Cupcakes: Shaken, Not Stirred

Thanks for my dearest sister for another great blog posting. Here it is....

************************************************************************

Anyone who has followed my guest posts knows that I don’t like putting a lot of time or effort into cooking. If the instructions are longer than Take it out of the box and put it in the oven, I’m probably not going to make it.

So I was really interested to try the new Shaker cupcakes from Dr. Oetker. (They also have Shaker muffins, but I’m not a big muffin fan. Cupcakes on the other hand…)

My first thought is that these things are environmentally irresponsible - the plastic container will be used once and then outlast our entire species. Let’s take a moment and hail the recycling programs that turn these things into sweaters and picnic tables! Yay recycling!

Moving on. Making these cupcakes was easy as pie. :) Pour in some milk (you don’t even measure it, just pour until you reach the fill line on the container), shake, and pour into a cupcake pan. I was impressed how perfectly the batter filled exactly 6 cups. But it brings up another drawback of this product – for $3 you get only 6 cupcakes. If you’re a cupcake connoisseur, you may go broke.

Pop them in the oven for 22 minutes, let them cool, frost them, and voila! Cupcakes: shaken but not stirred. :)

Of course, I didn’t make frosting because that requires work. And why make something when Betty Crocker is perfectly willing to make it for you? I also used drizzle icing left over from the mocha brownies experiment.

And the taste… Yum! Good chocolate flavour and light, fluffy texture. The frosting was especially good, lol.

I would recommend the Shaker cupcakes if you need a small batch of cupcakes quickly, don’t mind spending $3 for such a small batch, and are good about rinsing and recycling your plastic.

Easiest. Bread. Ever.

Here is another guest blog by Foodiestudent's sister. Take it away FSS...... :)

***************************************************************************

Back in university I took a creative writing course where I wrote a series of short stories about a fictional medieval village. In our first class, we had to read our first story. Mine began with the heroine Thayleen (shortened from phenolphthalein, an acid-base indicator; I was also in a chemistry class that term) walking through the town market. A baker called out, “Come try my bread! Best bread on the island!” But I got tongue-tied and read it as “Breast bed on the island.”

Yeah. I was cool back then. Let’s fast-forward about 15 years because I’ve found what may in fact be the best bread ever.

Recently I came across an article on the Macleans website, reviewing a new book called My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method, by Jim Lahey. The author, a professional baker, came up with a way to make no-fail bread at home with almost no effort. Well let me tell you, I’m a big supporter of no-fail and no-effort! So I Googled to find a recipe from the book and I found one here (scroll to the bottom for the print-friendly link).

The big secret to this bread is to bake it in a large oven-proof pot like a dutch oven. Well, I didn’t have one so I went out and bought one, along with bread flour and yeast. That was the most effort I had to put into this recipe.

The ingredients are simple: flour, yeast, water, and salt. Mix them for 30 seconds, cover, and let it sit for 12-18 hours.

After the sitting time is over (I waited 15 hours), turn the sticky dough out onto a floured surface, shape it into a ball, put it onto a floured dishtowel, and fold the towel over it. (Tip: put a lot of flour on the dishtowel.)

Leave it for another 1-2 hours. Preheat the oven and the pot, then carefully drop the dough into the pot, cover it, and bake for 30 min. Remove the lid, and bake for another 15 mins or so. Take the pot out of the oven and turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack. It will come right out without sticking, and it will smell amazing!

Now wait for 1 hour for it to cool down. This step is painful, let me tell you. :) But Jim Lahey says it’s important and if Jim Lahey says it’s important, then you should do it. And this is your reward:

And here’s mine with butter, honey, and saskatoon jam:

And the taste is… Amazing! Yum! It’s quite different from store-bought bread but that’s a good thing. The outside is crispy and the inside is chewy and semi-dense with lots of air bubbles. It has a fairly mild flavour that should go well with most toppings.

