Author Archives: Patti

About Patti

I like bread...and crafting.

Oh Boys and Food Coloring!

Mickey cake and cupcake display

Little boys are so much fun! Not only do they have cute sweater vests and baby loafers, they’re also rambunctious and super cute. I have 3 boys at home myself, and wouldn’t have had it any other way. Granted they are fuzzy and walk on all 4′s, but they all still love snuggling with their mommy, looks to her for comfort when the scary vacuum comes out of the laundry room, and relies on her to keep them safe and clean. Maybe one day we’ll be blessed with another baby boy in human form.

Mickey cupcakes made with mini Oreo cookies

1st Birthday Mickey Cake

I was lucky enough to make some sweets for the cuties and future heart breakers (or pimps as Zach would say) for their recent birthdays. I can’t believe how fast time has gone (and how little number of blogs I have written) and how now all the babies around me are walking, speaking, and eating solid foods.

2nd Birthdy Car Cake with fondant accents

Car carved out of a block of Rice Krispies treats using serrated knife and round cookie cutters for the wheel inserts

Covered the car with fondant and made fondant details

Red car sugar cookies with royal icing

Since these celebrations may have been the 1st time the kiddies are introduced to sugar and sweets, I started thinking about what actually goes into the treats that I make. I’m not a super health nut, but I do believe in the health benefits of whole foods and a balanced natural diet without preservatives. Ok, so the majority of my medium is not healthy. The batch of butter cream I make calls for 10 sticks of butter and 4 cups of sugar. I have a heart attack each time I whip it up. Granted it makes 15 cups of icing which could ice and decorate a whole sheet cake or like 60 cupcakes, but all icing is, is sugar and butter (and some egg whites, since I make a Swiss Meringue Butter Cream). I’m not saying butter and sugar are bad. Our bodies needs fats and sugars and a treat here and there wouldn’t kill you, but it does make me feel guilty introducing these little humans to what some people would say are “drugs”.

I can still sleep using butter and sugar, but the main ingredient that has been eating away at my conscious is food coloring. The bright deep colors that attract us (especially kids) require A LOT of food coloring to make. Zach loves it when his tongue turns blue or deep red, but all I can think about is chemicals. Did you know artificial food coloring is derived from the burning of coal tar (as in a by-product of burning coal) or petroleum (as in gas)?! Bleh! I guess if you really looked into the foods we eat you’ll find something wrong with all of it and the horrible effects (like cancer, hyperactivity and other behavior problems in kids (check out this study by the Center of Science for the Public Interest)) if they are consumed in large quantities, but does that mean that’s ok?

So what are the solutions then? You could juice red beets for red and pink, kale or spinach for green, and blueberry for blue, but how would that effect the consistency and taste of baked goods? Has anyone out there tried this and do you have any tips and suggestions for cakes and icings? It looks like India Tree and Nature’s Flavors makes food colorings from concentrated vegetable colorants and have no corn syrup or synthetic dyes. Have you used these products before and what do you think?

Moderation is key too, but as I test taste icings every week and eat the messed up products, I’m guessing that isn’t moderation. I think I’ll work more with colored fondant as cake decoration now until I test out the natural colorants. Fondant has a cleaner finish and you can peel it off before ingesting.

Thoughts out there from bakers and/or moms?

50 Shades of Caramel

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Cutting and wrapping soft chewy caramels

I had a lot of firsts and did a lot of experimenting in 2012. I saw all 50 shades of messed-up-ness. Through lots of persistence, understanding and accepting of one’s idiosyncrasies, everything actually turned out wonderfully and last year was a great year for learning and achieving. Everyone needs and secretly likes a little punishment once in a while.

One of the projects I tried to tackle was making soft chewy caramels as Christmas gifts. Candy making is extremely fickle and seems like an art form. One of my first experiences was during a spontaneous desire to make hard candy with my friend Claire using indentations in corn starch as molds (since we didn’t have any candy molds handy at that moment, and I saw it on the Food Network once). I don’t think I’ll go down that dark path again. It’s not my lifestyle. You can read about it here. I’ve had mild success making caramel sauce to flavor butter creams and chocolates so I thought, “how hard can it be to just make caramel a little harder and stable?” 4 batches and 4 different forms later, I got my answer, HARD.

