave on the counter.

On Sun 5/1, remove the 2 rectangular cake layers from the freezer. For each layer: level the top, torte, fill with the remaining curd, and brush the top with limoncello. There was enough buttercream left to fill the middle and cover the top but not the sides, which was all I felt like doing at this point anyway. So, fill the middle, stack, frost the top, and cover the top with coconut. Transfer to a cake box, and bring that plus Saturday's leftovers to brunch. Brunch people polished off Saturday's cake and about half of the rectangular cake; bring the rest home and leave on the counter.

On Mon 5/2, eat a bit more cake, then wrap up a nice square of the remaining cake in plastic wrap and freeze for a future celebration.

Lemon passionfruit cake (take 1)

This was a winner! I'm going to do one more trial, tweaking a couple things: more lemon zest in the cake (this will definitely be good), a bit of coconut milk powder in the cake (unsure about this but curious), and using frozen deseeded passionfruit for the curd (texture with the seeds was weird).

 cake:

1 c milk + 2-3 T Meyer lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 c cake flour (210 g AP flour + 30 g cornstarch)
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 stick butter, softened
1 c sugar (200 g)

1 T Meyer lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325F and butter+parchment 2 8" round cake pans. Stir dry ingredients (flour through salt) together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together, then beat in vanilla and eggs until fluffy. Beat in the milk and dry ingredients in alternating additions. Pour batter into pans (440g each) and bake for 23 min until a toothpick comes out clean.

curd:

42g passion fruit goop (1 passion fruit)

45g lemon juice

4 egg yolks

50g sugar

pinch salt

Whisk all ingredients together over a double boiler until thickened.

buttercream:

4 egg whites

200g sugar

3T coconut milk powder 

2.5 sticks butter

5 drops Peychauds

1 t mezcal

Make into swiss meringue buttercream.

Chai, blood orange, and nocino cake

It's that time again—wedding cake time! But this time for me!! (Also for Matt.)

Each component of this cake tasted good on its own as soon as it was made. But trying a slice right after assembling it, the flavors didn't meld well—the blood orange curd was too sharp, the chai cake was too "pumpkin spicy", the nocino buttercream didn't stand up against the other two. However, it tasted much more balanced and mellowed the next day. So, a good place to start, but not the final cake.

cake:

1 c milk
4 chai tea bags
2 c cake flour (210 g AP flour + 30 g cornstarch)
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda

1/2 t cardamom

1/2 t allspice
1/2 t salt

1 stick butter, softened
1 c sugar (200 g)
1 t vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325F and butter+parchment 2 8" round cake pans. Put tea bags in milk, microwave for 2 min, then let steep for another 15 min. Stir dry ingredients (flour through salt) together in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together, then beat in vanilla and eggs until fluffy. Beat in the milk and dry ingredients in alternating additions. Pour batter into pans (440g each) and bake for 25 min until a toothpick comes out clean.

blood orange curd:

4 egg yolks
1/4 c sugar (50g)
1/2 c citrus juice (6 T blood orange + 2 T Meyer lemon)

1 T Grand Poppy
pinch salt

Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a small saucepan, then whisk in the juices and salt. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, for several minutes until thick. Pour through a sieve into a small bowl and put in the fridge until needed.

swiss meringue buttercream:

4 egg whites
1 c sugar (200 g)
2.75 sticks butter, slightly softened and cut into chunks
2 T nocino
pinch salt

Bring some water to a simmer in the bottom of your favorite double boiler substitute. In the top, place the egg whites and sugar. Beat constantly for 7 minutes until thick and glossy. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and whisk at medium speed for 4-6 minutes until the bowl is a neutral temperature and the meringue holds stiff peaks. With the mixer running, add the butter one chunk at a time, mixing until it looks like frosting. Toss in a bit of salt and the nocino, and beat briefly to combine.

Cornmeal blueberry pecan pancakes

Just like all our other breakfasts these days, pancakes too must contain TJs dried wild blueberries and pecans.

