Frohe Weihnachten...Merry Christmas!

The 2010 December Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie's Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make Stollen. She adapted a friend's family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart's book...and Martha Stewart's demonstration.

I have to admit that over Christmas even a sweet lover may be overwhelmed by the overdose of sugary goodness. While Stollen is a sweet bread and even dusted with a generous amount of powdered sugar, it is pleasantly not overly sweet. The enjoyable bits of homemade candied zest of meyer lemons and backyard oranges, along with slightly plumped dried cranberries and

lightly toasted almonds added the right balance of sweetness and saltiness.

After several hours of rising/proofing, the fragrant dough is rolled out and rolled up...

With inspiration from Martha Stewart, it is then curled into a circle to make a festive wreath. After baking, the Stollen gets a basting of butter and a generous sifting of powdered sugar. It then looks something like this.

If you can hold yourself back from digging right in, it can then rest on the counter overnight to dry out a little and concentrate the flavors, just like the Germans do. Then on the next morning, cut yourself a little slice and have it with a cup of tea or coffee for a nice treat :)

If you have enough for leftovers the next morning, then you can toast it and spread a little butter for another delicious treat.

Surprisingly this recipe was not too difficult, but simply requires a little planning in advance, as it does take some overnight rising as well as another day of waiting after it is baked. However, take note that it does also freeze well, so you can make it when you have time and then take it out of the freezer when you need it! Here is the recipe for you to enjoy.

Merry Christmas!

It's all about the crust

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

I made a simple rustic tart with blueberry preserves and persimmons. But because of my love for tarts, I also made a lemon curd tart, using a recipe from Julia Childs for the curd (that was delicious). Just the right balance of tartness to sweetness.

Comfort Food

Come on, admit it...no matter how health conscious you may be, isn't it hard to pass up a good donut? I'm not necessarily talking about Dunkin' Donuts here, however some may be fans of that establishment. I'm talking about those mom 'n pop shops with the homemade-tasting deliciousness...that crisp outside with a light and airy inside, with just the right amount of sugary glaze on the outside. Mmm...

Well, lucky for us, the October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Newmann and Epicurious.

I have always (secretly) wanted to make donuts, but never had an excuse to do so...until now! The DB challenge allowed me to choose from 4 different types of donuts: yeast donuts, buttermilk cake donuts, pumpkin cake donuts, and bombolini (Italian-style, jam-filled donuts). And, since I was breaking out the industrial-size container of canola oil, I figured I might as well make as many different varieties as I could. Alas, the only one I did not make was the bombolini. Guess that will have to be another day...

Making donuts is actually not too difficult, as it may seem. First off, make your dough, roll it out, and cut out your shapes, just like making biscuits - with a hole in the middle:

Next, throw it in the fryer at about 365F:

Then, drain them on paper towls, and either roll in cinnamon-sugar...

or top with a delicious glaze, such as this blueberry glaze:

The above donuts were the buttermilk cake donuts that were quite tasty. The blueberry glaze was the clear favorite. However, Lily didn't seem to mind the cinnamon-sugar donut holes :)

For the next experiment, I made yeast donuts that I glazed with a bowl-licking chocolate glaze and pumpkin cake donuts with a simple sugar glaze (the donut holes got the cinnamon-sugar treatment):

I also made some blueberry-glazed yeast donuts and some sugar-glazed donut holes.

All in all, I had a very happy husband and some happy friends, who gladly helped me to eat up this little DB challenge. The favorites of the lot were the chocolate-glazed donuts, the blueberry-glazed buttermilk cake donuts, and my favorite was the pumpkin cake donut. Ahh...choices!

If you feel up for a little homemade treat, I recommend the recipes we used for the donuts. Check it out at: http://thedaringkitchen.com/sites/default/files/u11/48_Doughnuts_-_DB_Oct_2010.pdf.

As for the glazes:

1. The blueberry glaze consisted of confectioner's sugar, organic blueberry preserves, and enough heavy cream to make a thick glaze.

2. The chocolate glaze came from Alton Brown: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/chocolate-doughnut-glaze-recipe/index.html

Work (and play) around the house

Recently, in a small group we joined, our "ice breaker" was to have everyone go around and tell the group the details of their day. It ended up being really interesting to understand how each person spends their day and what it is that they do in a given day at work.

Well, I figured it might be interesting to take a look at how our dear Lily spends her time! You see, Lily at the ripe age of (almost) 16 months old, is running, climbing, operating electronics, and loves spending time outdoors digging in the dirt and "gardening." We feel that the activity level has amped up significantly in the past couple of months. As Jason has said, it's a good thing she loves books, because that is the most sedentary thing that she does - Lily goes to the bookshelf, pulls off a book, plops down in her bean bag and flips through a good picture book!

So, back to Lily's day! Lily usually wakes up and hollers down the hallway, "da da...ma ma...da da...ma ma" until one of us goes to get her from her crib. After she has some milk, we (try to) snuggle in bed before heading to the kitchen for breakfast...usually consisting of banana, plain yogurt, toast, and maybe some scrambled egg. When she is finished, she says "da done" and signs "all done" simultaneously. After that, she is off and running. I have included some pictures of some of the things that she enjoys doing with her free time:

Lately, she can't get enough of playing the piano.

