Peach/blueberry Cobbler

This is a wonderful cobbler--not the usual dry, tasteless cobbler. The cobbler itself is sweet but is offset by the tartness of the fruit which does not have much sugar. You may need to adjust the cooking time to a little longer. The cobbler dough should be somewhat stiff but not dry.

Enjoy with ice cream or cream. It is a marvelous summer time dessert :)

Put in an 11 X 7 pan:

2 1/2 cups fresh peaches-peeled and thinly sliced

2 cups fresh blueberries

In a small saucepan, combine:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 TBL corn starch

Stir until smooth: 3/4 cup water

Cook over medium heat until very thick

Pour over fruit and stir until all fruit is evenly coated.

In a bowl combine:

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix in until smooth:

1/3 cup melted butted (do not substitute margarine—just say NO!)

1/2 cup milk

Drop in spoonfuls over the fruit mixture and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Crushed sugar cubes work very well J

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

Chocolate and Hazelnuts? Everybody wins!

So this weekend was one of the singer's birthdays- and like the rest of us, his time was being devoted to incredibly long work days. Yesterday, his birthday, was particularly nasty with 5 hours of rehearsal for an extra performance of Carmina Burana followed by the opening night of Don Pasquale. So, one of my friends here found this recipe and I proceeded to make the necessary modifications. The original looked like it was en route to being one of those decadence dishes that were built primarily upon butter, chocolate, and sugar- but then the addition of flour and the absence of any kind of leavening agent beyond the eggs made me realize that it would have been closer to a oddly-textured torte. Maybe a brownie at best (which- is still a good situation). However, the occasion called for cake! And a cake happened... at nearly midnight by the time everybody was done with their day. Yay for being a singer!

Ingredients
Hazelnut and Chocolate Cake:

* 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
* 1 cup hazelnuts, skinned and toasted
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup hot water
* 4 eggs
* 1 stick butter, softened/melted
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


To make the Hazelnut and Chocolate Cake:
Directions

Position an oven rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Put 1/2 of the chocolate chips, hazelnuts, and flour in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the hazelnuts are coarsely chopped. Pour the hazelnut mixture into a small bowl and set aside. Combine remaining chocolate chips and sugar in the food processor. Blend until the mixture is finely ground. With the machine running, gradually add the hot water until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Could also just use a double boiler and melt down the chocolate- which is what I did and preferred mixing this all together by hand rather than the whole food processor thing (though maybe if I had my fancy one from home, I would have used it)
Add the eggs, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and baking powder. Pulse until mixture is blended. Return the hazelnut mixture to the food processor and pulse to incorporate. Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured 9-inch pan. Bake for 35 minutes. Place the cake on a cooling rack and cool. (Top may crack during cooling.) Refrigerate for 2 hours. (Cake can be made 1 day in advance and stored in the refrigerator). Allow the pie to return to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

Topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberry slices. Delicious. The only thing missing was some prosecco... but we all need to be in good shape for the opening of Faust and more rehearsals today. WHOA!

Summertime ice cream

Summer time would not be complete without a sinfully rich dish of homemade ice cream. I prefer the custard based recipes as I really appreciate the richness a custard imparts to the ice cream and I also appreciate cooking the eggs :)

This recipe evolved during our summer family reunion in Hayward, WI. I did not like anything I found on the internet, so I created a recipe that does not call for evaporated milk, packed pudding mix, or sweetened condensed milk. This is a real, old fashioned custard ice cream. Enjoy!

Homemade Custard Ice Cream

In a heavy sauce pan whisk together:

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 cups half and half

1 2/3 cup sugar

Stirring constantly, cook over low heat until 190°--the custard stage. Mixture will slightly thicken and thickly coat a cool metal spoon. Be patient as this will take about 15-20 minutes. DO NOT ALLOW TO COME TO A BOIL! The custard will curdle. You can whisk some of the lumps out if it becomes too hot to save the custard.

Add 1 ½ TLB of high quality vanilla—stir in completely

Let the custard cool in the refrigerator—it is best if allowed to cool for 4-8 hours.

When you are ready to make the ice cream, add:

2 cups half and half

2 cups cream (you can add all half and half for a lighter J ice cream)

Whisk together and pour into ice cream maker canister and follow freezing directions.

Finally! An UPDATE!

What better way to return from a break than with a bread recipe?
Well... that is exactly what this is all about. Because nothing makes me feel more at home than making bread while cleaning the house and rocking out to some good LOUD music.

Today's recipe is from a fantastic book that I picked up called Baking in America. It is an interesting collection of American home-cookin' recipes... hit and miss recipes... like most cookbooks ;)

Buttermilk Bread
*This recipe is somewhat of an all-day affair. Though you start it and leave it for a while, just to give a heads up!
Sponge Starter:
2 cups warm buttermilk (about 110 degrees F)
1/2 cup warm water (same temp)
2 1/2 tsp yeast (or one package)
3 cups flour- I used just all-purpose unbleached flour

-in a large bowl, mix together all of these well (best if you add them in the order the ingredients appear)
-cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave set at room temperature for 90mins or up to 2 hours. You could also start this at night and set it in the fridge over-night. Just make sure it is covered... If you choose to keep it cooled in the fridge, allow it to slowly come back to room temperature before completing the process. The mixture will most likely have doubled and will be bubbly.

In a stand mixer, add:
4 cups flour
1 egg
1/2 cup wheat germ (or 1/4 cup sugar)
4 TB melted, but not HOT butter

-mix these into the dough using the dough hook (or mix by hand- might want to only do 3 cups of flour and then add the rest in via kneading) and mix on low for a few minutes
-turn up mixer to medium and "knead" for 5 minutes-ish. or you can knead it by hand on a lightly floured surface

Place the ball of dough into a large, greased bowl and allow to rise for about 90 minutes (or more than doubled in volume)

Separate into two halfs and form into loaf-shape

Place into lightly greased bread pans (larger ones work better, because this dough rises again fairly well... I found this out the hard way) and allow to proof for another hour.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes

Pretty easy- and turned out really well for me. Despite my dough spilling over my fun cast-iron bread pans... Oh well. Now to make some grilled-cheese sandwiches with this bread for dinner! Sigh- nothing better than a clean house that smells like fresh bread.

Chicken Coconut Korma

This is actually Shane's recipe

Chicken Coconut Kurma

Ingredients:

1 lb. (or package) of Chicken cut into bite size pieces and rubbed lightly with salt

3 Tablespoons of Olive oil

1/2 to 1 Onion (whatever you prefer)

2 cloves of crushed Garlic

1 Tablespoon of Curry

1 teaspoon of Garam Marsala (added more later to taste but didn't measure. Probably 2 tea total)

1 can of Coconut milk

One tomato (I didn't use the center portion with the seeds)

1/4 cup or handful of cashews

Add oil and heat on until smoky. Add salted Chicken to the pan set at Med/High. Remove chicken from the pan.

Cook Onions. Add Garlic and Spices and simmer for 11 minutes. Add Coconut Milk. Return the Chicken to the pan. Add Tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally

Bake Cashews for 5 minutes at 350 degrees.

Transfer Kurma to a plate and add cashews on top.

Make rice to put the Kurma on top of. I used Basmati rice and flavored it with some spices.

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

This morning, in celebration of not having anything to do (well, if you don't count the three papers due before December 1), I woke up and felt that something special needed to happen for breakfast. It was cold in the apartment because it actually got cold last night outside. So this something would need to fill me up with delicious goodness and the apartment with residual heat.
My mom loaned me one of my favorite cook books of hers: Muffins and More. The banana muffin recipes that I posted are from this book- and honestly, I have yet to go wrong with any of the recipes. Here is what I made this morning:

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake
*the original recipe is for muffins, but I didn't feel like cleaning up muffin tins afterwards

MUFFINS:
1 1/2 cups - all-purpose flour
1/2 cup - white sugar
3 tsp - Baking POWDER
1/2 tsp - Salt

*Mix together and make a "well" in a medium-sized bowl

1 - Egg
1/4 cup - Milk
1/4 cup - cooking oil
1 apple - peeled, cut into small pieces or shredded

*Mix together and add to the flour mixture

Grease a 9x9 pan (or 12 muffin tins) and set oven at 400F
*Scoop batter into pan, or fill muffin tins 3/4 full

TOPPING:
1/2 cup - Packed BROWN sugar
1/4 cup - flour
1/4 cup - butter at room temperature

*Using a fork, pastry mixer, or hands, mix all together until crumbly.
*Sprinkle on top of coffee cake/muffin batter

*Bake for 20-25 min or until slightly browned on top

I'm not going to lie: when first mixing this up, it did not seem like enough liquid. The batter initially felt really dry. However, the apples release a fair amount of liquid once they start baking, so just trust the proportions. Because the batter was so thick, I think it is easier to make a coffee cake out of the batter, but that is just my opinion!

Wheat Bread

This is the whole wheat bread recipe I have used for years. I very carefully paid attention to what I do and how much of everything I use, so I hope this works. Let me know how successful or unsuccessful the adventure unfolds for you. Scott's first attempt was not as he wished. I hope I have cleaned up the problems with recipe.

Here it is:

Mix together and let proof:

2 cups warm milk or water

2 TBL sugar

1 TBL yeast

Add:

4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup dried milk if using water

1/3 cup honey

Mix well until dough becomes sticky and develops some gloss.

Let set 20 minutes (or longer if you become busy--it really doesn't mind. Bread was invited by God to accommodate the unpredictable needs of small children--or large children)

Mix in:

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil

1 TBL salt

2 - 2 1/2 cups white flour—dough should be slightly sticky

Turn out onto a well floured counter—let set 10 minutes

Knead until smooth – working in no more that 1/4 cup flour

Let rise until double – 45 minutes and form into 2 loaves or

2 doz large rolls

Let rise and bake at 370°F

Variation:

I have started adding about 1 1/2 cup cooked 10 grain cereal—it adds a

wonderfully nutty flavor. The dough will require about 1/2 cup additional flour

and will be a little more difficult to knead as it will be stickier. Do not add too much flour, or the bread will be really heavy.