2/3 c flour

1/3 c cornmeal

1/3 c almond flour

1/3 c TJs dried blueberries

1/3 c chopped pecans

2 T brown sugar

1/2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

2 eggs

3/4 c greek yogurt

3/4 c milk

1/4 c oil

splash of vanilla or whiskey

Mix together dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl or 4c pyrex. Mix together wet ingredients (eggs through vanilla) in a 4c or 2c pyrex. Stir wet into dry until combined. Cook like pancakes (heat griddle to 400F, brush with butter, reuse the 1/3 c measure to drop batter onto griddle).

Radicchio & pomegranate salad

This salad played the role of both salad and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving this year. The dressing would be cloying on a lettuce salad, but is just right with the bitter radicchio. I've also done something similar with kale instead of endive, and that worked great too.

Place in a serving bowl:

1 head radicchio, thinly sliced

4 endives, leaves torn off

2 carrots, thinly sliced

seeds of 1 pomegranate

generous amount of pistachios

Mix together to make a dressing:

4 T walnut oil

2 T pomegranate molasses

2 T balsamic vinegar

2 T honey

salt & pepper

Toss the salad with the dressing (you'll probably want most of the dressing, but you may not want it all).

Mushroom impossible wellington

Vegetarian Thanksgiving main-dish success! Making all the components took a bit of time on Wednesday, but actually getting it in the oven on Thursday was painless. 

I'm so out of practice at this whole blogging thing that I didn't take good notes as I was going. So, this will be some rather vague hints, which you can take in any direction you like. If it helps, this is what the different filling components looked like:

The different filling components, from outside to inside:

• 2 portabellos, thinly sliced. Sear until juices are cooked off.
• 3 onions, thinly sliced. Caramelize in olive oil; season with salt, pepper, and a generous amount of fresh herbs (rosemary, marjoram, sage); deglaze with apple cider vinegar. After cooking down, this made a bit less than 1 pint. Half went into the impossible filling, and the other half was its own filling layer.
• 1 lb crimini mushrooms (minced) + 1/2 lb oyster mushrooms (roughly torn). Cook in butter until juices are cooked off; season with salt, pepper, and truffle oil; deglaze with balsamic. After cooking down, this made a bit more than 1 pint.
• 1 pack (12 oz) impossible ground beef, with the following kneaded in by hand: half the caramelized onions, 6 cloves of garlic (minced), 1 T mustard, pumpkin seeds (roughly chopped, perhaps 1/4 c - 1/2 c?). Mold into a cylinder that's as long as you want the final wellington to be, and sear until browned on all sides (similar to making one huge kofta).

To assemble the fillings: Lay out a big piece of plastic wrap (I overlapped two pieces to get it wide enough). Space out the portabello slices to cover a rectangular area that's as wide as your impossible log, and a bit longer than the diameter of the log. Spread the remaining half of the caramelized onions over the portabellos, then spread the other mushrooms over the onions. Place the impossible log on the end of the rectangle, and use the plastic wrap to roll it up into a log.

Before and after rolling:

I did all that on Wednesday afternoon, and put the plastic-wrapped filling log in the fridge overnight.

For the crust, I used the rough puff from Bon Appetit. I made a full recipe (2 lb) on Wednesday, wrapped it in plastic, and put in the fridge overnight. On Thursday, I sliced off used half of it (1 lb) for the wellington. The other half is in the freezer for another adventure soon, maybe apple turnovers?

To assemble and bake: Preheat the oven to 425F. Roll out the crust to a rectangle ~2 inches larger in both dimensions than the filling rectangle was. Beat an egg with a splash of milk, and brush a bit on 3 edges of the rectangle. Unwrap the filling log from its plastic, and carefully transfer onto the un-egged edge of the crust (I did this by rolling it off from the plastic, since the outer layers were falling off a bit). Roll the log up in the crust, and tightly seal the 3 egged edges. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, brush with more egg wash, and gently score the surface in a diamond pattern with a long knife. Bake for 30 min at 425F, then turn down to 375F and bake for another 20 min until it's beginning to be golden brown even in the cuts. (I turned down the heat in order to get the pie baking too—if you don't have other oven needs, it might brown even better if you keep the temperature higher.)