It's hard to keep her seated, as she much prefers to stand up and tickle the ivories:

She also loves to play with a toy drum that plays music. Here she has set up shop on a console table, where she has scooted a stereo speaker back just enough to fit her little bottom:

Next, is not what we see in a typical day, but this is a good example of what happens when mommy is not watching Lily and the gate was not up to block off the office...Lily has confiscated the computer and is opening all kinds of windows I wouldn't begin to know how to open. However, I like to think she is just advanced for her age and sending out emails :)

Lastly, a day wouldn't be complete without hours of time in the backyard, kicking balls, digging in the dirt, and watering the plants. I can't tell you how much this girl loves to be outside. Here she is watering the mint (repeatedly) and then signs "more" while saying "ma" so that I will refill her tiny watering can.

Lily eats lunch around noon and then heads off for a 2 hour nap at 1p.m. When she wakes up, it's off to play "hide the monkey" (her monkey is one of her favorite stuffed animals), or chase Lily around with the threat of a tickle. At around 6, Lily has dinner and is off to bed by 7:30 (after a bath and a story, of course!).

As I am sure you guessed, there are many variations on her day, including out of the house activities :) However, this gives you a little snapshot into a day in the life of Liliana Grace! Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of our little active girl!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for...

Another month has flown by and more variations on an ice cream cake can be found here!  Let's just say my ice cream maker has been getting a work out!

The August 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking.  For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter.  Elissa chose to challenge the Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours.  The sources for Elissa's challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop".

Somehow Jason convinced me to make both...for his office party.  The first is an old American classic: the Baked Alaska.  It looks much harder than it was to actually make.  The base was a browned butter cake that I topped with a coat of peach puree. 

Topping the cake was a peach gelato made with mascarpone that was frozen in a bombe shape. 

 

The cake was then finished off with a piping of meringue that was torched right before serving.

Here it is after using my kitchen torch:

The second dessert was an ice cream petit four that was delicious, but much more complicated to get together.  I used David Lebovitz's recipe for a mint chocolate chip ice cream.  Mmm...we're talking fresh mint infused for 1 hour in the cream and finished off with chocolate stracciatella/chips.  

The ice cream was sandwiched between 2 layers of the browned butter cake.  After cutting the cake into little squares, the entire thing was dipped into ganache and frozen.  I topped each petit four with a candied mint leaf for good looks :)  Unfortunately, they didn't look as pretty as I had hoped, but I think the taste made up for it!

For the recipe, check it out here.

Ice Cream Cake (on steroids)

Ahhh...summer!  While the end of June and beginning of July brought Santa Barbara our typical "June gloom" weather, overcast days with the sun sometimes peaking out in the afternoon, we have finally had a little warmth this past week.  And, of course, with the warm weather comes the hankering for some cold treats!  Fortunately for us, this month's challenge for the Daring Bakers involved ice cream :)

The July 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita's world - life and food.  Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that's then used to make a bombe with hot fudge.  Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I was excited and not too daunted by this task, as I have made all of the components of this cake before, but just had never put it all together in this form.  My imagination for flavor combinations went wild, and I decided to go with a "mud pie" theme using a delicious coffee ice cream recipe from Gina DePalma's "Dolce Italiano" cookbook.  

The swiss roll was made up of a chocolate sponge cake recipe that I pulled from Emily Luchetti's "Stars" cookbook and filled/rolled it with a caramel cream, simply heavy cream whipped with a cold homemade caramel until thick.  I then sliced the swiss roll into rounds that were placed in a bowl to create the outside of the ice cream bombe cake, like so...

I then softened the coffee ice cream, made with Peet's coffee, of course, and spread it inside the swiss roll.  After the ice cream froze again, I spread a homemade fudge on top.  But, this is where things started to go awry!  You see, it is important to have completely frozen layers before adding the next one, and my layers were just not freezing fast enough to have the whole thing ready for our party that evening.  

The coffee ice cream started melting again, so I ran to the freezer to hopefully save the whole thing from turning into soup!  Meanwhile, back at the ice cream maker, I attempted to make a beautiful stracciatella ice cream with a vanilla ice cream base and light flaky chocolate sprinkled throughout.  However, the ice cream went from hard chocolate chunks to a chocolate ice cream!  So, the base layer became chocolate ice cream.  Not the worst thing in the world.  

In order to create the "mud pie" effect, I made chocolate shortbread cookies from Thomas Keller's "ad hoc home" cookbook, and crumbed them on the chocolate ice cream.

I then prayed that it would all come together and freeze like it was supposed to!  So here is what it looked like from the outside...

And here is what happened on the inside...

Unfortunately the fudge never really set and the "chocolate" ice cream was fairly soft and a little icy, but overall, it was enjoyed by all our friends.  Here's a slice...

The original recipe can be found here.  I hope you enjoy your summer and stay nice and cool!

She's got the moves...

Happy Belated 4th of July!  We had a great weekend with the Crandalls, who came to visit.  Between the girls and Nicole, we had plenty of babysitters to love on Lily.  Let's just say she was a little spoiled!  

Lily is really starting to take off now, and she is not shy about showing off her newfound moves!   Here she is dancing to a toy our friends gave her:

 (I'm not sure how to rotate the video, so if any of you know how to do this, please let me know!)

She is also starting to get more brave with taking steps.  As you can see from the videos, she understands the words "dancing" and "walking."  With a little encouragement, she takes more and more steps every day.  Today the record was 14 steps, which equates to about a distance of 2 feet (hey, she has small little feet!).  I was able to capture her taking a few steps in this video: