Holiday Baking

We po' this year, so gifts are homemade. I started out with salty maple-roasted pecans (no photos, sorry), which are just pecan halves coated in maple syrup and sprinkled with Kosher salt, then roasted for about 5 minutes at 450°F. Then I moved on to cookies. I started with brown butter sugar cookies for the flavor, but combined the recipe with your average sugar cookie for the look.

First, I attempted to brown 3 sticks of butter. There was a bit of an... accident... so I ended up with 1 cup of brown butter and added a stick of regular butter. Since I was ready to make the cookies, I just threw the cold stick of butter into the still-warm brown butter, which ended up working really well for the mixing.

After the butters equalized a bit, I creamed them with 1 cup each of white and brown sugars.

Next I added 4 eggs, one at a time, and 1 teaspoon of double-strength vanilla extract.

I stirred together 5 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and just under a teaspoon of salt (because as you know, I always use salted butter).

On low, mix the dry into the wet ingredients about 1 cup at a time. I ended up mixing in the last cup by hand because the dough was so thick my mixer was straining.

Wrap the dough and chill it for at least an hour. I do not recommend being lazy and leaving it in the bowl like I did. It stuck horribly and was a huge PITA to get out.

I let my dough chill for about 3 hours, then rolled it out on a very lightly floured surface and cut it into random shapes of cutters I have lying about (I'm not much of a dough cutter). Some of the cookies got dusted with evaporated cane juice, which gave them a nice mellow sparkle. The cookies baked on parchment at 400°F for about 7 minutes. After they cooled completely, I iced them with a mixture of icing sugar (1/2 cup) and milk(1 tablespoon). To one batch, I added about 1/2 tablespoon of blackberry-flavored corn syrup, and to another, I added a splash of almond extract and maraschino cherry juice (mostly for the color). Then, I went out and bought some cookie icing so I could make silly designs.

A Couple of Quick Bites

After I made these two, I realized that I needed to document how delicious they were...

First, a BLT, but with fried gold tomatoes. The 'maters were green when I bought them, but by the time I was ready to eat them, they had turned yellow-orange, though not ripe enough to eat plain. First I sliced them and then lay them out and salted them. After about 5 minutes, I dipped the slices in a buttermilk-egg mixture, then coated them in a cornmeal-flour mixture. Salt and pepper was included in each step. They were so juicy and tart and sweet, and perfect with the bacon (the same bacon as for my most recent pizza) and Companion sourdough toast.

Then I attempted to make laksa. But I cheated and used store-bought Thai red curry paste. I accidentally used too many noodles, and wished I had used ramen instead of rice noodles (I couldn't find singapore or laksa noodles, and I didn't have time to go to the Asian stores). The broth is just curry paste, chicken stock, and coconut milk. Veg are carrot and broccoli, because that's what was in the fridge; red bell pepper would have been awesome. The shrimp were fantastic. It's topped with some basil (not Thai, because, again, I couldn't get it) and a wedge of lime. There were shrimp-less leftovers, into which I cut up some pressed 5-spice tofu. That was also very good.

"Norwegian" Apple Pie

I found this pie crust recipe that calls for vodka, which sounded really interesting to me, especially after reading the theory behind it - vodka evaporates, so the crust is supposed to turn out super-flaky. The desire to make a caramel apple pie came to me a few weeks ago, until I read a post on Something Awful in which the Norwegian goat's milk cheese, gjetost, was used. I just happened to have a block of gjetost in the fridge, so I looked up recipes for gjetost apple pie and found one involving both sour cream and cardamom (two of my favorite edibles). Of course, I left out the cinnamon. :D

Start with the filling, since I think it's better after marinating for a while in the fridge. I used Honeycrisp apples because again, those were on-hand. In a large bowl, stir together 2 tablespoons of sour cream, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1/2 cup of sugar (or evaporated cane juice), 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom, a pinch of Kosher salt, and 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.

Next, peel and quarter your apples, remove the cores and cut them into about 1/2" slices. My three apples weighed just over 1.5 pounds, which is enough for a deep-dish pie. Use less if you're using a regular pie tin. Then toss the apple slices in the sour cream mixture, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (that's all the time I had, but more would probably be better).

Time for the crust, which I'm doing in the food processor. Cut up 3 sticks of butter (I, of course, use salted butter) into small cubes, then place in the freezer for about 10 minutes. If you're making the crust by hand, put the cubes back into the refrigerator. Get out the food processor (or a large bowl) and add 4.5 cups of flour and 1/2 a tablespoon of Kosher salt. Give it a quick whir (or whisk). Add in the butter cubes and pulse (or rub or cut) until the mixture resembles course crumb. Sprinkle 1.5 tablespoons of vodka and 1/2 cup of water over the flour/butter and pulse (or stir) just until the dough holds together. Pour the dough onto your work surface and form it into a block, then wrap it in cling-film and let it rest there for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, roll out half of the dough on a floured surface into a 10" circle (leave the other half on the counter until it's time to cover the pie). Lightly press the dough into your tin. I overlapped the rim just a bit since I wasn't using a proper pie tin and I wanted the side to stay in place during blind baking. Trim the excess dough (I left it a bit rustic because that's just how I am). Turn your oven to 300°F and then put the tin in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

Take the tin out of the freezer and cover the crust with parchment or aluminum foil. Fill the lined crust with dried beans, rice, or pie weights. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the crust is cooked but not browned. Remove the lining and weights and bake for 5 to 7 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool. Turn the oven up to 350°F so it can preheat while the bottom crust cools.

Shred 2 to 4 oz of gjetost, depending on your taste. Once the bottom pie crust has cooled, sprinkle half the cheese over it, then spoon in the apples after giving them a final toss in the sour cream mixture. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of the apples.