Bourbon chocolate pecan pie

Laura's Thanksgiving classic, in the original hand-written:

 

And written out for easier searching:

pie crust (eg 1/2 recipe from here)

3/4 c light corn syrup

1 c brown sugar

1/4 c melted butter

3 eggs

3 T bourbon

1.5 t vanilla

1/4 t salt

1 1/4 c pecans (halves & pieces)

2/3 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Make the crust and put in a pie pan. Combine everything except the nuts and chocolate, and beat until well blended. Sprinkle all the chocolate chips and 1/2 c of the nuts (ideally the smaller pieces) over the bottom of the crust. Pour in the filling, then sprinkle with the remaining nuts on top (ideally the halves & larger pieces). Bake for 45 min until softly set in the center. Cool, and serve with whipped cream.

Kofta

Based on David Lebovitz, based on Tartine All Day. Beyond Meat ground beef is seriously good in this. Ground lamb is great too, and presumably other animal-based ground meats would also be good. But if you want to surprise and impress a carnivore with plant-based meat, I'd recommend this highly.

1/4 c bulgur

1 lb Beyond Meat ground beef (or animal-based ground meat substitute)

1 shallot (or 1/2 red onion), grated or minced

1/4 c - 1/2 c assorted chopped herbs (parsley, mint, etc)

1 t baharat (or ras al hanout)

1 t cumin

1 t salt

1 t harissa

a few grounds of pepper

Put the bulgur in 1c pyrex. Cover with boiling water (up to around the 1/2 c mark) and let sit while you chop the herbs & etc.

Combine everything else in a medium bowl and add in the bulgur. Squish together with your hands until homogenous. Form into ~15 palm-sized egg-shaped balls.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium. Place in as many kofta as will comfortably fit in your pan, and fry on each side for a couple min until browned (I rotate mine twice, browning on 3 sides). Fry remaining batches.

Tart cherry pie

For years, Laura has been talking about the sour cherries from the tree in her yard growing up, and the pie that her mom would make with them. But we'd never found sour cherries around here—until Yasai had some this week! They were labeled "tart" instead of "sour", and that was accurate (not too sour and not too sweet). So of course Laura called her mom and got the OG recipe. Pretty proud that the resulting pie lived up to Laura's memory! Also including Laura's classic pie crust recipe here, in an appropriate amount for a 9" double-crust pie.

filling:
4 c (or more) sour cherries, pitted (turns out metal straws work quite well as cherry pitters!)
2 T tapioca starch (presumably cornstarch or other thickeners would work too)
3/4 c sugar (up to 1.5 c for tarter cherries, down to 1/2 c for sweeter cherries)
1/2 t almond extract
1/2 t salt

pie crust:
2 c flour
1 t salt
scant 3/4 c shortening
4-5 T ice water + vodka


Preheat the oven to 425F. Pit the cherries and mix all the filling ingredients together, and set aside while you make the crust.

Prep for the crust: Mix the flour and salt in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, put some water, a glug or two of vodka, and a couple ice cubes. Prep the area where you're going to roll out the pie crust.

Now it's time to get your hands dirty! Cut the shortening into pieces and drop into the flour. Rub the shortening into the flour until it's flaky and crumbly. Add 4 T of the ice water/vodka, and gently mix in with your fingers to moisten; add another tablespoon if needed. Press the dough together to form a ball, and divide the dough in half to form two balls.

On your prepped surface, roll out the first ball of dough and transfer to the pie pan. Fill with the filling. Roll out the second ball of dough, cut into strips, and weave the strips into a lattice on top of the filling. Press the edges of the lattice into the lower crust, and form an even edge around the crust (I didn't have quite enough crust to form a nice crimp or anything).

