From Our Kitchen

Food Destinations #5 Roundup

2007-03-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in Food Destinations #5: Where Everybody Knows Your Name. If you are unfamiliar with this event, it was started by Maki at Maki at I Was Really Just Very Hungry. It’s a kind of a guide-in-the-making of food and eating destinations around your home town. It allows traveling food minded people to get recommendations and first hand advice from other food minded people. (I know eating is always the first thing on my mind whenever I travel anywhere.) We can share pictures and experiences from different places all over the world. Pretty cool, huh? Read more about it here.

And now here is the roundup!

Tanna writes about White Rock Coffee in Dallas, Texas.

Maki tells us of Müller’s Buurelädeli, a farm store in Switzerland.

Deena of Sydney, Australia suggests we try cheesecake and coffee at the Fair Trade Coffee Company.

In Rochester, New York, Smita reccomends the Boulder Coffee Company.

Carolyn, all the way from Harare, Zimbabwe, tells us about a dairy with plenty of fresh milk and cheese.

The Alternative Baker is a regular stop for Robin in Kingston, New York.

Chris has two places and two entries for us!
First, Village Sushi and Gourmet in Smyrna, Georgia. And second, Muss and Turner's.

And last but not least, Dirk in Stuttgart, Germany writes about a little italian restaurant, Viavai.

Better late than never, Stuart tells us of his regular dining out spot, Fire.

I think I need to start travelling! Thanks again for the wonderful entries and suggestions. I can't wait for the next round of Food Destinations!

Don't Forget

2007-03-17T13:58:00.000-07:00

If you want to participate in Food Destinations #5: Where Everybody Knows Your Name, entries are due tomorrow! Please send them in and the roundup will go up sometime this week.

And if you're running behind, chocolate is always a good let me in late gift ;)

My Friend Ina's Chocolate Orange Mousse

2007-03-04T18:33:00.000-08:00

If I got to chose one celebrity chef to be friends with, I'd have to chose Ina Garten. If you've ever watched her show, the Barefoot Contessa, I'm sure you know why. On every episode Ina cooks up an amazing meal for her husband Jeffrey or some of their friends. Then they feast on it in her amazing garden (which is filled with flowers and home-grown vegetables and herbs), her beautiful house (on a gorgeously set table), or down at the beach (which is very close by). Who wouldn't want to be Ina's friend?

Unfortunately, Ina will (most likely) never be more than a TV friend to me. I'll have to be satisfied watching the eye candy on her show and making her recipes myself. *Sigh.*

Chocolate Orange Mousse
Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

Ingredients:
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces good bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup orange liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 extra-large eggs, at room temperature, separated
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch kosher salt
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
Whipped Cream, recipe follows, for decoration
Mandarin oranges, drained, for decoration

1. Combine the 2 chocolates, orange liqueur, 1/4 cup water, and the vanilla in a heat-proof bowl. Set it over a pan of simmering water just until the chocolate melts.
2. Whisk in the orange zest and butter until combined.
3. Place the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for 4 minutes, or until very thick and pale yellow.
4. With the mixer on low speed, add the chocolate mixture. Transfer to a large bowl.
5. Place 1 cup of egg whites (save or discard the rest), the salt, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until firm but not dry.
6. Whisk 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture; then fold the rest in carefully with a rubber spatula.
7. Without cleaning the bowl or whisk, whip the heavy cream and the remaining tablespoon of sugar until firm. Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.
8. Pour the mousse into individual dishes or an 8-cup serving bowl. Chill and decorate with whipped cream and oranges. Serve with extra whipped cream on the side.

Whipped Cream:
• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon orange liqueur
• 1 tablespoon sugar

1. Whip the cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. When it starts to thicken, add the sugar and liqueur and continue to whip until the cream forms stiff peaks. Don't overbeat, or you'll end up with butter!

Food Destinations #5

2007-02-18T09:48:00.000-08:00

I have something to announce:

{Cue the theme music to Cheers}

Food Destinations #5: Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Yes, I’m hosting the next round of Food Destinations, the child of Maki at I Was Really Just Very Hungry. Just in case you’ve never heard about this event before, it’s a kind of a guide-in-the-making of food and eating destinations around your home town. It allows traveling food minded people to get recommendations and first hand advice from other food minded people. (I know eating is always the first thing on my mind whenever I travel anywhere.) We can share pictures and experiences from different places all over the world. Pretty cool, huh? Read more about it here.

For my round of Food Destinations, I want everyone to write about the restaurant, bakery, market, etc. you return to all the time. That place you visit so often that everyone there knows your name and maybe more about you than your own family. And you cannot bear to even think about closing.

Have somewhere in mind yet? Don’t worry if the staff don’t actually know all about your personal life, or even your name. (Just start visiting more often so that they do know all about you by the end of the event. Ok, I guess that’s not necessary.) The next time you stop by, bring your camera and your mental notebook. Then share your photos and thoughts by posting about it on your blog. I’m giving you one month, which should be plenty of time considering you’re there so often anyway. That means posting and emailing me the link by March 18th, so mark your calendars!

How to Participate:
1. Visit that one place you've been to so often that everyone there knows you, photograph it, and write about it on your blog.
2. Link back to this page.
3. Send an email to fromourkitchen@yahoo.com with your name, the name of your blog, and a link to your post.
Please send me the email by March 18th!

Anti-Valentine Brownies

2007-02-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

There are two types of people in this world – those that like Valentines Day, and those that hate it. I belong to the latter category. It’s not that it serves as a reminder to the single people that they are very much alone while the rest of the world flaunts their happy relationships right in the singles faces. The real problem with Valentines Day is that it is a completely commercial affair. The whole thing is a marketing scheme to get people to buy flowers, chocolates, and lingerie. “This Valentine’s Day, show the ones you care about how much you love them,” really means “Buy, buy, buy! Spend, spend, spend!” Unfortunately, everyone seems to think this is a fabulous idea.

