Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen

These Might Possibly Be The Best…..

Jayma — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:10:51 +0000

Brownies you will ever make!!!!!! (or eat for that matter!)

This is actually a recipe for Brownie Bites from King Arthur Flour and they provide all sorts of fabulous ideas to really dress up your brownie bites. I made them for a dinner party and just added some confectioner’s sugar after cutting them in the traditional rectangles!

I did not make any changes to the recipe except for omitting the espresso powder which I was out of. (On a side note I’m still kicking myself for not restocking my pantry before Christmas when King Arthur had free shipping and then $3 shipping. I spent way too much yesterday, but that’s another story!). Making the brownies could not be any easier and cleanup was a breeze. The first step of the recipe is to melt the butter in a saucepan and then you end up adding everything to that saucepan before pouring the batter into a cake pan. Loved that! The biggest difference between this recipe and my “old” standby recipe is this recipe calls for the dutch processed cocoa (I used the Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa from KAF) and my “old” recipe requires melting the chocolate down. With this recipe you add chips to the batter which you can see in the photos. I used semisweet chips, a mix of the Nestle’s mini and regular size which is all I had on hand You can see how dark the batter is here:

The brownies were moist, a little fudge like and completely delicious. Completely. I would make these again right now if I had more of the cocoa but alas, I am out and greatly anticipating the arrival of my KAF package. I also purchased this Black Cocoa and will add a little to the recipe next time. I can’t imagine how amazing the brownies will be then.

Scali Bread… The Italian Bread I Didn’t Know I Was Craving!

Jayma — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:40:18 +0000

I came across this recipe for Scali Bread while I was perusing the bread recipes on the King Arthur site and decided to give it a try. I was not familiar with scali bread but after some research found that it is an Italian bread commonly found in Boston. It’s an olive oil enriched Italian bread (which reminded me of my Grandpa’s recipe). After making this bread and nearly eating all of it before dinner, I can attest to the deliciousness of the bread- it completely reminded me of the Italian bread that my Mom would purchase at our local IGA. You have a choice with this recipe whether to make it as a loaf or individual rolls. I made rolls so that I could freeze them and pull out a couple for dinner as we need them! I will need to make this bread on a fairly regular basis to have it around!

So here is the baking adventure through photography:

First came the starter

Before Rising

After the first rising

After the first rising you have to decide whether you are going to make loaves or rolls. Since I opted for rolls, I took the risen dough and divided it into 6 equal pieces. I then rolled the 6 pieces into logs and waited 10 minutes. I then took 3 of the pieces and rolled them out to 28,” brushed them with an egg wash and rolled them in the sesame seeds before braiding them. I then repeated the process with the other remaining logs.

To make the rolls I cut the 2 braids into 6 pieces and tucked the braid ends underneath. This resulted in 12 rolls which then had to rise for the second time, took about 90 minutes.

After 20 minutes in the oven!

Deliciousness!!!!!!!!!

Go Buy This Right Now! Seriously!

Jayma — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:13:39 +0000

There is absolutely no doubt that this is one of my favorite purchases of all time from King Arthur Flour. It completely elevates any recipe that calls for cinnamon. It really is amazing and if you don’t already own it, click on the image, purchase it and then throw out whatever cinnamon you have at home. You’ll never go back!!!!
So the real reason I am singing the praises of this fabulous cinnamon is because it played a starring role in our New Year’s Day breakfast- cinnamon buns. The recipe that I have used (and linked) is for the King Arthur Now or Later Cinnamon Buns. I love this recipe because it allows you to make the buns in advance and then either store them in an air-tight container or freeze them, just to reheat the morning you eat them and then add the icing. It could not be a more perfect recipe because on New Year’s Day, I want to do as little as possible while also indulging in a yummy breakfast (which probably also includes a few blood orange pomegranate mimosas).

Aren’t you hungry just looking at the photo? Can’t you just smell the cinnamon through your computer? Simply fabulous. And really, you do need that cinnamon!

My other New Year’s plans (apart from watching sports for 3 days) including making some hot chocolate and marshmallows. My friend Tara at Cookie Talk originally posted these recipes as part of her Baker’s Dozen Days of Christmas series so check out her reviews there! Both recipes were fairly easy to make (I omitted the cayenne pepper in the hot chocolate) and you definitely want to make sure you dust all parts of the marshmallow pan with the cornstarch/confectioners sugar mix. Good luck getting the marshmallows out of the pan otherwise! I had previously made a Martha Stewart marshmallow recipe which didn’t work out as well as the Alton Brown recipe did this time around. I made my marshmallows into snowflakes- they were a winner!

