Pastry Attempt

My son LOVES breakfast pastries, but I had all of the processed ingredients that comes along with them. We decided today that we were going to make some of our own. Boy, did I learn a LOT of pastry lessons today!


I'll begin with the recipe. It is from Alton Brown on the Food Network. I figured that on my first try, I probably shouldn't "wing it."
Note: My learned lessons are after the recipe.

Ingredients

Pastry:

• 9 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 cups
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 1/2 ounces shortening, approximately 6 tablespoons
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg mixed with 1 to 2 teaspoons water
• vegetable, canola oil or butter, for frying
• 
  
• You can use any filling you want!
  

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse for a few seconds and then pour into a large mixing bowl.

Add the shortening and knead it into the flour with your hands until it is crumbly. Add the milk all at once and mix in with a spatula until it begins to come together. Lightly flour your hands and the countertop and turn the dough out onto the countertop. Knead the dough ball, folding over 10 to 20 times. Using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/3 to 1/2-inch thickness, then cut into rounds using a 2 1/4-inch ring. Roll each round as thinly as possible or to 5 to 6 inches in diameter. Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling onto the dough, brush the edges of half of the dough lightly with the egg wash, fold over and seal the edges together with the tines of a fork, dipping it into flour as needed. Gently press down to flatten and evenly distribute the filling and snip or cut 3 slits in the top of the pie. Dock pies that are going to be deep-fried, instead of snipping or cutting slits.

To pan-fry pies, place a medium saute pan over medium low heat along with 1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable, canola oil or butter. Once heated, place 2 to 3 pies at a time into pan and saute until golden on both sides, approximately 3 to 4 minutes per side. Allow to cool 4 to 5 minutes before serving.

To deep-fry pies, heat vegetable oil in a deep-fryer or a large heavy pot to 375 degrees F. Once hot, add 1 to 2 pies at a time and fry until golden brown, approximately 3 to 4 minutes.

To bake pies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place finished pies onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

To make toaster pastries:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Divide dough in half and roll out to less than 1/8-inch thick. Cut into 4 inch by 5 inch rectangles. Place 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling onto center of one piece of dough. Brush the edges with egg wash and top with second piece of dough. Seal edges by pressing together with tine of fork. Gently press down to flatten and evenly distribute the filling and dock the top of the pie. Repeat with second half of dough.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool completely and place into zip-top bags until ready to toast. The pies will not be brown until toasted.

Lessons:

Pan Frying-not so good. It makes them hard to handle when you remove them from the pan. Next time I'll just bake them.

Oil -even when there is no food in it, your oil keeps cooking! I lost a few pastries to this...

Needs sugar- I didn't add any sugar into the pastry dough, so I had to add it on top afterwards.

Kids- 5 year olds are great at smooshing the pastries closed with a fork!

Cooking with Tam

A little story about Tam and Jeff... We needed some tools for our VBS. Jeff had what we needed, so we planned on going to their house to pick them up later that day. Next thing we know, my husband, son and I were invited to dinner.
Dinner at Jeff and Tam's house is always and event. A gloriously wonderful event. They don't just cook, they CREATE. And that, my friends, is my favorite type of cooking.

After we donned aprons homemade by Tam, we were ready to cook.

Tonight we were making pasta sauce while Jeff grilled the chicken. (I don't have a recipe for the chicken, but it was amazing!)

Tam had already prepared all of the vegetables.
(*Please excuse my blurry photos, I forgot my regular camera, so I had to grab my husband's camera phone.)



My son was put to work getting all of the herbs ready. I loved learning a new way to have my son help in the kitchen.


And, Tam has the best cooking method. It's called the "Galloping Gourmet" method.*Wink, wink*



It was a great evening. We had so much fun and everything turned out amazing! Thank you to Jeff and Tam. Hope we can do it again real soon!

