May and new foods

 

May is here.  And so far, four days into the month, it seems it is going to be mild and cool.  That's good because when May is hot, July is unbearable.  But the weather appears to be staying mild week after week.  And as the spring progresses, I am getting ready to start putting out food for everyone again.

I've added a couple items to the menu recently.  Perhaps you've noticed.  But more new items are coming up soon.  I have a list of things I've been wanting to add as I have time to do final tweaks with respect to portion sizes and package. 

Be on the lookout for:

Lasagna

Chocolate and vanilla eclairs

Raspberry mascarpone cream puffs

A wonderful ice cream dessert that doesn't have a name yet but has crushed buttermints and crushed chocolate wafers

Parsnip chips - yes, I said parsnip.  

Sugar cones for ice cream cones (and edible bowls made of the same)

Chicken with herbs cooked in white wine

Roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes roasted with herbs and olive oil, cooked en papillote

Multiple varieties of macaroni and cheese

Lavender ice cream with blueberry swirl

Banana ice cream with caramelized white chocolate

I get a lot of enjoyment from looking at new foods to make available for everyone.  The process of preparing them for addition to the menu means multiple tests of the recipes, tweaking the techniques and ingredient amounts, and deciding how to distribute them which includes deciding how large portions should be and making decisions on packaging.

Packaging for some things is easy, cookies, et al, but packaging for other things, like the mirror glaze chocolate cake I like to make, sometimes takes a lot of time both in testing out packaging as well as researching what is available.    

But it is very satisfying when a new item is ready for inclusion on the menu.  And I am very excited when I put in on the current week's menu for the first time.  To me it is well worth the effort.

Have a great week everyone!

Banana bread and zucchini bread

 

Today is National Zucchini Bread day.   I have no idea who designated this day as such.  But apparently it is what it is.

So that means I'm making zucchini bread, right?  Well ... no.  

I remember having zucchini bread when I was a kid, but I've not had it in all the years since.  Why is that?  I remember it tasting good back then, so why haven't I made it since then?  Hmmmmmm.....

Yesterday I made banana bread.  And today I made it again.  I had a large bunch of bananas that I purchased specifically with the idea of making banana bread.  I let them ripen all week, not realizing that I had twice as many bananas as I needed.  Then when I made the breads yesterday, it became apparent that I had all these over-ripe bananas that needed to be used up.  So I made more breads this morning.  Now I have seven mini-loaves of banana bread in my freezer.  (I ate one yesterday, or there would have been eight.)

I love breads of many different types (who doesn't?), but especially breads made of things like bananas, pumpkin, lemon, etc.  On a quiet weekend morning such as today, there's nothing quite like having a warm loaf of bread to indulge in, and the aroma fills the house, and I feel like eating bread all day long.  

But back to my original question.   Why haven't I made zucchini bread since I was a kid?  And for that matter, I wonder how many other foods there are from my childhood that I've not had since?  And if bread can be made out of zucchini (a great way to partake of a vegetable that most people don't have much enthusiasm for), how many other vegetable can be used to make bread?

Celery bread?  Beet bread? Asparagus bread?  Chives and cheese bread -- this one I've made, and it's good.  As for others .... perhaps I should do some research on unusual types of breads.  Then again, it is a wonderful lazy Sunday morning, and today all I really feel like doing is having a quiet morning with my banana bread.  

So that's my plan for today.  Eating banana bread, maybe watching a movie, and enjoying the warm spring day. 

A day for cooking

Today in Kansas City, the temperature is mild, the sky is fairly bright, perhaps a bit hazy -- it's a nice spring day.

Yesterday and already today (11:00 AM as I write this) I have spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen.  I tested out a few tweaks to my recipes for deviled eggs and also oatmeal candy cookies, I made beef gyros, and I just now finished a batch of double chocolate cookie dough which will chill in the fridge for the next several hours.  Here's a photo of the dough below.

This is a new cookie that will be added to the Bruce Bakery and Bistro menu this week.  It has loads of chocolate, two different kinds, 15 ounces of chocolate in this batch of dough, and lots of eggs and not much flour.  These cookies come out with thin crispy crusts and a chewy inside, and the cookies themselves are actually rather thin.  I make them small so that they can be eaten quickly and easily in just a couple bites.

Later this week I will be making French vanilla ice cream with fresh vanilla beans that just arrived a few days ago, and from that I will be making a dessert from my childhood that includes crushed chocolate wafers and crushed buttermints.  I have so many things planned to make these next several days that I will not be wondering what to do with my time.