It’s Been Awhile……

Jayma — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:11:22 +0000

I didn’t realize just how long it has been since I posted on my blog. 2011 was a busy year indeed with plenty of ups and downs. I’m hopeful that I will be back to posting regularly in 2012!

I wrapped up December making no less than 30 dozen cookies. Seriously! 24 dozen were of 6 different Italian cookies that I was hired to make for a catered event- here’s to hoping that springboards into a new business venture! I made Venetians (rainbow cookies), Pignoli, Mostaciolli (chocolate spice cookies), Lemon, lime & pistachio Biscotti, Sesame Cookies and Anginetti (lemon knot cookies). Here are a few shots of those cookies:

Then I got to work on additional cookies for my own Christmas baking. This batch included: cranberry coins, cut outs, chocolate espresso cookies, another batch of pignoli and venetians and even took a stab at making cannoli: The biggest problem I had with the venetians was cutting them. It was especially difficult because I added a chocolate layer on the bottom which broke easily while trying to cut the cookies. The cannoli recipe that I used was from Mario Batali’s Molto Italiano. For a first timer, the recipe left out a lot of critical information- specifically with how to work with the ricotta. It made no mention of draining the ricotta overnight which other recipes I found later mentioned. That will help with the next attempt

For Those Who Enjoy a Good Contest!

Jayma — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:20:22 +0000

Earth Fare Gift Card Giveaway!

Good luck!

FFWD: Gnocchi a la Parisienne

Jayma — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:00:19 +0000

Simply amazing!

And with two words that about wraps up this post!

This was my first time making gnocchi of any kind so I made the recipe over two days. Saturday, I made and formed the gnocchi and then froze them. Not really having a clue how to form gnocchi, I got some assistance from this video I watched on You Tube from Pham Fatale.

Then Sunday I prepared the rest of the recipe and used the parmesan/comté cheese combination.

Before!

The finished product!

This really was delicious!! Very, very rich but boy did it taste every bit like homemade deliciousness! The aroma alone was killer and I paired it with some homemade sourdough bread for good measure. It was a big day for me!

TWD: Hazelnut-Spread Filled Chocolate Madeleines

Jayma — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:00:14 +0000

This week’s recipe was selected by Margo of Effort to Deliciousness and you can find the recipe for these madeleines on her blog! Thanks to Margo this was my first madeleine recipe and I can’t wait to make more!!!

I made this recipe based on a few key factors this week:

1. Snow/ice days (Tuesday is snow day #2 so extra time allows for more baking! Yay! )

2. Newly purchased madeleine pan (many thanks to my Brother & Sister-in-law for the Williams Sonoma gift card for Christmas!)

3. The fact that I had all necessary ingredients (except the heavy cream) in the kitchen

So yes! Right now I’m a little snow/ice stranded here in Atlanta and I don’t mind it one bit since it allows for extra baking/cooking (seriously since Saturday I have made these madeleines, sourdough bread (starting with getting the starter going), pizza (with biga) and the French Fridays with Dorie recipe for the week. So it’s been an awesome weekend!!! And I’m also very grateful that I have a market right across the street that carried eggs & heavy cream to help!

I have to say, the madeleines came out beautifully! Very, very elegant looking and quite tasty. We had a couple and I decided to freeze the rest but I just know they won’t be as delicious as the freshly made ones! I had a little bit of difficulty trying to get the hazelnut spread into the madeleines- which also isn’t too much of a surprise given my limited experience with tips. The spread I used wasn’t Nutella- they had free samples of this other hazelnut spread that I ended up buying (who’s name escapes me!) but was just as yummy

TWD: Midnight Crackles

Jayma — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:00:44 +0000

Happy New Year and Happy 3rd Anniversary TWD!

This first recipe of 2011 was selected jointly by Laurie of Slush and Jules of Someone’s In the Kitchen. First off, many, many thanks to Laurie and Jules for everything they do for Tuesdays with Dorie!!!!! Secondly, head to their blogs to see how these cookies probably should have turned out and to get the recipe so you can give it a shot!

