Apricot and Cream Scones

Tags

Apricot and Cream Scones, The Kitchen Goddess Diary

I’ve gone scone crazy. After my success with the Cheddar and Bacon Scones, I decided that I wanted to try a sweet variant.  Initially I was going to try a Brown Sugar scone recipe that I had in one of my King Arthur catalogs. (If you bake you should definitely subscribe to their free catalog!) It looked simple enough, however I kept finding that I was missing some ingredient. I completely chalked this up to being my fault for not paying closer attention. Also it indicated to me that I really didn’t want to make them so I went searching for another recipe to try.

My only requirement for sweet scones is that they aren’t dry bricks. I really don’t like dry baked goods. If it’s dry I won’t eat it no matter how tasty it might actually be.

The interesting thing about the Apricot and Cream scones is that the cream actually comes from cream cheese (or Neufchatel) and it’s made with milk not heavy cream like the savory cheddar and bacon scones. Also, this recipe calls for an egg. So right off the bat you know the texture for these is going to be different.

For my first attempt at these scones I used Neufchatel and substituted the milk with heavy cream. I also used vanilla extract. I also used a round biscuit cutter as I do not have square ones at this time.

They turned out absolutely amazing. Especially right out of the oven. Because I cut them in circles they do appear more like biscuits which I think is kinda neat.  They do in fact have more of a biscuit-ey texture. I didn’t have any sparkling sugar on hand so they may not have been as sweet as they could have been.

And my fear of them being dry? That vanished this morning when I snagged one to have with my cup of coffee.

And if you don’t like apricots I don’t see why you couldn’t substitute in one of your favorite dried fruits instead.

Chocolate Bomb

Tags

Baking, Chocolate Bomb, The Kitchen Goddess Diary

During the week it took for me to gather the ingredients for the Cheddar and Bacon Scones I posted about on Monday… (Oh look, I need heavy cream. Got it. Wait. Do I have baking powder?) I was overcome with the “Dammit I want to make something right now!” ailment.

A peek into my pantry yielded very little help until my eyes fell upon a cake mix purchased a month or so ago. Sitting next to it was a small tub of frosting. I vaguely remember having purchased the items to make a cake as a dessert for a Wednesday Night Dinner or something like it. I do remember Matt having picked the combination of cake and frosting. Triple Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Fudge Frosting.

I pulled the box cake out of the pantry along with the tub of frosting and set about making the batter. I debated with myself which pan to bake the cake in until a brilliant idea struck me. (No one was hurt, promise!)

I had toyed with the idea of making cake balls but didn’t have the required chocolate coating for the outer shell. What if I made the cake ball mixture and instead of making balls I make a series of small cakes? Maybe I could use the left over frosting to decorate the cakes.

[If you don't know what cake balls are you should take a gander and look at Bakerella's webpage. The woman is amazing...]

So I decided what heck, and decided to give the idea a shot. I made the Triple Chocolate cake as directed in a 13×9 pan. Once baked and cooled for a few minutes I crumbled the still warm cake into a bowl and added a huge spoonful of the frosting to it. Now the trick to getting the consistency right is to start off with less frosting. The doughy mass only needs to hold together. I usually end up using a little less than half a tub of frosting.

With the cake ball mixture ready, I pulled out a small ramekin to help portion and form the cakes. In no time at all I had six perfectly portioned (if some what oddly shaped) cakes resting on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. The cookie sheet went into the fridge to allow the mixture to firm up until I was ready to top them off with frosting.

As the cakes firmed up in the fridge I realized that using normal frosting might overpower and be too much for the cake. However I couldn’t just leave the cakes naked. The baker in me shuddered at that thought. No, the cakes had to have something on them. A glaze might be light enough to balance out the denseness of the cake.

Three days later I finally got around to doing just that. I pulled the cakes out of the fridge, arranged them on my cake platter, and glazed the tops with a store bought chocolate glaze. Later that evening I offered them up as a dessert to go with the first barbeque of the season.

