Category: Baking

Buttermilk Biscuits

Sadie1 Comment

I don’t know about you, but one of my best inspirations for trying a recipe, is having leftover ingredients to use up.  The other day my fridge seemed to have half a quart of buttermilk and my pantry had some left over cake flour, both from my buttermilk cupcake adventure.  I was in need of a bread option for a dinner and the stars aligned when I found a biscuit recipe to used both the cake flour and buttermilk.

It turned out to be from Guy Fieri at The Food Network.  I thought it was interesting considering I looked at several biscuit recipe options from several sources, a Guy is not the chef I think of when I think of buttermilk biscuits.  Preconceptions aside, I liked the recipe, and above all it reminded me that my life in the kitchen would be much easier if I had a food processor (not that I have anywhere to put it in my tiny kitchen).  That being said, this recipe is best done with a food processor, but you can get away without it.  I did.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Yields 9, from Guy Fieri

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, plus 1 Tbs for brushing
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour
  • 3/4 cups AP flour, plus more for work surface
  • 1 Tbs baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 2 Tbs shortening cold
  • 1 cup buttermilk

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 500.
  2. If you’re using a food processor add both types of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the machine and buzz for a few seconds to mix.  If you aren’t using a food processor, just combine the dry ingredients.
  3. Add in cold butter and shortening and pulse a few times so the mixture is like small pebbles.  Add buttermilk and pulse a couple more times.  If you don’t have a food processor, try using a pastry cutter to help cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a flour surface, knead once or twice (do not over work) and form into a thick disk to cut with a knife or cookie cutters.
  5. Turn the oven down to 450 when you put the biscuits in the oven.  Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

Bakin’ With Bacon

Sadie2 Comments

This fall in business school I’m working on a marketing project all about bacon.  This is admittedly not my wheel house because I don’t actually eat bacon, but it has proven to be a great experience.  And yes, I realize I am a weirdo for not eating bacon.

Once we were given the assignment, we were strongly encouraged to test the product ourselves to get better insight into the consumer.  Initially I was not too enthusiastic about the idea, but then I realized I could parle this suggestion into a reason to attempt a baking project with bacon.

For my first try at baking with bacon I decided to stay relatively conservative.  I picked a few different recipes and flavor ideas to settle on a buttermilk cupcake with maple frosting and bacon garnish.  Initially I was going to go in the direction of a spice or pumpkin cupcake, but since the bacon is rich and fatty and maple frosting is pretty sweet, I thought the buttermilk cake would be a nice light compliment to the other components.  Plus I figure it’s a play on breakfast in a cupcake: buttermilk like pancakes, maple like syrup, and bacon like bacon.

These were definitely a crowd pleaser and I even doctored them up to play on the whole pig theme.

Buttermilk Cupcakes with Maple Frosting and Bacon Garnish

Yields 36 cupcakes from Martha, frosting from somewhere I forget

Cake Ingredients

  • 3 cups cake flour, (not self-rising)
  • 1 1/2 cups AP flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup plus 2 Tbs (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 2 1/4 cups sugar
  • 5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temp
  • 2 cups buttermilk, room temp
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients

  • 350g unsalted butter room temp
  • 500g powdered sugar
  • 5 Tbs Maple Syrup
  • 2 Tbs Vanilla
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 lb bacon for garnish

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Place bacon on cooling rack, then place cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.  
  3. Sprinkle brown sugar on the bacon and bake for 25 minutes.
  4. Once baked, transfer bacon to a layer of paper towels or paper bags to allow the grease to drain.  Once cool, chop the bacon for garnish later.
  5. Turn oven down to 350.
  6. Combine cake flour, AP flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.
  7. Cream butter.  Add sugar, beat until fluffy.  Add whole eggs one at a time, then yolks one at a time along with vanilla.
  8. Alternate adding parts of the dry mixture with the buttermilk.  Once everything is in the same bowl make sure to scrape the sides and try not to over mix the batter.
  9. Pour batter three quarters of the way full in prepared muffin tin.  Bake 20 minutes until tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before frosting (or else the frosting will just melt).
  10. For the frosting cream the butter with the sugar and add in the syrup, vanilla, and ground ginger.  Beat until light and fluffy.
  11. Frost the cupcake in desired fashion and sprinkle with bacon pieces for garnish.

    I turned the cupcakes upside down and added some food coloring to the frosting to make the cupcakes look like pig snouts to go with the theme!

Time for Pumpkin!

Sadie4 Comments

I’m sad to put aside the berries of summer, but what could be better than pumpkin in the fall!  Apples and pumpkin are definitely my two favorite fall flavor profiles.  Since my mom tends to own the apple pie concept in my family, so I’m more likely to go the pumpkin direction when I bake in the fall.

I was recently invited to a dinner party and I, of course, offered to bring dessert.  Initially I actually wanted to make a berry crumble, but I thought to myself: get over it Sadie the berry season is over this year (*tear*).  Then I reconsidered and thought I might as well get on the pumpkin train so I could start practicing potential recipes for Thanksgiving.  It was a good choice.

I decided to try out a pumpkin spice cheesecake, and I have these awesome Temptations individual ramekins, so it turned into individual pumpkin cheesecakes. Sometimes cheesecake is really dense but this one was nicely and fluffy, it’s a really good version.

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

Yields one 9 inch cake (even though I made individual portions)

Cake recipe adapted from Annie’s Eats but I used Paula’s crust

Ingredients- Filling

  • 1 1/3 cups (10 1/3 oz.) sugar
  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp. ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp. ground allspice
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
  • 3 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
  • 5 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 cup heavy cream

Crust

  • 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 stick melted salted butter

Garnish

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • splash vanilla extract
  • sugar to taste
  • pecan halves

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 325.
  2. Combine crust ingredients so they are well mixed.  Pat crust into bottom on 9 inch spring form pan that has been greased.  Bake crust for 15 minutes and set aside to cool.
  3. Combine dry ingredients: sugar, spices, and salt.  Set aside.  Heat some water up in a tea kettle for later.
  4. Using an electric mixer beat the cream cheese until fluffy.  Add in pumpkin puree and vanilla, mix.  Add in 3 eggs, mix, then 2 eggs, mix.  Finally add heavy cream and mix.  Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl between additions, so it is well mixed.
  5. Add one third of the dry ingredients add at a time, mixing between additions.
  6. Place the spring form pan with the crust in the middle of a cookie sheet.  Pour the batter into the pan and place in the oven.  Pour the hot water from the tea kettle into the cookie sheet (not in the cake).  The water bath will help the baking process.
  7. Bake at 325 for 90 minutes (adjust baking time if you use a different size pan).
  8. Allow to cool for a couple hours before refrigerating.
  9. For garnish I whipped up some heavy cream with my electric mixer, and I added in some vanilla and sugar.  Then I used the pecan halves to decorate.