Gingerbread Baby Cakes, a festive holiday dessert and this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe.
Do you love gingerbread? I mean, really, really love gingerbread. The kind that is spicy and pungent but still maintains its softness and moisture? With a darkness in color that Dorie calls “mysterious”? Gingerbread at its most robust? If you’re starting to drool, just a smidge, you are going to love this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe, Gingerbread Baby Cakes.
Despite using 1 tablespoon of ground ginger in this gingerbread mixture, the recipe also calls for 2 1/2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger.
The ingredients in this batter offer the clues to guide us to that delicious end result. Besides flour and dark brown sugar, the dry mixture also includes instant espresso powder, unsweetened cocoa powder, ground ginger, baking powder, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Yes, that’s right, black pepper. (Note: Do not substitute instant coffee for espresso powder.)
A whole lotta finely chopped ginger – that’s why it’s called GINGERbread!
The wet ingredients include eggs and butter, of course, but also 2 1/2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger and 2 cups of unsulphured molasses.
I haven’t added the 2 cups of unsulphured molasses yet. Hence, the light-colored batter.
Four eggs. Last summer I mixed up a rather complicated bread recipe. Complicated, meaning lots of ingredients. After putting the loaf pan in my oven, I found the three required eggs still nestled safely and unused in a bowl, hidden behind the flour canister on my Mise en Place tray. Since then, the egg shells always sit alone, the last to be tossed, as cracked proof that they’ve completed their job.
Although this makes a stiff batter when mixed together, it pours easily into the small baby cake pans, one 10-inch round pan, or the mini-bundts that I used. I was careful to brush each inside with melted butter and then lightly dust with flour and had no problem with unmolding. However, I added an extra five minutes to the suggested 25 minutes at 350F cooking time.
These little darlings, sprinkled lightly with a dusting of confectionary sugar, are delicious for breakfast or a late afternoon snack. Note the crusty bottom of my mini-bundt gingerbread in the foreground. I filled my molds too high and didn’t leave enough room for the rise.
Although Dorie suggests dressing the gingerbread cake with whipped cream and candied lemon peel, I chose to sprinkle peppermint candy pieces over the lightly whipped cream. A festive touch for the holidays.
A plate filled with holiday goodness (if you love gingerbread).
HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Take three deep breaths. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Sit down, take a cup of tea-break. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Call a friend. Take a minute to catch up. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Yes, you have time to watch Jeopardy. HAPPY HOLIDAYS. You’ll never have a replay of December 2012. So, enjoy. HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
My neighborhood friends, Adriana and Michelle, both share late-Fall birthdays with me. Each year we celebrate this with a girls-night-out together. Being that the three of us are at our local gym by 5 am each week-day morning before starting our busy work day, our girls-night-out is not the norm. It’s 5:30pm pizza at our favorite local joint. Pitiful, huh?
Since I will be moving back to Aspen soon, this year’s celebration will probably be our last together. Because my FFWD recipe this week was to be Beef Cheek Daube with Carrots and Elbow Macaroni, we decided to push the dining hour forward by an hour or two (7pm) and enjoy a girls-night-in (at Chez Hirsch).
Although decorating the Christmas tree is #@%!!& times two, the end result makes me happy. Each decoration is a joyful memory, I believe, of a past well-lived. We all thought the tree contributed greatly to the evening’s festive spirit.
If you recall, Michelle, a lawyer and judge, also graduated from culinary school. She’s a pro. Sicilian-born Adriana, who learned at the elbow of her talented mother, Pina, is a wizard with fruits and vegetables. We all contributed to the success of our deliciously flavorful dinner where, in this case, pictures are more tasty than words.
We began with french champagne, Bollinger, served with Dorie’s Herbed Olives (which just taste better and better). And, birthdays = presents. Michelle always keeps Adriana and me up-to-date with kitchenware and, this year, she didn’t disappoint. (More in later Blogs.) Adriana, ever the foodie was generous with wine and chocolates and real Italian pannettone “from the old country”. I brought them momentos from my South American trip, handmade Chilean scarves.
This daube was to be anchored by Beef Cheeks — yeah, Moo! Moo!. Although I’m an Iowa girl, this ingredient had me stymied. My tried-and-true Whole Foods could not get me beef cheeks nor could my two local butchers. I used, per Dorie’s suggestion, boneless beef chuck roast. (I now know that Beef Cheeks can be found at Latino/HIspanic/Mexican grocery stores.) Lesson learned.
Although I made the daube the day before, adding carrots, onions, bacon, wine and beef broth, I didn’t add the macaroni nor finely chopped bittersweet chocolate (the secret ingredient) until the last moment. Love the steam.
Adriana’s glorious salad, something we request over and over again. For our birthday celebration, she didn’t disappoint.
In May 2011, Michelle spent a culinary week in Italy, learning, cooking and writing about Italian cuisine. She carried this bottle of Brunello Di Montalcino 2003 back as a gift for me. I had saved it for the perfect evening………this was it. Like Adriana’s salad, this wine did not disappoint either. Fabulous.