I must admit, I am promoting Valentines Day a bit, but not by my choice. We’ve been making heart-shaped cakes, cookies, and pastries and filling heart boxes with chocolate at work for the past few weeks. Every cake and pastry is decorated with little red hearts. It’s enough to make any Valentine-hater sick.

Despite all these negative feelings, I couldn’t help but want something rich and chocolaty, even if chocolate is the official food of Valentines Day. I turned to my hero, Alton Brown, and his fabulous recipe for brownies. It was incredibly quick, easy, and (of course) delicious. In about one hour I had the perfect chocolate treat to celebrate my dislike for this so-called "holiday."

Cocoa Brownies
Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown (I followed it exactly)

Ingredients:
Soft butter, for greasing the pan
Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
11/4 cups cocoa, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.
2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow.
3. Add both sugars and beat well.
4. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.
5. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.

Happy Anti-Valentines Day!

Another Notch in My Dessert Belt

2007-02-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of desserts out there. I've made, and eaten, quite a few of them, but I love trying out new ones. It gives me a sense of accomplishment that I just can't get from making that same old apple pie for the 100th time. It's not that there's anything wrong with that apple pie, but it's important to add another dish to your resume. And variety is the spice of life, isn't it?

With that in mind, I set out to make a clafouti. I've seen pictures, read stories and recipes about them, but I'd never tried one before. So I decided it was to time to scratch another dessert off of my mental "to-make" list. I'm glad I gave the clafouti a try as it is quite delicious. If a souffle and a dutch pancake got together and had a child, this would be it. The texture is very light and airy and it poofs up in the oven then collapses right after it comes out – just like a souffle. It's baked in a cast iron skillet and gets nicely browned and crispy around the edges – just like a dutch pancake. Apples, cinnamon, and vanilla take the basic, eggy flavor to the next level.

This recipe comes from Michael Chiarello. He instructs that the apples be cooked in browned butter first so they'll be very tender and soft when bitten into. Plus, you just pour the batter on top and pop the skillet in the oven for about 15 minutes and voila! You've made a beautiful, delicious dessert and succesfully made a new dessert.

Apple Clafouti
Recipe courtesy of Michael Chiarello
Ingredients:
Batter:
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup whole milk

Apples:
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Pinch salt
• 1 1/2 cups peeled and diced Granny Smith apple (about 1 large apple)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Make the batter: Sift the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt into a bowl.
3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk, and milk until well blended.
4. Add about 1/3 of the egg mixture to the flour mixture and whisk until smooth, then gradually incorporate the remaining egg mixture. Whisk until well blended. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.
5. Cook the apples: Place the butter in a 10" cast iron skillet and cook over moderately high heat until the butter turns nut brown.
6. Add a pinch of salt.
7. Add the apples and cook, stirring often, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.
8. Sprinkle the apples with the sugar, reduce the heat to moderately low, and cook until the apples are almost cooked through and the sugar has melted and is coating the apples in a light syrup.
9. Add the vanilla extract.
10. Spread the fruit evenly in the skillet.
11. Working quickly, pour batter evenly over the fruit. Bake until the edges of the clafouti are puffed and browned and the center is set, about 15 minutes.
12. Serve warm directly from the pan. (Sprinkle with powdered sugar if you like. I find that it makes it too sweet and takes away from the flavor of the clafouti.)

What do you think?

2007-01-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

To all my readers, fellow bloggers, and foodies, I need your opinion. I want to know what you think of Cooks Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen. Do you think their recipes are too time-consuming? Do they go into too much detail? Is all that detail and extra steps worth it? Is the end result really perfect? And what about those pictures? Would real color photos be better, or do you like the black and white illustrations?

Personally, I like it. Cooks Illustrated is the one magazine I read from cover to cover. I love everything in it, from the tip from Joe from Alabama advising me to freeze butter wrapers and then use them whenever I need to grease a pan to the gruelling test determining which type of measuring cups is the best on the market. I read the recipes and accompanying stories like they are the latest Harry Potter book. It's almost suspenseful. How will the cook find the ideal oven temperature? Is a half of a stick of butter enough or too much? It's really quite interesting to see how the recipe was fine-tuned to perfection. I can't help but think it would be fun to work at the Test Kitchen testing and tasting recipes again and again until you're convinced they cannot be improved upon. As for the pictures, I think they're beautiful. I'd love to hang the back covers (which feature drawings of different varities of onions or spices or berries) all around my house.

Because I love Cooks Illustrated so much, I think I set my expectations a little too high. After I finish reading an article, I'm excited and anxious to test out the recipe. "All that work, all those tests! This recipe must make the best (fill in the blank) ever!" I think. But sometimes. once all the measurements are strictly adhered too, all the steps are meticulously followed, and every suggestion taken, the result isn't nearly as wonderful as I was expecting.

Then I start to wonder, "Gee, if I had skipped that extra step where I had to roast those tomatoes for several hours... or if I'd added an extra teaspoon of salt... would this really have tasted sub-par? Would I be cursing myself for being lazy and careless and not doing exactly what the Cooks Illustrated geniuses told me to do?"

This was exactly the case when I made scones from my Baking Illustrated cookbook. I did everything the recipe said, but they just didn't rise nice and tall like they should have. They were more like pancake scones. THe texture and flavor was wonderful. If they had risen properly, these scones would have been the best ever. So what is to blame? Did I do something wrong and didn't realize it? I don't think so. Maybe it was the oven claiming to be a different temperatue than it really was. Living in Colorado, I could easily blame the high altitude. Or perhaps I should blame the folks over at the test kitchen, but surely they wouldn't allow a thing like that to happen, right?