Tam's Insanely Good Pasta Sauce

Coat the bottom of the pan generously with olive oil.
When the oil is hot, add in chopped onions, garlic and red peppers.
Make sure that the vegetables get coated well with the hot oil.
Continue to cook until the onions are translucent.
Add in cut tomatoes. Again, make sure that the tomatoes are coated well in the oil.
When tomatoes start to get "mushy," put a lid on the pot and continue to cook.
Now is a great time to prepare your herbs. We had rosemary, parsley, basil and other herbs. You can pretty much put in whatever you like.
When the tomatoes have cooked down a bit, add in a generous helping of a good red wine. I learned that if you use cheap wine, it's going to taste like cheap pasta sauce.
Continue to cook down your tomatoes.
When tomatoes are good and mushy, you can use and immersion blender to blend your tomatoes down to a desired consistency.
At this time, some secret ingredients were added. (Balsamic Vinegar ans Sugar, to taste. Made all the difference in the world!)This is highly classified information and if you read it, I may have to kill you... (heehee)
Then, add in your vegetables (to taste). We used zucchini, asparagus and mushrooms among other things.
Stir in the vegetables and then your herbs.
Stir with cooked pasta and voila! You're done!

Cherry Crunch Muffins

These were amazing. Definitely a staple at my house from now on! I also put sliced almonds on top of the crumb topping, for some extra crunch.

INGREDIENTS

CRUMB TOPPING
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

MUFFINS
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pitted sweet cherries (try to use 2 cherries per muffin)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 18 muffin cups with paper or foil liners or spray 2 muffin tins with cooking spray.
2. MAKE THE CRUMB TOPPING: In a medium bowl, combine the flour with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the melted butter, then pinch the mixture until it forms pea-size clumps.
3. MAKE THE MUFFINS: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, eggs and canola oil and beat with a handheld electric mixer at low speed until combined. Beat in the whole milk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture all at once and beat at low speed until the batter is smooth. Stir in the cherries.
4. Spoon the batter into 18 of the cups, filling them about three-quarters full. Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of each one and bake for about 30 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes before serving.

The best bread EVER!

After I made my Apricot Jam, I needed some bread to go with it (of course!). I found the best bread recipe! My husband won't eat any other kind of bread now.

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (see additional notes for a 100% whole wheat version)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast (active dry yeast will work also; get more info on active vs. instant active dry yeast here!)

Instructions:

1. *Combine first 6 ingredients in a large mixing bowl; stir.

2. Add flours and yeast, and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with a clean towel and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.

3. Punch dough down; knead for a few minutes until smooth and then form into a loaf. Place in greased loaf pan and cover. [more info on loaf pan sizes] Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. If loaf starts browning too soon, lightly lay a piece of foil on top of the loaf to prevent too much darkening.

5. Remove bread from oven and allow to rest in pan for a few minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cover with a cloth. Slice and enjoy while still warm! (Easier-slicing tips here!) Leftover bread can be stored in an airtight bag or frozen until needed.

This recipe has turned out perfect every time. It's a must try!

Apricot Jam

Apricots are in! My grandfather's apricot tree is loaded with the fruit. I have been waiting so long to try some apricot jam.



Here is my recipe:

4-1/2 cups apricot puree (use food processor)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 box fruit pectin
6 cups sugar


Wash and sort your apricots (this is a GREAT job for the little ones). There is no need to peel them, the skin is so soft and thin.

Cut your apricots into chunks and put into your food processor. Add lemon juice at this time.

Make sure you measure your puree carefully. Put your puree into a large pot and immediately add your fruit pectin.

Heat this mixture to a full rolling boil.

Once you have achieved a full boil, add your sugar a couple of cups at a time and stir continuously. Once your mixture has again reached a full boil, cook for one minute more.

Pour your mixture into CLEAN, SANITIZED jars. If your dishwasher has a sanitize setting, use that. Pour 1/4 inch from top of jar.

Wipe away any excess mixture from jars and put on lid and ring. Make sure you screw it on tightly.

Boil jars in a large stockpot for 15 minutes. Make sure the water covers the jars by at least an inch of water while boiling.

Note: It is a good idea to have your water boiling before you begin, so you're ready to go when the time comes. Also, check your jars for cracks to avoid an ugly mess in the water.

Be careful when pulling your jars out of the water. Jar grips are great for this task.

Make sure the center of each lid is far enough down that you can't push it down any more. If any of your jars are not sealed, eat those first.

This is so good in the mornings on homemade bread!
Enjoy!