Cooking in the spring weather with the doors and windows open to let in fresh air which mingles with the aromas of these freshly baked cookies and bread and so on -- well, it's a nice way to spend a spring day before heading outside to enjoy the sun and the newly green plants and all the birds that now migrating north and are taking advantage of the bird feeder stations in the yard.  

So make some good food and go outside everyone.  Enjoy the spring!

Three-layer oatmeal chocolate fudge cookies

It is a gorgeous day here in Kansas City.  The weather is pleasantly mild, quite sunny, and the plants are all coming alive as you can see by one of the early-blooming flowers from one my landscape beds in the picture above.  It's a good day for opening up the doors and windows, letting in light and fresh air, and cooking up some good food.  Today I'm making three-layer oatmeal chocolate fudge cookies.

These are a time-consuming but fun cookie to make.  Butter is beaten until very smooth and soft.  Then brown sugar is added, lots of brown sugar, and all of that is beaten for at least two minutes.  Eggs are added along with vanilla and the mixture is beaten until it is light, almost fluffy.  Flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon are stirred in slowly and on low speed.  Then old-fashioned oats are added and finally chopped peanuts as well.

A portion of this cookie dough is taken out and put aside.  The rest is pressed into a 9x13 inch cake pan to make the bottom layer.

For the middle layer, butter, chocolate and condensed milk are heated and melted together in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water.  Then vanilla, salt, and peanuts are added, and the mixture is slowly poured over the cookie dough layer already in the pan.  It is spread until it covers the bottom layer completely.

Now, the cookie dough that was put aside when the first layer was put down is broken into bits and scattered across the chocolate layer.  And the whole thing is baked for about 25 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven, it is set aside on a cooling rack for two hours.  Finally a blunt knife is run around the edges to loosen the cookie block.  Put a tray over the top and turn the whole thing over the let the block fall from the pan.  Remove the pan and put another tray on the block that is now bottom-up, and turn it over again to bring it right-side-up.  At this point the whole thing is put into the fridge to chill before cutting.

I usually cut the entire block into twelve large pieces.

And there you have it.  It is crunchy on top, a bit soft and chewy in the middle and a blend of crunchy and chewy on the bottom.  A wonderful bar cookie with many flavors and textures.  One bar cookie by itself will fill you up.  And since it has lots of oats in it, it's healthy so eat as many as you want.  At least, that's what I tell myself.  

Lava and technique

These past several days I have been watching the live streams of the erupting volcano in Iceland.  Those who know me know that I am fascinated by natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and especially volcanoes.  So to have live streams of multiple cameras on this amazing geological event is very enjoyable to me.  As I watch the lava flowing from the cinder cones and the recent fissures that have opened up, I think of the lava field brownies that I like to make.

I developed these brownies from another recipe that I liked in some ways but wanted to tweak.  In the process of tweaking it, I accidentally developed these  brownies that I named after lava fields.  Why that name?  As you can see in the picture above, they have an interesting texture that, at least to me, is reminiscent of lava fields.  Not only that, but when they are pulled out of the oven they are literally still boiling and seething on the surface and take a minute or two to calm down in the open air of the kitchen.  When they are removed from the oven, it seems they aren't done baking because of this -- but they are.   And afterwards, they have not only this wonderful looking texture but also a bit of a crunch on the top that might be the same crunch of brittle lava that is cooling as it spreads from a volcano into the surrounding area.

I remember the first time I pulled these from the oven with that seething surface.  I wasn't at all sure that I should remove them yet.  Surely they can't be done, I said to myself.  But I did it anyway, just to see what would happen.  And I was very happy that I did.

It's a fun thing to tweak recipes, trying new techniques in both the ingredient mixing  and the baking.  Someone once said to me, "Technique can't be that important.  It can't make that much of a difference, can it?"  The answer is yes.  I have all sorts of notes written on my recipes that specify how to mix something, whether or not to thaw a frozen ingredient (such as wild blueberries), whether to mix by hand or by mixer, how little to mix, how much to mix, precisely how much batter should be added (exactly 250 grams of banana bread batter per mini-loaf, for instance), which pans to cook in, whether to fold with a spatula and then do a final gentle whisk or not, and so on and so on.

All these little things can make a noticeable difference in the final product in taste, texture, and appearance.  And so that makes the techniques used very important, indeed.  At least to me.

Enjoy the spring weather everyone.  The rains have been abundant so far, and my fingers are crossed that it stays that way.  Spring flowers are already blooming.  My creeping thyme beds are already greening up incredibly well.  And the temperatures do not seem to be leaning towards hot temperatures of summer yet, so that hopefully means we will have a long and pleasant spring.  So make yourself some good food and enjoy the pleasant days.