Right?

Piggy

2007-01-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

Remember the days when you would sit at the kitchen table surrounded by several plastic jars each containing a different color of playdough? You could roll into a balls and logs, sculpt it into whatever your heart desired, and maybe, if you were lucky, even shove it through a machine to get spaghetti strands or stars. I don't know about you all, but one of my favorite things to make was food. I made many a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, hamburgers, and ice cream. It all looked good enough to eat. Unfortunately, no matter how delicious that burger looked, it tasted (come on, everyone's tasted a little playdough) more like a glob of salty dough.

In more recent years I've discovred a much tastier alternative to playdough – marzipan. It's one of my all-time favorite ingredients, so any day that I get to work with marzipan at work is a good day. I pull out a big bucket filled with our homemade marzipan and pull out four pieces. Then I work each into a long rope. It has to be even and seamless, or the the end result will be dry and cracked. Next the ropes are divided up into 2 inch pieces and each piece is rolled into a perfect sphere. Again, it cannot have any seems, or the cracks will open up and dry out later. Once the marzipan is in a ball, it can be shaped into just about anything.

For these guys, I work one end into a slight point. Then I cut the slit open and indent one half to form a mouth. Now he needs some color. At work we have an ancient air brusher that has probably been there since the store opened 40 years ago. It's tricky. You have to balance the gun and a dish of the color while coordinating the angle and intensity of the color. Painting them from a few different sides creates a nice shading affect. Next you brush each one with melted cocoa butter to keep it from drying out. Finally, each pig is placed on a cookie dipped in chocolate, given ears of roasted split almonds, and eyes of royal icing (the white) and chocolate.

It's a bit labor intensive, but it's worth it, don't you think?

Brown

2007-01-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

If I had to pick a theme for today's post, it would have to be brown. Brown may not be the prettiest color, but my favorite food comes in all its different shades. I could never think bread to be boring because it doesn't come in bright yellow or sky blue. Actually, I'm sure we're all glad it doesn't.

In this loaf of bread, brown signifies an earthy, nutty flavor. It has a dense, hearty crumb and even though it didn't rise as much as I would have liked, it wasn't too flat and chewy. The addition of one egg and vegetable oil make each slice nice and tender, while oats give it a more complex texture. Whole wheat is the only type of flour used, giving the loaf its beautiful brown tones and making it especially good for you.

If you're interested in the recipe, you should buy the Bread Baker's Apprentice. It is my favorite bread baking book that I think anyone who really wants to make good bread should own. And of course I am willing to share my adaptation as well.

At last...

2006-12-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

Wow. It has been a very long time, hasn’t it folks? The holiday season hits and all of a sudden the stuff you want to do and enjoy doing gets pushed out of the way for the stuff you “should” do. No more relaxing, perusing other blogs, skimming through cookbooks… I’m sure you know what I mean. That’s not to say I’ve stopped cooking and eating – certainly not!

So as a follow up to my last post (about a month late), here is what I made for Thanksgiving dessert, as an alternative to pumpkin pie. I got quite a few suggestions for gingerbread and an image from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook immediately came to mind. An image of chocolate-glazed gingerbread cakes. It has ginger, a flavor that is perfect for fall, and chocolate. What more could you ask for?

It turned out quite beautifully, with a glassy chocolate finish and a sparkly pile of crystallized ginger in the center. It tasted just as good. The interior is very moist and dense and packed with ginger flavor. The only change I made was to bake one large cake rather than the 12 small ones the recipe yields. The large size came out nicely, just leave it in the oven a bit longer.

Chocolate-Glazed Gingerbread Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

Ingredients:
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup boiling water
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
• Chocolate Ganache (recipe follows)
• crystallized ginger, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 9” cake pan and set aside.
2. Stir together the boiling water and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt into a medium bowl.
5. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
6. Add the egg and beat until combined.
7. Add the molasses, fresh ginger, and reserved baking soda mixture and beat until combined.
8. Stir in the dry ingredients.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
10. Transfer pan to a wire rack and cool in pan for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.
11. Set rack over parchment-lined baking sheet. Pour chocolate ganache over cake, letting it drip down the sides. Decorate top with the candied ginger.

Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 lb semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat bring cream to a full boil then remove from heat.
2. Stir in the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes.
3. Whisk slowly until smooth.

Thanksgiving Dessert

2006-11-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today I bring you a wonderful dessert that is a perfect alternative, or addition to, pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. Just slice a few apples and a few pears, toss them in some sugar and spices, place them in a homemade pie crust, and bake. Does it get any better than that? It does if you add whipped cream!

Now I need a little help from my readers. I need to bring a dessert to Thanksivin dinner. The pie is being covered by someone else, so I have to come up with something different. Any suggestions? Please leave them in the comments.

Not Following the Rules

2006-11-04T12:58:00.000-08:00

There was a point in my life when I followed recipes to the exact fraction of a teaspoon. There were no substitutions. Rosemary instead of sage? That’s madness! If the recipe said 15 minutes in the oven, that is how long it got, no more, no less. Changes were not merely frowned upon, they were simply not permitted.

But things have changed. Now it’s next to impossible for me to follow a recipe exactly. I always have to make a few adjustments, whether it’s common sense, the high altitude, or personal taste.

Maybe I should trust the recipe and try to follow it more exactly, but I think adaptations are a good thing. Recipes are not strict rules. They're more like guidelines. A recipe should suit the cook’s needs. The cook should not have to struggle to meet the recipe’s needs. So if you like rosemary better than sage, make the switch! If 3 cups of sugar seems like too much, don’t use it all. The more cooking you do, the better you will know when, what, and how to change in your cooking.