I’m interested to try this technique again, maybe with whole-wheat flour or some herbs or other ingredients added. I figure my total time spent in the kitchen was maybe 15 minutes over the course of 2 days, and I got a gorgeous loaf of bread out of it. My Bread is definitely on my Christmas wish list!

~~~

P.S. iPhone users, I found a new foodie app to recommend. It’s called Harvest and costs $2.99. It contains info about how to select and store 64 types of produce, what’s in season when, pesticide levels used to grow them, etc. It’s super easy to use and a great little gadget to have handy at the grocery store.


***************************************************************************

Thanks FSS. Another great blog post. As a carb lover I am all over this recipe :)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This blog post is the creation of my BFF, Skottie. Skottie and I go way back but we've never spent any significant time in the kitchen together. So it was news to me that deep down, in the shadows of Skottie's heart, lies a master baker. Let's learn from Skottie the baker together, shall we? Take it away, Skottie.......

***************************************************************************

The awesome Foodiestudent has asked me to be a guest on her blog a couple times but I haven't done it yet. I recently promised my co-workers I'd bake them something for our next team meeting so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to show my culinary fortitude on the blog.

I love baking cookies. They're quite easy to make and they taste very good. The cookie monster in me decided that it was time to make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. I've made this recipe once before but this time I decided to experiment a bit.

One of my favorite spices for sweet dishes is cinnamon. I ran this idea by Foodie and she thought that it might not go over very well with chocolate. She suggested that I swap the chocolate for raisins. For those of you that know me well, you'll know that raisins are just WRONG. They do not belong in any cooked dish. I stayed true to my desire to add cinnamon with the chocolate chips.

Here's a link to the base recipe I started with: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Chip-Cookies/Detail.aspx

I rarely do this, but for all you followers out there, I carefully measured out all of the ingredients and put them in colourful bowls. I think this is the first time I've used some of these bowls. If you look very carefully you can see a bit of cinnamon on the plate. I didn't want to overpower the recipe so I started with a small amount. There are 2 ingredients missing. One ended up in the cookies, the other did not. Can you guess what's missing?

The first step of the recipe is to cream together all of the "wet ingredients". Yes foodie students, sugar can be considered a wet ingredient! This results in a brown gooey mixture that tastes like heaven.

After that, you're supposed to fold in the dry ingredients. Usually I don't use oats in my cookies. After mixing it all together, I noticed that this recipe is quite dry due to the oats.

Here's a shot of my well-used cookie sheet with an awesome invention on top of it: Silpat. Silpat is a silicone baking sheet that prevents things like cookies from sticking. It's works wonders and makes for easy cleanup too.

Some of my co-workers say that my cookies look very professional. They're all the same size and shape (usually but you'll see later on that's not so true this time). I do this by carefully by measuring the amount of cookie dough using a measuring spoon as shown in the photo.

Here you can see a picture of the baked cookies. Is your mouth watering yet?? Being a semi-professional pastry chef (I've taken one class), I know I must taste my creation. I tasted one of each batch. I prefer a cookie that's crispy on the outside but gooey in the middle. The first batch was just like that. Yummmmm. The subsequent batches were less gooey -- more on the dry side. And one batch was over cooked because I wasn't paying attention. That will teach me a lesson. I had a timer on and didn't hear it go off because I was busy browsing the interwebs.

I took the cookies to work in a fancy package: a ziploc bag. I challenged my co-workers to guess which ingredient was missing (vanilla) and which was added (cinnamon). One person said nothing was missing and that they were perfect as-is. No one could guess the missing ingredient without some hints. I also learned that I didn't add enough cinnamon. No one was able to guess that it was there. Other quotes: "Excellent!" "These would win at a bake off". Overall a success. Next time I'll add more cinnamon and ensure that they aren't too dry.

***************************************************************************

Thanks for an awesome post Skottie. And yeah, my mouth is totally watering. I'm going to have to make some of these cookies. My stomach demands it. :)

After an accidental hiatus... I'm back :)

I apologize to my loyal Foodiestudent blog readers for not updating this blog in a while. I changed the password and then forgot what I changed it to for a while. Embarrassing but true.

