Middle of the Week Wanderings- TGKBC April Update

Vanilla Ginger Cake

I've still been doing lots of baking as part of my self-induced "Great Keatley Baking Challenge". The biggest issue has been being busy doing other things and having to sometimes almost force myself to bake. A couple of Sundays ago I was in the mood for something sweet, so I made this Vanilla Ginger Cake. The flavor choice came from the ginger that was sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be used. I had made candied ginger before, so I thought I'd do it again and use it for part of the flavor profile of this little cake. It may not look like it, but it was baked in two 6" pans. I made a full batch of frosting (and used the whole bowl) which is why it looks a bit "frosting heavy". 

Brian and I enjoyed it over a number of days as it was so rich (again, I am sure because of the amount of delicious frosting). Here's my recipe for a small Vanilla Ginger Cake:

VANILLA GINGER CAKE

For Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cups granulated sugar (use vanilla sugar if you have it)

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup milk

2 Tbsp. candied ginger, cut into small pieces

For Frosting:

2 sticks butter, softened

16 oz box powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

2-3 Tbsp. heavy cream

1/4 cup candied ginger, cut into small pieces

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F.  

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 30 seconds or until softened. Add granulated sugar and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl frequently. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk on medium-low speed just until mixed. Fold in candied ginger. Pour into two greased and floured 6-inch baking pans. Bake 30-35 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes on rack then turn out to continue cooling.

For the Frosting, beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, beating well after each addition and scraping sides and bottom of bowl frequently. Add milk and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Fold in candied ginger. Frost when cake is cooled completely. 

You can serve right away or store in the refrigerator. I stored mine, uncovered for 1 hour then covered with plastic wrap. I think it stayed nicer and longer in the refrigerator. 

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

~Mangia Mamma

Middle of the Week Wanderings- Cookies edition

I just realized I have been doing a lousy job of updating how the Great Keatley Baking Challenge is going. I'd love to say it's due to my Meniere's (partly true) as well as not baking as much due to Lent (again, partly true), but most of all it's because I'm a bit lazy and it's so much each to just post photos on Instagram and Facebook. 

We really have been doing some baking over the last month. David had asked for homemade cookies for his birthday in February. I did post about this a bit last month.
I figured I should share a few of the recipes we used! I used a recipe from Like Mother, Like Daughter for Leila's candied ginger and chocolate chip cookies. I even made my own candied ginger for the recipe which was easy and delicious. I also made our simple GF peanut butter cookies which only has 4 ingredients and tastes really peanut buttery. I've been trying to use some more of the recipes from the CIA's baking and pastry book, so the third cooky I made was a chocolate biscotti. It took a bit of time compared to the other two, but ended up to be a very good biscotti. Here's that recipe for you to try.

Chocolate Biscotti with Royal Icing Drizzle
Biscotti:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, yolks and vanilla extract. Add wet mix to dry and stir until the dough comes together, about 2 minutes. Add chocolate chips and mix until just incorporated. Roll the dough into 3 logs each about 10 by 2 inches. Place a piece of parchment onto a baking sheet and place logs on sheet. Place in oven and bake 20 minutes until light golden brown and remove. Allow to cool 5 minutes and cut logs on a slight diagonal into pieces 1/2-inch thick. Lower heat to 300. Return cut biscotti to baking sheet, just a little bit apart from each other, and place in oven. Bake 20 minutes until crisp and dry. Remove from oven, place on cooling racks and 

drizzle with fondant; cool before serving.

Royal Icing Drizzle:
2 tablespoon dried egg whites
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons water
To make royal icing, mix all ingredients in small bowl until blended. Add a bit more water until achieving the right consistency to drizzle.

The cookies were such a success on Fat Tuesday that we ended up making a few others to send off to David. Brian was a big help that day as we baked another batch of peanut butter cookies, this time using Grandma Pitalo's recipe as well as a gluten free cream cheese bar. Since I had a new sous chef, I let Brian at it making a new specialty "coconut macaroons". They were amazingly delicious and fairly easy for him to make. He was even able to work on his egg separating skills! Here's the recipe for the macaroons:

Brian’s Coconut Cherry Macaroons

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1/3 cup coconut flakes

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

12 maraschino cherries, drained

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except for cherries and mix well. Using a 1/4 cup measuring scoop, drop mounds onto parchment or Silpat lined baking sheets. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place cherry onto top of each cooky. Return to oven and bake for 5-7 minutes more or until just starting to brown on edges. Cool on wire rack. 

Makes 12 cookies

We ended up sending a large priority mail box full of cookies and lots of birthday love plus a couple of surprises. It was a very happy sounding second son when the phone rang on the day the package arrived. The fun part was that he shared the cookies not only with his sister but with a number of other students at school. What a joy it is to get to use a few of my baking skills (and Brian's) to make our college kids birthdays a bit more memorable. If you haven't baked any cookies in a while, now is a great time to bake and share. It might even be considered a small work of mercy!