Bake at 425F for 20 min. Cover the edge with foil, turn the heat down to 350F, and bake for another 20 min until nicely browned and bubbling. Let cool for a bit before eating with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Lockdown bread for lunch

I made this on one of the first lockdown days, and I’ve made it every few days since then. Almost exactly the King Arthur recipe.

Things I love about it:

• Taste and crumb have been great when I overproofed it, when I put the formed loaf in the fridge overnight, and when I made it on the schedule shown here.
• It uses sourdough starter but also uses yeast, so it’s delicious but also speedy. Wake up at a reasonable time and have fresh bread for lunch.
• Besides what you’re feeding the starter, it’s all whole-grain flours, which have been more in-stock in my local stores and also help keep it feeling like healthy-times. 
• Oh and it’s also just a really versatile loaf-pan bread for sandwiches, toast, just some butter, etc.

255 g warm water (a bit more than a cup)
1 t yeast
2 T honey
2 T butter
340 g whole wheat flour (3 c)
227 g happy sourdough starter
1/4 c semolina
1/4 c wheat germ
1/4 c cornmeal
1 t salt
1/3 c assorted seeds/oats

8:05 am: Put a large bowl on a kitchen scale. Add the water and sprinkle on the yeast, and wait a couple min to hydrate. In the meantime, microwave together the honey and butter.

8:10 am: Add all the ingredients to the bowl except the oats/seeds. Stir until it comes together, but don’t knead yet—wait a 10-20 min to hydrate.

8:30 am: Knead in the bowl for 5-7 min. Cover the bowl with a shower cap and let rise until doubled (60-90 min).

10 am: Butter a loaf pan, and put the seeds/oats on a wide plate. Deflate the dough and gather into a log as long as the loaf pan. Roll the dough in the seeds/oats to cover the outside, then place into the loaf pan. Cover with the shower cap and let rise for another 60-90 min. (If this stage is taking an inconvenient amount of time, you can wrap the loaf pan in a plastic bag and stick in the fridge for at least 8 hr.)

11 am: Start the oven preheating to 350F.

11:15 am: The bread will be risen above the edge of the pan. Put in the oven and bake for 45 min. It will get golden brown but not dark, with little or no oven spring.

Noon: You have bread! You should wait at least a few min to let it cool before slicing though.

Pineapple fried rice

Coronavirus quarantine -> restarting the blog!!

This made one very full wok, about 6 servings. I’m clearly out of practice with blogging since I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but here’s a shot of the mise en place:

1 red onion
1 large jalepeno
2in piece ginger
1 bell pepper, or a few multicolored baby bell peppers
2 carrots
2-3c green beans
2-3c diced pineapple (half a large pineapple)
1c cashews
1c diced smoked tofu (or more if you have it)
3 T soy sauce
2 T fish sauce
juice of 1 lime
2 eggs, beaten
4c cooked rice
1/2 bunch green onions
1 bunch Thai basil

Prep: Cook the rice. Mince the jalapeño and ginger together. Julienne the onion, bell pepper, and carrots. Trim the green beans and cut in half. Peel and dice the pineapple (or for bonus points, cut the pineapple in half and scoop out the innards leaving two boats intact). Beat the eggs. Slice the green onions and basil.

Heat sesame oil in a wok. Add the onion, then jalapeño and ginger, then carrots, then bell pepper, then green beans, then pineapple, then cashews, then tofu, stir frying for a minute or two between each addition. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, and lime. Cook until all veggies are tender and the liquid is partially reduced. Drizzle the egg over the top and cook without stirring until the egg is set, then stir it in. Stir in the rice, green onions, and basil, along with another glug of sesame oil, and cook until the rice is heated through and ideally browning a bit.

For bonus points, scoop some of the fried rice into the pineapple boats and bake. We were tired after a nice long hike so we didn’t do the bonus version this time ;)

Serve with sriracha to taste.

