Annika's Amazing Croissants

For quite a few weeks, Annika has talked about wanting to make croissants. I cannot lie ... I basically LOVE the fact she wanted to take on croissants. 

The issue ... ok, not issue, exactly .... the important thing to keep in mind is croissants are not a quick baking project. It isn't like the "Hey, Mom? Can we make cookies?" type of request that we can basically do at the drop of a hat. Laminated dough takes time. The ingredients have to be assembled, the dough has to rise, and then it has to be rolled, folded, rolled, folded, rolled, folded, chilled for 30 minutes (and repeat two more times). Typically, I like to make croissants over the course of a weekend; the dough is made, rises, and has its three rounds of rolling/folding on day 1. It spends the night in its plastic wrap sleeping bag in the fridge, and then day 2 is when we cut/shape the croissants, let them rise in their sauna, and then we bake them. 

Annika did a fantastic job! She was careful with her measurements and paying attention to the details. She listened well as I explained why certain things are done. As she beat the butter in the mixer, she proved (once again) that she's my girl by exclaiming how much she loves the smell of butter.

Annika adding the dry ingredients to the mixer

I'd like to throw out a huge bit of praise for Annika. She has been out of her cast for a smidge over a week, and was already battling dough with a rolling pin. That's not an easy task with two fully-functioning arms, and there she was persevering (Eric!!!) with one arm that wasn't quite up for that sort of task yet. Yes, I did help roll out the dough when she needed some assistance, but even that impressed me... she was willing to recognize when a helping hand was in order. (That's something I still struggle with. "I do it b'self!")

Rollin', rollin', just keep rollin'

After our third round of rolling and folding, we wrapped up the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for the night. Side note: I am SOOO glad I checked on the dough before I went to bed because it had enough carry-over heat that it continued to grow and it was HUUUUUGE! I knocked down the dough (TAKE THAT, dough) and put it back in the fridge ... with an extra layer of plastic around it just in case.

Sunday morning was rolling, cutting, shaping rising, baking, and (most importantly) EATING day!!!

We pulled out my marble slab (thank you to Eric's brother and sister-in-law for the heaviest-ever Christmas present!!), rolling pin, and croissant cutter (a special thanks to my brother and his co-worker for getting that amazing toy for me... still love it after all of these years!) and we got to work. After we rolled out the dough, I showed Annika how to use the croissant cutter, how to shape the rolls, and how we use a Hefty bag and bowl of hot water to create a croissant sauna.

Shaping the croissants

Annika and her croissant cutter super hero mask

Before long, the first batch of rolls was out of the oven (and that's when I realized we neglected to  put the egg wash on them ... whoops!) so I quickly brushed them with egg wash, popped 'em back in the oven and browned 'em up a bit more. Adapting is part of the baking game, people! :)

First batch out of the oven waiting for its forgotten egg wash

Annika with one of her finished croissants. SOOO yummy!!! 

Look at those flaky culinary masterpieces. Way to go, Annika!

Making something like croissants take a lot of patience and precision. Annika really showed how she's maturing by taking on a project like this. Sure, I had to encourage her to stick with it during the less exciting times here and there, but she really did a great job with this project. Very proud of our girl .... now I need to go ride our stationary bike 350,000 hours to work off the insane amount of croissant-shaped calories I've ingested since yesterday. 

April 2015 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Focaccia

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was right up my alley: BREAD!! More specifically, we were challenged to make focaccia from scratch.

The timing for this challenge couldn't have been more perfect, considering my new addition to the book "Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast", which is ALL about bread making. Every recipe provided in this book yields two loaves of bread, and many recipes are adaptable, meaning you don't have to make the same kind of final product with both halves of the bread. So, I made bread by following the "Overnight White Bread" recipe, and made half of dough into a lovely artisan loaf and the other half into focaccia.

Conor helped me make the focaccia's dimples, and he was in charge of brushing the olive oil on the top of the bread... hence, we had uneven dimples and areas of oil slick on the bread, but it all worked out!

I topped the focaccia with parmesan cheese and salt... all four of us gave the bread our thumbs up. Definitely going to make it again!

For the month of April Rachael of pizzarossa and Sawsan of Chef in Disguise took us on a trip to Italy. They challenged us to try our hands at making focaccia from scratch

Daring Bakers' Challenge October 2014: Sachertorte

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was a definite "11th hour" things for me! I'm pretty sure that someone hit the turbo speed button on the month, because it seemed to FLY by. Well, the day before the baking deadline, there I was melting chocolate, beating egg whites, measuring flour, folding, and baking to make my first ever sachertorte!

What, you ask, is a sachertorte? Simply put, it is a dense Austrian chocolate cake that uses beaten egg whites as a leavening agent, incorporates apricot jam as a flavor layer, and is encased in a poured layer of chocolate ganache. The key is to incorporate the egg whites without deflating them ... no easy task... and no tidy task, either.

I was actually really excited about this month's challenge because Eric and I have recently gotten hooked on a show out of the UK called "The Great British Bake Off" and one of the technical challenges given during one of the episodes was a sachertorte. The show is hosted by two well-known bakers from the UK: Mary Berry (isn't that the best name ever??) and Paul Hollywood.

As I worked on my creation last night, I had many thoughts running through my head, but the most prominent one was "What would Mary Berry say?" Would she think I whipped the egg whites enough? Would she approve of my folding technique? It tickled me how a TV host was so absently involved in my process yesterday. At one point, Conor asked if he could help me prepare the cake... of course, that was just as I was folding in the egg whites, which requires a more delicate touch than he tends to display. Instead, I had him help me sift the flour... much less mission critical, but still make him feel special! :)

I'd read about a number of people having difficulty with the poured chocolate finish provided by the recipe provided for the challenge, so I opted to hedge my bets and use Mary Berry's ingredients and quantities for that aspect of the cake, and I'm glad I did. The poured chocolate went on beautifully and turned out so smooth!

The final touch of a sachertorte is writing "Sacher" on its top. The recipe called for milk chocolate, which is something I'm not a fan of and ... it turns out ... don't even keep in our house. We have dark and semi-sweet chocolate galore, but no milk chocolate. I was concerned that the chocolates I had wouldn't provide enough of a contrast with the poured chocolate, so I opted to use white chocolate for the final touches.

Because of the late hour the sachertorte was finished last night, we decided to hold off on taking it for a taste test run until tonight. So, at this point in time, I have no clue how it tastes, but it sure looks pretty and it rose during its time in the oven, so I'm taking that as a win! :)

(please ignore the flash's reflection in the cake!)

The October Daring Bakers' challenge was brought to us by Korena of Korena in the Kitchen. She took us to Austria and introduced us to the wonders of the Sachertorte.

Update (10/28/14): We dove into the sachertorte last night and gave it a big thumbs up. The kids devoured it! To save us from eating the whole thing, I took the leftovers to work, and my co-workers happily finished off the remaining sachertorte goodness.

My baking buddy

Last night, I busied myself making a chocolate pudding tart and, not at all surprisingly, Conor asked if he could help as soon as he heard the mixer going. (The fact that he abandoned his new "Land Before Time" movie to make something with me is REALLY saying something!)

I'd already mixed the dry ingredients together, so Conor jumped in to help add the ice water and egg yolks to the dough. One of our kids' favorite things to do is crack eggs. This time, things got even better!! I showed Conor our egg separator and let him crack the egg open over it. He was amazed and struck with a wonderful case of the giggles as he watched the egg whites ooze away from the yolk. The squeals of, "COOL" and "EEWWW! GROSS SLIMY" definitely gave me a laugh, too.

I was a little nervous about having him pour things into the Cuisinart's small spout, but he did a fantastic job! No spilled water or egg yolks overboard. He can help me make tart crust any time!!

In goes the water
(like the safety goggles??)

Corralling a slippery egg yolk

Making things with Mama is fun!

After we were done with our project, a double rainbow graced our neighborhood. I hope that means our
tart will be tasty. Conor hopes it means he can go looking for treasure!

My little helper

Last night, I made a batch of brownies. Almost immediately, Annika rushed up to offer her help. She was bummed that I'd already cracked the eggs, but was mollified when I let her finish whisking them in and let her add the flour.

Both of our kids are amazing helpers when it comes to baking projects. They love to put the ingredients in the mixing bowl, crack the eggs (always an adventure), and stir everything together.

More than that, though, they like to lick the spatula/beaters/whisk when all is said and done.

Our little chocolate fanatic

March 2013 Daring Bakers Challenge

It's baking challenge reveal day! And, boy, am I glad that I have a reminder on my phone's calendar to keep me on top of things. I would have completely forgotten to post about this month's Daring Bakers challenge had it not just beeped at me.

This month, we were tasked with incorporating at least one vegetable into a dessert. As soon as I read the challenge description, I knew what I was going to make. When I was a kid, my mom used to make a really yummy chocolate cake that had zucchini tucked inside for added moisture.

I called my mom and asked for the recipe. When she called me back with it, I was folding laundry and really didn't have any writing implements at hand. I ran to the kids' art bin and found a piece of brown construction paper and a red crayon. Perfect! I scribbled down the recipe and half considered keeping it in that format, but decided it would be more prudent to write it out in longhand for future use. Darn you, logic, you won again!

This cake's origins are a bit unclear. My mom couldn't recall if she got the recipe from her friend Mary or if her friend Mary gave the recipe to her. Either way, it is now in my possession and because my mom gave it to me, I'm taking over the naming rights.

I baked the cake this weekend. Much to our niece Emily's amazement, the kids and I had this baby out of the oven and on a cooling rack by 7:30 AM! (Welcome to life with young children!)

I figured we could use this cake for Conor's actual birthday (tomorrow!!!) and then the fancier cake for his family gathering on Sunday (aka Easter). Because we're saving the cake until tomorrow, please imagine the cake below is sliced and has a lovely dusting of powdered sugar on top!

I almost forgot to take a picture of the cake, so had to unwrap it from its Saran and foil coverings ... hence the less than grand picture.

 

 

Nana's Chocolate Zucchini Cake

 

Ingredients

• 1 c. brown sugar
• ½ c. white sugar
• ½ c. butter
• ½ c. vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ½ c. buttermilk
• 2 ½ c. flour
• ½ tsp. all spice
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground clove
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 4 T. cocoa powder
• 2 zucchini (grated = 2 c.)
• 1 c. chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. In mixer bowl, cream together sugars, butter, and oil.
3. Add eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk.
4. Add flour, all spice, cinnamon, clove, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder.
5. Fold in zucchini.
6. Pour batter into greased bundt pan.
7. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of batter.
8. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.
9. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert cake onto cooling rack.
10. Sift powdered sugar over cake before slicing.

 Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

1. 

Antici......pation

Our kids dress up in random outfits almost daily. Sometimes they are royalty, other times they are on a picnic adventure. This day, they were preparing for a huge snow storm. Their play was interrupted by the fact I put something in the oven and they wanted to watch its progress. They were just so darned cute that I couldn't help but snap some pictures.

I loved how they were in their jammies, as well as snow boots, hats, gloves, scarves, and parkas ... all while happily seated on stools parked in front of the oven.

Baking Christmas Cookies

My co-workers have not-so-subtly been hinting that it has been too long since I last brought in homemade treats. That hinting combined with the fact it is the Christmas season meant it was time to bake this weekend!! I pulled out my handy-dandy (albeit slowly dying) Kitchen Aid yesterday and decided to whip up some Christmas-themed shortbread cookies.

The night before as I was in bed falling asleep, I wondered if it would work to make two colors of shortbread dough, layer them, roll them into a log, chill the log, and then slice the log and have swirled cookies. (Yes, that is what I think about as I fall asleep ... I think it is a sickness! Maybe should look into a local chapter of Bakers Anonymous ... I wonder if they'd let me bring homemade treats to the meetings!)

As soon as I pulled the mixer out of the cupboard, Conor was running through the kitchen shouting "I want to help! I want to help!!" (That boy is my little baking apprentice through and through!) So, the kids hauled chairs from the table over to my baking station and helped me whip up the dough. (Note to self, don't let them unwrap the butter and put it into the mixer bowl before checking for leftover paper.)

After the dough was done, the kids went back to playing, which worked out nicely for the coloring, layering, rolling aspects of the project. I was rather nervous about the cookies' final appearance; would baking negatively impact the colors? Happily, I learned that it didn't! The cookies are adorably Christmasy.

Conor wore the elf ears as ear plugs ... hey, he thinks it works, so we go with it

Watching the mixer do its thing; the kids know they have to keep their
hands back, so Annika holds the bowl handle while Conor covers his ears... I
guess the elf ears didn't work after all

Ready for baking!
(Note the holes in a few of the cookies ... that's where
I dug out the butter wrapper remnants)