Ok! On to the recipe. Typically, I get along well with all of Dorie’s recipes. Of course at the beginning there were a few issues while I was earning my baking wings but things have been pretty consistent (and very yummy!) ever since. I’m not sure what happened with the crackles! We just did not get on very well together. It started while all the ingredients were mixing- it began as one large ball but by the time I added the entire flour mixture everything came apart and was very crumbly. I wondered if maybe the issue was the stand mixer- was it too small? Was that why it fell apart? Either way, I went to work getting everything back together by hand and what a buttery, slick mess that made! Even after refrigeration the dough firmed up but it was still pretty buttery.

The cookies didn’t crackle so much while in the oven, some split apart but I don’t think that’s what was intended! The flavor of the cookies was pretty decent but the texture wasn’t my favorite (then again my husband kept going back to them again and again for more!). They reminded me in a way of the World Peace Cookies and boy do I love those! I sure am eager to see how they turned out for everyone else!

Holiday Wrap Up

Jayma — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:34:28 +0000

I can’t believe how quickly Christmas and New Year’s have come and gone! All that preparation and then *poof* into 2011 we go. It is my favorite time of the year so I am always a little sad having to face down the rest of winter and look forward to Winter Break in February!

I made more cookies this year (8 different varieties) than I ever had before. The last week of school was incredibly busy with baking every night and at one point my husband came home to have to step around cookies sheets cooling off on the floor just outside the kitchen in our apartment. All of my recipes this year came from: Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies magazine, Dorie’s Baking From My Home to Yours, the Sopranos Family Cookbook (no matter what you think of the show- the book has some GREAT classic Italian recipes), and the King Arthur Flour website where I found some great recipes (and ingredients!)

So where to start? From Martha I made: Chocolate Espresso cookies; Sugar cut outs (I subbed about a teaspoon of fiori di sicilia flavor for some of the vanilla- WOW!!!!!!); White Chocolate Covered Peppermint cookies (think of thin mints covered in white chocolate with peppermint pieces on top); and one of my personal favorites- Cranberry Coins. The cranberry coins were basically ice-box butter cookies with pieces of chopped dried cranberry. I wasn’t sure how they would come out but they were really tasty- and one of the favorites of the recipients of my cookie boxes for Christmas. But back to my favorite secret ingredient for a minute- fiori di sicilia is a citrus flavoring. I used it for the first time in my cut outs and the aroma is incredible alone. Just a little less than a teaspoon really took this cookies to another level and even after they baked you could still smell the citrus. Just amazing. I want to go make a pound cake just to use it again!

Purchase fiori di sicilia here

Two of my favorite cookies to bake for Christmas from BFMHTY are the World Peace cookies (which I ended up making twice because my husband has very little restraint around them) and the Thumbprints for Us Big Guys. I always make thumbprints for Christmas because it seems like the Christmas thing to do. To be honest? I think they are such a pain. I hate how the jam always sticks to the wax paper. These are the things that drive me nuts But I do like how much versatility you have with jam flavorings- of course I went for the raspberry/hazelnut option. The rest of my cookies included Pignoli cookies (from the Sopranos) and I learned that these by far are the stickiest cookies in the world! It was my first time making them and I know it made my Mom happy. Next year I’ll add the rainbow layer cookies to my Italian cookie collection. And to wrap things up for good measure I also made a chocolate amaretti torte!

I made these Egg Nog muffins from King Arthur Flour for my husband to bring in to work and they were spectacular! Even if you are not a fan of egg nog you should consider making them. They weren’t overly egg nog-y, if anything they were incredibly moist. I didn’t use the optional egg nog flavoring, just vanilla.

And I think that wraps things up! Wow that was a lot of baking over a few short weeks! Thanks for sticking with me through this recap. Looking forward to all the baking 2011 has in store! Happy New Year!

TWD: Rewind!

Jayma — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 05:01:46 +0000

For my rewind recipe I made the Holiday Bundt cake. I also made this recipe last year for work but this year I added the maple syrup icing- OH MY!!! This really is one of my favorite bundt recipes- it has all of my favorite holiday flavors and I subbed walnuts for pecans since I didn’t have any. I’m really enjoying all the cranberry recipes this fall! Happy Thanksgiving!!!