As J would have it..

I wouldn't have had made pumpkin bread because he is tired of pumpkin baked goods. But as my defense, I did make a yeasted pumpkin bread. I personally think it came out great. Going to bring some over for my grandmother tomorrow afternoon. She'll like it. If she really likes it maybe I'll make some for J if he wants =p.

Anyway...here is the recipe.


Pumpkin Bread:
- Mix 2 teaspoons of yeast w/2 teaspoons of sugar in 1 and 3/4 cups of warm water.
-Mix water/yeast mixture into a bowl of 5 and 1/2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, and 2 teaspoons of salt.
- Knead for 10 minutes
- Let rise till doubles (about 1 and a 1/2 hours)
- Punch down and split dough into two loaf pans.
- Let rise for another hour and a half in pans.
- Bake at 450 degree's for 30 minutes.

Family is off to vegas...

and I'm stuck home alone taking care of the dog and making sure the house doesn't burn down. I should note that the parents did ask if I wanted to go, but I felt a) I would probably loose all my money at the black jack table, b) get really drunk loosing my money at the black jack table, c) drunk dial all my friends after loosing all my money at the black jack table, d) get sick after getting drunk at the black jack table and flying back to Hawaii where I would recover and then fly to North Carolina. So instead of having the chain reaction I've decided to stay home, get my eye's checked while my parents are still willing to pay for my eye care and do absolutely nothing.

Well not absolutely nothing. I have plans on attempting to make pretzels, english muffins, and try out my new spring form pan my sister got me for christmas! I also have to pick up supplies for my mom so she can make zoni for new years. I need to make sure to drink a lot of the zoni because 2010 is the year of the tiger, which is my year! I hope that this is a good sign for job prospects and everything else. Call me supersticuous but I think it is a really good sign that it is the year of the tiger and the same year I will become "independent" from the rents.

And because it is the year of the tiger, mom had to buy a mochi maker so I could make mochi. So tonight they tested it out and made me make some mochi with azuki beans inside of it. Luckily my mocki making skills (e.g. making sure it comes out pretty) are still pretty good. I'll take pictures of the ones we make for the new year so as not the jinx anything. Oh and I did make this cream cheese rippled pumpkin bread. I didn't layer it properly so it didn't come out as great as I was expecting it to. I also don't think that it is the best pumpkin bread recipe out there, but the recipe was from the Joy of Baking so I feel assured that it probably is one of the better ones out there. But sine I screwed up on making it I didn't take any pictures. There is still pumpkin left over so I don't know if I should try it again or try another pumpkin recipe. I was on a pumpkin kick earlier this fall but J got tired of eating pumpkin baked goods so I moved on. Right now I'm thinking of either pumpkin scones again or pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!

As for cooking things I did brine and roast a turkey for christmas eve dinner at my uncles. My uncle also showed me how to make jook, so I now know how to make it the traditional way instead of the way I made it for thanksgiving. For christmas dinner I marinated a pork loin and roasted it. I used Ina Garten's herb roasted marinating recipe. Personally, I think to make the pork loin more tender it should be adapted to become a little bit more of a brine or beer should be used to tenderize the meat a bit more. I forgot to take pictures of the pork. Sorry. But here is a picture of the turkey. I think it was my best turkey yet! Just to make sure though I bought another turkey as they were on sale at Safeway for 29 cents a pound. So before I leave for NC I will have to brine and roast another turkey. But what I'm really excited about is I get to roast 4 chickens for the family New Year party. I'm debating what I should do. There is the possibility of brining two and doing two in a more traditional fashion or doing different kinds of herbs on different ones. I'm thinking making one a garlic, one a rosemary, one a thyme, and one sage. We shall see. I have a few days to decide.

Well here is what you all have been waiting for. Below are Ina Gartens herb marinate recipe and how I brined my turkey.
Kelsey's Tukrey Brine (yes my own concotion):
for a 14 pound turkey
- 8 small dried bay leaves
- 4 tbspns peppercorn
- 6 big rosemary sprigs
- couple dashes of garlic powder

bring to boil in 1/4 gallon of water. then cool

add mixture to 1 and 3/4 gallon of water which has 1 and 1/2 cups of salt disolved in it.

brine for at least 12 hrs.

put into a roasting pan with sprigs of rosemary and thyme. pour a 1/3 of a bottle of good beer into the pan. drink the rest.

coat breast with olive oil and ground pepper.

roast in 325 degree oven for 3 and 1/2 hours and baste every 30 minutes.

enjoy!
Ina Garten's Herb Roasted Marinate: adapted
*I suggest trying to turn it into more of a brine by using 1/2 cup of salt to a gallon of water and 1/8 cup sugar. Try this at your own risk as I didn't do this, but will try in the near future and report back on to it.*

Ingredients:
3 lb boneless pork loin (or tenderloin)
2 lemons, zest grated
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from the 2 lemons)
4 rosemary sprigs
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tbspns salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

I roasted my pork at 350 degree's for 50 minutes. I flipped it half way through so that both sides would cook nicely. Ina calls for you to pan sear it before you throw it in the oven for only 30 minutes. I peronally just like throwing things in the oven. Less hassle.

Cream Cheese Rippled Pumpkin Bread
From Joy of Baking
Makes two 9″x5″ loaves

Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounce package (227 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Pumpkin Bread
1 cup (110 grams) toasted pecans or walnuts [optional, I leave them out]
3 1/2 cups (450 grams) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 large eggs
2 cups (400 grams) granulated white sugar
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 – 15 ounce (425 grams) can pure pumpkin
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two 9″x5″ pans.

For the Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese just until smooth in a stand mixer or food processor. Add the sugar and process just until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, processing just until incorporated. Do not over process. Stir in the flour. Set aside.

For the Pumpkin Bread: Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl and set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs until lightly beaten. Whisk in the sugar and melted butter, then stir in the pumpkin, water, vanilla extract, and (optionally) nuts.

Stir the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, being careful not to overmix. A few streaks of flour are fine. Divide the batter in half. Take one half and divide it between the two pans. Pour half of the cream cheese filling into each pan, then top with the remaining half of batter. Smooth the tops and bake an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool loaves to room temperature.

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

I think I have been a good boy this year. My roommates and friends are prime witnesses (particularly if they continue wanting baked goods). Therefore can you please delivery the following Christmas presents to my house in Durham. I will forever love you and never doubt your existence. However, I will still worship Dorie Greenspan, Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, Peter Reinhart, and many others as actual gods because they give the presents of recipes that you will hopefully facilitate me making.

Please, thank you, and much love!

1. KitchenAid
2. Ramkins
3. Bundt Pan
4. Ramekins
5. Dorie Greenspan's From My Home To Yours
6. Peter Reinhart's The Bread Bakers Apprentice

and if you think i've been really good a le creuset set or a set of copper bottom pots and pans please!

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from the farmers market in Hawaii and the banana bread I baked with my mom!

Home In Hawaii

So after 14+ hours of travel time, waking up at 4am and making J take me to the airport, I am home.

Well, I actually got home on Tuesday but I had a cold so couldn't really share the news with everyone. And by cold I mean 104.2 degree fever cold. Blah. Last time I was this sick it was because I was drunk at STIR. Wait, I was drunk at STIR this time too. Crap. There seems to be a cycle here. That's ok. Let's all blame J again.

Anyway, now I am all better. Well at least about the house and cooking dinner for the family. I made stuffed acorn squash with a spinach orzo for dinner. I'm also currently in the works of making some baguettes.

Just wanted to share that tid bit of cooking and baking goodness. I think I'm going to make some cookies this weekend. Mom want's me to make cinnamon raisin bread. I'm also thinking of pumpkin bread or pumpkin scones as she has a can of pumpkin puree lying around.

If I go to the farmers market tomorrow I'll make sure to take some pictures of what a Hawaii farmers market looks like. Oh and can I just say food prices in HI are ridiculous. I paid like $6 for two acorn squashes and $3 for generic corn flakes...well I didn't, but my mom did. WTF? More incentives for me to stay on the mainland. Food is cheap on the mainland, and now that I eat white people food instead of Asian/local food I don't have to be in the grocery store wondering why apples aren't in abbundance with butternut/acorn squash and all the other things I find at Kroger's and Whole Foods.

In other news, I got straight A's!!! I would like to thank J for that. I somehow sucked out all his smarts and was able to use it for my own good but left just enough for him since he got an A+ in stats. I'm still questioning how someone gets and A+ in grad school on their official transcript. Oh well. That just means I can tease him to actually come and bake/cook with me instead of study for stats next semester. It also might help that I will likely have stata on my computer to lure him over to do his work for AGP instead of sitting in Sanford.

Ok...that's all for now. I'll catch everyone later when I bake some goodies here at home or have some picutres to post of Hawaii. Wish I was in the snow storm hitting the east coast right now though.

Aloha!

Negligent

First off, sorry for not posting in three weeks. J has mentioned that I haven't posted in awhile even though I have made a bunch of goodies. So I'm blogging right now as he cleans the cobwebs from my ceiling while we listen to the raccoons in the attic.

I can't really remember everything that I've made lately. The past few weeks have been a blur with thanksgiving, finals, DC weekend trip, and just getting my life in order to go home to Hawaii. Blah...I know. I'm the first person in history to complain about going to Hawaii.

Here is just a general list with some ratings.

1. Snickerdoodle bundt cake: Fail, but keeper recipe. I think I need a traditional bundt cake pan or just make snickerdoodle loaves.
2.a.Dorie Greenspan Chocolate Marble banana bread. Definite keeper but reduce chocolate so you can taste the banana.
2.b. My go to banana bread recipe w/heavy cream!
3. Crust for a chocolate tart that J made.
4. No knead bread-eh...if necessary.
5. Ham and bean soup in crockpot: need to read how much beans I need before throwing in entire bag.
6. Italian Sausage w/Green Beans in a roasted Acorn Squash.

I think that's about it.

Thanksgiving wen't really well. I roasted a turkey, made gravy from the drippings for the first time, and also did a ham! J's pies came out amazingly. He made homemade meringue for the sweetpotato pie! He used Paula Deen's recipe just FYI. Not gonna post it cause it's easily accessible on foodnetwork and I'm sort of lazy.

Here are the recipes for the banana bread and the snickerdoodle cake. Both are truly comfort food! Ham and bean soup is just my own creation so don't mind me. As for the no knead bread, I'll think about if it's worth posting. Maybe if I make it for the family at home they will be the final decision on it.

Snickerdoodle Cake
Kelsey's Comments: If doing in a bundt pan use a knife to test center and not just a tooth pick. Probably needs to bake longer. I think I'm going to try this in a loaf pan or regular 8'1/2 x 11 pan.

Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake
From Julia of Dozen Flours by way of Ingrid of 3 B's

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup white sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

1. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Mix together really well and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 325F. Using a spray product like Pam with Flour , generously spray a 9 inch Bundt pan, being careful to cover all the nooks and crannies, as well as the center tube. (Note: If you don't want to use Pam with Flour, you can just grease the pan with shortening.) Gently dust the entire inside of the pan with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. You should only need about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar, but you want to try and evenly coat the inside surface of the pan, including the tube. Save the remaining sugar and cinnamon mixture and set everything aside.

3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

4. Beat just the butter on medium speed for one full minute. Add the white sugar and mix for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and blade and add the brown sugar.Mix for 2 minutes until the mixture looks light brown and uniform in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating each for 1 full minute. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream; beat well.

5. Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture over top the cake. Spread the rest of the batter into the pan and sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over the top. (If you run out of cinnamon sugar, you can mix just 1/4 cup of sugar + 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon together for the top of the cake. It should be more than enough.)

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.


Dorie Greenspan Chocolate Marble Banana Bread
Kelsey's Comment: Reduce chocolate. Chocolate overpowered banana flavor sadly. Also used heavy whipping cream. Everything is better with it right?
Black-and-White Banana Loaf

1 1/2 + 2 tbsp c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 ½ ripe bananas, peeled
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 stick plus 2 tbsp. room temperature butter
2/3 c. packed light brown sugar
1/3 c. sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 c. whole milk

Getting Ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8 ½ x4 ½ x 2 ½ inch loaf pan on an insulated baking sheet.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
In another small bowl, mash the bananas with lemon juice, zest, then stir in the rum.
Melt the chocolate and 2 tbsp. butter together in a microwave or saucepan over simmering water.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter at medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for 2-3 more minutes, until light and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. The batter will look curdled, and it will continue to look curdled as you add ingredients. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half the flour mixture, mixing only until it is just incorporated. With the mixer running, pour in the milk and when it is blended add the remaining dry ingredients.
Scrape down the bowl and mix in the mashed bananas. The batter will look even lumpier.
Pour a little less than half the batter into the bowl with melted chocolate and stir to blend. Drop alternating spoonfuls of both batters into prepared pan (or follow any of the marbling techniques on page. 229). Then, using a knife, swirl the batters taking care not to overdo it.
Bake for 1 hour and 20 – 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Check after 30 minutes, if the cake browns too much, cover loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan. Continue to cool on the rack.