Michelle spent an entire Saturday (serious, not kidding) making croissants. Might I just mention that she is a perfectionist? She then froze them individually (as dough). She brought a cookie sheet of croissants, already proofed, to my house and we baked them off just before dinner. They were as good as they look.
A bowlful of beef daube with carrots and macaroni, something that I will make often this winter. No complaints from my guests, either.
There were a number of champagne and wine toasts during our evening together. I think this toast with Michelle was suggesting she return to Italy for more wine!
And was there any doubt about dessert nor that we would lick the plates clean? Michelle made a heavenly and creamy yogurt-honey-vanilla bean panna cotta drizzled with apricot honey brought back from her summer place in Bainbridge Island, Washington. The panna cotta was enhanced by Moravian spice cookies and the last of the red wine. Good night…….
Once again, Dorie came through with a hearty, rich and rustic main course for an evening meal. I cannot praise her cookbook, Around my French Table, enough. It would be a wonderful Christmas gift. I would also like to extend my gratitude to two wonderful friends who have been unbelievable neighbors the past eight years. For this meal they both contributed the best they can make and bake and shared an evening of happiness in my home, around my table. As you all know, evenings like this, shared with friends and family, are what I love best. And, what I need.
Despite the hectic holiday weekend, it does include a Friday. So even if you’re weary of talking food and making food and eating food, chant Gobble three times and breathe deeply. I promise to keep this short.
A family tradition, spending Thanksgiving week-end in Death Valley. We start with our holiday dinner at the old, glorious Inn at Furnace Creek, a four-diamond resort built in 1927. The menu is always ambitious and, this year, Chef Renée outdid himself.
My family spent the Thanksgiving week-end in Death Valley National Park, the ancentral homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and the largest American park outside of Alaska. Since DV is located midway between Las Vegas/Henderson, where I live now, and Bishop, California, where my children live, I have either traveled to or through this park for the past eight years. I love everything about it.
I would guess that most of you have never visited DV. Please do. Of the park’s 3.4 million acres, 91% is wilderness. It is world renowned for its colorful, complex geology and its elevation extremes. Besides being beautiful, it boasts being the hottest, lowest and driest location in the entire country.
In deference to me, everyone wears their Sunday best to Thanksgiving dinner. Ever the good sport, Stephen rises to the occasion, wearing his “holiday” tie, to please his mother-in-law.
This park gets a bad rap by its name. Today there is very little deathly about it. According to the USPS, it’s home to species of all kinds: 51 mammals, 307 bird, 36 reptile, 2 amphibians, 5 fish and a few Park Rangers. Armed with John McPhee’s 1981 tome, “Basin & Range” and two elementary books on DV geology, I spent two days hiking, focusing on the area’s geologic story. Although I’m very familiar with DV, I’ve never concentrated on its geology – it’s a WoW.
Also a WoW is this week’s FFWD recipe choice, Herbed Olives.
Many of my favorite grocery and speciality stores offer olive bars with its numerous bins loaded with every variety of these little wonders. I cannot remember ever thinking that I should buy the plainest variety of olives possible and season them myself………until this week.
Herbed Olives – this week’s FFWD recipe
Dorie provides us with the basic proportions of olives to oil and then urges us to go crazy with herbs/spices for flavoring. I made these several days ago, using an orange-flavored olive oil, Olea Farm’s Orange Blush, and adding rosemary, thyme, corriander seeds, peppercorns, garlic cloves, bay leaves, red pepper flakes and orange strips.
Admittedly, these are not your average, grocery store bar-olives. These tangy little gems have a wonderfully pungent taste, making them a perfect nibble at cocktail hour. Something to try, at least once!!!
There is no dress code after Thanksgiving Dinner. The rest of the week-end is devoted to hiking, biking, swimming in the natural spring-fed pool, just hanging out at the Ranch at Furnace Creek. Every the competitive family, we are all still working hard at trying to be humble winners and good sports at losing. (Not quite there yet.)
To find the recipe for these delicious morsels, go here. To see what other spices and herbs my colleagues used in this week’s recipe, go to the French Friday with Dorie link.
(Note: If you are interested in the geology of Death Valley, you might enjoy “An Introduction to the Geology of Death Valley” by Michael Collins and “A TripThrough Death Valley’s Geologic Past, The Magnificent Rocks of Death Valley“. Or, better yet, why not go to your closest national park, pick up a few local geology books at its visitors center and learn about how it came into being.)
Saturday I received an e-mail from a friend who lost her mother in September. Although her e-mail was upbeat, she did say this about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, “It will be a tough holiday for us with Mom gone. I’m already sad and have my moments but know we’ll get through it-the first of many firsts!!”
It’s understandable for her to be sad and, with bombs bursting in international air, East Coast Americans still reeling from hurricane Sandy, and many of our citizens, out-of-work, unable to pay their bills, this will be a rocky holiday season for many.
Sunday morning breakfast with freshly-squeezed orange juice, sliced bananas, a Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby pancake and the New York Times – how civilized!
I’m mindful this will be a first holiday season for me also. Luckily this Fall has been joyful – my cup overflowing with good fortune, good health, good people and the kindness of strangers. I am grateful. Since there aren’t “Holiday 2012 Do-Over’s,” I’m determined to do my part to make these next six weeks merrily memorable.