But then I remembered it and am now able to get in and update the blog again. I have 3 guest posts coming at ya over the next few days before I delight and amaze you with one of my own making.

Delight. Amaze. Yup, those sound like the words :)

Stay tuned......

With all my heart,
Foodiestudent :)

Tofu Mocha Brownies

Hi again, Foodiestudent readers! This is another guest post by Foodiestudent’s sister. (You can catch up on my past posts here and here.)

Foodie asked me to make a tofu recipe for this post. I said yes but I didn’t want to make a stir-fry or other dinner recipe. Unlike Foodie, I have a microscopic kitchen that is not conducive to cooking complex recipes (and by “complex” I mean “anything requiring counter space for things like chopping vegetables”). But I’m a trooper so I Googled some tofu recipes and found tofu-recipes.com and a super-easy recipe for Tofu Fudge Mocha Bars. I’m game for any recipe with fudge in the title! :)

For the taste test, I made two other mocha brownie recipes. Brownie “A” was simply a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix, made with 1/3 cup of decaf instant coffee crystals added.


Brownie “B” was Baker’s One Bowl Mocha Brownies from the Kraft website, made without nuts or icing.


And brownie “C” was the tofu recipe.


I was worried about one thing with the tofu recipe: the recipe calls for 12 oz of “silken” tofu. I couldn’t find anything called “silken” tofu, so I used “soft” tofu instead, hoping it would be ok. The first step in the recipe calls for you to beat the tofu with an electric mixer, so it would get smooth anyway. The brownies should be fine.

At least, that was the theory. Here’s what the tofu brownies looked like after being prepared and baked:


I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about what that looks like. I couldn’t serve that monstrosity to anyone else, but I tasted it for myself and… let’s see if I can spell this correctly… BLEAAAGHHH! It was BITTER. The recipe calls for lots of cocoa and coffee, but not a lot of sugar. And raw sugar isn’t nearly as sweet as white sugar, so double whammy of bitterness. Yuck, yuck, yuck! YUCK!

So much for the great tofu experiment. Sorry folks.

But… I still had two other mocha brownies for the taste test! I labeled them using a bottle of prepared white icing (unfortunately I bought “drizzle” icing instead of “decorating” icing, so the letters were a bit drippy – but yummy!). Witness:


I had 11 people rate the two non-repulsive mocha brownies: 9 of my coworkers plus my husband and me. The results:

Brownie A (Betty Crocker mix with coffee added):
• Average score: 4.1
• “Fairly sweet, good texture, stronger coffee taste”
• “Strong coffee flavour, nice texture, quite sweet”
• “OK, needs more chocolate”

Brownie B (Kraft recipe with no nuts or icing)
• Average score: 4.5
• “Texture was more cakelike and the coffee was more subtle”
• “Can’t taste the coffee, yeah! Not quite as sweet”
• “Moist, delicious, perfect combination of crunch and chew”

Overall, most people liked both brownies, and their preference was mainly dependent on whether they liked the coffee taste, which was definitely stronger in Brownie A. My personal preference was Brownie A for its taste and chewiness. It was also the easier recipe to make, although it made a smaller batch.

For anyone who likes brownies and wants to try something a little bolder than typical brownie recipes, I would recommend either of these two recipes.

And leave the tofu for stir-fries and smoothies.

Turkey Stuffing Divan

What do you do when you have extra turkey and a husband who likes broccoli above all other vegetables? Why, you use the ingredient search tool on allrecipes.com of course. The result of my search was Turkey Stuffing Divan.

The ingredients are simple.... diced cooked turkey, broccoli, cream of celery soup, butter, boxed stuffing, cheddar, and milk.

We start by putting 1/4 cup of butter in a bowl. Adding some boiling water helps to melt the better.

The packaged stuffing mix gets tossed with the butter/water combination....

... and spooned into a casserole dish. At this point I figured I needed a larger casserole dish but I decided to live dangerously and keep working with this smaller one.

Top the stuffing with steamed broccoli and diced turkey.

Top the turkey with a mixture of the canned soup, milk, and grated cheddar.

More cheddar on top and the whole shebang gets baked at 350 for 30 minutes.

Here are all the layers. It was quite good. My only real complaint about the dish was the carb to veggie ratio. 2 boxes of stuffing in future incarnations of this recipe will be cut down to one. And so many veggie options can be added here... I'm thinking a can of corn and/or some frozen veggie mix (peas, carrots, and green beans). Chicken could be substituted for turkey of course.

But the real joy of this dish is how fast it was to put together. It was assembled in just a few minutes and once it was put in the oven it left me free to do other things for 30 minutes. Then I just pulled it out and it was ready to serve :)

Caesar Salad - with your fingers