That is what I did with these little muffins. They’re actually made from a recipe for lemon madeleines. These don’t look anything like that though. I don’t have a madeleine pan, so the batter went into a mini-muffin pan. I wasn’t in a lemony mood, so I left out the lemon zest and extract and put in almond extract instead. I ended up with a delicious little cake that suited my tastes perfectly, not some kind of monster created from not following the recipe. They have a crunch crust on the outside, but a soft, moist inside. The texture is light and crumbly, from the almond flour in the batter. My version is very simple, with a delicate almond flavor. But you could add any kind of flavor you want, from lavender to chocolate. As a matter of fact, it’s encouraged!

Almond Madeleine Muffins
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook

Ingredients:
• 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour two (12 muffin) mini-muffin pans.
2. Melt the butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the almond extract.
3. Whisk together the flour, almond flour, and sugar.
4. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and salt into frothy.
5. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and whisk to combine.
6. Fold in the butter.
7. Spoon batter into the muffin pans.
8. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.

Does My Blog Look Good in This?

2006-10-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

I guess my blog does look good in this!

I am so excited to announce that I won most aesthetically pleasing photo in the latest round of DMBLGiT. To see the other winners and all the wonderful entries, click here. I'm always trying to improve my photography and have one of those blogs that make you hungry as soon as the page loads. It really means a lot to me to know my stuff is approved of by the foodie community. Thanks to the wonderful hostess, Katherine of Toast Point and the wonderful judges! And to any future judges, I have plenty more chocolate to share with "agreeable" people. Just kidding, I do not promote bribery in any way.

I've Been Tagged!

2006-10-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Michelle of The Accidental Scientist has tagged me for the Butterfly Effect Meme. Here is how it works:

The Butterfly Effect Meme asks you to name food items or events that changed your foodie life. Specifically you are asked to recall “an item, person, event, or place” that affected you profoundly – something that created a moment you can look back at and say “that was a defining moment.” It doesn’t have to be “big, splashy” things. Instead, it can be something “small and simple” – something that changed the way you view the world.

These are the categories:
1. An ingredient
2. A dish, a recipe
3. A meal (in a restaurant, a home, or elsewhere)
4. A cookbook or other written work
5. A food “personality” (chef, writer, etc.)
6. Another person in your life

It’s a kind of difficult one, don’t you think? Life changing moments, even in the food world, are sometimes hard to pinpoint. It really made me think. And I’ve been thinking about it since I was tagged, which was several days ago. I think I’ve finally come up with pretty satisfactory answers.

1. Ingredient: Butter
It’s simple and it may not be the healthiest ingredient ever, but it is important. At one point in my life I’m ashamed to say that I actually preferred that fake stuff that comes in tubs because it was easier to spread. I didn’t think there was a major difference between margarine, butter, and high quality butter. Fortunately I read enough food magazines and cookbooks, and watched enough Food Channel that I learned the difference. Then I started my job at the bakery and discovered Plugra butter. I never knew that butter could have such a delicious taste and smell. When you beat it in the mixer there should be a sweet, buttery aroma in the kitchen. It should have a smooth, soft texture. And the taste, nothing compares to good, European (meaning higher fat) butter.

2. Dish/Recipe: Ravioli
I’ve been thinking about this one for a long time, a very long time. It’s difficult to think of a life changing recipe. In the end I decided to go with completely home made ravioli. It was my first post ever and really marked the beginning of my fascination with all things food. It’s one of those recipes that you spend all day on, but it’s fun, not difficult or stressful. Then you taste the ravioli and are amazed at how wonderful your day of cooking was. It’s one of those recipes that makes you realize just how beautiful cooking can be.

3. Meal: College Food
No, I didn’t go to some amazing school where the food is halfway decent. Quite the opposite, actually. The food was terrible. But being forced to eat this food made me realize that meals don’t have to be like this. We decide what we eat – how good it is is up to us to decide.

4. Cookbook: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice
Before I read and began using this book, I was a very impatient baker. I wasn’t interested in making any bread that took more than the standard couple of hours to rise – anything overnight was out of the question. But this book changed all that and completely changed the breads I produced. My loaves had holes of varying sizes, crackly crusts, and wonderful flavor. This book is what got me so interested in bread in all it’s forms.

5. Food “Personality:” Alton Brown
You probably could have guessed that after my last post, yeah? Alton Brown is my favorite food personality. When I first started watching the Food Channel (remember when it wasn’t standard?), I saw commercials for and episode of Good Eats where Alton is stranded on an island and I thought it was just some goofy, frivolous show. But then I watched it and changed my mind. He knows EVERYTHING about food. Everything. I couldn’t be more impressed, and his show, and books and recipes, have been my favorite ever since.

6. Person: My Boss
He took a chance and hired me to work in the kitchen. He decided to let a 19 year old follow her baking dreams and train her as a pastry chef. That’s pretty life changing.

And now for who I am going to tag:
• Peabody of Culinary Concotions by Peabody
• Julia of Tasting Life...
• Lauren of Stuffed.
• Jess of Kitchen Heat

Mr. Brown

2006-10-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

I’d like to take a moment to pay homage to one of my culinary heroes – Alton Brown. Yep, he is a pretty awesome guy. I can watch Good Eats over and over again the same way I can watch an episode of Friends for the 100th time, even that one about Ross and Rachel breaking up, I mean getting together, I mean getting married… Wait, what was I talking about? Right, Alton Brown. Alton Brown is an all-around wonderful chef. He actually knows exactly what happens and why it happens during the cooking process. And he goes on to explain it to us in hopes that we will all become better cooks. Have you seen him on Iron Chef? Anyone who can see master chefs grab a few ingredients and immediately know what they are making, what it will taste like, and what course it will be is amazing. He knows his stuff. How about that show where he traveled across the United States? Again, he just knows everything about food. The highlight for me was when they “climbed” (drove) up Pikes Peak and boiled coffee at the very top. In conclusion, he’s funny, he’s smart, he’s a wonderful cook. Alton Brown is the best.

