Babka

Over the weekend I had a second bake along with Laurie. A while back we made croissants and Friday she mentioned baking Babka. Now, let me start off by saying...I had never heard of this, let alone know what it should look like or even taste like. So, of course, I was in. It wasn't hard at all, just time consuming. You have 3 different 2 hour rises, it is pretty much, mix and wait...3 times..then you can bake it. I decided on the basic cinnamon raisin filling, but really the filling possibilities are endless. Will I make this again...probably.

Cinnamon-Raisin Babka

Adapted from “The Art of the Dessert,” by Ann Amernick ( John Wiley, 2007)
Time: About 2 hours plus at least 5 to 6 hours’ rising

FOR THE DOUGH:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 ounce or 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast, or 1 cake (0.6 ounces) fresh yeast
1/2 cup whole milk at room temperature
1/2 cup eggs (whole eggs or just yolks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, preferably high fat, at room temperature, plus
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Flour for dusting

For the filling:
1 cup sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 cups large dark raisins

For the streusel topping:
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced and chilled.

1. To make dough, combine flours, salt and all but 1 tablespoon sugar in mixer fitted with dough attachment and mix on medium speed. In a small bowl, stir yeast with one tablespoon warm water and reserved tablespoon sugar just until sugar and yeast have dissolved. Reduce mixer speed to low, add yeast mixture, milk, eggs and vanilla. Beat until dough is shiny and elastic, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Add one stick butter by spoonfuls until thoroughly incorporated, then beat on low speed for about 5 minutes. When finished, dough should be silken and rich like very thick ice cream. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside. When dough has doubled in size, after 2 hours, flour a cutting board and your hands. Then push dough down on board, cover well with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours or overnight.

3. To make streusel topping, in a small bowl mix flour, sugar and cinnamon. Add cold butter and using your fingers, mix together until crumbly. Set aside.

4. To assemble, line one Bundt pan or two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans with parchment paper, not letting paper come more than 1 inch above top of pans. Remove dough from refrigerator and divide it in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll one piece of dough into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle.

5. In a small bowl, stir sugar and cinnamon together. Place raisins in another bowl and plump with 1/2 cup just- boiled water for a few minutes, and drain.
Sprinkle half the cinnamon-sugar mixture on one piece of rolled out dough and then half the raisins. Repeat with remaining dough. Beginning with long side, roll dough up tightly and fold in ends. Twist babka lengthwise to create a spiral, holding one end of babka in each hand. Place twisted babka in half the prepared Bundt pan or in a loaf pan, pressing dough firmly into pan. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Brush babka top with melted butter and sprinkle with half the streusel. Repeat with second half of babka dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let loaves rise at room temperature until they reach top of pan or about doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

6. Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Allow babka to cool for 30 minutes before cutting. Slice babka and serve.

Yield: 1 large Bundt babka or 2 loaf babkas.

Hot Chocolate Souffle

I found this recipe a few weeks ago from Taste of Home, and knew as soon as I saw it I needed to make it. I love Taste of Home recipes, they are simple, tried and true recipes and most of the time, I am not disappointed by them.

Over the weekend, we had a little heat wave. It was in the 60's and sunny. Of course everyone in TN was out and about, wearing their capri's and flip flops and planning to cook out for dinner. We had some of our best friends over on Saturday for burgers and I made these for dessert, the recipe says that it will serve 12 and that was one to feed everyone here. While the guys were at the grill, I melted the chocolate and butter, mixed all the other ingredients together, put them in the ramekins and baked while we ate. These were the perfect dessert for the evening. The marshmallows got all toasty, my favorite part, and we all decided that next time I will add crumbled graham crackers and more marshmallows and make it a smore souffle. :)

Just a work of warning, make sure that you eat them immediately, or they will deflate and the marshmallows fall through. Still tastes the same, just a little flat!