So Pioneer Woman posted a new recipe for Caesar Salad that you eat with your fingers. I have to admit that I've never eaten Caesar Salad without a fork. And since I'm all about experimentation here at foodiestudent I thought I'd give it a try.

I used a french baguette to make the croutons. I got this loaf from Walmart and it was surprisingly good. It was more dense than the ones from Safeway but was less crusty which made it much less messy to slice. It was perfect for making croutons.

I tried something new with the parmesan. I opted to go with chunks instead of the usual medium grate. I like the texture but I am going through a $14 block of parmesan way too quickly.

Here's the final result. Now, I have to say that the dressing was very easy to make and the croutons were incredibly tasty.

However, I was not a fan of using the full lettuce leaf and eating with my fingers. The issue was with balancing the croutons on the romaine leaves as they were picked up. If the lettuce was cut or torn and eaten with a fork then a balance of lettuce, dressing, crouton, and cheese could be enjoyed with every bite. And I'm all about the balance :)

West African Peanut Sauce

I was intrigued by this recipe for West African Peanut Soup and decided to make it but with a twist. One of the comments on the recipe said this was typically served in Africa on a bed of rice with chicken instead of all mixed up in a hearty soup. This sounded intriguing so I thought I'd give it a whirl.....

Ahhhh, a common image on the foodiestudent blog. Hello onion. I peeled you, cut you into manageable pieces, and sliced you in the food processor. Now I'm sauteeing you.

After adding some red and green peppers we end up with something I like to call "Christmas in a pot".

I added diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and some spices. That simmered for a while before I added the key ingredient....

Peanut Butter! Say what? Peanut Butter! Oh yeah.

I was skeptical... peanut butter with veggies in a sauce? Let's see what happens....

I whisked in the peanut butter to get it blended in. The peanut butter gave the sauce a richness and texture.

Some wild rice, a salad, and some peanuts for garnish completes the meal.

Honestly, the first bite or two I didn't know what to think. I had never tasted those flavors in combination before. But then I got into it and dove in with gusto. It turned out to be a great meal.

There is one thing I would change... I'd cut back on the chicken stock just a little as it made the sauce too thin. This is to be expected as the recipe was originally a soup recipe. However, the end result was far too thick to be considered a typical soup.

As served above, this is a vegetarian recipe (if desired, vegetable stock could be substituted for chicken stock in the recipe). I served leftovers the following day with chicken which was also a big hit. This will definitely be made again in the foodiestudent kitchen.

Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

I defy anyone to take a look at this recipe for Caramel Apple Sticky Buns and not start drooling. Even though I don't really like apples, a little voice told me I had to make them or I would forever regret it. Always listen to those little voices.

Diced apples with a sprinkling of lemon juice cus, you know... brown bits are yucky.

Remember this bread/cinnamon roll dough? Well, now is the time to use it. Don't worry, although the blog posts are like a week apart, the making of the sticky buns only happened the day after the cinnamon rolls. The dough will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days so I was within the safety zone.

The caramel sticky sauce starts by melting some butter in a saucepan.

Then I added some brown sugar, white corn syrup (instead of dark), and milk (instead of cream). Trust me, the substitutions made no difference in the final product.

When the caramel sauce starts to boil set it aside to cool.

I won't go over the step by step process of rolling out the dough and making the cinnamon rolls as they are the same for this recipe as for the other cinnamon rolls.

Divide the caramel sticky sauce into two well greased 9 or 10 inch round cake pans.

Top with the diced apples.

Place the cut cinnamon rolls in the pans on top of the apples. Let them rise for about half an hour and then bake.

Ahhhh, baked yumminess :)

Flip the bunch of them over onto a plate and watch the ooey gooey goodness overflow. I covered these with plastic wrap and took them into the office. I was worried that with so many sticky buns I'd be taking some home at the end of the day. However, I went to check on them at lunch time and they were all gone. They were, most definitely, a huge hit.

Lessons learned were exactly one..... that is to divide the rolls into three pans, not two. Two pans were just too full and caramel sauce overflowed during the baking process which resulted in the following.....

Burning and smokiness. Didn't affect the buns but made the kitchen smoky-stinky.

Would I make these again? TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY YES! I only had one but it was very yummy and, judging by the speed by which the others were claimed, the others were yummy too.