Dark Rye Bread

I've been in the mood to make bread for a while; it's the sort of recipe where you have to pay attention and watch the clock. Unfortunately, my rising time went from 2 hours to to 3 1/2 hours, as one of our cats had to be rushed to the vet. No worries, he's fine, he just has a pretty nasty eye infection. He'll be right as rain soon enough, and the bread still turned out fine.

This recipe shows just how nerdy I really am: it's from the Game of Thrones cookbook. It sounded good, and I had an adventure with caraway seeds. 

Ingredients:

2/3 cup warm water

1 3/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 pkg)

3 tbsp molasses

2 tsp canola oil

1 cup rye flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp caraway seeds, toasted and crushed

2-3 cups bread flour

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp strong coffee

I omitted the coffee and used about 1 cup total of water, 4 tbsp molasses, and only 2 cups bread four. Just a warning.

First, toast the caraway seeds. Pour them dry into a pan with the burner turned on high. Once they begin popping, you know they're finished and pour them into a bowl.

Combine the water, 1 tbsp of the molasses, and the yeast in a large bowl. Stir the mixture until the yeast dissolves and allow to sit for 10 minutes, until foamy.

While it's getting foamy, crush the caraway seeds with the back of a spoon.

Add remaining molasses, oil, and the rye flour, whisking until combined.

Now add the salt and caraway seeds and enough flour to form a sticky dough, about 2 cups. (I needed an additional tablespoon of molasses and 1/3 cup of water for the dough to absorb all of the flour.)

Spread flour on the counter (and your hands) and knead the dough for 5 to 8 minutes, working in extra flour.

Place back in the bowl an sprinkle with flour. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise for two hours.

While it's rising, prepare a pan (I don't have a loaf pan, unfortunately) with cooking spray and parchment paper. After the two hours, knead again and then form into a loaf-like shape. Let it rise for 30 more minutes, spread honey and coffee mixture over top, and then bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees. 

I did like it, but I think I'd like it more without the caraway seeds, because it is a sweet bread and the seeds are bitter. Good, but not amazing. Still, though, I love making bread, so it was a win for me no matter what.

Keep stirring, loves!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Mint Cream Cheese Frosting

I'm terribly sorry it's been so long! The reasons not to post have been stacking up on each other. I guess this is how it's going to feel when I'm at college. It's devastating.

I had planned on taking a few pictures to show you what kinds of yummy treats I enjoy when I'm on vacation. Yeah, about that... Ha, it was all too good to wait to eat. I do have a picture of a giant root beer, though, and it was the original, homemade kind. God, it was good.

My mom and I went for a three-day getaway to Galena, IL, a nice little jaunt from our house. We stayed in a beautiful old Victorian house called the Ryan Mansion, built in 1878. It was absolutely gorgeous; I've got a select few of my favorite pictures to show you. This is a real dress owned and worn by the original Mrs. Ryan to a ball they had had in their third-floor ballroom. It's stunning.

 This is the four poster canopy bed my mom and I slept in. What little girl didn't want a princess bed?

 My favorite view in the whole house. These were the servants' backstairs; I don't even know why I love it so much, but I do.

The outdoor patio underneath a gazebo, hidden behind some bushes. Gorgeous, right? The Ryan family once owned a square mile of land and it's been dwindled away over the years to just a couple of acres. It was an absolutely beautiful house and if you find yourself in the area, I definitely recommend it. The owner's cooking is good, too! For breakfast the first morning, we had french toast made from cinnamon swirl bread, with cream cheese and orange marmalade sandwiched between the pieces, served with fresh fruit, juice, water, and hot tea or coffee. The second morning wasn't my favorite because I don't eat seafood, but it was fresh fruit and a blueberry scone (homemade, of course, and fabulous), accompanied by a croissant covered with crab meat and hollandaise sauce. I wish I had pictures of Oklahoma and AOP to show you, but my picture-remembering skills are bad.

It sounds like the rest of the post is going to be boring, right? Completely wrong! These are my favorite cupcakes in the world and I would just eat the batter plain all day if I could. I try to pair them with interesting flavored frostings, as a vanilla cupcake is usually considered boring.

This recipe uses cake flour, but you can use regular flour; cake flour has less protein and makes a lighter, fluffier cupcake. It's from one of my favorite blogs, Glorious Treats, and here's a link to her post.

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the two eggs until a light yellow color and add the sugar. Blend until completely combined.

Add the vanilla and the oil and beat. Add half of the flour mixture and combine thoroughly.

Then add half of the buttermilk, blend completely; add the other half of the flour mixture and mix. Finally, add the last half of the buttermilk. Beat on medium from 30 seconds.

Bake for 11-14 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then move to a wire wrack. Let cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:
1 8-oz. pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure mint extract
4 cups powdered sugar
1 to 4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
Food coloring

Beat the butter on medium until light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese and beat about one minute. Blend in the vanilla, the mint extract, and the powdered sugar on low speed. Add the cream one tablespoon at a time; I used only two because anymore might have made it too gooey. I planned on making it green, but long story short, it's blue instead. It tastes wonderful.

This recipe makes 15 well-sized cupcakes, which is much easier to get rid of than 600. I'm still not over the traumatic experience of making so many for my grad party. They were a hit though; if astrophysics falls through, I guess I've got a back-up.

I'll post again soon; maybe some homemade pizza? That sounds pretty yummy right about now.

Keep stirring, loves!

Vanilla Bean Chesecake

First, an apology. There are limited pictures for two reasons: one, I was rushing through because I had only the time it took in the oven to prepare the cheesecake and, two, my camera's battery died. But, it still looks good, so no complaining, right? Also, I apologize for the picture quality; my camera was mad I tried to take pictures with a dead battery (I forgot to charge it until after I finished the cheesecake, oops).

I am in love with cheesecake. I could eat it all the time. Okay, not all the time, but at least twice a day.

This is an imitation of the Cheesecake Factory's vanilla bean cheesecake with white chocolate mousse and vanilla bean whipped cream, based on a recipe by a favorite blog of mine, The Inner Gourmet. Unfortunately, my grocery store only had one vanilla bean in the entire damn place, so I had to replace the vanilla bean with vanilla extract in the whipped cream. Tastes almost as good.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 pkg graham crackers, crushed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cheesecake:
16 oz (2 pkg) cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp corn starch
inside of one vanilla bean

Mousse:
5 oz white chocolate, melted
4 oz cream cheese
1 cup whipping cream
3 tbsp powdered sugar

Whipped Cream:
1 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp powdered sugar
inside of one vanilla bean

Vanilla Graham Cracker Crust: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and crush the graham crackers. Mine are bigger pieces because that's how I like my crust. Mix the melted butter, egg yolk, and vanilla into the graham crackers and whisk. Truthfully, I prefer mixing by hand, scrunching it around with my fingers. Then spread it out on the bottom of a 9" pan. I use glass, but I know a lot of people use Springfoam pans, so to each his own. Bake this for about 8 minutes; try not to go longer, or else it'll be too crunchy when you finish baking the cheesecake.

Vanilla Bean Cheesecake: Mix the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add the sugar and make sure it's mixed in thoroughly. Then add the corn starch, vanilla bean, and sour cream. Combine thoroughly, then pour on top of the crush, evening out. Put in the oven for 35-40 minutes. When cool, spread mousse over-top and refrigerate for several hours, overnight if possible.

White Chocolate Mousse: Melt the 5 oz of chocolate and allow to cool; I'd recommend sticking in the fridge.  While it's chilling, whip the cream until soft peaks form (1-2 minutes) and add the powdered sugar 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, beat the 4 oz of cream cheese until smooth and add the chocolate. When it's all mixed, put it back in the fridge for a couple more minutes. When cool to the touch, slowly mix into the whipped cream mixture. When finished, put into the fridge until the cheesecake is cool.

Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream: Beat the cream until soft peaks form and then add the vanilla bean and powdered sugar, mixing until stiff peaks form. (You know how you like whipped cream.) I added an additional 1 1/2 tsp powdered sugar to make up for the fact I had to use vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean. Damn grocery store. Store in the fridge, covered, until ready to serve. I stuff it into a pastry bag and pipe onto the cheesecake around the edges and in the center, but spreading on top just like the mousse works just as well.

Isn't it a pretty cheesecake? The piping went a little haywire, so I smeared it all over the top of the mousse.

I won't lie, it's damn good.

I've got to be honest, I'm making cheesecake for two reasons. First, my life has been a little disappointing lately and only cheesecake and Harry Potter could make me feel better. (Haha, have you picked up that I'm a Harry Potter nerd?) Namely, my AP scores weren't nearly what I wanted. (Except chem, my worst subject. Godric, my life is weird.) And calc 2 in six weeks is severely kicking my ass. Thank Merlin it's over on Wednesday for me. Although, that means I'm taking my final chapter test tomorrow after class and then the final on Wednesday, instead of a little more spaced out. Ugh. Well, c'est la vie.

Second, I'm going to Oklahoma with my family to see my aunt and uncle and then I have AOP at MSU right after that. So I won't be updating for at least two weeks. And, for the cherry on the cake, I've been trying to read 100 books this summer, and for a little extra motivation, I've made a page here on the blog where I'll cross off a book when I've read it. Note: some books are still subject to change; I might not be able to get my hands on them. I could use any encouragement you've got, too; my ratio of read to unread sucks right now.

But, that's my life, so I'll deal with it. It's the only one I've got, right?

Keep stirring, loves!

Alfredo Sauce

I am of the opinion it is possible to tell how I feel based on what I'm cooking. Today, I was completely murdered by my calc quiz, so I came home for comfort food. I made alfredo sauce and some cookies (though these were from a package, don't judge me).

This was good, but a little too creamy and not enough cheesy for me. So, depending on your tastes, you might like it more than I did.

Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp garlic powder
pepper, to taste

Melt the butter over high heat in a medium sauce pan.

When it's mostly melted, turn it down and add the cream cheese. Break it up with your spoon; it allows it to melt easier.

When it's a smooth creamy mixture, add the half and half, parmesan cheese, and garlic powder. Stir thoroughly and add the pepper. Allow to simmer and mix; when it's combined, take it off the heat to thicken up, stirring every time you think about it.

Pour it onto hot noodles, topping with a bit more pepper. Serve and eat! Makes enough for two generous portions of pasta (about the size in the picture).

While I was cooking this, I listened to my one of favorite musicals, Starship, and there's this song, Kick It Up A Notch (about 5 minutes in and in Act 1 Part 10, I really love Status Quo, but that's beside the point), sung by Dylan Saunders primarily. First off, god I love his voice. Secondly, there's this part that goes "It's a big, big universe/So many dimensions and unanswered questions"; as it continues, I'm always like, "Yeah, go Bug! Achieve your dreams! I can, too!"

That had no purpose; I just thought I'd share with you the sorts of things that inspire me.

Keep stirring, loves!

Broken Lasagna with Zucchini-Tomato Sauce

This recipe was in the July/August edition of the Food Network magazine--in fact, it's on the cover--and I've been dying to try it for about a week. Finally, today, I went for it. I did a half-portion, because only my mom and I would eat it, but I'd say even at half portion, this went very well.

Ingredients:
6 oz of lasagna noodles, broken into bite-sized pieces
1 large zucchini, grated coarsely
1 cup cherry tomatoes (1/2 whole, 1/2 halved)
1/4 tsp lemon zest
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 grated mozzarella cheese
Salt and pepper

Boil water for the noodles, adding a little salt and better. Meanwhile, grate the zucchini and add about 1/2 tsp of salt. When the water is bubbling, toss in the noodles and turn the temp down to medium-high.

Strain the noodles, saving about a cup of the cooking water. Add a pinch of salt over the noodles as they hang out in the strainer. 

This step you can either do as the water boils and/or the noodles cook, but I chose to wait until they were done. Put the butter in the bottom of a skillet and melt over medium-high heat. Add the cherry tomatoes and allow to blister, about 4 minutes. 

Then add the zucchini and lemon zest, allowing to cook for about 4 more minutes. Then transfer to a medium sized bowl.

It's okay that it looks strange; it tastes good, I promise. Add a little bit of pepper to the pan-mixture before tossing it into the bowl.

Once in the bowl, stir up and add the noodles and cheese. Add about 1/4 cup of the cooking water you saved to loosen it up and stir all around. If everything is still really stuck together, add a tablespoon at a time of the water until it's separated. Now, plate and serve, garnishing with extra cheese.

I served it with fresh lemonade, but that has its own post.

Keep stirring, loves!