Black forest cake

Slightly modified from King Arthur to accompany an impromptu high tea. Happy birthday Judy and happy holidays to all!

cake:
1 c Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 c flour
2 c sugar
2 t baking powder (or 1.5 t at altitude)
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
4 eggs
2/3 c vegetable oil
2 t vanilla
2 c buttermilk

toppings:
2 c whipping cream
1 t vanilla
1/2 c powdered sugar
kirsch, if you have it
21oz can cherry pie filling (eg "Kroger extra cherry pie filling")

Preheat the oven to 350F (or 365F at altitude). Grease 3 9" round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper (it stuck pretty badly without parchment).

In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (cocoa powder through salt) until well combined and any chunks are broken up. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the wet ingredients (oil through buttermilk) until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in three additions, whisking after each addition until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the pans and bake for 25-30 min (~20 min at altitude) until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 15 min, then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely.

In a stand mixer, beat the cream and vanilla until soft peaks form. Add the powdered sugar and beat until stiff.

Transfer one cake layer onto a thin cutting board, then slide onto a serving platter. Brush with kirsch if you have it. Spoon on about a third of the whipped cream and spread to cover most of the surface of the cake, leaving a thin border of cake uncovered (so there's room for the cream to squish out a bit) and making the outer edge of the cream slightly taller than the middle (so it will mostly contain the cherries). Spoon on about a third of the cherry pie filling. Repeat with the other two cake layers. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Colorado no-knead bread

Matt's mom has had trouble with bread at >5k feet elevation. After doing some research, I have now made my first no-knead dough and made my first high-altitude bread! Besides sticking to the pan a bit, everything worked pretty much as intended.

3.5 c cool or warm water
3/4 t yeast
1 T honey
4 c bread flour
2 c whole wheat flour
1 T salt

3/4 c caramelized walnuts, whole or coarsely chopped
3/4 c raisins

3/4 c olives, whole or coarsely chopped

cloves from 1 head roasted garlic

Mix the water, yeast, and honey together in a big bowl (or stand mixer) until the yeast and honey are dissolved. Add the flours and salt, and mix (using a wooden spoon, dough hook, and/or your hand) until combined and beginning to get elastic. The dough will be too wet to knead normally, but that's ok. Cover tightly with spray-greased plastic wrap and let rise on the counter for 4 hours until doubled.

Gently deflate the dough and split in half. For each half: spread a little bit of oil on a cutting board, place the dough on the board and press to spread it out a bit, press the fillings on (one with walnuts + raisins, one with olives + garlic), stretch and fold the dough over the fillings to enclose and incorporate, place the dough in a medium spray-greased bowl, and cover tightly with spray-greased plastic wrap. Let rise on the counter for 30min then continue rising in the fridge for 2 hours until almost doubled.

Put a large dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 450F for half an hour. Take out the (hot!) dutch oven, take off the (hot!) lid, dump in the first batch of dough, replace the (hot!) lid, return to the oven, and turn the heat down to 425F. Bake covered for 30min then uncovered for 10-15 min. Transfer to a cooling rack and bake the second batch the same way. The first loaf stuck to the pan a bit, and the second loaf stuck to the brown paper we put down—maybe parchment or grease is the answer? Regardless, let cool at least a little bit before eating.

Hazelnut praline

Following this recipe, more or less. You can almost certainly double it, but I undercooked the batch that I doubled—your mileage may vary.

1 c sugar
2 T water
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 c hazelnuts

Combine the sugar, water, and vinegar in a saucepan small enough so that the mixture covers the bottom, but large enough so that the mixture isn't too deep. Stir to moisten all the sugar. Cover a baking sheet with parchment.

Turn the heat on to medium and cook without stirring (swirling is ok) until the full surface of the caramel is bubbling. Continue to cook without stirring for another 3-5 min or until your desired level of golden brown is reached. Dump in the hazelnuts, quickly stir to coat, and quickly pour onto the parchment in a single layer. Let cool completely.

Nutella cupcakes

An abbreviated record of some seriously delicious cupcakes.