At the start of my interest in cooking I always selected cookbooks, magazines, and recipes based on their accompanying photo. If there wasn’t a color picture, I wasn’t interested. I scoffed at Cook’s Illustrated finding it a terrible idea to include such silly drawings and black and white photos. I always narrowed recipe searches down to those that had pictures. I wanted nothing to do with cookbooks with no photos. How do you know if you want to eat something without seeing it, right? So when I first saw Alton Brown’s cook books, I was disappointed. No photos, none at all. I never got past that.

Fortunately, I’ve matured. I know think Cook’s Illustrated is a wonderful magazine with really good information. (And I love the drawings on the back cover.) Recipes can be sorted by user rating. Most importantly, I’m giving Alton’s books another try.

I picked up I’m Just Here for More Food, because this one is all about baking, during my last visit to the library. Now I’m ready to buy it. This is not just a book of recipes; it’s all about the art of baking. If you simply want to follow a few steps to get a blueberry muffin, don’t even bother. Alton goes into all the details of how a muffin works – the structure, the moisture, the ingredients, the method, everything. I think this is something that everyone who wants to be a consistently successful baker, or an aspiring professional baker, needs. If you don’t know why sugar is included savory recipes, or why some recipes call for a certain type of flour, or why you should handle some batter and dough as little as possible, but others need repeated pounding and folding, you will never really understand baking. And baking is a good thing to understand, right?

If you don’t agree or want to devote the time, then don’t bother with Alton Brown. You can still get pretty good baked goods from “normal” recipes. But if you really want to become the ultimate baker, get a copy of I’m Just Here for More Food. It’s one of those cookbooks you’ll actually read every word of, even the recipe for whole wheat crackers that you’re not terribly interested in. You may start out feeling a bit overwhelmed and perhaps even scared of the whole baking process, but stick with it. By the time you’ve made it through the introduction you’ll already have a better understanding of baking. This book has a different layout, and a lack of pictures, but it has quickly become one of my favorite cookbooks. I’ll probably return it to the library early (a truly rare event for me) just so that I have a reason to buy it.

Enough of my rambling about Alton’s greatness. Let’s see some proof. Here is the first recipe I decided to try – biscuits. Simple and delicious, but a bit tricky to get just right. A perfect biscuit has to have a lot of buttery flavor without being greasy. It has to have a nice, fluffy texture that’s tender and not at all tough. It has to rise tall and have a crunchy top. It’s a lot to expect from one little biscuit. If you follow Alton’s instructions, you’ll get it all. They come out of the oven a delicious shade of golden brown and yellow. The interior reveals lots of tiny nooks perfect for filling with butter and jam. The texture is far from dense and tough. Just be prepared for a very wet, sticky dough. And finishing all the biscuits in one sitting is a given.

I’m not going to post the recipe for a couple of reasons. First, I didn’t change anything in the recipe, so it is 100% Alton Brown. Second, like I said, this book is written differently than other books, so posting the recipe is a bit more difficult. Third, my message to you today is that anyone who really wants to be a successful baker should go and buy this book. And then make some biscuits.

Is it Christmas Yet?

2006-10-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

Who is ready for Christmas? I am! I know, I know, it’s only the beginning of October and Christmas is more than two months away. Seventy-five days to be exact.

The weather is finally changing. It has been chilly and cloudy for the past few days. Green foliage has transformed into crispy, red and gold leaves. The heater has been called into action. It all has me itching for the holidays!

Yes, summer is ending and I am ready for winter and the holidays. So I decided to spend my Sunday doing some baking and drinking warm apple cider. I love baking when the seasons change because it means that the baking itself changes. There are new ingredients to use and more new recipes to try. I started out with an almond coffeecake. No berries or peaches in this. Just lots of butter, almonds, and cinnamon. The coffeecake has a moist, dense crumb that’s very tender from the buttermilk in the batter. There are slivered almonds on top, for a little crunch. But the best part is waiting in the center where there is delicious layer of almond paste, slivered almonds, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Dense, warm cakes filled with nuts and spices and paired with hot, spiced apple cider are just perfect for the change in seasons, and definitely bring in the Christmas spirit.

Danish Almond Coffeecake
Recipe adapted from Odense.com

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease and flour a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan.

Filling Ingredients:
• 1 (7oz) roll Odense Almond Paste
• ½ cup plus slivered almonds
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon

1. Grate almond paste and mix with the rest of the filling ingredients and set aside.

Cake Ingredients:
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
•1 cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp slivered almonds

1. Beat the sugar and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
2. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the almond extract, beating until fully incorporated after each addition.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
4. Add the dry and wet ingredients to the mixer in three additions, alternating between wet and dry and starting and ending with the dry.
5. Sprinkle the slivered almonds into the bundt pan. Pour half of the batter into the pan, spread the filling out on top, then pour the remaining batter on top of that.
6. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
7. Serve with a warm drink, like spiced cider, coffee, or hot chocolate and embrace the upcoming holidays!

