May Daring Cooks' Challenge - En Croute

This month's Daring Cooks' Challenge introduced me to something new. Well, kind of. It put a new name to something I was familiar with!

Our lovely Monkey Queen of Don’t Make Me Call My Flying Monkeys, was our May Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to dive into the world of en Croute! We were encouraged to make Beef Wellington, Stuffed Mushroom en Croute and to bring our kids into the challenge by encouraging them to create their own en Croute recipes!

En Croute is a term for a food that has been wrapped in some kind of pastry dough and baked. Beef Wellington, as mentioned in the blog-check lines above, is the most well known, fancy en Croute dish, but there are tons of others, and our lovely hostess limited us only by the rules of wrapping something in some kind of dough and baking it. Fun!

I actually had all kinds of grand plans for this - I mean, the possibilities are endless, and deliciously so. But I wanted to make my own puff pastry dough to wrap... anything! And I kept running up against time for making it.

And then one evening, daddy wanted a fun treat with dinner. We had a package of mini-hot dogs in the fridge and he asked me if we had any kind of dough in which we could wrap them, making our own pigs-in-blankets.

Wait.

Wrapped in dough? Baked? Oh my goodness. Pigs in blankets are en Croute!

I whipped up a batch of my simple (yet delicious!) sourdough crescent dough and we got to work.

We rolled out the dough and cut it into strips.

Then we each started rolling.

We simply cut the dough as each mini-dog was wrapped and kept on rolling, soon filling two cookie sheets.

These cooked up beautifully. The dough doesn't puff like puff pastry does, but it browns and crisps and goes deliciously with the mini hot dogs.

Served with some mustard, they were a perfect treat.

(and, in case you were worried that that was all we had for dinner, we also had assorted leftovers and a healthy serving of broccoli to go with it - even with a fun dinner, we still need our veggies!)

So funny how putting a new name to something can totally fancy it up, right? These weren't pigs-in-blankets - they were mini sausages en Croute. In fact... every time I've ever made apple dumplings, I was actually making a fancy French dessert, right? Pommes en Croute? Awesome!

So, Monkey Queen, I can't wait to dive more fully into the world of en Croute - there are so many meals that would be completely amazing wrapped up in delicious pastry.

To see the challenge as prepared this month, with some mouthwateringly inspiring recipes, check it out here.

And to see the other amazing dishes wrapped and baked this month in the Daring Kitchen, you can check them out here.

Sourdough-Crescent-Wrapped Mini-Hot Dogs

(using this sourdough crescent dough recipe)

1 cup flour (I used all purpose, you can easily substitute whole wheat)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoons butter

2/3 (give or take) sourdough starter

1 package (about 40) mini-hot dogs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

Combine together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and sugar.

Cut or rub in the butter.

Mix in the sourdough starter and stir together to make a soft dough.

Gently knead the dough for about one minute.

Divide dough in half, reserving one as you work with the other.

Roll the dough to about 1/8" thick. Cut the rolled dough into strips just shorter than the hot dogs are wide. Roll each hot dog, pressing to seal. Line the wrapped hot dogs on your prepared baking sheet.

Continue until all hot dogs are wrapped.

Bake for 12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Tweet

Big Crumb Coffee Cake

The first thing I need to do is apologize for disappearing these past couple of weeks. Things have been pretty busy around here, between school and the warmer weather and a few special projects we've been working on.

But I'm super excited to share this post with you.

When I received my Secret Recipe Club assignment for this month, I was super excited. After last month's reveal, there were a few blogs that really caught my attention, one of them being Smells Like Brownies. Melissa's blog is deliciously inspiring, well written and, well, she has an adorable little baby boy. So imagine my excitement when her blog appeared in my inbox as my assignment!

There were so many recipes I wanted to try. The first one that spoke to me was for black bean burgers, but I worried that the kids might not like them. Kids can be weird that way. Then I thought that maybe I'd try this butternut squash galette - it looks amazingly delicious. Then again, so did all her other posts!  So what I wound up doing was opening many (many) tabs on my browser with the recipes that were speaking most loudly to me and letting daddy choose.

I wasn't overly shocked with his choice. He chose the big crumb coffee cake. Yay!