There was a bunch of recipes floating around on Pinterest in Dec. for soft chewy caramels, including a seasonal apple cider flavor, so I thought, “if I’m going to make caramels, I’m going to make it a challenge and make an interesting flavor!” Boiling away with hot sugar everywhere, Claire and I happily followed the instructions and dreamed of soft caramels melting in our mouths for breakfast the next morning of our getaway weekend. Instead we woke up to a viscous blob oozing out of the pan that was way too sweet and tasted like apple cider juice concentrate. FAIL.

Caramel blob

I dug around some more for recipes, not willing to give up so early on something that could be so wonderful. I thought I was too good to use sweetened condensed milk (milk in a can scares me) so I stayed away from those recipes and went to trusted sources, like David Lebovitz. Don’t be a dummy like I am and not read recipes all the way through. My caramels turned out pretty close to what the recipe said. The only issue was that I could not cut them to little rectangles and instead just cracked them into shards after the mixture set (it made eating them kind of dangerous in your mouth). This recipe was not what I was looking for. The caramels were more like a salted Werther’s (the hard kind) instead of a soft chewy butter melty treat I was craving. Maybe I shouldn’t have ignored the sentence “These caramels are slightly firm.” I tried the recipe again heating the hot sugar to a lower temp, thinking that I just cooked it too hot. The result was softer and did melt in your mouth, but still a hard candy and not for chewing. 3 batches and lots of candy latter, I decided to give it a rest.

Cooking hot sugar and cream!

Candy textures differ by each degree you heat the sugar mixture too. If you’re 1 degree too hot, you’ve gone from liquid to solid, so you need to watch it carefully and experiment to find the texture you would like. Basically you’re evaporating the water content of your mixture away, so the more you heat it the less water there is, and thus harder. I have no idea how people made candy before thermometers. I tried to do the water test (putting a little bit of the cooking mixture in cold water to see how it forms up) but I was afraid to step away from the thermometer in case it boils too hot all of a sudden, so I never really took the 10 seconds to see the results of the water test. This link to Exploratorium has great explanation and pictures (using the water test) of the different stages of sugar.

My quest continued for soft caramels and I decided to use another reliable source, good ol’ Martha Stewart. I get emails from Martha every day, including crafts, cooking, organizing, etc. One day, her Golden Caramel recipe showed up in my inbox and I thought it was faith, so I took to try it out. It did include sweetened condensed milk and since I’ve failed 3 times already and the majority of soft caramel recipes I found called for sweetened condensed milk, I decided to give it a whirl. I followed it exactly including heating the mixture to 244 degrees and just like Martha, I made soft caramels!

Let the caramel mixture set overnight!

I’ve come to the conclusion that the more fat/dairy in the mixture the softer and chewier it will be, so the adding of sweetened condensed milk helped with that. I haven’t tried it, but I think if you were to add more dairy/cream to a caramel mixture instead of sweetened condensed milk it would also do the trick. Check out this revised recipe from theKitchn. Also, make sure you immediately take the pot off of the heat right when your thermometer reaches the desired temperature because the mixture will continue to cook after it’s off the heat (continuing to evaporate water). The mixture may look light in color in the beginning, but don’t worry it’ll caramelize more when it’s cooking and get more golden. If you’d like a darker caramel, you could always cook the sugar above 250 degrees in the first step of the recipe. Lastly, don’t be greedy and impatient, leave the caramel alone to set overnight, it’ll be worth it to have perfectly cut rectangles/squares the next day.

I am in love with my 50 shades of caramels and I think we’re going to have a happy and adventurous future together. I can’t wait to add new ingredients and flavors, keeping my caramel making alive and spicy! Have you experienced 50 shades of caramels? Are you addicted? What did you find that satisfied you? What temperature was the perfect texture for you? What makes you “mmm…” and “ooo…” and wanting more?

Soft Chewy Caramels all wrapped for eating!

Golden Caramel Recipe (from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients
4 cups heavy cream
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
4 cups light corn syrup
4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Vegetable-oil cooking spray

Directions
Spray an 11 3/4-by-16 1/2-inch baking pan (this is a half-sheet pan) with vegetable-oil spray. Set aside in a spot where it will not be moved. In a 2-quart saucepan, combine cream and sweetened condensed milk; set aside.