The Pastry Chef

2006-10-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

Do you remember when I announced my new job as a pastry chef? Well it’s about time I told you more about it. I get up every morning except Saturday at around 3:30 AM, 2:00 AM on Saturdays, and head to work. There are several different positions in the kitchen, from cakes to bread. I work with pastries, the little, individual-sized ones that reside in glass display case in the front of the store, waiting to be selected by hungry customers. My job is to assemble these and get them ready to be sold. Everything I need has already been baked; I mostly fill and decorate. I have to flavor our basic buttercream, make fondant, dip pastries, frost cake squares, slice and arrange fruit, glaze tarts, that kind of thing. Everything has to be ready before 9:00, when the store opens and we get a half hour break. I use this time to drink some coffee and relax from the rush. Then we work until 12:30, 11:00 on Saturdays, preparing cakes and pastries for the next day.

These photos show some of the different pastries I make. Starting with the green frog and going clockwise, I’ll tell you what each one is:
• Strawberry Frog – Isn’t he cute? This one is a tart shell filled with almond cake and topped with strawberry buttercream. It’s dipped in green fondant then decorated with almonds and candy eyes and a tongue.
• Dobosh Slice – This is one of my favorites. It is a white cake with hazelnut buttercream covered in chocolate fondant.
• Lemon Tart – Although it’s a simple pastry, it’s difficult to get exactly perfect. It’s a tart shell filled with lemon buttercream and lemon curd then topped with yellow fondant. The hard part is getting the fondant completely smooth and shiny on top. You have to be skilled with a spatula and practice a lot.
• Marzipan Potato – I love making these because I get to work with marzipan. This pastry is a white cake filled with apricot buttercream and wrapped in marzipan. I use a big machine, a sheeter, to roll out the marzipan and then wrap it around each cake. I use cinnamon sugar to give it a dirty look and give it some eyes and slits to make it even more potato-like.
• Strawberry Tart – A tart shell painted with chocolate, filled with vanilla custard, and topped with fresh strawberries. It gets its shine from red apricot glaze.
• Chocolate Zurcherli – I always recommend this one for chocolate-lovers. It’s pure chocolate. Two chocolate wafers filled with chocolate ganache then dipped in chocolate fondant.
• Chocolate Mountain – This is one of the messiest pastries I make. It’s made by chopping up a big bucket of cake scraps, mixing in (by hand) raspberry jam, chocolate shavings, almonds, and chocolate buttercream, then piping it onto a sugar cookie and shaping it into a mountain, the Madderhorn to be specific. It’s finished with a dip in chocolate fondant and a bit of white fondant on top for snow.
• Chocolate Raspberry Square (middle) – This one is pretty straightforward. Just chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream and raspberry jam.

That is not everything, though. There are quite a few other pastries as well as quiches that I bake every morning. I’ve already learned how to heat fondant to the correct temperature, just slightly warmer than body temperature. If it's too warm it won't have a shiny, glassy finish. If it's too cool it will be thick and difficult to work with. And I know how to use glaze to give pastries an almost magical look; as if it’s never been touched. I even think my spatula skills are already improving. The trickiest part is timing. You always have to know what your next step is if you want to finish by the time the store opens. And the more practice, the better.

A Couple of Notes

2006-10-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

First of all, I got my package from Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness. I was lucky enogh to be paired with the leader of Blogging by Mail herself. And I'm so glad that I was as I recieved a wonderful package. The highlight was the bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies that were absolutely delicious, and now, sadly, gone. They were soft and chewy, just the way I like them, and filled with chocolate. I also got homemade vanilla extract that I can't wait to use. It has a lovely aroma. And she sent another homemade item, key lime marmalade that is wonderful on toast. She included plenty of candy, because you can never have too much sugar, some relaxing bath items, and a CD of songs to listen to in the kitchen. I loved everything I recieved! I'm sorry that I don't have any photos. I broke into everything immediately and rendered it unphotogenic before I could get the camera.

Second, I added a recipe archive over on the right column above the links to other blogs. Hopefully it all works, but let me know if there are problems.

Third, I know the updating is slow these days, but there are complications with the internet and the cable systems, so I am still without internet. I have to survive off of free wi-fi and my family in the mean time.

New Home Bread

2006-09-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

Really living on your own for the first time is hard for a gourmet chef like myself. You truly have to start from scratch. There are no spices, sugars, flours, or nutella in your cabinets. There’s no milk or egg cartons that always seem to be full. And the cooking supplies are vastly lacking. I don’t know about you but I just can’t live without my KitchenAid Stand Mixer! But all these things cost money and living on your own unfortunately also means funds are lacking. Don’t worry, I won’t be discouraged! If things get tough, I know a few people who are always willing to lend me their kitchens.

I was able to scrounge up enough supplies to bake some fresh bread. I chose a nice simple recipe for the first batch of baking and only encountered a few obstacles. First, there was no milk, so the baking had to be slightly delayed. Then I had to substitute sugar for honey. My bowls and pans are a little limited, so I did some improvising there. My bowl for the overnight rise was not big enough and awoke to find it spilling over the edges. I just punched it down and divided it in half. The round loaf was made in a soufflé pan, as I had only 2 loaf pans. That just makes eating it more interesting and I still ended up with three delicious loaves of bread.

I used three types of flour, whole wheat, all-purpose, and bread, in more or less equal parts to make a dense and chewy loaf. It has a nice light brown color and crackly crust. Perfect for sandwiches, particularly grilled cheeses made with provolone or brie. And of course, wonderful as toast slathered in butter and jam. My only complaint is that it is too salty. I wanted something a bit sweeter, so next time I’d decrease the salt and increase the sugar/honey.

