July's Daring Baking Challenge + I'm Back!

So I’m WAY late for this Daring Bakers Challenge but I have all sorts of good excuses. I was planning on making these towards the end of July and had all of the supplies ready. And then I got the killer flu from hell.

I haven’t had the flu in years and this one hit me like a ton of bricks. I almost said a ton of steel bricks but those don’t exist, do they? I obviously have suffered from permanent brain damage from my fever. I was basically incapacitated for a week, slumped in one of Joe’s armchairs, possibly drooling a tad. I spent most of my time watching awful television because shows like Bridezillas require no brain activity and with my 102 degree fever, I couldn’t spare any strength. I know y’all are just waiting for your own excuse to watch such glorious monstrosities without judgment.

I finished the challenge when I was done dying but by that time I was already late to post. Then I had to move back to school. Then I had to move in to a new apartment that didn’t have internet yet. I almost died of withdrawal but my sanity was saved by my iPhone.
So at this point are you like, “JESUS WOMAN, JUST TELL US WHAT YOU MADE”? Because I’m sort of sick of myself at this point. So here’s the blurb-o-the-month:The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

We had the option of making milanos, the marshmallow cookies or both. I had originally planned on making both but since I ran out of time, I decided on the milanos only. I’ve made marshmallows before so I didn’t feel a burning urge to make them again.



Recipe:

Milan Cookies

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

INGREDIENTS:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

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These were easier to make than I had thought: I was mostly worried about the cookie dough. To shape the cookies, you have to pipe the dough (batter?) onto the cookie sheet. I don’t have much piping experience and my piping set was back at school. Snipping the tip off a ziplock bag ended up working just fine though.



I liked these alright, they looked a lot like milanos and tasted good to boot. The only issue I had with them is that the texture of the cookies was different from the Pepperidge Farm milanos, which have two crunchy cookies sandwiched between a dark chocolate ganache filling. This recipe yielded much softer cookies, more like a crisper madeleine. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but not exactly Milano-like. My teenage brother ate most of them, which is always a plus.
So now I’m back in Cleveland, braving the ungodly heat wave and thunderstorms. School started and when I stop dying of heat stroke I’ll start baking again.

Brian has graduated and moved on from living with Joe and I but we’ll still see him around. We spent the past weekend with Brian and his childhood friend, Sam, at Sam’s cottage. I met Sam’s pugs for the first time, one of which is the saddest example of a dog I’ve ever seen. The thing must be approximately 200 years old in dog years because she can barely walk from arthritis, can barely see from cataracts and can barely breath from… being an ancient pug. The poor thing sounds like a broken lawnmower, she is constantly like GRUNTGRUNTGRUNT-WHEEZE-GRUNTYGRUNTGRUNT-WHEEEEEEZE. I eventually decided that she was trying to navigate through echolocation.

The cottage is on Lake Eerie, which apparently is a giant tourist destination because there is a giant touristy boardwalk full of weird stores, arcades and bars. At one arcade I won a stuffed triceratops. And by ‘won’ I mean the stoned teenager at the prize desk thought I was cute and gave me a 600-ticket prize for my 12 tickets. Being cute has its advantages, like collecting all the sweatshop made stuffed animals your heart could ever desire.

At one creepy store they sold a variety of things ranging from leather goods, plastic mythical creatures to illegal weapons. Which of course means that Brian bought a switchblade he promptly christened Knifey. I spent most of the rest of the weekend pleading with Brian not to play with Knifey, which of course didn’t stop him from dueling a rose bush late at night on Saturday after a few beers.

Sunday we all headed to a local medieval fair, which was fun in an awkward sort of way. Some of the people working at the medieval fair are genuinely SO INTO the experience that it makes us semi-sane vaguely uncomfortable. Also, it seems that many people are convinced that in medieval times, fairies and dragons lived aside people and ate such delicacies as deep-fried pickles and cheesecake on sticks. It was fun though, except for the part where it was nine million degrees outside.

Another fun challenge, milanos are something I probably wouldn’t have thought to make these cookies on my own. This month’s challenge will be even more difficult so check back to see how I fare!

Blueberry muffins of mehness

So I HAVE been baking this summer, I swear. However, all my photos are on my new laptop, which I can’t hook up to my family’s internet for some reason. Thus, the pictures have been trapped inside my laptop for some time now, sad and crying baked goods tears.

That’s the reason why I made these muffins in the beginning of time (read: last month) and am just getting around to posting about them now. I was hankering to make something and, like many Alaskans, my mom almost always has frozen Alaskan blueberries on hand. Wild Alaskan blueberries are almost nothing like those giant on-steroids blueberries normal people buy in grocery stores. Alaskan blueberries are much smaller and actually taste like something.

I could be lying right now, how would you know? You’ll just have to come to Alaska and see for yourself.



Anyways, my mom goes out late in summer to pick blueberries with our ferocious dog, Truman. He’s not really ferocious but he is an Australian Shephard, a herding dog. And a lack of a flock of sheep has just about pushed him to the brink of insanity, I think. He regards our family as his sheep and because of this Joe can’t be within three feet of me without Truman frantically nipping at his heels in an attempt to herd Joe away from his precious sheep. And you must remember that Truman has known Joe for FIVE YEARS and this behavior is actually quite tame for a psycho herding beast. I feel totally safe walking Truman because I know if a stranger so much as looked at me wrong, Truman would lovingly tear off their face.

Where was I? Blueberries. We had a bunch of ‘em. I had heard good things about the Barefoot Contessa recipe for blueberry muffins. One girl told me that they were more like cupcakes than muffins and that’s all I needed to hear because all I heard was CUPCAKES.

Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins by Barefoot Contessa

INGREDIENTS:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 ounces (about 1 cup) sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 half-pints fresh blueberries, picked through for stems

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 16 paper liners in muffin pans.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla, sour cream, and milk. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed add the flour mixture to the batter and beat until just mixed. Fold in the blueberries with a spatula and be sure the batter is completely mixed.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pans, filling each cup just over the top, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned on top and a cake tester comes out clean.
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These were good but not phenomenal, I thought. This could be totally my fault since I subbed plain yogurt for sour cream but with the 900 tablespoons of butter, it’s not like these were exactly lacking fat. I would probably add more blueberries next time (remember, Alaskan blueberries are smaller) and maybe a bit of orange zest or something. They would also be improved with a streusel topping. Then again, just about everything is improved with a streusel topping. Muffins? Better! Cake? Better! Vegetables? Better!

What?

Oh, and ferocious Pup? He's very handsome. Exhibit A:


Ferocious pup is also not a pup, he's now around eleven. He hasn't slowed down at all and may actually be more convinced that he shall one day kill the evil man who brings our mail. My mom recently discovered that he likes to eat fish oil pills so I've been feeding them to him every day and then telling my mom he will never die and his brain will remain sharp until the sun implodes. And then my mom cries a little.

Alright. Next up are some goodies I made while visiting my dad, who lives in a more secluded part of Alaska so there was even more time to bake goodies. I reeeeeeeeally liked a few of the things I made so stay tuned.

June's Daring Baker Challenge: Cake Tart?

Blurb-o'-the-month: The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

So a bakewell tart is basically frangipane in a crust. Frangipane, at least in this version, is like a very light, delicate almond cake. I've seen more jelloid, custurd frangipane fillings but mine didn't turn out that way. Fruity jam is added to the mix and the challenge's hosts say the bakewell tart lets you show off 'your area's seasonal fruit'. Except I'm in Alaska at the moment and Alaska's 'seasonal fruit' in June is grown in Mexico. Since I didn't want to use $10 strawberries or a jar of fruit cocktail (those raised in Alaska knows this totally counts as a fruit serving in order to avoid scurvy) I just used jam.


I was pretty excited about this month’s Daring Bakers challenge because it featured ALMONDS. I’m not a big fan of plain almonds but pretty much any almond flavored dessert makes my heart flutter. And this month’s challenge was to make a frangipane based tart, that almond cake-like substance. Why we were essentially putting cake in a tart shell was beyond me but I wasn’t complaining.

Since I no longer have a Brian to eat all of my baked goods in one drunken sitting, I decided to take the tart to my aunt’s birthday party, were I was confident they would be eaten up quickly by tipsy lawyers. I was originally going to make one large tart but decided that it would be cute and festive to make mini tarts.


I found mini tart pans at Bed Bath and Beyond (which I always want to call Bath and Body Works, even though beauty product stores generally don’t also stock kitchen supplies) for super cheap and they worked like a charm. Instead of rolling out one giant crust, I rolled (or rather, I had my boyfriend slave roll out) out the dough and then used a drinking glass to cut out smaller pastry circles that ended up fitting the mini pans just about perfectly. Then I spooned in the required fillings and popped them in the oven.

I guess I should post the recipe now, eh? Here it is:

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

INGREDIENTS:

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

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These were adorable and a hit at the party but I thought they could be better. Surprisingly, I didn’t think the frangipane filling was almond-y enough and the crust and frangipane I found kind of bland. I ended up adding more almond extract and sugar to the frangipane after tasting the first batch which helped a bit but it still needed a flavor boost. I also wasn’t a fan of the whole cake filled tart thing. Give me a tart or a cake but don’t freak me out by trying to combine the two. I saw one Daring Baker that experimented with using almond paste to make a gooier almond layer and I think I would’ve liked that a lot better.

Anyways, I never got around to taking a picture of the tarts split open, oops. But some had jam on the bottom, like the recipe called for. But then I got bored and it was late at night so I also did some without jam: some sprinkled with powdered sugar, some topped with almonds, some dipped in chocolate and some with jam on top. Then I put them on a big ol' platter with some chocolate covered strawberries because I am a domestic goddess.


Oh, check out this cute little tuxedo strawberry I made. My chocolate was getting wonky because I was using chocolate chips and not dipping chocolate but I still find it rather adorable. I was feeling rather proud and jolly, though perhaps that was just the vodka punch I was drinking?

Squirrel* cookies! *No squirrels were hurt in the production of these cookies. Sorry to disapoint you.

For my sister's birthday, just about my entire family bought my sister cooking and baking related supplies. Like me, my sister loves to bake and even runs a little cupcake business on the side. Among other things, my mom got Mia a cupcake cookbook, my dad got her a food processor and I got her some various cupcake liners, sprinkles, flavoring and cookie cutters from Bake it Pretty. I stumbled upon Bake it Pretty a couple days before Mia's birthday and just about hyperventilated because I wanted everything on the site. I knew Mia would too (love it, not hyperventilate) so I picked out a bunch of stuff for her.

Speaking of Mia's birthday, I totally screwed up this year and thought her birthday was two days earlier than it actually was. I blame part of this on the fact that Joe and I drove to DC that day so I had just spent all my brain cells on watching the road and feeding Joe fruit for eight hours. We got into DC late and right before we went to bed I was like, "SHIT TODAY WAS MIA'S BIRTHDAY, RIGHT?" and I called Mia and left a cheery message on her voicemail wishing her happy birthday.

It was not her birthday. But at least I was two days EARLY, right? At least that's what I tell myself.

Anyways, my mom wanted Mia and I to use some of her birthday goodies to bake together and blog about. I said sure before seeing Mia's kitchen, which is about the size of a large cardboard box. One person can barely fit in it, let alone two. So when I say 'we made these' I mean we took turns being in the kitchen.

Cupcakes are cute but Mia and I wanted to make something that I could home to mom and cupcakes do not travel well. Cookies travel well though and would give us a chance to use the cute cookie cutters I got Mia, which included a squirrel and a cupcake. We decided to make shortbread cookie sandwiches filled with fig jam, since my mom loves fig jam and I like the shortbread recipe from the cookie book.

Here's the squirrel. Isn't he cute? Apparently I didn't take any pictures of the cupcake cookies because I took these pictures literally on my way out of Mia's apartment on the way to the airport. Joe and I had called a cab for three o'clock and when he didn't show at three, Joe called him to ask where our cab was. The basic answer was the hell if he knew, there were no cabs in the area. So we were like GREAT, THANKS and walked to subway instead. With 50 lb bags. I cried a little and nearly stabbed Joe's eyes out because he was nearest to me. Then I took some xanax and things were a lot better.

And thus concludes things I baked and took pictures of in California.

These were good, I think? I can't really remember but considering I like that shortbread recipe and the fig jam, I think it's safe to say these were good. Recipe previously shown here.

I've made a few things in Alaska (including this month's Daring Baker challenge, in which I became a BAKING GODDESS OF AWESOMENESS) but you'll just have to wait for those.

Almost vegan strawberry bread pudding

Hello from pretty but overcast Alaska! California was fabulous and I ate approximately 9 tons of fresh organic fruit and vegetables, including one apricot that was home to a worm.

While Joe and I took over my sister's teeny tiny apartment, Joe made six loaves of bread, most of which went stale because A) um, we had six loaves of bread and B) most were sitting out on the counter and C) did I mention there were six loaves? So I decided to spend one morning relaxing and baking bread pudding with one of the loaves of bread, which was now so stale it could serve as a weapon. As a bonus, I had the apartment to myself so I decided to bake without pants. I hate pants. My sister Mia mentioned that one of her favorites stories about me was when I came home from school one day and promptly changed into a robe so I could lounge around without pants. My dad observed me sprawled out on the couch in my robe and told me to put on some clothes, to which I said with extreme exasperation, "But dad, I've been wearing pants ALL DAY."

I baked a fair amount in my robe last year but because I didn't want to scar Brian for life, I couldn't wander around without pants. So my morning of baking pantless was a real treat. This is also why I don't have friends.