In a heavy 6- to 8-quart saucepan, combine corn syrup, 1 cup water, sugar, and salt. Clip on candy thermometer. Over high heat, cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring with a wooden spoon, 8 to 12 minutes. Brush down sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove any sugar crystals.

Stop stirring, reduce heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until temperature reaches 250 degrees (hard-ball stage), 45 to 60 minutes. Meanwhile, cook cream mixture over low heat until it is just warm. Do not boil. When sugar reaches 250 degrees. slowly stir in butter and warmed cream mixture, keeping mixture boiling at all times. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until thermometer reaches 244 degrees (firm-ball stage), 55 to 75 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Immediately pour into prepared pan without scraping pot. Let stand uncovered at room temperature for 24 hours without moving.

To cut, spray a large cutting board generously with vegetable-oil spray. Unmold caramel from pan onto sprayed surface. Cut into 1-by-1 1/4-inch pieces, or other shapes. Wrap each in cellophane or waxed paper.

Truffle Shuffle

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Truffles by Carbivore

This year has been a busy one in the kitchen. My oven even burned itself out mid year and mid cake! (Thank goodness it was only the lighter and easily fixable, and thank goodness for nice neighbors with working ovens.) All of the work is self-imposed, but I am happiest in the kitchen churning out goodies, so can you really call it work? This holiday was especially busy when I decided to again gift hand-rolled chocolate truffles to friends and family. As it was my second time around, why not throw out a challenge? (Check out first time here.) So, I offered to make gifts for my family to gift to their friends and co-workers. I was expecting to maybe double what I made last year (which was like 15 boxes), but BAM! my dad emailed that he needed 50 boxes of chocolates and then my mom added on another 15 and my sis 10. They must have a lot more friends than me.

At first I didn’t think I could do it, and Zach definitely thought it was too much to handle, but then I started planning and spreadsheeting out a production schedule, purchase list, and researching vendors. As I got more and more into it, I gained confidence (or became more delusional) that it was achievable. What’s a 100 boxes of truffles right?

Cookie Dough Truffles

Chocolate truffles are basically a mixture of chocolate and cream (sometimes butter) to which flavors (extracts, liquor, coffee, nuts, spices, etc.) can be added to – ganache. The ganache is cooled and then formed into rounds that are to resemble real truffles (like the fungi kind) that grows in the ground in France and Italy. The truffles can be rolled in cocoa powder to simulate dirt that real truffles grow in. Now a days, chocolate truffles are perfectly round with pre-made chocolate shells to contain the ganache and then coated again with chocolate, decorated with edible shimmer and multi-colored cocoa butters. Oh those are so pretty, but some times I find the chocolate shells much too thick and all you can taste is the crappy chocolate outside and none of the flavors inside (“cough cough, Godiva”).

The taste, texture, and quality of the chocolate truffle primarily comes from the quality of chocolate that you use. NOT ALL CHOCOLATES ARE THE SAME! There are 3 types of cacao beans (Forastero, Criollo, and Trinitario) and the type and/or blend of the beans, their quality, and where they are grown all contribute to the quality and taste of chocolate. How the beans are roasted and ground into “chocolate liquor” and how much cocoa butter (or other erroneous ingredients “cough cough, Hersheys”) is added also contributes to the quality, taste, and texture.

Orange Cream Truffles

Ok, so I wasn’t a chocolate snob until I started this project, but the more you work with different types and levels of quality the more you understand why there is such a difference. If you’re mixing it into other stuff and baking with chocolate, it’s not as big of a deal, but if you’re showcasing the chocolate you’ll turn into a snob too. Chocolate is extremely finicky and if not tempered (heating and cooling the chocolate to certain degrees depending on type and brand) correctly or handled with delicate hands, it can cause you to pull out your hair. It can seize up on you (turn into an un-useable gloppy mess when even just a little drop of water touches it), it can turn gray and ugly (fat blooms where the fat from the cocoa butter separates from the chocolate liquor, usually sign of improper tempering or it was exposed to heat or the freezer), it can be dull and crumbly (improper tempering), and it can be extremely messy. I found that if you use good quality chocolate (I used Cacao Barry by Callebaut couverture) and treat it with respect (no kissing on a first date!) it’ll melt better and love you like you love it.

Back to the truffles! This year I stuck with favorite flavors of mine and my friends: chocolate caramel with Maldon sea salt, hazelnut crisp (like a Crunch bar, but hazelnut/Nutella flavored), white chocolate orange cream, and cookie dough. Each one was hand-rolled and hand coated/dipped in tempered chocolate decorated with something to symbolize the flavor.

ChocoVsion Revolution 2 Chocolate Tempering Machine

I also acquired a new favorite kitchen machine of mine for this project, the chocolate tempering machine! Yes, to be an artesian chocolatier, I should be table-tempering the chocolate by hand, but when it took me over 40 minutes to temper 1 lb of chocolate, I gave in and shelled out some hard-earned money for this baby! After a few beeps and 30 minutes or so, you have perfectly tempered chocolate to dip truffles or your fingers into and it’ll stay tempered until you’re done (including over night)! Icarumba it was expensive, but I’m hoping to use it more often to churn out more chocolate goodness or at least dipping anything I can find in chocolate just for fun.

Truffle Boxes

I must say the packaging was the biggest challenge of this whole process. Next time, I’ll have to remember to make truffles that fit the design and packaging instead of the other way around, and to start earlier with a design and to stick to it! If anybody has any suggestions on design, sourcing and ways to ship, please comment away!

Thank you to all my family, friends, and family friends for all the support in the process and for believing in me! Here’s to another year of kitchen adventures!

PS. If you’re a recipient of the truffles, I hope you enjoy each bite and please let me know what you think and any suggestions!

Pies, Not a Fan

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Pecan Pie I actually like!

I am not a fan of pies. I thought I was, and was super excited when we first moved to Chicago and saw that there was a diner chain dedicated to pies, called Bakers Square. Blechh! (It might be that I’m not a fan of pies to begin with, or that this place has turned me off of pies, but Zach didn’t seem enthused about pies after we ate there that one time either.) In general, I find pie crust dry, bland, and boring. The fillings are either too sweet or have a weird viscous texture that just wiggles in your mouth. Apples and other fruits are either too soft or undercooked. I’m not into the crisscross opposites in food that people seem to drool over, like sweet and salty or à la mode, so adding ice cream to pie still didn’t win me over. Maybe I just haven’t had a GOOD pie yet.

Pie is a staple desert in the US and with the abundance of stone fruits, squashes, and nuts in the late fall/early winter and the many holiday gatherings, I’m bound to run into pie this season. Every year I try different pie recipes to maybe convince myself that pie isn’t so bad, and every year I’m disappointed again. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some flakey puff pastry (especially wrapped around mini weenies) and I can tolerate tarts if the moisture from the filling has made it soft and cookie-like after a few days in the fridge. I’m just not a fan of your normal butter and flour pie crust.

In my quest to make myself like pie, I specifically experimented with a few crust recipes through out this year (I had determined the main reason why I don’t like pie is the boring crust). I tried the ever trusty Martha Stewart, flawless Julia Child, a few recipes from highly tested blogs, and even the one from the back of the Crisco package, but no dice. No matter if it’s made from butter, shortening, by hand, by machine, or freezing all the equipment and ingredients, it was still boring. UNTIL this past Thanksgiving, I discovered adding sour cream to the mixture and I may be starting to turn a new leaf.

I actually don’t think it’s only the sour cream that makes this pie crust better. I think the real magic is in the process of cutting the butter and mixing in the liquid by hand (instead of relying on the efficient food processor). You get to control the process and make your own judgements as to if it’s too wet or too dry. See, the favorable characteristics I’m looking for in pie crust resembles puff pastry, where it’s flakey and buttery, but still holds its own. To achieve this you need the butter to still be in little chunks in the not so wet dough so that when the butter melts in the oven, it creates layers with the flour mixture. The sour cream also helps to create this flakey texture and makes the crust tender and delicate.

I used this dough in individual pecan pies this past Turkey Day and I actually went back for a second serving (maybe 3rd and 4th within the weekend), so to me I think it was a success. I’m still a skeptic when it comes to pies, but I think I’m on the verge of conversion, or at least acceptance. Give it a try to see if you are a potential convert or if you’re a pie lover, what do you think? Happy pie baking this season!