I sent two of the cakes home with a friend that night. The next day I received a text message:

Ok, the food yesterday was great…but I just bit into the chocolate bomb and you definitely gotta make those again!

 

Using the chocolate glaze was the right move! Huzzah! (And yeah, I preened. Wouldn’t you?)

If you are looking for something quick, but not every day cake, you might like to give this a try. The combinations could be endless. Oh, I might try lemon next time.

Bacon and Cheddar Scones

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Bacon, Bacon and Cheddar Scones, Baking, cheese, Scones, The Kitchen Goddess Diary

Several months ago I received a King Arthur Flour Catalog in the mail. I love getting catalogs from this company. Not only do I get to window shop from home, but they also add several recipes throughout the catalog. Usually they pertain to whatever season it happens to be. In this particular catalog I noticed a scone recipe.

Not just any scone recipe either. Most recipes that I had seen up till then usually contained some type of fruit combination. This one didn’t contain any fruit at all. It contained Bacon.

What? There is a scone out there made with Bacon you say? I must try this. Off I went to gather the ingredients.

I purchased 1 year old Wisconsin Milk Cheddar for my cheese and in a fit of inspiration I picked up Prosciutto instead of regular bacon for this adventure.

On Sunday morning I set about making this “quick bread” recipe. It was indeed a quick endeavor. In no time at all I had a disk of dough on my prepared baking sheet and ready for the oven.

Roughly 20 minutes later the house filled with the wonderful aroma of Prosciutto and cheese as I pulled out the golden triangles of perfection. I barely waited a moment or two before trying a bite. Oh. Em. Ghee. They were absolutely wonderful.

These scones may well get me to try other ones that are not of a savory bent.

Best Snack Mix

Tags

Almonds, Cranberry, Healthy, The Kitchen Goddess Diary, Walnut

Alright, I admit, this might not be for everyone. It’s a bit on the crunchy side of snacks. And if you are allergic to nuts then this is a no go. Period.

In attempts to eat healthier between meals (no grabbing that snickers or twix bar!) when the noshies strike I came up with this mix. I can’t take full credit for it, as I was inspired by a salad. You’ll see what I mean.

Best Snack Mix

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup almonds (I used slivered in this mix)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Toss all ingredients into a Tupperware container, close it up, shake it, and enjoy!

Makes about 3 – 4 mid-day snacks when portioned out.

I love the contrast of the cranberries with the nuts. The only thing that would make this the best snack mix EVER would be the addition of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Lentil One Pot

Tags

German, Lentil Soup, The Kitchen Goddess Diary, Vegetables

This recipe comes from one of my German cookbooks and is called Liseneintopf. Essentially it’s a lentil soup. And a very very good one too.

I’ve had my eye on this recipe for some time. It’s a hearty soup/stew type dish and I waited until the weather broke before attempting to make it. As this is a German recipe it calls for some traditional German ingredients – namely a tubed meat called Wiener  Würstchen. Think of them as a sort of hot dog/sausage in appearance. (DO NOT use hot dogs.)

If you happen to live near a German butcher then by all means pick two links up. If not then use the best type of sausage you can. We happened to have some Opa’s German Sausage in the freezer (a brand found at Tom Thumb here in Texas) that worked as an excellent substitute.

When you decide to make this recipe be aware that you need to soak the lentils over night. I didn’t realize this until I read through the instructions and had to wait a day before actually making the dish.

The thing I liked about this recipe is that it was easily adapted, to what I had available in the kitchen. For instance, the recipe calls for a small turnip. I didn’t have one at the time so I added a couple of extra carrots. I also omitted the parsley.

Pseudo S’mores

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Biscuits, Crackers, Dessert, Nutella, Pseudo S'more, S'mores, The Kitchen Goddess Diary, Whipped Cream, Wholewheat

Last Wednesday was National S’mores Day. (It was also Duran Duran Appreciation Day, but that’s another post.) It was also my turn to cook the Weekly Friend Get-Together.  Dinner was not an issue, however after looking at S’mores recipes all afternoon I was determined to have some sort of dessert in honor of the day.

Into the Kitchen I went and rooted about the pantry. I found the box of Carr’s Whole wheat crackers I was given for my birthday.  I had opened them recently and was quite surprised that they weren’t actually crackers but more like little biscuits (think similar to graham crackers).  Quite yummy with Lemon Curd… which got me to thinking…

I had a brand new jar of Nutella and as luck would have it some whipped cream (in a can)….

I spread some of the Nutella on the cracker/biscuit and put a dab of whipped cream on it. Then popped the entire thing into my mouth. Heaven. Yummy chocolatey goodness.

That evening after dinner I put the package of Carr’s on the the table along with the Nutella and a new can of  whipped cream. With the addition of some knives to use with the Nutella I told everyone ” Happy National S’mores Day” and to make their own Pseudo S’more. It was the first “interactive” dessert that I’ve attempted and I think it was a great success.  At least everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

So if you have a jar of Nutella, some Whole Wheat biscuits (or Graham Crackers), and some whipped cream  you’ll have a perfect little treat…

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

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Cucumber and Tomato Salad, Cucumbers, The Kitchen Goddess Diary, Tomatoes

With the summer temps at their highest here in Texas I don’t relish cooking in the kitchen. As a matter of fact, I try really really hard not to cook in order to avoid the heat. Which can make things…interesting for a while around here. Thankfully there are things that I can make that don’t require a stove or oven.

Most recently I’ve been able to make a lovely cucumber and tomato salad with home grown cucumbers brought all the way from Washington by a friend that is visiting for a bit.

It’s by far one of the easiest salads to pull together with only a few other ingredients. I actually think this is one of my favorite summer salads to make.

Wildkloss*

Tags

dumplings, German, The Kitchen Goddess Diary, Wildkloss

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am on a nostalgia kick regarding food. This is yet another foray into a family recipe.  Something called Wildkloss.

This is by far one of the more unique recipes I have attempted to make. It is similar to Knödel in that it is from the family of what one would call dumplings**. So if you don’t like dumplings of any variety then this may not be for you.

Wildkloss is essentially a very large dumpling filled with Sauerkraut and Cheese. When I made this I had to ask my mum what to serve with it, as I could not recall. Her response was “We typically ate it with Roasted Rabbit.” (Which someday I will attempt to make – just not now.) I opted to make a pork roast.

I also made the Kloss in advanced, just in case it turned out horribly and inedible.*** I am glad to say it turned out well, though I was the only one that ate it. Matt isn’t fond of what he calls “Soggy bread” and I can’t fault him for that. I’m not particularly fond of that phenomenon either. [I can however eat things like Knödel and Kloss]

One of the base  ingredients for a Wildkloss include lots of hard rolls (brötchen). It is rather unfortunate that I have not found a bakery here that actually makes them, so I used a close equivalent – french rolls. They were about a day old or so I believe so they had a hard crust but the centers were still somewhat soft. (This is where the soggy bread thing comes in for Matt.) The other ingredients include Sauerkraut and lots of shredded Swiss cheese. You wouldn’t think that this combination would be tasty.  But it is. Really tasty as a matter of fact. I always think that this is where the Wildkloss got the “wild” from.

All the ingredients aside the thing I actually really like about this recipe is that you wrap the whole mixture up in a dishcloth (non terri)/cheese cloth and hang it from a spoon in a pot of simmering (do not boil!) water.

What's in the pot? A surprise!

I did mention it was one big dumpling right? When you serve it you simply slice it – like a loaf of bread actually.

Nummy goodness. Really.

The picture is a little on the pale side as I used a chicken gravy instead of a pork gravy as a garnish and well, chicken gravy doesn’t photograph very well…

My only problem with having made this is that my memory of Wildkloss doesn’t include a flavor so while I could compare it visually to my memory I had no idea if it tastes anything like what Opa used to make. I suppose that since I enjoyed eating the Wildkloss that will have to do.

*Recipe passed down from Opa…
**There are many variants of Knödel not all involve using a yeast dough.
***First time recipes are a learning process and this is a common occurrence in my kitchen.

(N.B. – I only went so far as to translate the ingredients, not their measurements)

Cauliflower and Béchamel Cheese Sauce

Tags

Cauliflower, cheese, sauce, The Kitchen Goddess Diary, vegetable

I have recently been dealing with a bit of Nostalgia when it comes to food. Most recently I have been thinking about a cauliflower dish that my Mum made when I was younger. It was a simple dish as far as I can remember.  Cauliflower and a white sauce -which I vaguely remember being cheese like, but am not 100% certain as it was a white sauce. The more I thought about it though the more I wanted to make it. So of course I go out and buy a head of cauliflower. If I am going to do this, I am going to do it right by golly.

Fresh cauliflower is rather interesting. You can really see the “flower” aspect of the vegetable when you start to take it apart. At one point held it up and felt like I was holding a bouquet. I am easily amused. So the cauliflower part of the dish wasn’t hard to do. Toss the florets into a pot of water that has a dash of salt and a dash of vinegar and boil for about 5 minutes. (The vinegar helps keep the cauliflower white -I used a cap full of distilled white vinegar.)  It was the sauce portion that was the tricksy part. By this time I have sussed out that the sauce Mum made was likely a Béchamel* sauce with cheese added to it.  I did a little research and found that this is actually called a Mornay Sauce. Now I am sure you are wondering why I didn’t just say Cauliflower with a Mornay Sauce…Primarily because I only used one cheese and a Mornay sauce actually has a combination of cheeses.

Now, Béchamel is one of those things that can take a little practice to make. You start by making a roux of butter and flour. If you aren’t careful the roux can often end up in a ball of flour and butter -not something you can really work with. The easiest thing to do to prevent this is to melt the butter slowly in the pan/pot you are making the sauce in. Don’t let the butter bubble. Then you add the flour mixing it until you have a consistency of a paste. Let it cook out a few minutes on low heat to get rid of the flour taste.

Most folks would tell you to “scald the milk and add it to the roux”. Well I beg to differ. I find it’s much easier to simply add the milk as is – no heating required. Add slowly. about 1/3 of what you are intending to use at a time. The first time you add the milk you’ll have to whisk pretty vigorously to incorporate it. After that it’s a breeze. The most important thing to remember though is do not let the mixture come to a boil.

I went through all of this. Added the cheese (Guyere) and stirred until the cheese had incorporated itself into the sauce.  It took some doing because I used an entire wedge.  But by the time I was done the Béchamel sauce was nice and thick and oh so cheesy.   I poured the whole concoction over the florets which were now in a buttered baking dish and then topped it off with some panko mixed with melted butter.** (The topping tied the side dish with the main dish of panko crusted porkchops.) Then baked it for roughly 20 minutes until the sauce was bubbly and the topping lightly browned.

I served this with panko crusted porkchops (boneless) and a salad. And yes, it was just like I remembered it. Yummy.

N.B. – After reading this post my mum relayed to me that she actually used milk instead of vinegar to keep the florets white.  This would be a good idea to do if you want to avoid the tartness that vinegar can impart (if you use too much).

*Béchamel, for those that don’t know, is a white sauce that forms the bases for many a sauce in French and Italian cuisine.

** Yeah, uh, this might not be the most healthiest of ways to eat cauliflower with the amount of butter used but oh-ehm-gee is it good.

Before going in the oven

Nathan Fillion’s 7-Layer Bean Dip

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7-layer Bean Dip, Bean Dip, Mexican, The Kitchen Goddess Diary, Vegetables

A couple of weeks ago Nathan Fillion decided that he wanted to share the “Bean Dip of the Gods of song in Dr. Horrible’s COMMENTARY” Fame with the masses by twittering the recipe. Naturally I copied the entire thing down as I am and always will be a Browncoat. Besides I am always looking for new recipes.

I have not made this yet, but it seems that even our beloved Captain Tightpants is health conscious by choosing low-fat options whenever possible.