Roll out the remaining half of dough into another 10" circle. I have another of the tins I used for the pie, so I used it as a guide for trimming. Lay the upper crust over the pie, pressing it gently into the inside rim of the bottom crust. Brush with egg wash (1 egg beaten with about tablespoon of water). Cut fun shapes out of the dough scraps and brush both sides with the egg wash before gluing to the top crust. Make slits or a small hole in the top crust to let out the steam.

Bake at 350°F for 35 to 45 minutes until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly. Let the pie cool for at least 20 minutes. Remember to take a picture before you cut it. Oops! Serve slightly warm so the cheese is still melty (we took it over to my mother-in-law's house and set it on top of the warm oven).

Note: the apples still had a slight crunch, so if you don't like that sort of thing, either let the apples sit in the liquid for longer and/or slice them thinner.

Another note: don't use a cake tin if you can help it - getting that first slice out is ridiculously difficult. I just don't have a deep-dish pie tin (yet!).

Pretzel-Fried Chicken

Have you ever craved something you've never had? Somehow, I got it in my head that I was craving chicken strips rolled in crushed pretzels and then fried. Suddenly, I just had to make it.

Yes, the worst of the worst - boneless skinless chicken breasts

Cut into strips, put into zip-lock, and add buttermilk, olive oil, S&P

Seal the bag, slosh it all around, and refrigerate overnight

Peel some sweet 'taters, then cut into sticks

Toss fries in peanut oil, S&P

Coating dish

Pound the pretzels

Leave some larger pieces and pour into dish

Add an egg to the soaked chicken

Heat up frying oil

Fry in 325-350°F oil until golden

Remove to paper-towel-lined plate

Drizzle sauce over chicken

Chicken

Boneless skinless chicken breasts are not the ideal choice for much of anything, but for fried chicken strips, I need no bones or skin, and the work is already done. Had I come across a package of just tenderloins, I would have gotten that. I paid the premium for some butcher somewhere to do what I'm too lazy to do, and sometimes, that's fine.

Start by cutting the breasts into strips. Put the strips into a zipper bag and pour over buttermilk, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and some salt & pepper. Close the bag tightly and massage the chicken and liquid such that it's well mixed and all the strips are covered. Let the chicken soak in the refrigerator at least overnight.

When you're ready to cook, crush up several handfuls of hard pretzels (I used a strong freezer bag and small pot, though in hindsight I think a rolling pin would have been better). Let the pretzel crumbs be inconsistent - you want some floury stuff and some chunks for texture. Pour the crumbs into a shallow dish for dredging.

Heat up about an inch of oil (I prefer peanut) to 325-350°F. In order to get the pretzels to stick better to the chicken strips, crack an egg into the bag of chicken, and mix well. Pull a chicken strip or three out of the buttermilk mixture and let it drip for a second before dredging it in the pretzel crumbs. Then, carefully lay the strips in the hot oil and let them brown for a minute or so before flipping with a pair of tongs. Only fry 3 or 4 strips at a time to keep the oil hot, and let it heat back up to temperature before frying the next batch. Don't dredge the strips until you're just about to fry them, or the pretzels will soak up the liquid and fall off the chicken. When the strips are deep brown all over and firm when pushed on with the tongs, remove them to some paper towels.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Peel sweet potatoes and cut into batons. Toss the batons in vegetable oil (I like peanut) and salt & pepper, then arrange in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. The easiest way to do that is to toss the batons in oil and seasoning on the baking sheet itself. Bake at 450°F for 20-30 minutes to desired crispness. I happen to like them with burnt ends.

Honey Mustard Sauce

Since I'm a big dork and forgot to make the sauce before starting to fry the chicken, I directed my husband to do it and don't have any photos. Here's what I told him to do: get a small bowl, squeeze a couple of tablespoons of raw honey into it, add about a teaspoon of whole-grain mustard and as much yellow mustard as he wanted, then mix in about 1/3 cup of mayo. It was delicious!


Bonus: Leftovers!

Keep the leftover fried chicken strips in a dry container in the refrigerator (line the container with a paper towel if the strips are still warm or moist to the touch). 

I have a guilty (and rather pedestrian) pleasure: fried chicken salad. Use whatever you've got in the fridge and whatever you happen to like in salads. As for dressing, that's up to you as well. I like ranch-type dressing on my fried chicken salad, so I made a buttermilk dressing from scratch, as I find most bottled ranch dressings repulsive.

Cut up into bite-sized pieces

Make buttermilk dressing

Add a little sauce for fun

Salad
Cut the cold fried chicken strips into bite-sized pieces and lay them over a bed of greens. I shredded some carrot and Tillamook medium cheddar (my go-to all-purpose cheese in "baby loaf" form from Costco), and added some chopped chive and cilantro.

Dressing
Mix a few tablespoons of buttermilk with some chopped fresh herbs (I used chives and cilantro again) and salt & pepper. Pour over salad and drizzle some leftover honey mustard. YUM!

403 Fruit

I made this collage a while back. I needed an artistic outlet for my fruit obsession. May I suggest tasting all of these fruits before you perish?

Oh how I love fruit

L to R
Hachiya persimmon, white peach, date, papaya, starfruit, blackberry, black cherry, green apple, plantain, red Bartlett pear, blood orange, pluot, mango, ackee, pomegranate, pineapple, rose apple, avocado, fig, blueberry, kiwi, black currant, soursop, dragonfruit

I really should add the elusive Buddha's hand:

http://veganascent.blogspot.com/2010/12/buddha-hand-citron.html

The flavor and fragrance of this fruit is absolutely mesmerizing. I can't wait to get my hands on one this summer so I can candy the peel... And then just sniff it all day long. I imagine it's what the afterlife smells like if you were a good person.