Cookies and ice cream

Spring is here and plants are coming alive.  I love seeing all the new growth as winter gives way to the new season.  And that means warmer days, longer days, and lots of things to do outside.

But I'm working inside, too.  This week two new items have been added to the full menu of Bruce Bakery and Bistro.

First we have oatmeal candy cookies.  Oatmeal cookies are always great.  In fact, I like say since they have all those oats in them, they are healthier and that means it's OK to eat more.  I know, that's not exactly true.  But it's nice to convince myself of that after I've already eaten several.  These cookies have oats, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, and lots of butterscotch chips, chocolate chips and peanut butter M&Ms.  They are exceedingly sweet as you can imagine from the addition of all those mix-ins.  

The other item added to the menu is French vanilla ice cream.  In my mind, you can never go wrong with ice cream.  It's good anytime of the year, anytime of the day, and I'd be happy if I could just eat is as a meal all by itself.

This is the second ice cream making its appearance on the menu.  The other is mint chocolate chip ice cream.  And more new flavors will be coming as well.

And other new items will also be added soon.  So keep your eyes open and check them out.

Have a great week and enjoy the pleasant spring weather!

Deviled eggs

 

I love deviled eggs.  I remember as a kid I would eat them again and again.  Every time I was at a picnic, I hoped that someone brought deviled eggs.  Every potluck at church, I hoped someone brought deviled eggs.  I can eat a ton of these .... maybe not literally, but it sure seems so.  There are so many different recipes for these, some simple and some complicated.  I prefer a simple list of ingredients which are balanced just right for my taste.

I boil a dozen eggs.  When I do this, I always use a quart-sized saucepan, covering the eggs completely with water.  Then they go on the stovetop on high heat.  I keep an eye on them and when the water starts to boil, I turn it down to something between medium and medium-high heat, keeping the water at a gentle boil.  If the boil is too rough, the eggs get tossed around a lot more and are much more likely to crack while boiling, sending bits of egg white streaming out from the shell into the water.  Once the water is boiling, I set the timer for 8 minutes.  Some like to put the eggs into water that is already boiling.  I like to slowly warm the eggs with the water, and then start timing as soon as the boiling bubbles are ... bubbling.

Once that timer goes off, I immediately remove the pan from the heat, and then remove the eggs with a slotted spoon from the hot water, putting them into another large bowl.  Then I let the bowl sit out for a long time, cooling down the eggs until they are just barely warm.  Only then are they put into the fridge to chill.  (Note:  It always seems to me that the eggs are easier to peel if they are allowed to slowly cool down at room temperature.)  (Another note:  It always seems to me that if older eggs are used, they are easier to peel as well.  The reason for that I will talk about it another post about eggs in the future.)

After they have chilled for a couple hours, I peel them under running hot water.  (Yet another note:  This also seems to make it easier to peel the eggs without damaging the appearance of the boiled eggs.)  Then I slice them in half down the long axis, from narrow end to broad end.  I carefully remove the yolks, tossing them into a bowl, and place the egg white halves in a container with sides that rise higher than the eggs will be once filling has been added.  These higher sides make it easier to cover the finished eggs with plastic wrap as they chill in the fridge without compressing the beautiful fillings.

I grab a fork and start breaking up the egg yolks next.  Then Miracle Whip (not mayonnaise which is often used) is added, honey Dijon mustard is added, and finally sweet relish is added, along with a pinch of salt and course-ground pepper.  The key thing to remember is the balance of flavors.  Find a balance you like and stick with it .... unless, that it, you feel like experimenting every time you make them.

All of that is mixed thoroughly and then adjusted with more Miracle Whip and mustard and relish if necessary.  The balance always needs to be tweaked just a bit because the volume of ground up egg yolks is always a bit different since not every large egg is exactly the same size.  All of this is put into a pastry bag with a tip that I prefer to use, one that is relatively large and makes it easier to fill the egg white bases quickly and easily without clogging up due to the relish which is in the filling mixture.

Then I fill each of the egg white bases with a generous amount of the mixture before sprinkling paprika over the top of every egg.

When everything has been completed, we have these beautiful flavorful deviled eggs.  I like to let them chill in the fridge for a while, even overnight.  If you eat one right away after assembling, it tastes great.  But let them sit a bit to let the flavors meld and intensify as they chill, and they taste even better, in my opinion.

My deviled eggs today have just gone into the fridge for chilling.  I plan on pulling some out to eat in a few hours.  I'll have to exercise a lot of willpower in order not to eat too many.

Have a great week, everone!

