DARING BAKERS: Caramel Cake & Caramels

This month's challenge was a challenge because I waited until the busiest week to make them, Thanksgiving week. I put the challenge off for so long because everyone was saying how sweet they were! I am not really into heavily sugared sweets, not usually anyway. However, I knew my kids would like them. The idea of them reminded me of my favorite childhood sweet, butterscotch, Tasty Cakes! They were never available here in NY so we always bought them when visiting our relatives in Pennsylvania. Now, they are sold here. However, I no longer like them. Too sweet.

This challenge was sweet but they were so TASTEY. They had so much flavor. The frosting was so yummy with the browned butter whipped in. I highly recommend this cake as the "tastey-WOW" factor was so there!
I sprinkled some fleur de sel on mine. Oh so good!


The leading lady for this month's Daring Baker challenge is Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/) and her signature caramel cake. We also had the option of doing, Alice Medrich’s Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels. Which I did an Espresso Caramel.

Helping her (http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/) host this month are Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo: http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/), Jenny of Foray into Food (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/). And helping the Alternative bakers,Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/).


CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
The Cake recipe comes from: author Shuna Fish Lydon’s with her recipe here at: (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2006 … he-recipe/)

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature


Preheat oven to 350F. Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)

In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back. One DB'er suggested covering the pot with a piece of tin foil that had a whole in it. I did that, pouring my water into that hole. It contained the splatter!

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

(recipes above courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon)

GOLDEN VANILLA AND ESPRESSO CARAMELS
- makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels -
adapted from Alice Medrich, PURE DESSERT

Ingredients
1 cup golden syrup
2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoon instant espresso
1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

Equipment
A 9-inch square baking pan
Candy thermometer

Procedure

Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F. Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

Celeriac, Celery Root, it's all the same

I have been wanting to try celeriac, aka celery root, for some time. You see I have this great cookbook called The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden. There a few recipes in there that call for celeriac. I had never heard of it before so I was curious. I never saw it at the markets but then I didn't know what it looked like. I suspect it was there but I just looked right over it thinking maybe if I saw it, "what the heck is that ugly thing?" Check it out here at Kat's blog to see a pic of it.

Anyway, this pretty little thing, ehem, not so pretty, tastes a lot like celery but milder. It acts a lot like a potatoe.

Here is the recipe I used and I must say it was SUPER tastey!

CELERIAC IN OLIVE OIL
Recipe from Claudia Roden, The New Book of Middle Eastern Food

1 celeriac , weighing about 1 pound
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 of a lemon, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
s and p
pinch of sugar

Peel the celeriac, and cut into 3/4 inch cubes. Saute gently in olive oil until lightly colored. Add a little water, barely to cover, and stir in lemon juice, turmeric, salt, pepper, and sugar. Simmer about 25 minutes, until the celeriac is tender and the liquid is considerably reduced. Eat hot or cold.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you to all of you who visit my site. I love reading your comments. They mean a lot to me. It's fun to visit your sites and see what you are up to as well.

At Thanksgiving we all reflect on what we are thankful for. It's really a nice tradition but really should be practiced every day. I am grateful for many things. I try to say thank you to God, "the Universe", whatever you want to call it, as much as I can. The things I am most grateful for are my family and friends. When all is said and done, that is all that really matters.

Like we say every night with our kids, "... God bless all our family, all our friends and all the people of the world."

Kale Stuffed Phyllo Triangles and Baklava

I don't know if you ever worked with Phyllo. It is a delicate creature. Dries quickly and falls apart. If you keep a damp towel over it, it gets too moist. At least for me anyhow. I use my classic cereal bags to keep the dough covered while I work. Seems to work better for me. I don't buy phyllo ahead of time anymore because it seems to dry out too much in the freezer. I only buy it when I am ready to use it.

I decided to use kale as I had it on hand, instead of the traditional spinach. Most of the other traditional ingredients I did put in. Having the ingredients prepared ahead of time makes this super easy.

These were very good. My family loved them and preferred them over the spinach ones, stating they had more flavor this way.

KALE PHYLLO TRIANGLES
Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness Original

4 cups kale, boiled, squeezed and chopped
8 oz feta
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried dill
4 onions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted (you will not use it all, unless of course you want to)

Saute onions until golden. Add minced garlic, cook one minute more. Combine feta and kale, oregano, dill, and egg. Add ojions and garlic once they are cool. Mix together. Place one phyllo sheet on the work table. Brush with butter and lightly sprinkle with bread crumbs. Fold sheet in half length wise. Brush with butter again. Place about a 1/2 of a cup of filling on phyllo corner. Fold over into a triangles and continue to fold up to the end.

Place folded trinagle and sprayed cookie sheet. Cover with a damp cloth. Bake triangles in a 375 F oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, until golden.

And, of course, with the leftover phyllo I made... baklava. It was a last minute idea. I didn't really use a recipe per se, just the idea of what it would be.

I put a layer of phyllo, brushed with butter.
Sprinkle crushed (toasted) walnuts over the phyllo.
Sprinkled cinnamon over that.
Drizzled honey over that (about a 1/4 cup)

Repeated this process until the phyllo was gone.

I baked it at 350 F until golden. I wished I had cut it then when it came out. I poured vanilla infused simple syrup over the top while it was hot. I got this idea from a recipe I pulled up while the baklava was in the oven. It would have been better looking if I had followed the recipe. But you know what? It's good anyhow.

Graham Turkeys turn into Hello Dollies!

Grace from a Southern Grace made these creations called Hello Jollies. Check here to see her funny post. She has lots of funny posts actually. The girl has a great sense of humor. She so inspired me to make these!

I knew when I got home from grocery shopping that I forgot something. It was the graham crackers. I wasn't about to run out to the store, although it would have been a heck of a lot faster, so I made graham crackers. I have been wanting to make them homemade for a while. So here was my opportunity. I got online and I was visiting the people who have been visiting my blog when lo and behold, Maria, from Two Peas and Their Pod had a graham cracker recipe right there. It sounded good. I gathered the ingredients and decided to let my kids do some cut outs. Of course they love that kind of thing. We used a turkey cut out to be festive and made turkey graham crackers.

Then afterward I massacred them. I didn't let the kids see of course. I saved a few for them. They sure didn't mind the end result!

They were crushed into crumbs and then swirled in butter to create this yummy crust. for the Hello Dollies, I mean Jollies.



Graham Crackers
Two Peas and Their Pod

½ cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 T honey
1 T molasses
¼ cup water, plus a little more if it is too dry

Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Cut in the butter until the texture is dry and crumbly.

In a small bowl, mix the honey, molasses, and water. Mix with the dry ingredients until blended in the food processor. Pulse the dough until it forms a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface to 1/8 of an inch. Place them on an cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown and crisp. Store in an air tight container.

*The only thing I would change here is that I would add just a little bit more sugar, a half of a cup instead of a quarter. Other than that I wouldn't change a thing. They were very tastey and easy to handle.

And the bars.....hmmmm.

Hello Jollies
recipe from A Southern Grace

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup of shredded coconut
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs in an 8x8-inch pan. Mix well and pat down to form the crust. Evenly sprinkle the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and coconut on top of the crust. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the whole mixture.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top becomes light brown.
Let cool in the pan for at least half an hour, in the fridge if necessary, and cut into reasonably-sized bars.

* I made two mistakes when I made these. First I used aluminum foil to cover the pan and man I could not peel that off. I had to cut in from the foil.

The other mistake I made is that I didnt put the coconut on last. Ooops.

A CRAFT and A COOKIE #2

Hey Blonde Duck, I loved your idea and here it is. I think I will keep doing this 'craft and a cookie' thing at least through the Holidays. Every Monday I will post them. I am so enjoying crafting this year. I am discovering lots of talented people who have amazing crafting blogs.

This cookie was a final contender in my cookie picks for Christmas. I doubled the batch. I nearly always double a batch of cookies. I feel if you are going to make cookies might as well go and make a bunch. You can always freeze the extras or share with others. I made cookies out of 1/4 of the dough and froze the rest to make closer to Christmas. These cookies taste as good as they look. I did not have any pretty sugar to put around the edges so I used regular sugar. It didn't matter because they are still very pretty with their red and green colors. The recipe comes from Epicurious.