Today would have been Michael’s 84th birthday, a joyous celebratory day which always kicked off the holidays for our family. I wanted this day to remain important and be happy so, of course, food needed to be involved.
Over the past few weeks I’ve received five new cookbooks. Gulp! Gulp! Gulp! Wouldn’t this be a perfect day to try a new recipe? How about something from Deb Perelman’s “the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, recipes and wisdom from an obsessive home cook.” ( I’ve been called obsessive a few times myself. Deb and I will get along fine.)
This morning I picked up her book and on page 11, I spied a picture of a Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby pancake. It’s a golden concoction of rumpled goodness, flavored with winter spices, and simplistic in its ingredients. That picture spoke to me. A delicious breakfast to begin a dicey day. Why not? A perfect choice – magical to make, festive to see, and very tasty.
Process everything but the butter and toppings in your blender before pouring into a butter-coated ovenproof skillet. I used my cast iron skillet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
This bright start to my day was followed by unpacking ornaments (drudgery), a lengthy hike (sunny and warm), and then running to my local theatre to see “Lincoln” (not particularly uplifting but a must-see). To continue my theme of “not particularly uplifting”, I’m now watching Ken Burns‘ documentary, “The Dust Bowl” on PBS. Probably not a great idea but, hey, it’s Ken Burns.
Still,I count this day as very successful, crediting a well-regarded cookbook and its delightfully flavorful rumply, bumpy pancake for providing the jumpstart. Thanks, Deb.
A nutritious but filling breakfast. As Deb says, “The batter is practically austere in its brief ingredient list and in that it contains only a modicum of sugar.”
GINGERBREAD SPICE DUTCH BABY
(slight flavoring and spice adaptions)
Yield: One 9-inch pancake
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoon unsulfured molasses*
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon*
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger*
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves*
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg*
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Powdered sugar, for dusting. Serve also with maple syrup or crème fraîche, if desired.
Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the eggs in a blender and blend until smooth and pale in color. Add the brown sugar, molasses, flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt, and milk and blend until smooth.
2.Melt the butter in a 9-inch ovenproof skillet over high heat, swirling it up the sides to evenly coat the pan. Pour the batter into the skillet and transfer to the oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pancake is puffed up. Remove from the oven, dust with powdered sugar. Serve with maple syrup or crème fraîche, if desired.
(Note: I doubled the amount of molasses and cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, for additional flavor.)
Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse, a delicious bittersweet chocolate concoction that will dazzle your guests. It’s make-ahead simple. Serve it in individual portions or, as the French do, in a big bowl.
I almost think of this as a James Bond-moment. Are you on the edge of your seat?
The FFWD recipe this week is Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse. Truthfully, it was scheduled last week but I mistakenly baked Goat Cheese Mini-Puffs. (Loved them.) Luckily I went all bittersweet this week, anxious to be clued in on this hush-hush, don’t tell, mousse secrecy. We’ve uncoded the recipe for you also because Dorie already shared it in Bon Appetit. That means you won’t be a spy who didn’t come in from the cold. (Yeah, a stretch, I know.)
Don’t compromise on the quality of your bittersweet chocolate. Purchase a well-regarded brand.
As Dorie puts it, “There was a moment in time when I was convinced that all Parisian dinner-party givers either had the same magic touch with chocolate mousse or bought their great mousse from the same place and passed it off as their own.”
Coarsely chop 3 1/2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate before melting it carefully using the double boiler-process or in a microwave.
To Dorie’s delight, she was finally clued in by a Parisienne friend that French women follow the recipe on the back of a bar of Nestlé Dessert Chocolate to create mousse perfection.
BUSTED.
The melted chocolate, after the egg yolks have been added, followed with the whipped egg whites being folded into the mixture.
Its ingredients are too simple: bittersweet chocolate, 3 eggs, a salt pinch and a teaspoon or two of sugar. Voilà, chocolate mousse fantastique. If you care to add Kahlua, Cuarenta Y Tres (Licor 43) or Cointreau, for example, pour in a tablespoon of the liquor when you whisk the egg yolks into the melted chocolate. I added Cointreau for flavoring. Serve as is or add whipped cream/cème fraîche, if you like.
As you can see, this recipe makes four small portions of mousse. I had hoped to have enough to fill two Christmas teacups also but no such luck. Double the recipe if you are serving more than 4 portions.
As you can see in my photographs, I served my mousse in Christmas goblets. Tomorrow my neighbors extraordinaire, Dom and Ray, are taking me to buy my Christmas tree and will carry it into my house, putting it exactly where I wish. A little early, perhaps, but I am looking forward to the holidays this year and need a head start. I love everything about this Season of the year. As always, these guys to the rescue.
In keeping with “the theme”, tonight they shall enjoy Top-SecretChocolate Mousse for dessert —- in Christmas tree goblets!
This is a lovely and tasty dessert for the holidays, special occasion, dinner party or just because you love your family!
The other Doristas are baking Goat Cheese Mini-Puffs this week. These are delicious little morsels that every cook should have in their arsenal during the holiday season. Drop by French Fridays with Dorie to see their mini-puffs.