New Home Bread
Recipe adapted from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s Home Baking
Ingredients:
• 4 cups lukewarm water
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (or honey)
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 3 cups bread flour
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon salt (I’d try 1 tablespoon for a sweeter bread)

1. Place the water and milk in a large bowl and stir in the yeast.
2. Stir in the honey.
3. Add about 2 cups of each flour and the salt. Stir together as well as you can.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough adding more flour as you go. (I took turns sprinkling about a ½ cup of each flour onto the counter, dough, and my hands.) Keep adding flour and kneading until you have a firm, supple dough that is tacky, not sticky to the touch.
5. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl (or two) and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise overnight, or 8 to 12 hours. The risen dough will be spongey, moist, and sticky.
6. Flour a work surface and your hands generously. Turn out the dough and devide it into 3 equal pieces.
7. Allow the dough to rest while you butter three 9x5” loaf pans (or some other suitable arrangement) and turn the oven to 400ºF.
8. Knead and flatten one piece of dough into an oval that is 10” long. Starting at a short end, tightly roll up the dough and pinch the seams to seal. Place it in one of the bread pans. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise for 40 minutes.
9. Bake the loaves for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375ºF and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes. When done loaves should be a light brown color, sound hollow when tapped and have firm, unyielding corners.
10. Remove loaves from pans and let cool, right side up, on a rack. But don’t listen to people who tell you to wait to cut into them. Cut a slice immediately and smear it with butter.

Wake Up for Breakfast

2006-09-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

Breakfast is my favorite part of the morning. You wake up from your long rest hungry and in need of fuel for the day ahead. You slump into the kitchen and anything goes. Some people have just a simple granola bar or a piece of fruit. Sometimes we get a full breakfast with eggs, bacon, pancakes, and orange juice. Even a piece of cold, leftover pizza is acceptable. I like it all. Some days I’ll bake, some days I crave oatmeal, some days it’s leftover pasta.

Today was a coffeecake day. With fresh blueberries, lots of crumbly topping, buttermilk to make it tender, and filled with butter and eggs to make it rich. I filled small ramekins with thick batter to create a bunch of mini-cakes, perfectly sized to start of the day.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
Blueberry Coffeecake
Ingredients:
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3 cups blueberries
• crumb topping (see below)

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly butter 4 ramekins. (You may need more or less depending on the size of your ramekins.)
2. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully incorporated after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
4. Add a third of the dry ingredients followed by half of the buttermilk. Repeat with remaining ingredients. (You’ll end with the dry, not the buttermilk.)
5. Fold in the blueberries.
6. Pour into prepared ramekins and cover with the crumb topping. (If you have extra, put in a container and freeze it until the time you make muffins, cakes, etc.) Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 to 35 minutes.
7. Enjoy them warm from the oven, or let them cool and enjoy within the next day.

Crumb Topping
Ingredients:
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 15 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl.
2. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.

I'm Still Here

2006-09-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know that there have been lack of updates around here lately and it's been ages since I've posted a recipe or talked at all about my job. And I'm very, very sorry about all that. I'm in the long, painful process of moving and the new place has no internet! Hopefully I'll be up and running by Thursday. Don't worry, I haven't really made anything but toast in the past week. (Because that's the exciting kind of person I am.)

Food Destinations #2: My Local Greenmarket

2006-09-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

My favorite part of summer has to be the food. Fresh fruit and vegetables, good prices, local food, farmers markets... It's culinary heaven! So when Maki of I was just really very hungry announced the return of Food Destinations, with the theme My Local Greenmarket I was really excited. (I'll be calling it a farmers market because I had never heard it called a greenmarket before. Is that just me?)

Going to the farmers' market is the highlight of my week. My favorite is the Cherry Creek Farmers Market, but I can't go there too often because of my work schedule. Instead I visit the Pearl Street market, which is almost as good, just a little smaller, on Sundays. I get up early to beat the crowds and head down to the market. I always make a meal out of the free samples. They have everything from bread, to fruit, to olive oil, to kettle corn out for everyone to try. I taste everything I can get my hands on! Currently my favorite stand to visit is the belgian waffle stand, where they hand out pieces of their crispy, but chewy waffles. Delicious! There's another one that makes pestos and marinated cheeses that are so good that I have to walk past several times so I can taste everything they have to offer.

I know the whole idea behind farmers markets is to sell local produce, but I'm drawn to the bakery stands more than anything else. I just can't stay away from a good loaf of bread or huge cookies and scones. The only problem is that there are so many things I want, no, need, to try that settling on one item is next to impossible. My solution? Don't choose just one.

Another favorite of mine is the tortilla stand. They have stacks and stacks of tortillas and gorditas, sometimes still warm, that I can eat by the bagfull.

As far as produce goes, peaches are my favorite. Even though peaches are more commonly associated with Georgia and the Southern US, we grow some pretty good peaches out here in Colorado. If you ever get the chance, try a Colorado peach. Especially if you're out here and come across a peach stand at a market or on the side of the road. Nothing beats those peaches.

I was planning on taking pictures to accompany my post, but things have been very busy and hectic around here lately. So these photos come courtesy of my dad. (If you want to see more of his photography, check out his website, Eggplant With Mayo.)

DETAILS

Pearl Street Farmers Market
1500 block of South Pearl St.
Denver, CO
Sundays 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
June 11 through October 29

Cherry Creek Farmers Market
First and University at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center
Denver, CO
Saturdays 7:30 AM - 12:30 PM
May through October
Wednesdays 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
June through September

For more Food Destinations fun, go here.

5 Things to Eat Before You Die

2006-08-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

You've probably seen this image floating around various blogs and know that Melissa from The Traveler's Lunchbox came up with the wonderful idea of composing a list of all the things you should eat before you die. And who better to ask than the people who devote all (well, a lot) of their free time to cooking, baking, eating, photographing, reading, and writing about food? As soon as I heard about this I started thinking about what I would put on my list, so I was really excited to get an invitation to participate from Tanna. Without further ado, here is my list of five things to eat before you die.

1. Bread you made yourself.
If I had to choose just one thing, this would be it. Even if you get to buy your bread at the best bakeries in France everyday, there is nothing like bread you make yourself. It’s not just the eating; it’s the whole process, from the smell of the yeast, the feel of the dough, to pulling the finished loaf out of the oven. You absolutely must make a loaf of bread from scratch!

2. Really good, high-quality butter.
Butter is good stuff. High-quality butter is great stuff. I know, I know, it can get kind of expensive. But good butter is worth every scent. It has a wonderful smell that the cheap stuff doesn’t have. It’s sweet and creamy in a beautiful way that nothing else compares to. My favorite kind is Plugra (I get it cheaper at work), but there are lots of kinds to try, including salted and sweet cream. I have to warn you though; you’re not going to want to go back to the cheap kind.

3. Almond Croissant from Trompeau
I love croissants and eat them whenever the opportunity presents itself. There’s something about those buttery, flakey, chewy treats that I just cannot resist. (Can you?) And when there’s almond paste hiding inside, it’s even better. Out of all the croissants I’ve tasted, the almond croissant at Trompeau Bakery in Denver is definitely the best.

4. Mozzarella from A16
Ever since I went to San Francisco this summer and ordered the fresh, made-in-house mozzarella from A16 I’ve been searching for something else this good. I still haven’t found it. It comes to you lightly drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with coarse sea salt. It’s everything mozzarella should be and eating it is like taking a bite out of heaven.

5. Cake Batter Milk Shake
This milk shake tastes EXACTLY like cake batter. No joke. It’s like drinking cake batter. Since my favorite part of cake baking always has been licking the beaters and the bowl clean, this shake is definitely a winner. Look for it in ice cream shops like the Marble Slab or Cold Stone Creamery.

That is my list of five things to eat before you die. How about you: Robyn? Peabody? Jess? Michelle? Ivonne?

P.S. Thank you all so much for your congratulations and comments on my last post! I'm so happy to hear from you all and I will of course share my experience as a pastry chef in training!

A Little About Me

2006-08-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

This is me when I was about three years old, baking my first loaf of bread, "Grandma Spamp's Bread."

I thinks it time to share a little more about me with all of you lovely readers out there. First the basics: I'm 19 and I'm currently going to school and working. What I really want to talk about is my job. I work in a Swiss restaurant and bakery where we make everything from bread, to napoleons, to cakes, to fondue. There's a full bakery in the front where there are three cases filled with pastries, coffeecakes, pies, tortes, danish, and bread. In the restaurant we serve just two entrees that change daily; things like beef roast with polenta and sweet peas, or cheese pie with sliced tomatoes and a salad. I was hired in January to work in the front of the store, selling the bakery items and collecting the bills for everyone's lunches. I've done a little waitressing, hostessing, and both setting up and closing down the store as well. It's a fun place to work. The majority of the customers are regulars and come in at least once a week, sometimes everday, for lunch. We know their names and know what they like to eat. And of course there's the food. Free lunch everyday, you have to sample all the pastries, and discounts on everything.

But what I really want to do is get in the kitchen. Actually, that's why I applied in the first place. Just a few days ago I found out my dreams would be coming true. One of the pastry chef's is moving to Arizona and I am going to replace her. As soon as the new employees for the front of the house are all set up, I'll be undergoing a drastic schedule change. My work days will start around 3 or 4 in the morning and end around 1:00 PM. (Until Christmas hits. Then I'll be up at midnight.) I've had a huge grin on my face ever since I found out and I don't imagine it will be going away any time soon.

Peach Butter for Sugar High Friday

2006-08-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

After successfully making refrigerator jam, I got up the courage to go all the way – real preserved stuff to be safely enjoyed in the cold, winter months. And it was a success too! I can’t say it wasn’t a bit scary, especially without any canning equipment, but now I have a nice row of glass jars filled with chunks of delicious, summer fruit.

My favorite part of making preserves is buying all the fruit. You walk into the Farmers’ Market and scan each booth for the most luscious looking fruit. Any samples always help the selecting process. Once the best fruit has been located, you negotiate a price for a whole box worth. (Tip: The closer you come to closing time, the better a deal you’ll get.) Then you walk out of the market holding your huge box of beautiful fruit and imaging all the delicious possibilities it holds.

I tried a few different varieties, but the spiced peach butter was definitely my favorite. It has a whole lotta peaches, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and sugar. It does require a bit of time and work, but the results will get you through the long months without fresh, local peaches at a decent price.

Oh, and happy Sugar High Friday! I think this round, hosted by Delicious Days, is a great idea. Sugar usually makes us think dessert, but it’s a major player in preserves, which are not limited to that last meal of the day. Have it on toast for breakfast, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, use it in a sauce for dinner, and bake it into cookies for dessert. Now we can be sugar high all day along!

Recipe adapted from Pickyourown.org
Spiced Peach Butter
Ingredients:
• 2 pounds fresh, ripe peaches
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon allspice

1. Peel and pit the peaches. (It’s super easy if you blanch them.)
2. Place peaches in a blender and puree until smooth. (You choose how chunky or smooth you want it.)
3. Place pureed peaches, sugar and spices in a crockpot and mix to combine.
4. Turn the crockpot on to its lowest setting and cook overnight (8 to 12 hours, depending on your crockpot.) Leave the lid slightly askew to allow steam to escape and the peaches to reduce.
5. The next day, once the peaches have reduced in volume by about half, the butter is ready to be canned or enjoyed right away.

I’m not going to go through the whole preserving/water bath process as I am definitely no expert at it. Yet…