It’s been a month after my previous post and the final fixes have just been completed on my home. That’s not to say that I have an updated kitchen and tile floors and everything’s put away, but… well, what was waterlogged has been replaced and things look tidy. My tutoring room is still a bit messy, but I could straighten it enough for company in a day. We’ve spent a month putting things back where they belong and soothing the kitties. I’ve even made an ever-growing pile of things to donate.

Since my previous post, I’ve also celebrated my birthday and Pi Day, tutored less than anticipated (darned staggered Spring Breaks and sick kids!), had my TI-84+ Silver Edition mysteriously die on me (no, the batteries do not need to be changed, but maybe I spilled something on it), and I’ve cooked and baked very little (what I have cooked and baked have been holiday-based). However, I am learning and planning more meals and goodies for the future.

A few days before Pi Day, I made 5 batches (each enough for a 9 inch circle) of pie dough using a recipe the Brown-Eyed Baker posted, adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. I used the food-processor-method described in detail in the post, with my teeny 4-cup Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus. I discovered that the butter must be cold, or else it just becomes a slightly-whipped mush below the blade and doesn’t mix properly. I first tried making two half-batches, then felt brave and made a full batch. A full batch worked very easily, but the Mini-Prep Plus can’t handle more than that. I was impressed by the little machine and the ease with which the crust was made.

Unfortunately, rolling it out a few days later was exhausting! For a 9 inch pie, you need two 12 inch diameter discs.  I had to rest after rolling out the crust, which was fine because it had to be molded to the container (or laid flat, for the top) and refrigerated.

I only wound up making three “pies,” unfortunately. Apple Pie was the first. It was pretty easy and turned out very well. I used a recipe I found online (I think off allrecipes.com), but for the life of me I can’t find it now! Luckily, I saved a copy of it, which can be found at the bottom of this post. Peter’s coworkers had been forewarned, so one brought vanilla ice cream in anticipation, which I believe was part of its success. One said, “you can’t buy apple pie like this!” They saved me a piece and I can honestly say it was good but next time, it will be even better, with a little lemon zest in the crust or something. Better than super-market-made is good, but comparisons to someone’s grandmother’s is always the goal.

My First "Apple Pi"

I also made Chicken Pot Pie, which was an epic fail, and Shepherd’s Pie, which was definitely not worth repeating (and my husband could not put into words what it needed or had too much of, in terms of ingredients or flavor or texture); both savory dishes were foods I don’t normally eat but my husband loves.

I also made iced four-leaf-clover sugar cookies and chocolate mint cookies (recipe at bottom of post, adapted from allrecipes.com) for St. Patrick’s Day, both of which were greatly enjoyed by my husband’s coworkers. Next year, maybe I’ll try a cookie with a whiskey or Bailey’s Irish Cream base.

St. Patrick's Day Cookies: Iced 4-Leaf Clover Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Mint Cookies

There are two lessons I could learn from this. Either I should stick to baking, or I should stick to what I know or could imagine eating. I plan on going with the latter, mostly because I have had some relative wins in cooking in the past (e.g., pot roast, Swedish meatballs, and Czech chicken paprikash) and we do happen to eat meals every day.

Ali’s Apple Pi

Ingredients:

• 2 twelve-inch-circles’-worth pie crust dough
• 2 1/2 pounds (about 6 large) green apples, peeled, cored and sliced into ¼” x 1″ chunks (about 8 cups sliced)
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Directions:

1. In a large bowl combine the sliced apples, sugars, lemon juice, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Let the apples macerate at room temperature for about two hours.
2. After the dough has chilled sufficiently, remove one portion of the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into a 12-inch circle. Fold the dough in half and gently transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Brush off any excess flour and trim the edges of the pastry to fit the pie pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.
3. Then remove the second round of pastry and roll it onto a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator.
4. Place the apples and their juices in a strainer that is placed over a large bowl (to capture the juices). Let the apples drain for about 15-30 minutes or until you have at least 1/2 cup of juice. Pour collected juices and the 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 6-7 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to about 1/3 cup and is syrupy and lightly caramelized.
5. Meanwhile, remove the top pastry crust from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes so it has time to soften and become pliable.
6. Transfer the drained apples slices to a large bowl and mix them with the cornstarch. Then pour the reduced syrup over the apples and toss to combine. Pour the apples and their syrup into the chilled pie crust. Moisten the edges of the pie shell with a little water and then place the top crust over the apples. Tuck any excess pastry under the bottom crust and then crimp the edges using your fingers or a fork. Using a sharp knife, make five 2-inch slits from the center of the pie out towards the edge of the pie to allow the steam to escape. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill the pastry while you preheat the oven.
7. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the oven rack at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on the rack before preheating the oven. Place a piece of aluminum foil on the stone (or pan) to catch any apple juices.
8. Set the pie on the stone or pan and bake for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the juices start to bubble through the slits and apples feel tender (not mushy) when a toothpick or sharp knife is inserted through one of the slits. Make sure to cover the edges of the pie with a foil ring to prevent over browning after about 30 minutes.
9. Remove the pie from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 3-4 hours before cutting. Store at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

adapted from allrecipes.com

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/8 cup (3/4 stick) butter
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 tablespoons water
• 1 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 5/8 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 24 chocolate-covered thin mints