This cake was very straightforward to prepare, but did use quite a few dishes.st

For starters, the recipe calls for cake flour, which is one of the few flours I don't actually keep on hand. But only because there is a super simple substitute for it - for each half cup of cake flour called for, measure out a half cup of all purpose flour, then scoop out one tablespoon of the flour and replace it with one tablespoon of  cornstarch.

So to start, I needed one bowl to make my cake flour.

Next it was time to prepare the crumb topping mixture.  It starts with a mixture of sugars and spices...

...to which melted butter is mixed in.

Then mix in some of the pastry flour (or have a little helper do it for you...)...

...and set it aside.

The next bowl is for the wet ingredients for the cake batter.  I did make one change here - the recipe calls for sour cream, which I didn't have on hand, so I substituted Greek-style coconut-milk yogurt.

Then, in the bowl of my stand mixer, I combined the dry ingredients, to which softened butter was mixed in, along with a bit of the pre-mixed wet ingredients.

The actual mixing here is very quick - the prepared wet ingredients are added in three stages, then mixed for 20-30 seconds at a time, and that is it!  The resulting batter is very thick and lovely.

Once the batter is spread in the pan, it's time to add the crumbles.  The prepared crumb mixture, as it site, actually hardens a little bit, which makes it easy to, literally, crumble on top of the batter.

And then the whole thing bakes. And smells heavenly. And make everyone very, very hungry.

And then it comes out of the oven and looks beautiful and makes everyone even more hungry.

Not to mention annoyed when I tell them that they have to wait until breakfast the next morning to taste it.

But it was worth the wait. The topping was crunchy and very sweet, but the cake was moist and delicious and it was a very decadent breakfast. And a super tasty treat later on in the day, too.

Oh, and I am totally bookmarking this pumpkin caramel layer cake to make this fall.

Melissa, thanks so much for having such an awesome, yummy and inspiring blog! I know I will be visiting very often!


Big Crumb Coffee Cake
(only slightly adapted from Smells Like Brownies)

Crumb Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups cake flour

Cake Ingredients:
1/3 cup low-fat sour cream (I used plain, Greek style coconut milk yogurt)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
5 tablespoons butter, softened, cut into cubes


Preheat oven to 325°. Grease an 8″ square baking dish.

To prepare the crumb mixture, whisk together the sugars and spices in a large bowl.
Whisk in melted butter until the mixture is smooth.
Add flour and stir carefully, pressing together with a spatula. It will be a wet, sticky dough, but it will dry and stiffen quickly. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

To prepare the cake batter, stir together sour cream (or yogurt), egg, egg yolk and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder.
Add softened butter and one spoonful of the sour cream (yogurt) mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened.
Increase speed and beat the mixture for 30 seconds.
Add half of the remaining sour cream mixture and beat for 20 seconds, then repeat.
Scrape the sides of bowl and make sure everything is combined.
Spoon batter into the prepared dish.
Crumble the crumb mixture over the cake in big, ½″ crumbs. They do not have to be uniform - having some smaller crumbles will make the cake easier to cut when it’s baked.
Bake for 40–50 minutes, or until cake passes a toothpick test (mine took 43 minutes). Cool completely before serving.

Enjoy with coffee!

Tweet

Strawberry Orange Julius

Every month, on the reveal day for my group of the Secret Recipe Club, I try to visit the posts of as many of the participants in my group as I can. It usually takes me a couple of days, but I usually get to all of them. And they are always so inspiring - so much deliciousness!

This month, one spoke to me right away. Heather from Join Us, Pull Up A Chair, had posted this delicious looking Orange Pineapple Julius, based on the Orange Julius drink that you usually see at the mall.

Yum. It looked so good that I decided that I'd surprise the kids with that as their breakfast beverage the next morning.

Only, instead of pineapple, I used strawberries.

Yum - this delicious beverage was a fast, easy treat that both kids thoroughly enjoyed. I used coconut milk so that little man could share and I think it added a yummy sweetness, so I actually decreased the amount of confectioners' sugar called for in the recipe to compensate. And it was perfect.

So if you're looking for a quick, delicious treat, definitely give this fruity beverage a try!


Strawberry Orange Julius
(inspired by Join Us, Pull Up A Chair)


1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup milk (I used coconut milk)
5 - 6 strawberries
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
handful of ice cubes

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. I used an immersion blender with no problem at all. Pour into a glass and serve right away.

Enjoy!

Tweet

April Daring Bakers' Challenge - Savarin

Holy moly, it's the end of the month already? You know what that means!

Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenges us to make a traditional Savarin, complete with soaking syrup and cream filling! We were to follow the Savarin recipe but were allowed to be creative with the soaking syrup and filling, allowing us to come up with some very delicious cakes!

I am going to be completely honest with you.  I had never heard of a savarin before and, upon reading the recipe, I  thought it sounded... odd. A rich bread dough that is baked in a ring then soaked in a flavored syrup, and then the hole in the middle is filled with a pastry cream and the whole thing is decorated with fresh fruit.

Whoa. Sounded... fussy. The dough takes a bit of time, and involves steps that have to be followed in the right order... from making a starter sponge to adding 6 egg yolks one at a time to adding flour a tablespoon at a time.   But once I got started, other than it taking quite a few bowls to keep myself organized, it wasn't too bad.

I soon had a very rich, very high hydration dough ready to rest for a long rise.

And rise it did!

The dough is then shaped and placed into a well-buttered bundt pan.

And when it bakes?

Wow. Talk about rise! I was amazed at how high this bread rose in the oven.

Then came decision time. While the bread cooled, I had to decide on the flavorings for the soaking syrup and filling for this bread. I chose vanilla.  I made a vanilla simple syrup with which to soak the bread...

...and a dairy-free and egg-free vanilla pudding to use as a filling. (I chose dairy-free/egg-free so that little man could enjoy it with us. He can handle the eggs/butter in the bread, as they are fully baked in the bread, and that doesn't affect him. But for pudding, he needs the dairy-free/egg-free version).

And then it was time for the fun finishing touches. Fresh berries on top.

I have to say, once it all came together, I thought it looked pretty good!

But the important part is how it tastes. And it tastes delicious! The bread is so light and airy - little miss actually compared it to an angel food cake, which is pretty impressive for a yeasted bread.

None of us were fans of the pudding that I chose (well, little man liked it, and I guess that's the most important part for that kind of pudding!), but the soaked bread was a really nice treat, so it is definitely worth trying again.

Natalia, thank you so much for preparing this delicious challenge for us!

To see the challenge as Natalia beautifully presented it, you can check it out here.

And to see the beautiful and impressive savarins baked up in the Daring Kitchen this month, you can check them out here.


Savarin
(adapted only slightly from the challenge recipe)


2½ cups bread flour
2 tablespoons water, lukewarm
6 large eggs at room temperature, separated
½ satchel (1½ teaspoons) active dry yeast
4 teaspoons sugar
2/3 stick (1/3 cup) butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter for greasing the work surface, hands, dough scraper & baking pan

For the Sponge:
In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons lukewarm water, 3 tablespoons flour and yeast. Cover with cling film and let rise 60 minutes.

For the Dough:
After the sponge has been resting for 30 minutes, put the egg whites in the mixer bowl and start working with the paddle at low speed, adding flour until you have a soft dough that sticks to the bowl (recipe said this would take about 2 cups, but mine only needed about a cup or so) and work until it comes together. Cover with cling film and let rest 30 min.
Add the sponge to the mixer bowl along with one tablespoon of flour and start mixing at low speed.
When the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl, add one yolk and, as soon as the yolk is absorbed, add one tablespoon of flour.
Add the second yolk and the sugar and, as soon as the yolk is absorbed, add one tablespoon of flour.
Raise the speed of the mixer a little bit.
Add the third yolk and the salt and, as soon as the yolk is absorbed, add one tablespoon of flour.
Keep on adding one yolk at the time and the flour in this way, saving a tablespoon of flour for later.
Mix the dough until is elastic and makes threads.
Add the room temperature butter and, as soon as the butter is adsorbed, add the last tablespoon of flour.
Keep on mixing until the dough passes the window pane test (be patient with this).
Cover the dough with cling film and let it proof until it has tripled in volume, about 2 to 3 hours.
When the dough is almost done proofing, carefully and thoroughly butter a bundt or tube pan, making sure it is fully buttered but not leaving chunks of butter on the sides of the pan.
Grease your dough scraper, your hands and your work surface and then turn the dough out on it and fold it over on itself several times. Cover with cling film and let it rest 15 minutes on the counter.
Turn the dough upside down and, with the help of your buttered dough scraper, shape your dough in a rounded bun.
Make a hole in the center with your thumb and put it in the prepared pan.
Cover with cling film and let rise in a warm spot until the dough reaches the top of the pan, about 1 hour.
Pre-heat oven to moderate 340°.
Bake the Savarin for about 40 minutes until the top is golden brown.
When the Savarin is done, remove it from the oven, let it cool and carefully remove it from the pan.