Hot Chocolate Souffle

1 cup butter, cubed
8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 eggs
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
1 cup mini marshmallows
4 1/2 tsp cinnamon-sugar

Grease the bottoms only of twelve 6 oz ramekins; set aside. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and chocolate; stir until smooth. Set aside

In a large bowl, beat eggs and yolks on high speed on 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until thick and lemon-colored, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture. Combine flour and baking powder; beat into egg mixture just until combined.

Fill prepared ramekins half full; sprinkle with marshmallows. Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar; serve immediately. Refrigerate leftovers...if there are any!

Dorie's Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

What can I say? I do love me some cheesecake! And this one did not disappoint. This one was made from Dories, BFMHTY...I present to you, Tall and Creamy Cheesecake. And that is exactly what it is! Tall and Creamy! Of course, the strawberries and chocolate drizzle doesn't hurt it either!

French Bread

I have been wanting to make Julia Child's Soupe A L'oignon, or french onion soup, for some time now, but really wanted to try my hand at making french bread loaves when making it. I bought this magazine, Taste of the South, over the weekend and found a recipe for the french loaves. This was my first time buying this magazine, and I am glad that I did. I may have to subscribe, just to help feed my addiction!

The bread was not that hard to make. I did learn that I need to split my dough more evenly..I ended up with a small loaf and a larger loaf,and not to use so much flour when forming into the loaf. But, other than that...it was a cinch to put together and was delicious! I ate 3 warm slices with a little butter before I even got to the soup. This was also a great time to teach Abby how to knead. I think she enjoyed it as much as I do.

Oh, and about the soup? Fantastic! Jamey gave me Mastering the Art of French Cooking as a Christmas gift. This is the first and only thing so far that I have made from it. It really made me want to dive into the book and make almost all of it. I have to say though, I draw the line at brains...yes, it tells you how to cook and clean them. Oh, and don't get me started on the aspic either..just can't bring myself to it. But, for the most part, it is stuff that I would make.

French Bread

From: Taste of the South

2 cups warm water

1 Tbsp sugar

1 (.25 oz) package active-rise yeast

3 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided

1 Tbsp salt

5 1/2-6 cups bread flour, divided

1/4 cup cornmeal

In a medium bowl, combine warm water, sugar and yeast. Let stand until foamy, approximately 10 minutes.

In the bowl of a large stand mixer, combine yeast mixture, 1 Tbsp oil, salt and 3 cups flour. Using the dough hook attachment, beat for 2-3 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Stir in enough of remaining flour to make s stiff dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, approximately 1o minutes.

Grease a large bowl with remaining 2 Tbsp oil. Place dough in bowl, turning dough to coat all sides. Cover, and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in size. About 1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down, and divide in half. Shape dough into 2 (17x3 inch) loaves.

Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with cornmeal. Place each loaf on a prepared baking sheet. Make 4 cuts diagonally across the top of each loaf. Cover, and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake until crispy and golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Still here and Chocolate Milk

I am still here, just haven't been in the kitchen here lately. I have been cooking dinners for my family, but honestly, they have not been the healthiest and mostly frozen foods!! Yes, I said that out loud. I will be back in a couple of days with Hot Chocolate Souffles!

This is Abby over the summer, we visited the Sweetwater Cheese Farm and got to tour the farm with all the cows. The babies were so cute. Anyways, back to the chocolate milk..I have pondered this for a while now and Abby has started a blog. Chocolate Milk. If you want to read the ramblings of and excited 9 year old little girl, go and check it out. She is going to start a program at school called Cardiac Kids and I am encouraging her to post about her nutrition lessons. She will be posting recipes as well. I am excited for her and love that she is excited about it as well.

This weekend, we had our first snow storm. I say storm, because we normally do not get any snow. We got about 4 inches of snow and then it starting with the freezing rain. Luckily, today is going to get to almost 40 degrees and sunny and should start melting this stuff off. I will leave you with a picture of what I saw this morning when the sun decided to show its face.

Yogurt

I am trying to be more frugal in my household. While blog surfing frugal blogs for tips, ideas, recipes..I came across The Frugal Girl and found this recipe for homemade yogurt. She used a gallon of whole milk and a cup of plain yogurt and that ends up making a gallon of yogurt. The verdict? It is good and cheaper than if I was to buy a gallon of yogurt. This yogurt is not as thick as what you would buy, and I am guessing that is because it doesn't have all the preservatives and whatever else is added to it. But, it is thick enough that you can eat it with a spoon with no problem. You do need to know that it does take a little while to make it, once it is in the jars, it has to sit for 3 hours before being put into the refrigerator. Will I make it again. Yes!

Homemade Yogurt (makes 4 quarts, which will keep for at least a month in the fridge)

For vanilla yogurt directions, see the bottom of the recipe.

Ingredients
1 gallon of milk

1 cup yogurt starter(you can use a small cup of plain Dannon or Yoplait yogurt, or you can use a cup from your previous batch.)

1. Place four quart glass canning jars, four lids, and four screw-tops in a large pot. Fill with an inch of water; cover with lid and heat to boiling. Boil for ten minutes. Leave the lid on the pot and move it off the heat until you are ready to use the jars.

2. Pour one gallon of milk into a large, heavy bottomed stockpot or Dutch oven. Heat the milk to 185-195 degrees Farenheit(90-90 Celcius).

3. Place the pot in a sink filled with cold water and let the milk cool to 120-130 degrees farenheit(50-55 degrees celsius)

4. Stir one cup of yogurt starter into the cooled milk, using a whisk. Stir well to ensure that the starter is thoroughly incorporated into the milk.

5. Pour the milk into jars, and put the lids and bands on. Place them into a cooler.

6. Heat one gallon of water to 120-130 degrees F(50-55 degrees C) and pour into cooler.

7. Shut cooler lid and leave in a warm place for three hours. When the three hours are up, place the yogurt in the refrigerator.

To make a delicious vanilla version of this yogurt, add 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar to the four quarts of milk when it’s cooling in the sink. Then stir in 1-2 tablespoons of vanilla, depending on your preference, and proceed as usual with the recipe.

Trail Mix

This stuff is truly addicting! I made this last week and it only lasted 3 days! My kids loved it, the hubby liked it, and I loved it. I saw this chic on Foodtv make it, on the show that only uses 5 ingredients. I checked out the recipe online and read the reviews, they were all good reviews, went out to buy the stuff and made it. It was simple and didn't take alot of time at all. And, hey, it's healthy for you!

My husband is leaving for Haiti sometime this weekend. He is the 3rd group that will be rotating to go from our church. The first group leaves tomorrow. I am not sure what the plan is, they probably don't know until they get there, but I do know that they will be up in the mountains, not in PAP. Our church "adopted" and orphanage in Coq Chante, that housed 18 girls. The youngest, Atanie, didn't make it out. She was 4. The orphanage is destroyed. Here are a couple of pics.

Before the quake:

And after..

Even when these girls have lost everything, they are still joyful. They are scared, but it amazes me how they just continue to go. I am asking that you pray for safety for these guys that are going to help,and also all the relief workers that are there and will be going.

Ok, so back to this trail mix..it is super yummy, healthy, filling and addicting. I am making more this week! I think that you could probably use any type of dried fruit that you want, but I liked the tartness of the cranberries.

Cranberry Trail Mix
2 cups baby pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
6 tablespoons pure Grade B maple syrup
Coarse salt
1 cup dried cherries or cranberries

Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
In a large bowl, toss the pumpkin seeds, almonds, and sunflower seeds and the syrup until evenly coated. Spread the nuts and seeds out, in an even single layer, on the lined baking sheets and season with salt to taste. Bake the nuts, stirring several times with spatula or wooden spoon, until just golden, about 20 minutes.
Cool the nuts completely on the pan, then add the cherries and toss to combine. Store cooled trail mix in an airtight container at room temperature.