Saturday Scribblings: Eating Out & Baking In

So I've decided when we eat out or try a new business, I'm going to write up a review on Yelp.  Here's the one I wrote up yesterday-

After first Friday at Greenbaum's Quilted Forest, my Mom offered me a choice of Great Harvest or a new place she had read about in the local paper. I'm always happy to be the guinea pig for food adventures, so I naturally chose the new place. Thankfully, she knew where it was located since the signage left a bit to be desired.  With this being the case, I was a bit leery about this new place. However, from the moment we walked into Tres M Bistro, I was pleasantly surprised. 
The first thing I noticed, being a big fan of The Great British Bake Off, was the display case of delicious looking pastries. The place was spotless and decorated simply but with just enough to give it ambiance.
We were greeted by a very nice young man who handed us menus and informed us we would order at the counter then sit where we'd like. The choices were numerous and all looked tasty. Mom decided on the crème brûlée waffle while I chose the banana, Nutella and cream crêpe. We both ordered coffee which came in large mugs. The young man even helped my mom carry her coffee to the table. 
It seemed like we had just started talking and enjoying the good coffee when our order came. 

The crêpe was as good as any I had while in Paris, and mom said the waffle was the best in Salem.
The only bad part was we were too full to even think of taking any pastries home with us- totally our faults as we ate every bite! I can't say how much I was happy to have chosen Tres M Bistro.  I'm looking forward to going back next week with my husband to get to try a pastry or two!! (I ended up receiving a very kind response from the owner which makes me want to go back soon!)

Today started with praying the liturgy of the hours, like I try to do everyday. After that I moved right into The Great Keatley Baking Challenge (TGKBC) for cookie day.  David had asked me for a variety of cookies for his birthday which is coming up in a couple of weeks plus this Tuesday is "Serra Sweets" at Mt. Angel Seminary. It's the day before Ash Wednesday which is known as Fat Tuesday. The Salem Serra Club helps to promote this by taking a bunch of goodies to the seminarians. Since it's something I can do plus I know how much fun it is to hang out with the members of the Serra Club and th seminarians! By making cookies today, I was able to "kill 3 birds with one stone" by making enough cookies for all three things- David's birthday, Fat Tuesday & TGKBC! I made three different cookies- chocolate biscotti with a poured fondant drizzle, candied ginger & chocolate chip as well as gluten free peanut butter. They were all fairly easy and were fun to make. Somehow baking all day, even when it can be tiring, can be relaxing when it's for special people. Here's what I made:

Looking forward to a day off from baking tomorrow. I'm excited that we get to spend the day with our seminarian, Joshua, as we attend Mass at St. Joseph's followed by the Knights of Columbus Seminarian Breakfast. We'll come home to be able to skype with th other kids which will be icing on the cake, if I don't mind saying myself!

TGKBC Day 1 & 2- Bread & Choux

Yesterday I spent a good time in the afternoon baking bread for the first day of my self-imposed "Great Keatley Baking Challenge". Since the loaves weren't ready until dinner time, I decided to post about it today. I made what is called "lean bread dough". This means it has no fat in it.  I wasn't thrilled with the dough itself, but the bread didn't turn out too bad. The biggest issue was trying to figure out just at what temperature to bake it. I went with what the book says, but I sort of wish I would've gone with my instincts/past experience and baked it a little lower. It came out chewy with a good crumb, but I still think the crust is too dark. It did slice well and was tasty with a dab of butter on it, so I guess that's what counts!

Just starting to mix the ingredients.

Finished dough during its' first rise.

Bench rest before final shaping and proving.

Voila! My first challenge completed!

Today's challenge was pate a choux filled with orange pastry cream and drizzled with orange icing. It was amazing how easy the choux was to make and work with as it is very forgiving. I wasn't thrilled with the way all of the buns were piped, but when baked, they looked fine. I found them less stressful than the pastry cream. After the first batch failed, I made another which turned out okay. Definitely something for me to keep working on! My friend, Annette, came over today, so it was fun to serve a few of the choux pastries with our coffee. I highly recommend choux pastry if you're looking for something elegant but super simple to bake!

All it takes are flour, eggs, milk, butter & a pinch of salt!

Easy to do with the help of my Kitchenaid mixer. This is the finished dough after adding the eggs.

All piped and ready to go in the oven.

Once they are out of the oven, you poke the bottoms with a skewer to let the steam escape. That's how they dry out for a non-mushy pastry!

Finished Choux Buns filled with orange pastry cream and drizzled with orange icing. Delicious!

I'll be baking cookies and other goodies for the seminarians up at Mt. Angel for Fat Tuesday over the weekend. Looking forward to the challenge of more new recipes to try!