For the Pie Dough (adapted from Smitten Kitchen Bourbon Peach Hand Pies)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
1/2 cup sour cream
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup ice water

makes 24 mini pies (about 3 inches round)

1. In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the butter to the flour/salt and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal (I used my fingers to squish the butter into the flour at times). Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the liquid and flour-butter mixture (I tend to not use the whole amount of liquid as it seems to be too wet, so judge and make sure to add only the amount that you need so that the mixture barely comes together). I usually pour the dough onto plastic wrap and form it into a ball with the plastic wrap and then cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. If preparing ahead of time, the dough can be stored at this point for up to one month in the freezer.

2. Divide the refrigerated dough in half. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one half of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 4 inch-round biscuit cutter (or the lip of the individual pie cups), cut 12 circles out of the rolled dough (reroll scraps and cut again if necessary to get 12). Press the circles into the pie cups and place cups onto a rimmed baking sheet, and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes. Repeat the rolling, cutting, and chilling process with the remaining half of dough.

This pecan pie filling is FULL of nuts and not too sweet, so it’s a winner in my book.

Pecan Pie Filling (from Martha Stewart)
4 large eggs
1 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Make filling: In a large bowl, whisk eggs, corn syrup, sugars, butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth; mix in pecans. Pour mixture into chilled pie crusts (that are already on a rimmed baking sheet). Bake until filling jiggles slightly in the center when gently shaken, 40 to 50 minutes.

Best if eaten the day of baking, but can be stored up in air tight container for a few days.

Birthday Bashes!

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A few years ago, I was going to bridal showers, bachelorette parties and weddings every weekend. Then it was baby showers, and now I’m at the age where lunch date topics with girlfriends include: spit-up, nipples, rash cream, disciplining, Dora and Ugly Dolls. I don’t know where the time went, but it seems like yesterday we were guessing as to who would get married first and talking about crushes.

Now character-themed parties, goodie bags and smash cakes fill our weekends. I’ve been privileged to have such trusting friends with young kids that have fun and colorful-themed parties. These opportunities to play with flour, sugar, food coloring and fondant have been a challenge but also was fun to work on new techniques and practice baking. Check out the photos below and their captions to see how it all came together. Thanks to Christine, Paolo, and Zain for having such fun parties and their Mommies for being awesome friends! I can’t wait to do a Justin Bieber themed cake!

Beautifully shape Mickey Sugar Cookies with a perfectly butter taste. Recipe from Sweetopia found here!

Fondant Minnie ears and bow for the cake: for the ears I rolled out black fondant to about 1/4 inch thick and then shoved in wooden skewers used for grilling; for the bow I followed this TUTORIAL which was much easier than I had imagined!

Finished Minnie Cake for Christine: marble cake inside with Swiss meringue butter cream covered with fondant.

Birthday girl Christine enjoying her cake (sorry a little blurry).

Royal Icing decorated cookies as favors for the kiddies. I need to work on my cookie decorating skills. Dark colored icing, like black and red are extremely hard to make! It’s hard to prevent bleeding too.

Mickey rice krispie treats just like they have at the park! All you need is a pan of rice krispie treats (recipe per the cereal box), a Mickey-shaped cookie cutter, some chocolate chips melted and sprinkles!

Curious George party for Paolo! Banana Cupcakes per David Lebovitz recipe with whipped chocolate ganache and caramel Swiss meringue butter-cream.

Paolo with his awesome parents. The cake was decorated with hand-crafted fondant Curious George, big yellow hat (with cardboard in the middle to hold up the shape, leaves, balloons on floral wire, and banana runts (which were the hardest things to find, evidently nobody eats runts any more!).

Ugly Doll royal icing sugar cookies for Zain’s 1st Birthday

Ox smash cake with Ugly Doll cupcakes: perfectly chocolate cake (by Glorious Treats) with chocolate ganache filling and perfectly vanilla cake (also by Glorious Treats) with butterscotch ganache filling. These cupcakes were redone at the last minute due to a slight tip of the container and smooshed icing by a certain husband, but it was for the better as they look much better than the original! They were also frozen 3 days in advance due to Labor Day weekend plans, which may have made the ganache filling a little harder than desired (it didn’t ooze like I though it would) and perhaps the vanilla cupcake was a little dry. Next time, plan to be around the weekend when they party is happening and make cupcakes within a day of eating.

Happy Zain with Mommy and Daddy

About Patti

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