Directions:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, be careful not to overbake. When cookies come out of the oven, Press one mint wafer into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minute (for smaller cookies, break mints in half). When the mint is softened, swirl with the back of a spoon or toothpick to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer.

adapted from allrecipes.com

It’s the two weeks before Pi Day (3/14, also celebrated as Einstein’s birthday by nerds around the world). I have a lovely Pi plate (courtesy of Grandpa Susie and Grandpa Bernie), as well as other pi-making accoutrements: pi baking dish with crust protector, glass pi baking dish, and a baking pan to make a set of 4 tartlets.

Pi Plate

The goal had been to bake at least 3 pis a week for the 22 days (3.14 weeks) before the big day.

However, that’s not going to happen. A pipe burst in our kitchen and a-larger-than-R2D2-sized dehumidifier and its mini microban mate have been sucking the wet out of our subfloor until (hopefully) today. There were 4 more downstairs, but only 1 remains, in the wreck of the bathroom beneath the subfloor.

Kitchen and Lower Bath, deconstructed

But I do have some baking plans for Pi Day that WILL NOT be derailed!

2 meals: Chicken Pot Pi and Shepherd’s Pi

3 desserts: Apple Pi, Ice Cream Pi, and either some evil chocolatey pie or tartlettes.

I will let you know what happens as I reinstate myself of queen of that kitchen and the pis come together.

Further, my birthday is coming up, and I had planned to make a smaller version of my grandmother’s spectacular Nusstorte, a pecan cake with whipped cream filling and dark chocolate ganache icing. Maybe I’ll put that off for another celebration. We’ll see. My parents (or, at least, my mother) will be visiting that weekend, so maybe I’ll do some baking with/for them.

A week ago, I made dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting for a group of friends, using a recipe from the Brown-Eyed Baker’s blog.  They were only my second attempt at cupcakes, so I shouldn’t be disappointed, but the cupcake turned out dry. The frosting was amazingly delicious and light and wonderful, and the flavor of the cupcake was there, but it just was dry and crumbly. They still got wonderful compliments, though, and were all gone by the end of the evening. Considering the amazing recipes I’ve found on the Brown-Eyed Baker’s site, and the number of things that can go wrong with such an amateur baker at the wheel, I did some searching to determine what I did wrong.

I had already read that I mustn’t over-mix after adding flour, and that I must go from adding leavening ingredients (baking soda and/or powder) to the over as quickly as reasonable. So I did do those two things. Well, maybe I mixed a little too much, but not a lot more than directed.

So why are these two things important? When it comes to the leavening ingredients, the simple explanation is that they have a chemical reaction with the other ingredients as soon as they are added, and you don’t want to waste that reaction outside of the oven (where the temperatures rise and all other chemical reactions occur). As for mixing the flour, according to BakingBites.com:

“When the flour is exposed to liquids and stirred around, the gluten (protein) in the flour starts to develop into a network that will hold whatever you’re baking together, giving cookies, cakes, etc. their structure. Gluten can also make baked goods tough if there is too much of it in the dough/batter, and excessive mixing of the dough can develop the gluten to this point.”So when a recipe instructs you not to overmix, what it means is that you should just do the minimum amount of mixing necessary to make a uniform dough.  A good rule of thumb is to stop mixing when no streaks of flour remain in your mixing bowl, or if you’re going to be adding chocolate chips or fruit into your mix, you can stop when a few small streaks of flour remain, since you’re going to give the mixture a few extra turns when you stir in your add-ins.”

However, I made some other mistakes. First, my ratios were off. I may not have had a full cup of sour cream, and I may have had a little too much flour and/or baking soda and/or baking powder. Sour cream adds moisture, while dry ingredients absorb moisture. Next, I did a lot of mixing before adding the dry ingredients because, when I read the blog, it said the batter would have an almost whipped, mousse-like texture. So, stupid me, I thought to mix it a lot. Wrong. Apparently, mixing does NOT always just add airiness. You can overbeat eggs. According to JoyofBaking.com:

“Eggs, as well as flour, are the structural ingredients in baking. Eggs provide leavening; add color, texture, flavor  and richness to the batter. They are very important in helping to bind all the other ingredients together. Beaten eggs are a leavening agent as they incorporate air into the batter, which will expand in the oven and cause the cake to rise.