For the Syrup:
(my own creation)
3 cups water
1 vanilla flavored tea bag
1 vanilla bean
1 cup of sugar

Put the vanilla bean, tea bag and sugar into a medium saucepan and cover with the water. Heat over high heat until it comes to a boil. Boil the syrup for approximately 5-8 minutes until sugar is fully dissolved, the tea has steeped well and the liquid has thickened a little bit.
Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to cool.


When you are ready to soak the cooled savarin, return the bread to the pan and carefully spoon the liquid over the bread until you can see the liquid coming up the side of the pan. The bread will begin to float, so push it down a bit to make sure it is really immersed rather than just floating on the surface.  Allow the bread to soak overnight. After a few hours of soaking, I actually covered the savarin with foil and flipped it over to allow gravity to pull the liquid down through the whole bread.


For the Filling:
You can use any pudding or pastry cream that matches your taste preferences. I made this dairy-free and egg-free pudding:
(from Z's Cup of Tea)

2 cups coconut milk beverage
2 1/2 to 3 tbsp. cornstarch
3 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon agave nectar

Heat 1 1/2 cups of the coconut milk in a small pot or saucepan over medium heat.
Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of coconut milk with cornstarch separately in a small bowl, adding the milk to the cornstarch. (This makes it easier to mix.)
Add the agave nectar to the milk and pour in the remaining 1/2 cup of milk. Whisk the milk until thickened and comes to a boil, about 4 minutes.
Remove the pudding from heat and add vanilla extract.
Pour the pudding into a bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until ready to serve.The pudding will continue to thicken as it chills.

When you are ready to serve, turn the soaked savarin out onto a serving dish, fill the hole with the prepared and cooled pudding (or filling of your choice) and decorate with fresh fruit.

Enjoy!

Tweet

Peanut Butter S'mores "Quesadilla"

All over the food blogging world I have seen people posting about peanut butter and jelly quesadillas.  Two tortillas, some peanut butter, some jelly, cooked on a pan... Looked and sounded absolutely delicious, but I always had a kind of secret chuckle that these were recipe posts.

Then yesterday afternoon I was in the mood for a snack.  I thought about making a quesadilla. But I wanted something sweeter. Somehow the peanut butter and jelly quesadilla popped into my head.  But I'd already had lunch... I wanted something more fun.  And then I remembered that I had some mini marshmallows in the pantry.  Hmm... definite possibilities.

I spread some peanut butter on a tortilla, popped it onto a pan over medium heat, then sprinkled a liberal handful of mini marshmallows on top, followed by another liberal handful of chocolate chips.

Then I topped that with a second tortilla.  A few minutes later I flipped it over and saw what I was hoping for.

Ooey, gooey meltiness.

Now, once it's fully cooked, it flattens, so I wasn't able to get a good photo of the ooey, gooey deliciousness in all its ooey, gooey glory.

But trust me - warm, melty, chocolaty, sweet, salty, crisp - yeah. This was pretty much the perfect snack.


Peanut Butter S'mores "Quesadilla"
(I'm sure someone else has done this before, but I didn't follow a recipe...)

2 flour tortillas
2 tablespoons peanut butter (I used creamy, use more or less to taste)
1/4 cup (approximately) mini marshmallows
1/4 cup (approximately) chocolate chips

Place a pan big enough to hold your tortilla flat on a burner over medium to medium high heat.
Spread the peanut butter on one of the tortillas and place it on the pan (peanut butter side up). Sprinkle the marshmallows and chocolate chips over the peanut butter and top with the second tortilla.
Heat the tortilla until it becomes slightly golden brown and the peanut butter, marshmallows and chocolate chips begin to melt.
Carefully flip the whole thing over and heat on the other side until it is also golden brown and the whole thing is ooey, gooey and delicious.
Remove from heat onto serving plate and cut into wedges.

Enjoy!

Tweet

Pumpkin Spice Granola, An SRC Bonus

I am a summer person at heart. Sunshine, warm weather, bare feet, playing outside... there is nothing better than summer. For most things. But for some reason, many of my favorite flavors are actually Fall related.

When it was announced that a few posts were missing from this week's Secret Recipe Club, of course I volunteered to help.  The hostess sent me over to Sweetly Serendipity, an awesome blog that I can't believe I've never visited before... that I can remember. I mean, seriously, Taryn was also a member of the Daring Bakers Challenge. How in the world am I not familiar with this awesome blog? And talk about some delicious recipes. Everything looked great.

But for some reason, everything that really spoke to me was pumpkin related. Well, no, an apple recipe spoke to me, too, but still - Fall flavors.

But I have been mulling over the idea of making granola again, so when I saw Taryn's recipe for pumpkin spice granola, I knew I had my recipe.

And then the hostess sent me a message saying that the missing post was found, Taryn was no longer an orphan.  I said no problem, but I think I am going to make this recipe anyway!!

Granola is pretty easy to make - it's basically just rolled oats, coated in some kind of syrup, dried out in the oven.  This version used a pumpkin-pie inspired spice mix - yum.

This recipe also included spiced nuts to be included. With little man's nut allergy, I omitted those, and decided to include a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds and a couple hands full of raisins instead.

The syrup is simply a combination of maple syrup and coconut oil, which is brought to a boil and then simmered for a couple of minutes.

Stir in the syrup...

Then stir in some pumpkin puree...

Then just bake, stirring things up every few minutes.

And that's it!

What a delicious afternoon snack this made - so flavorful and hearty!  I bet it will make a great breakfast tomorrow morning, too!

Pumpkin Spice Granola
(only slightly adapted from Sweetly Serendipity)

Spice Mix Ingredients
2 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon allspice

Granola Assembly Ingredients
4 cups old fashioned oats
Prepared spice mix
½ cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chia seeds
a few handsfull of raisins (or dried cranberries)

Mix together all spice mix ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
Place the oats, spice mix, salt, chia seeds and raisins in a large bowl. Mix well, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Combine the maple syrup and the coconut oil in a small saucepot over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for two minutes. Very carefully, pour the hot syrup over the oats. Toss well. Fold in the pumpkin puree, and mix until completely incorporated.
Spread out granola on two large sheet pans. Bake for about 25-35 minutes, tossing every five minutes. When done, remove granola from the oven and let cool.
You can store this granola in an air-tight container at room temperature for a week or two.

Enjoy!

Tweet

Strawberry Meringues

Okay, so remember that I used all those egg yolks to make homemade mayonnaise for this months Secret Recipe Club? And remember I told you I made strawberry meringue cookies with the leftover whites?  Well here they are!

These are actually pretty easy to make, but you need to plan ahead a little bit.

Because in order to get that delicious strawberry flavor, you need a couple of tablespoons of the juice that results from macerating strawberries.  Basically, cut up some strawberries, sprinkle them with some sugar, then let them rest for a few hours.  The result?

Deliciously sweet strawberries (perfect for strawberry shortcakes or ice cream topping or just digging in with a spoon!) and that juice you see there.  Just add that juice to your whipped egg whites and there you have it - naturally flavored meringue!

And those egg whites? Beat them really, really well. You want stiff peaks here. Stiff enough that you can hold them upside down.

Then just pipe out the meringue and bake it in a very low oven for a very long time.

Yummy, crispy, naturally sweet meringue cookies.

But beware.  They are extremely addictive. We finished the whole batch in about 24 hours.  Yum.



Strawberry Meringue Cookies
(from Everything in the Kitchen Sink)

3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons syrup from macerated strawberries, at least 24 hours macerating
1/3 cup of confectioners sugar
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 200 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper (I used foil).  Separate the whites from the yolks (save the yolks for a curd!) and begin beating with a hand mixer until the egg whites are just foamy.
Add in the cream of tartar, the vanilla extract, and strawberry syrup.  Begin to beat until the volume doubles.
Begin to add in the confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time.  Continue beating until there are soft peaks formed in the egg whites.
Add a pinch of salt and finish beating until stiff peaks are formed.  You should be able to hold it above your head!
Pour into a pastry bag or large freezer ziptop bag and squeeze out as much of the air as you can.  Pipe out silver dollar sized cookies onto the parchment-lined cookie sheets.
Bake at 200 F for 2 hours.  I left mine in for closer to three because I... umm... forgot about them for a little bit...  Turn off the oven and let sit for at least an hour before removing.

Enjoy!

Tweet