PISTACHIO CRANBERRY ICEBOX COOKIES
Recipe adapted from Epicurious, to see original click here.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 sticks (1 1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest
• 1 cup shelled pistachios
  
• 2/3 cup dried cranberries (1 1/4 oz)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup decorating sugar or regular
  

Stir together flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter, granulated sugar, and zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until dough just comes together in clumps, then mix in pistachios and cranberries. Gather and press dough together, then divide into 4 equal pieces. Using a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper as an aid, form each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Square off long sides of each log to form a bar, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until very firm, at least 2 hours.

Remove from refrigerator and cut into 1/4 inch slices. (If frozen , defrost in refrigerator). Bake in a 350 F oven for about 15 to twenty minutes. I baked them on a silpat. Let cool a couple minutes and then remove.




This particular craft is from Make and Take Blog. I thought the idea was simple enough to whip up quickly yet durable and thoughtful enough. Little quick crafts are cute but they do not stay around that long. This is something that has some staying power. Even when the kids aren't using them on their dolls anymore, it can be coverted into a dresser cover or a pillow. So I thought why not. Each one takes about two hours. Once all the little squares are cut, it goes real fast.

I did mine a little differently. I did 36- five inch squares. They are a little bigger than Make and Takes. I made a pillow to go with it for the dollies. This particular ruffle around this pillow is from my daughters dress. I loved this dress and just could not let it go. I decided to cut it up and keep it as a keepsake. Some of the dress was cut into squares and the ruffle I used here. The bodice I will be making into a little purse. I will share that later I guess. Another craft day!

Thinking About Thanksgiving

I know most of you are thinking about Thanksgiving. What to make, what to take, what to wear, how to go to several Thanksgivings without getting filled up so that you can't eat for a week, on and on it goes. Well, here's what I am thinking. I have three to seven people coming, I think, I don't know because Old Man Winter has arrived here early. Wow, I can not believe there is so much snow! (Very pretty, I might add!) I so hope they will come. Holidays are so much better with people you love around.

Anyway, I thought I would share with you our menu for Thanksgiving or at least some of it, to pass along an idea or two. So many sites have so many ideas I know, but honestly you can get lost in the deluge. I would love to here what your prized dishes are as well. Especially if you are going to post them after (or before) the Holiday, then I can come to your blog and check them out.

Every year a turkey has been basking in Alton Brown's brine. We (or should I say I) have been doing this for a couple years now. It is moist, flavorful and delicious. It's kind of a pain before hand but well worth it! I also hear there is a dry brine as well. Check that our here at the Bitten Word.

Our brussel sprouts have been doing a dance with green grapes and slivered almonds for many years now. It is amazingly delicious! I literally could fill half my plate with those. (I am not a big fan of mashed potatoes and gravy). Give me turkey, cranberry sauce and my brussel sprouts and I would be perfectly happy.

My stuffing every year has been this one, at epicurious, which is absolutely amazing. This year we are breaking with that tradition to kind of mix things up a little. I will be making one from Martha Stewart with dried cherries and pecans.

And then of course usually we have the mashed sweet potatoes or butternut squash, whichever is easiest to get my hands on. We dont really do anything with that as there is too much in the oven already!

The gravy is an ongoing saga. Why? Because I suck at making gravy! I never make gravy unless it's Thanksgiving. This year I tried this recipe from Woman's Day. It is a "make-ahead" gravy. We'll see how it thaws out. Otherwise I will be making last minute gravy.

The cranberry sauce is usually ground cranberries with sugar and oranges. It's my favorite. This year however I think I would like to try Kevin's cranberry recipe from Closet Cooking. The Pinot Noir in it has me intrigued!

Whew, no wonder Thanksgiving is so anxiety producing for people!

This recipe for the crackers above is okay. I am not completely thrilled with it. It is for my Aunt who has celiac disease. Hi Aunt D! I got the recipe from here. And I know it would be 1000 times better if it was deep fried but I just can't bring myself to deep fry anything, really. So I added some parmesan to the dough and baked them at 350 F. Oh, and have you ever seena curry leaf? It is not where "curry" comes from. It has a very distinct taste. I discovered it earlier this year when I made dinner for our East Indian friend. I fell in love with it. I hate to compare it in this way but it really reminded me of marijuanna. Okay that is not really my thang but its not like I have never been exposed. Anyway, the curry, I don't know, its kind of interesting. Check it out. The pic below is the leaf but it has been frozen. That is why it is a little discolored. Still tastes good though.