. . .

“If whites are over beaten the protein molecules will lose their elasticity and the whites will become dry and flaky and won’t hold as much air.”

Dammit. Finally, I probably left it in too long. I didn’t test it earlier than the time I set on the timer and I lost track of time. Also, I may have had the oven set a little too high (half-way between 325°F and 350°F), because the blog said to preheat to 350°F unless a nonstick cupcake pan is used, in which case set it to 325°F.

To sum up, what to avoid is:

1. having too high a dry-to-moist ingredient ratio
2. over-mixing eggs
3. over-mixing the flour
4. taking too long to put batter in the oven after adding ingredients that cause chemical reactions (like baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, etc.)
5. baking too long or at too high a temperature

So, I messed up. But they still looked pretty, especially in the leopard-print cupcake liners, and tasted pretty good.

This year, I made three things for a friend’s small Super Bowl gathering. I made a lot because we weren’t sure how small it would be. It wound up being just five of us (our two couples and a friend), but I didn’t mind having left-overs (although not as much as I’d expected). Plus, I’d been wanting an excuse to try making a Buffalo chicken dip, and I couldn’t not make cookies. And I couldn’t let cutting my finger keep me down.

The dip was pretty successful. My husband’s from Buffalo. For years after moving to Maryland, he’d bemoan the dearth of real Buffalo chicken wings. He said it was good but after eating it for a while, you might get a little too much blue cheese of the blue cheese taste. That sounded good to me – it meant a person might want to eat it for a while, which sounds like a large amount of snacking for a dip. I got the recipe from the Brown-Eyed Baker, and cross-checked it with recipes from Allrecipes.com. Eventually, I just switched ranch dressing for low fat blue cheese dressing and, because low fat dairy products can often be too watery, only substituted half of the cream cheese for Neufchâtel (also known as in some areas as farmer’s cheese). Next time, I’ll use an extra half-pound of chicken breast and 4 oz of Neufchâtel, to yield the recipe below.

Buffalo Dip, single serving garnished with celery rose

The next morning, I made Citrus Butter Thumbprint cookies with fig preserves and raspberry preserves, my own recipe Frankensteined from butter cookie recipes and one I found from Betty Crocker on allrecipes.com. The raspberry preserves seemed to have enough tartness to offset the sweet butter cookies, but fig was very good too.

Citrus Butter Thumbprints, with fig and raspberry preserves

Then, I created my own chocolate peanut butter cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips, Frankensteined from a bunch of different cookies I’ve tried and found from allrecipes.com. These were just how I like my cookies: soft, chewy, and chocolatey but not over-sweet. The peanut butter added a saltiness that I loved and our friends keeping a bunch and the rest being snapped up by my husband’s coworkers first thing in the morning.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie

RECIPES:

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Yield: About 12 servings

Prep Time: About 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20-30 minutes plus 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs chicken breasts or tenderloins (about 4 breast halves)
• 12 oz. bottle of hot sauce (not to be confused with Buffalo wing sauce or barbeque sauce)
• 16 oz. bottle of Blue Cheese Dressing (light or low-fat)
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 12 oz. Neufchâtel cheese (1½ 8oz. packages)

Directions:

1. Remove the cream cheese, the Neufchâtel, and the blue cheese dressing from the refrigerator so they can warm to room temperature.
2. Put the chicken breasts in a saucepan with enough water to complete submerge them. Put on medium-high heat until boiling, then reduce to simmer for twenty to thirty minutes. Then cut the chicken breasts into bite-size-long pieces and shred.
3. Put the shredded chicken breast in a 3 quart baking dish (a shallow 9″x13″ dish may be preferable to a taller dish, for dipping leverage) and pour the hot sauce on top of as much of the chicken as possible.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. While you’re waiting, combine the cream cheese, the Neufchâtel, and the blue cheese dressing in a saucepan over low heat. Mix until the cream cheese is completely melted and smooth, then pour the mixture evenly over the chicken.
5. Bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes.
6. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. If you wait and reheat it, use an oven. Serve with celery sticks (and/or other vegetables), tortilla chips or crackers.

Note: Many people may enjoy adding 2 cups of Mexican-combo, cheddar, or M cheese before baking (which yields a hard crust on top) and/or afterwards.

(adapted from recipe given by the Brown-Eyed Baker)

Citrus Butter Thumbprint Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter, VERY mushily softened
• 1½ cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½  teaspoon grated lemon peel
• ½ teaspoon orange juice
• 1/3  cup fig or raspberry preserves

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, and Splenda Sugar Blend until smooth.
3. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lemon peel, and orange juice.
4. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
5. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and prepare ungreased cookie sheets with parchment paper, if desired.
6. Roll dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Using thumb or handle of wooden spoon, make indentation in center of each cookie. Spoon about 1/4 teaspoon preserves into each indentation.
7. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped semisweet chocolate
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter chips
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
• ¼ cup Splenda Sugar Blend
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Melt 1 cup semisweet chocolate. Let cool to room temp.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
4. In a large bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, and Splenda Sugar Blend.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
6. Stir in corn syrup, water, and vanilla.
7. Stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture.
8. Fold in chocolate chunks.
9. Drop, by double-tablespoonfuls, 3 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
10. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Over Thanksgiving, I “helped” my mother-in-law bake cranberry pistachio biscotti and create a very yummy rice pudding. She, too, is a math person. I watched her carefully measure ingredients and presliced-dough thickness, length, and width. She even measured the temperature of the water she brewed tea. With a significant amount of excess energy now that my fibromyalgia was pretty much under control and a limited amount of time spent tutoring, I realized that this could be the perfect new mathematically-artistic hobby that could also double as a husband-coddler and social outlet (hostess gifts at parties, thank yous to students, etc.).

After discovering allrecipes.com, I began to bake a new batch of cookies nearly every day for three weeks, sending the cookies to my husband’s office. It was interesting, fun, and soothing. It also was great to hear feedback and yummy noises. The first cookie was extremely successful, but the second and third were only acceptable. So I decided to be more picky with recipes and scoured allrecipes.com to compare similar recipes. I also read all the comments for technique advice and to learn ways to doctor the recipes for best results, then I began to “Frankenstein” recipes and create my own.

Here are my first cookies. My very first attempts to bake from scratch. Later on, I’ll post recipes for the most successful ones.

The most successful cookies were the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip with Walnuts (I later baked them for my town’s cookie swap), Red Velvet (which were like little cakes), anything with peanut butter, and the Chocolate Cranberry Macadamia Dreams (which I don’t understand – but, then again, I passionately dislike white “chocolate”).

The gluten-free cookies were a hit, despite the oily-gooey look of a dough made almost entirely of peanut butter and egg. I baked them for my husband’s maternal step-grandfather, Grandpa Bernie, and mailed them to him in L.A. along with Pumpkin Walnut Chocolate Chip cookies for Grandma Susie (who adopted me when Peter and I adopted kittens together, a week before graduating college and moved in together), and some peanut-butter bones for Aunt Patsy, their sheltie. Actually, I just baked another batch last night to mail to Grandpa Bernie.

The dog cookies were for pets of family members and students’ pets. It was difficult to find a good recipe – so many include pureed liver or beef boullion or other icky meat ingredients (I refuse to bake with meat).  These had peanut butter and flour. The next hurdle had been the lack of a rolling pin in my arsenal, so I used the dowel for the paper towel roll. My cats were steadfastly against the idea of eating anything baked – I put a crumb the same size as one of their dry food in their bowl, and it was removed. Every time I was in the kitchen, at least one of the cats would walk by, sniff the crumb, give me a dirty look, and send a Siamese-style me-yowl in my general direction. I think I’ll stick to fresh tuna as their rare treat. However, my students’ dogs are now all in love with me and my parents Poodle, Spike, refused his milkbone and nosed the dog-food cabinet door until my dad gave them a broken-up half of my cookie.

The only negative response was the crescents. My maternal grandmother used to make these every Christmas. I didn’t remember anyone liking them, but my Babi passed away the previous Christmas and I figured making these would be a nice gesture for my mom. It was, but we only liked the sugar and chocolate-dipped end. However, the look on my mother’s face as she had a mouthful of a chocolate-dipped end, trying to smile and make yummy noises, was absolutely priceless… I let her off the hook after the first bite and admitted I didn’t think they were very good and she didn’t have to finish it.  Interesting to note: it turns out that nut-based dough is a staple of Czech baking. Since neither Peter nor anybody on my side of the family likes almond-sweet delicacies, I’ll be avoiding most Czech cookies from this point on. However, there is a walnut cake (nusstorte) that was an absolute childhood favorite that I’ll definitely be trying once I get a springform pan.

The first cut-outs were for my nephews and niece, who don’t like chunks of things in their cookies. Then I made slightly spicier gingerbread cookies for some friends’ parties. My target audiences certainly enjoyed them, but I had some issues with decorating. First, the icing wasn’t thick enough, and then the plastic icing tubes for decorating did not exactly have even distribution of piping. But I did my best with it until I ran out after making the 10-sided die for my friend’s game party.

I now have a Wilton Beginner’s Decorating Kit and the lesson plan book (ordered separately through Amazon). I’ll be learning how to pipe over the next month. So I’ll also be trying to bake some cupcakes and cakes. Not to worry, I’ll take you on that bumpy journey with me…