2/3 batch of this cake, with extra nutella-like things.

cake:
1.5 oz TJs pound plus, roughly chopped
1/3 c cocoa powder
2/3 c hot coffee
1 T frangelico
1/3 c nutella
2 T sour cream
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 325F. Place paper liners in 24 mini cupcakes and 10-12 regular cupcakes.

In a small bowl, place the chocolates, and pour the coffee and frangelico over them. Let sit to melt, then stir together until smooth. Stir in the nutella and sour cream. In a separate small bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and eggs. Add the dry ingredients and chocolate mixture in several alternating additions, beating after each addition until just combined.

Scoop a tablespoon or a bit less batter into each mini cupcake, and divide the rest of the batter between the regular cupcakes. Bake the minis for 17 min and the regulars for a bit longer min. Let cool completely before frosting.

frosting:
3 egg whites
3/4 c sugar
2 sticks butter, softened

1/4 c frangelico

8 drops Scrappy's chocolate bitters

Make into swiss meringue buttercream.

Paneer Tikka Masala, Bonus Veggies Version

[guest post by Amy]

Happy Halloween!
This is a bit of tweak on a recipe I loved from Cook's Hideout, Kashmiri Tikka Masala. I had the best paneer tikka masala ever recently, with tons of spices, raisins and almonds in the dish.  Added vegetables because dating a vegetarian, and trying to sneak veggies into more things!

Marinade: Mix together and divide in half.
.5 c greek yogurt
1 t chili powder
1 t Garam masala
.5 t cumin
1 T lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste, about .5 t each

Add to: (seperate bowls)
1 c paneer
1 head of cauliflower
Let sit for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

Masala sauce:
3 T ghee
1 red pepper
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic (opt)
.25 c almonds
.25 c raisins
1 c tomatoes
.25 c whipping cream
.5 t chili powder
.5 t Garam Masala
.25 t cumin
1 T Sriracha, or cayenne to taste
.5 t salt

Garnishes and optional:
1 c peas
Basmati rice
Naan
Preserved lemons/guava (Anna had some by chance, it was a great addition!)
3 T cilantro (I leave it as a garnish, for people to add as they wish)

Heat ghee in heavy bottomed pot, then add onion, garlic, pepper, almonds, and raisins. Cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Try not to be distracted by trick-or-treaters. While that's cooking, sauté cauliflower on high heat, stirring occasionally and covering with whatever pot lid you have lying around. Add remaining ingredients and blend with immersion blender. Put back on stove on low heat,  taste and adjust seasoning, add peas if using, and griddle paneer on each side until golden brown. Add to sauce, and you're all set!

Boulevardier cupcakes

Happy birthday John! At the birthday boy's request: cupcakes based on the boulevardier cocktail. Turns out, subbing out most of the liquid in a cake for booze works pretty well, at least in mini cupcake format. (I can imagine the texture might get a bit gummy in a full layer cake though.) And the tangy dark chocolate frosting sets off the edge of complex bitterness of the cupcake delightfully.

Makes about 4 dozen mini cupcakes. This amount of frosting was just barely enough—if you'd rather have too much than too little, you can scale up the frosting recipe. I kind of wish I had, because then I'd have an excuse to try this frosting as a donut filling... next time!

cake:
2 c flour
3/4 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 c bourbon
1/4 c red vermouth
1/4 c Campari
1/4 c milk
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350F and put liners in the cupcake pans. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour through salt) and set aside; same with the liquids (bourbon through milk). Beat together the butter and sugars until fluffy, then beat in each egg one at a time. In 3 alternating additions, beat the dry and liquid ingredients into the batter until just combined. Fill cupcake pans and bake for 10 min or until a tester comes out clean.


frosting:

1/2 bag Guittard extra dark chocolate chips, melted
1/3 c cream cheese, softened
2/3 c sour cream
2 T corn syrup
pinch salt
a few dashes Fee Brothers barrel aged bitters

Melt the chocolate chips until smooth, eg in a double boiler. Beat together the other ingredients until smooth and fluffy. Slowly pour in the chocolate, beating as you go. Pipe onto the cupcakes.