New cookie

Welcome to a wonderfully mild and quiet Friday afternoon here in Kansas City.  Today's post is about a new cookie that is being added to the menu.

And for those of you who have been asking (or even those of you who haven't), my plan is to start accepting orders again sometime quite soon.  I've been laying low while Covid-19 has been doing it's thing.  I'm hoping with the latest developments in the vaccination rollouts that it will calm down enough to persuade me to start sending food out to everyone again

Now on to today's new cookie post.

There are cookies, like shortbread, for instance, that are more for the grown-up part of each of us.  And there are some, like those loaded with candy, for instance, that are more for the kid in each of us.  This one is for the kid. 

These are very simple cookies to make.  Butter is creamed for a long time with dark brown sugar and granulated sugar.  Then an egg and lots of vanilla are added.  Oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt are whisked together and than added to the butter and egg mixture.  The mixer is set to low for the addition of the dry ingredients.  We don't want to work that flour too much once it's combined with the wet ingredients.  Finally comes the "kid" part:  chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and peanut butter M&Ms.  A generous amount of each of these three candies are added to the mixture.  

At this point I will portion the cookie dough before it chills.  Then it sits in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour.  I don't like to chill it longer.  But the dough will go straight from the fridge into the oven.  And 10 minutes later they come out still soft so they mustn't be moved from the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes.  Then they finally are placed on the cooling rack.  They are good warm, but I think they are better fully cooled to room temperature.

This new cookie will be added to the full menu of Bruce Bakery and Bistro later this week.  It is ultra sweet, and is quite simply meant for the kid in each of us.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cold rains and chocolate

On this cold late-winter March morning, we have chilly rains falling off and on today here in Kansas City.  This is great weather for baking things which fill the house with warm aromas that take us deep into good memories of our past.  

This weekend I have made several things.  First up was warm roasted tomatoes with olive oil and herbs.  Then was egg salad for easy-to-fix sandwiches.  Then I made some tuna salad just because it seemed good to have fixings for two different kinds of sandwiches.  After that I made deviled eggs dusted with lots of paprika.  Then snickerdoodles, and finally chocolate chunk grand cookies.

These are one of my favorite cookies to make.  Yeah, yeah, I say that about a lot of things, but today this is my favorite cookie to make.  Tomorrow it might be something else.

These are big.  Each dough ball is 100 grams of dough.  You can see in the photo above how big the dough balls are compared to a typical dinner spoon.

They are filled with eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and a few other minor ingredients, and then a combination of cake flour and bread flour -- that's right, no all-purpose flour.  This flour combination gives such a wonderful texture to the cookie.  

Then 20 ounces of chocolate are broken up into shards.  I don't chop them. I simply break the chocolate fêves into shards.  This gives each cookie pockets of liquid chocolate which are are different in size after they are baked up.

In then end, we have 18 cookies that are large and dense and heavy.  The outside of each is just a bit crusty, and then inside there is a wonderful soft chewy texture with those irregularly sized pockets of chocolate.  Each cookies has more than an ounce of chocolate in it.  That may not sound like much, but trust me, it is it a lot. 

I sent some of these foods home with family and friends this weekend.  And I ate quite a lot as well.  A cold spring morning with chilly rains is perfect for baking and eating.

Have a great week everyone!

Slow

Good morning everyone.  It's a pleasant weekend here in Kansas City.  Mild temperatures are in play here on this beautiful Sunday morning.

Already this morning I've cooked some brownies.  Later I will make a batch of snickerdoodles.  And then some slow-roasted tomatoes. SLOW-roasted tomatoes.  SLOW.

Slow ---- what a great word.  The world moves so quickly, so very very quickly.  It seems we are asked to do more in less time every day, day after day.  Everyone is focused on productivity.  Productivity is nice, certainly, but there's a lot to be said for "slow".

Cooking makes us go slow.  We have to take time for a meat to sit in a marinade.  We have to take time for bread to rise.  We have to take time for biscuits to bake.  There's no speeding these process in most cases.  They take the time they take.  And that's one of the great things about making food.

Would we like to make food faster?  Sure.  But certain processes can't be rushed.  And that's a blessing in some ways.  We are forced to slow down.  We are forced to consider what we are doing, to think while breads are rising and baking, etc.

I love that cooking makes me slow down.  I was thinking as I was wolfing down a huge deli sandwich last night that we often eat so very quickly as well.  And shouldn't we do the opposite?  Shouldn't we eat more slowly?  Taking the time to eat allows us to savor and appreciate, just as taking the time to cook allows us to appreciate the food and the effort that goes into making it.

I love food.  I love cooking.  I love being forced to take my time and slow down just a bit in this fast-paced world.