Fresh Lemonade

This is super simple and makes just enough for lunch, enough for 2 glasses.

Mix the juice from two small lemons, 2 3/4 cup chilled water, and 2 tbsp sugar together. Add more of any of the ingredients to taste. Add ice and serve.

Seriously, easy. But so good; I've had to make four batches today alone. I can't stop drinking it.

Keep stirring, loves!

Homemade Cherry Turnovers

So, I've had a bad weekend. One little thing on top of another, with enough big things to drive a person crazy. So I've had it. I needed to bake, something long and complicated. Truthfully, pastry dough is not the hardest thing in the world, but it's taken me all afternoon to make these turnovers.

On an unrelated note, look at my cute monsters from my best friend for graduation! She knitted them herself. (Knitted? Knit? Knot? What's the past tense?) The big one in green and white is in MSU colors; she's named Gertrude. The little one in Minnesota State colors is named Astrid. Direct quote: "So even when we're apart, we can still be together." 

This is a concotion of recipes with even my very first creation premiering. Exciting, right? This will be done in three separate sections and hopefully you'll like the end result as much as I do.

Pastry Dough: 
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flor
2/3 cup cake flour
1 tsp salt
3 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, chilled
1 cup ice water (plus about 4 tbsp)

Chop 6 tablespoons of the butter and drop into a large mixing bowl.

Add the flours and salt.

Either use a pastry blender or your hands (as I did) to blend the ingredients together until it forms a coarse meal like a pie crust.

Aww, don't I look cute? Yeah... my mom doesn't get to be my food photographer anymore.

It takes about 5 minutes to get the desired level of coarseness.

Create a hole in the middle and add the water.

Using a rubber scraper, mix the dough until rough and sticky.

I added 4 tbsp during this process in order for all of the flour to mix.

Wrap it up in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Take the remaining butter and smash it out. No, seriously. Roll it and smash it and use the heels of your hands. This takes almost 20 minutes to do properly, so keep at it. Yes, my arms are tired now. When you're all done, arrange it into some semblance of a 5-inch square.

Remove the dough from the fridge and, after flouring the counter, roll it out into a circle 12 inches in diameter. Place the square of butter in the center of the circle and fold the edges of the dough over it. Pinch the edges together so it's a smoother line. Then, roll out into an 8x16" rectangle. Fold in thirds, such as when you fold a letter, and the roll it out again. Cover and put back in the fridge for another hour.

An hour later, flour the counter, roll it out in an 8x16" rectangle. Fold in thirds. Roll out again. Fold again into thirds. Place back in fridge for 1 hour.

Repeat.

Yay, it's cooking time! Roll it out in a square after flouring the counter very lightly, or somewhat of a square. My dough is about 1/4" thick; I would've rolled them out to 1/8" if I had known how much the dough actually does puff up.

Slice with a pizza cutter. (Cut more evenly than I did.) Cut according to the size you want to eat. I made them small. Fact: they flip open when they cook if they're small. Make small at your own risk.

Cherry Filling:

(This is my premier recipe. Pretty snazzy, eh?)

Ingredients:

2-12 oz. jars of cherry preserves

1/2 cup white sugar

2 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp honey

Place one jar preserves, sugar, and honey. Mix well. Add the first half of the second jar and mix well. Add 1 tbsp of corn starch. Mix very well. Add the second half of the second jar and the second tbsp of corn starch.

It'll look a little something like this. (I used a regular tablespoon for all of the filling mixing.)

Scoop a little bit of filling onto each square, amount depending on preference. Grease two baking sheets and after you've added filling, fold the squares in half whichever way you like and place them on the sheets. When you've put them all on pans, it'll look like a murder scene took place on your counter.

Bake for about 17 minutes. Watch carefully, though, it might take less time depending on your oven.

While they're cooking, whip up some icing. 1 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 cup milk. Whisk together until fully mixed. Then, allow it to hang out until the turnovers are done. (If you make it right away, whisk a bit every four or five minutes, to keep it from congealing and stuff.)

Not too shabby if I do say so myself. I do admit I am still learning, so they could have been better, but they turned out okay. I will make the bigger next time, and I will post a picture of their next adventure in order for you to see my progress through one of my favorite desserts, in life.

Keep stirring, loves! And here's a picture of me and my dad, just making our dinosaur faces: