I need to prepare for the 2011 LA Cupcake Challenge. I’m not sure what it takes to prepare for such an event. Cupcake visualization? An all-you-can-eat cupcake contest? Avoiding cupcakes for weeks prior to the event? I’m open to suggestions.

Last year, I made it through almost all of the cupcakes. I have [...]]]>

I need to prepare for the 2011 LA Cupcake Challenge. I’m not sure what it takes to prepare for such an event. Cupcake visualization? An all-you-can-eat cupcake contest? Avoiding cupcakes for weeks prior to the event? I’m open to suggestions.

Last year, I made it through almost all of the cupcakes. I have been invited to judge the contest again this year, so maybe I can improve upon my ability to put away dozens of mini cupcakes within three hours.

This event may prove to be a bigger challenge than last year, owing to the fact that I’ve drastically reduced my refined sugar intake since then. Perhaps I should ease back into refined sugar before my cupcake binge. Would that lessen the potential for sugar coma?

These muffins won’t exactly help me with that goal since the only bit of refined sugar is in the applesauce. But I still consider them a warm up to the big event. And they make for quite a tasty mid-morning snack, paired with a cup of tea. Unsweetened applesauce would work just as nicely, if you’re not in training for the cupcake challenge.

Spiced Yogurt Muffins
Adapted from Cafe Nilson
Yield: 12 muffins plus 12 mini muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup plain yogurt, room temperature
2 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup applesauce (I used my cranberry applesauce/jam)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a regular muffin tin and a mini muffin tin with butter and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. In a separate bowl, stir together the maple syrup, yogurt, eggs, applesauce, vanilla extract, and butter.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes (10-12 minutes for mini muffins), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Place the pans on a cooling rack to cool for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan and place them directly on the cooling rack to cool completely.

Welcome to the Daring Bakers challenge, Monochrome Monday edition! [...]]]> The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book………and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Welcome to the Daring Bakers challenge, Monochrome Monday edition! Capturing the challenge on black and white film was a bit daunting at first but I am pleased to present the results of this month’s challenge in the context of my weekly photography project.

Developing film is not that much different from baking. The ingredients must be carefully measured, then mixed in the correct proportions. The mixture goes into a tank with the roll of film. Developing time is dependent on temperature, among other factors. And if the film is left in the tank for too long, it will be ruined! Much like a loaf of bread.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

I halved the original recipe and adapted it to use sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast. I also skipped the citrus and nuts in the given recipe, electing to use raisins, cranberries, and chocolate to fill my bread.

The sourdough gave the bread just a hint of tanginess without overpowering the flavor of the raisins and cranberries. The bread didn’t rise as much as I would have liked because I was in a bit of a hurry. Rushing a sourdough recipe is never a good idea. Had I given the bread a bit more time to rise it would have had a more open crumb. That said, the dense texture of the bread made it a wonderful complement to a cup of tea. And with all the “fixings” kneaded into the bread the texture was almost an afterthought.

Sourdough Christmas Stollen

1/4 cup rice milk
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/4 cup honey
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup apple cider
1/2 cup chocolate chips
melted unsalted butter for coating wreath
powdered sugar for sprinkling on wreath

In a small bowl, combine the cranberries, raisins, and apple cider. Set aside to soak while you prepare the dough.

Combine the milk and butter in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until the butter has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the liquid to cool to lukewarm.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, lightly beat the egg and vanilla extract.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour, salt, and cinnamon. Add the sourdough starter, honey, egg/vanilla mixture, and milk/butter mixture. Stir (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until the dough comes together into a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Add the cranberries, raisins, apple cider, and chocolate chips. Knead the dough with the dough hook of your mixer for 6 minutes, or by hand for 8 minutes. Add more flour if necessary, so that the dough is not too sticky. It should be tacky, and the raisins and chocolate chips will begin to fall off the outside of the dough when it has been kneaded for long enough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning the dough to coat it with oil. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge overnight. The dough can be left in the fridge at this stage for up to a week.

On the day that you would like to bake the Stollen, remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to rest on the counter for 2 hours. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pat the dough into a rectangle that measures approximately 10″ x 16″. It should be about 1/4″ thick. Starting from the long edge, roll the dough tightly to form a snake.

Transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Form it into a ring and pinch the ends together so that they stick. Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along the outside of the circle at 2 inch intervals, 2/3 of the way through to the center of the ring.

Fan each segment outward to form a wreath shape. Brush or spray a light coating of oil over the dough and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise until it reaches 1 1/2 times its original size. During the rise, preheat the oven to 350°.

Bake the Stollen for 20 minutes, rotate the pan 180 degrees, and continue to bake for 20-30 minutes. The Stollen should be a dark mahogany color and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Immediately transfer the Stollen to a cooling rack. Brush a generous coating of melted butter over it, then sift a layer of powdered sugar over the butter. Wait 1 minute, then sift another layer of powdered sugar over the Stollen. Repeat one more time. The Stollen should be coated generously with powdered sugar, as it helps the bread to stay fresh.

Allow the Stollen to cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

This Stollen will star in a special Holiday Edition of YeastSpotting!

There are still [...]]]> The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

There are still apples for sale at the local orchards, which means that they are still working their way into many of my baked goods. For this month’s challenge we were given the opportunity to choose the flavor of our crostata so I used one of my old favorite flavor combinations: apples and cranberries. I’ve always loved cranberry juice and all its varieties (straight-up cranberry, cran-raspberry, cran-grape, cran-apple, etc), though I don’t seem to drink it as often anymore. Cranberries just aren’t as popular in California as they are in Massachusetts, with all its cranberry bogs. But I can still find fresh cranberries at the store so there’s nothing to stop me from baking with them!

I love the look of a traditional crostata with fruit preserves, so I set out to create cranberry apple jam to fill my crostata. Armed with a special blend of three apple varieties (Spartan, Pippin, and Barkley Rome) recommended by the experts at the orchard, I started coring and chopping.

As I boiled the fruit, I realized that the resulting jam would be very similar to applesauce. I pondered the difference between jam, preserves, jelly, and applesauce for a while before deciding that the name really wasn’t of importance. Cranberry applesauce sounds just as good as cranberry apple preserves, especially when baked into an Italian tart crust. The crust came out buttery and flaky, the perfect complement to the sweetened apples and cranberries. I will definitely make crostata again!

The November 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Cranberry Apple Crostata
Yield: One 9″ crostata

For the pasta frolla (pastry dough):
Scant 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 egg and 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt. Add the butter pieces, and use a pastry blender or your hands to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. Do not overwork the mixture, it should resemble coarse crumbs with visible chunks of butter.

Turn the mixture out onto a clean countertop or other work surface and make a well in the center. Reserve about 1 teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing and pour the rest of the eggs into the well. Use a fork and your fingers to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Mix just until the dough comes together, forming into a ball. Flatten the ball into a disc shape, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You may leave the dough in the fridge overnight, if you wish.

For the cranberry apple preserves (cranberry applesauce):
Yield: about 4 cups

1/2 pound fresh cranberries
2 1/2 pounds apples, cored and chopped (I used a mixture of Spartan, Pippin, and Barkley Rome)
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup water
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Combine all of the ingredients in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use a potato masher to mash any chunks of apples, then continue to simmer, covered, for another 10-15 minutes.

Working in batches, sieve the preserves to remove the apple skins. Allow to cool to room temperature, then store in an airtight container in the fridge.

To assemble the crostata:
Pasta Frolla dough, above
1 3/4 cups cranberry applesauce, above

Preheat the oven to 375°. Have a 9″ tart pan or cake pan at the ready. Remove the pasta frolla from the fridge, and reserve 1/4 of the dough to create the lattice top.

To facilitate easier rolling of the dough and transfer to the pan, keep the dough on the plastic wrap as you roll it out. Otherwise, roll it out on a floured work surface. Roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8″.

Carefully transfer the dough to the pan. If you’ve rolled the dough on the plastic wrap you’ll be able to flip it over right into the pan. Gently press the dough into the bottom corners of the pan. Trim the excess dough from the edges of the pan. If you are using a cake pan, you’ll want to trim the dough below the top edge of the pan since the crostata should not be very deep. Press the extra dough around the sides of the pan so that the edges are slightly thicker than the bottom, making sure that all the edges are of uniform thickness.

Prick the dough on the bottom with a fork in several places. Be careful not to go all the way through or you might have fruit leaking out the bottom!

Roll out the reserved pasta frolla and cut it into strips or shapes of your choosing. Spread the cranberry applesauce over the dough in the pan and use the strips to create a lattice pattern over the top of the fruit.

Brush the exposed pasta frolla dough with the reserved egg mixture. Add a bit of water if you don’t have enough egg mixture.

Bake the crostata for 25-35 minutes. The crostata is done when the dough becomes a deep golden hue. Place the crostata on a cooling rack to cool completely before removing from the pan and serving.

Thanksgiving is already upon us. The air has taken on the crisp, cool flavor of autumn. As the weather changes, so does my baking and my daily routine. I spend more time curled up with my cat, reading a book in the light of a sunny window. I seek out recipes that take [...]]]>

Thanksgiving is already upon us. The air has taken on the crisp, cool flavor of autumn. As the weather changes, so does my baking and my daily routine. I spend more time curled up with my cat, reading a book in the light of a sunny window. I seek out recipes that take advantage of fall fruits, filling the house with warmth and spicy aromas. Apples and cranberries fill empty space on my counter and work their way into bread and desserts. This quick bread is just as perfect for a Thanksgiving table as it is for breakfast on a crisp autumn morning.

As the busy holiday season sets in, Thanksgiving serves as a reminder that we should take the time to be grateful. Grateful for the simple ingredients that combine to provide us sustenance, and grateful for the family and friends that surround us.

This year, I am incredibly grateful for the new job that I will be starting in just over a week. After five months of unemployment I have found an opportunity to work in a field that I’ve dreamed about for years. It will require moving and changing the familiar scenery of my life, but I am grateful for this change and the inspiration that it will undoubtedly bring.

What are you grateful for this year?

Cranberry Apple Quick Bread
Created by Simple Math Bakery
Yield: one loaf

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium apples, peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9″ loaf pan with butter or spray with cooking spray.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, applesauce, egg, and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Fold in the apple chunks and cranberries.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the pan and allow it to cool completely before slicing.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987…

Have you deciphered the pattern? Each term is the sum of the previous two terms, creating the Fibonacci sequence. I find the graphical representation of this sequence beautiful and intriguing. Using squares whose sides correspond to the [...]]]>

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987…

Have you deciphered the pattern? Each term is the sum of the previous two terms, creating the Fibonacci sequence. I find the graphical representation of this sequence beautiful and intriguing. Using squares whose sides correspond to the numbers in the sequence, each consecutive square is placed in an outwardly spiraling manner. There is something satisfying about the way that each square nestles against the previous squares, and the pattern seems to contribute equally to the fields of mathematics and art. Since baking is a bit of both, I used this pattern as the inspiration for my berry dessert pizza.

I filled each square with a different berry: blueberries, pomegranate seeds, raspberries, cranberries, and strawberries. Atop a honey whole wheat crust with a layer of sweetened mascarpone cheese, each of the berries adds a different degree of tartness. A drizzle of caramel sauce balances the flavors perfectly!

Berry Dessert Pizza
Created by Simple Math Bakery
Yield: 8 servings

Dessert Pizza Dough
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 to 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

In a large bowl, or the bowl of your mixer, combine the yeast, whole wheat flour, bread flour, and salt. Add the olive oil, honey, and 1 cup of the water. Stir with a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment of your mixer until the dough comes together. If necessary, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time to get the dough to come together.

Knead the dough by hand or mixer until it becomes a cohesive dough. It may still look a little rough, but should hold together well. This will take about 5 minutes with the dough hook of a mixer.

Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour. It should be very puffy and not quite doubled in size.

Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper (if you are baking the crust directly on a pizza stone) or grease the pizza pan of your choice. Stretch the dough into shape. If it won’t hold its shape, cover it and let it rest for 15 minutes then try to stretch it farther.

Cover the shaped dough with lightly greased plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for about 1 hour. It will puff up quite a bit. Preheat the oven to 450° for at least 45 minutes during this last rise.

Use a peel to transfer the pizza directly onto a baking stone (or place the pizza pan in the oven) and bake for 10-12 minutes. The crust should be golden brown. Remove the crust from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before adding toppings.

Dessert Pizza Sauce

3/4 cup homemade mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

Whisk the maple syrup into the mascarpone until combined. Spread a thin layer over the pizza crust.

Top with berries of your choice. Fibonacci sequence art is optional.

Place the pizza back into the oven for about 5 minutes. The mascarpone sauce should be bubbly and just starting to turn brown. The berries will soften ever so slightly. Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Slice and serve with a drizzle of warm caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce
Adapted from Simply Recipes
Yield: 1 cup

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Make sure all of your ingredients are ready and accessible before starting. Boiling sugar is extremely hot and can go from caramel to burnt very quickly. You don’t want to be trying to measure the cream while your caramel burns!

In a 2 or 3 quart saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. When the liquid comes to a boil, stop stirring and allow it to boil until the sugar starts to brown. Gently swirl the pan if necessary to keep the liquid heating evenly.

When the sugar becomes a dark amber color, carefully add the butter, stirring vigorously. It will bubble up and then subside as the butter melts. When the butter has melted completely, remove the pan from the heat. After 3 seconds, stir in the cream and vanilla extract. Again, the mixture will foam up. Keep stirring vigorously until the mixture is smooth.

Allow the sauce to cool for 15-20 minutes before drizzling over the pizza. When completely cooled, the sauce can be stored in the refrigerator.

Challenge #5 of Project Food Blog prompted the remaining 72 contestants to put their own spin on a common theme: pizza. Voting starts Monday, October 18th at 6AM Pacific Time, and runs through Thursday, October 21st at 6PM Pacific Time. As always, I truly appreciate your support!

We finally put up our Christmas lights, 6 days before Christmas!  We went out to the street after dark to check them out, and realized that everyone else on our block had lights up.  It sure is colorful out there!

With all that Christmas spirit outside, it’s time to break out the cranberries. [...]]]>

We finally put up our Christmas lights, 6 days before Christmas!  We went out to the street after dark to check them out, and realized that everyone else on our block had lights up.  It sure is colorful out there!

With all that Christmas spirit outside, it’s time to break out the cranberries.  Christmas snuck up on me this year.  I didn’t even notice the fresh cranberries at Trader Joe’s until yesterday.

I bake cranberry bread every year, but Sunday is muffin baking day so today I used the cranberries for muffins.  Cranberry bread will have to wait!

These muffins are simple to make.  The most difficult part is figuring out the best way to chop the cranberries.  Since they’re little and round, they like to try to escape from under the knife.  I ended up chopping each one individually into 3 or 4 pieces.  Once they’re all chopped up, the batter comes together very quickly.  Spoon it into the muffin pan, pop it into the oven, and you’ve got cranberry muffins!

Note: I scaled back the amount of sugar in this recipe, because I like to taste the tartness of the cranberries.  If you prefer your muffins to be sweeter I would recommend using 1 cup of sugar, as called for in the original recipe.

Cranberry Applesauce Muffins
Adapted from East Village Kitchen
Yield: 12 muffins

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
2 cups white whole wheat flour (you can use all-purpose flour if you prefer)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped and sprinkled with a touch of granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (I used soy milk)

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a muffin tin with butter, or line with muffin cup liners.  Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  Working over the bowl of flour, place the chopped cranberries into a fine sieve and toss with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the flour mixture.  Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the applesauce and brown sugar until well combined.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.  Mix in the vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture, beating on low speed, just until combined.  Pour in milk, and mix just until combined.  Fold in the cranberries with a rubber spatula.  Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool muffins in the pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then remove muffins from pan and cool directly on rack.