I decided to try to make a vegan bread pudding because I was planning on taking it to Mia's birthday dinner, hosted by her vegan friend Miriam. I also wanted to incorporate fruit into the bread pudding because Joe and I bought an excessive amount of fruit at a farmer's market. To keep it vegan, I subbed rice milk for milk and left out the eggs. Of course, I realized Mia only had salted margarine when I was almost done with the bread pudding. So I ended up using butter instead because did I mention I wasn't wearing any pants and was determined to keep it that way? Going to the store was out the question, clearly. So the bread pudding ended up not being vegan after all because I suck.

Here's the recipe I modified:

Jam and Bread Pudding, courtesy of Bobby Flay/Food Network

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 loaf brioche, sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons strawberry preserves
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• Fresh strawberries, for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish. Arrange half of the brioche along the bottom of the dish, and cut or tear the slices to fit. Spread 3/4 cup of the jam on top and cover with the remaining bread.

Whisk the eggs, sugar, 2 1/2 cups of the milk, and the vanilla together; pour over the bread. Press to soak and brush the top with 4 tablespoons of the melted butter. Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for 15 minutes longer or until the pudding is set. Remove from the oven.

Preheat the broiler. In a bowl, whisk the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk with the confectioners' sugar. Stir in the remaining melted butter and jam until the mixture is smooth. Spread the mixture over the top of the pudding, place under the broiler, and broil until the glaze is golden. Serve hot or warm, garnished with fresh strawberries.

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Though I didn't completly veganize this, it worked fine without eggs and with rice milk instead of regular and it would be very yummy vegan. I also used one loaf of french bread, raspberry jam instead of strawberry and I added about a cup of sliced strawberries on top of the jam layer. I didn't do the glaze either. The recipe is pretty adaptable.



But it was really quite good. I think it would've been better if it was all the vegan or all the way 'regular' because it was kind of in a weird inbetween stage. It was all quickly eaten at Mia's birthday party though. I preferred this to a lot of other bread puddings I've tried, maybe because I've had so much of the whole cinnamon raisen bread pudding and this was a nice switch up. A lot of bread puddings also do a whiskey or rum sauce, which, since I dislike alcohol, I am totally not into. This would be great for breakfast.

Check back, I'm still one post behind on California goodies and I'm beginning to make Alaska treats as well.

May Daring Baker's Challenge: Apple Strudel

Greetings from California, where I am staying with my sister and her amazing bug hunting kitty. This entry is brought to you by sunshine and good produce, which are handy little things not found in Ohio. Next Monday I will be back in Alaska and I can write and bake more regularly. Until then: Daring Bakers!

This month's challenge for the Daring Bakers was something I probably would never make on my own: apple strudel. When I visited Joe in Austria last summer, we went to a bakery where we saw a young German woman flip out a six-foot-long paper thin sheet of strudel in about 90 seconds while looking slightly bored. It was amazing and something that did not look capable of mortals. Young Austrian bakers are not mortals, clearly. How else could their hair be so naturally blonde?

So when I first saw this challenge, I immediately thought TIME and LACK OF COUNTER SPACE. Each challenge is announced at the end of the previous month, and at this time last month I was finishing finals and we were beginning to move out of apartment. In the midst of moving and cramming for finals, I had neither time or counter space. Not like we even HAD counter space to begin with-- what college student does?

But I decided to do it anyway as best as I could and it worked better than I imagined. We were allowed to make any strudel filling we wanted but since I already had no idea what I was doing with the dough, I just did an apple strudel. I had Joe help me to stretch and roll the dough to Austrian approved thinness and efficiency and I'm really glad I had help, this would be a lot harder without a partner. With it though, it wasn't too bad.


Would I make this again? No, probably not. It was easier than I thought but was still way more trouble than it's worth, I think. Then again, I don't really like crust and strudel is all about that flaky, crusty strudel thing, eh? I did LOVE the apple filling I made up but that does not require strudel. Also, peeling and cutting 900 lbs of apples gets tiring quickly. Unless I wanted to charm my German ancestors, I wouldn't make this again. But your great aunt Nannerl would be duly impressed.

I think the best part of this challenge was that I got to abuse my sub-par, high school level German all day. "Ja, ich habe eine apfelstrudel?!? Meine apfelstrudel ist lecker, nein?!? Erm... super! Fantastisch? JA!!" Luckily, most Germans speak English better than I do and I had no problem getting across what I wanted in Germany and Austria. Bless Europeans.

So let's make some apple strudel, nein?

Blurb-o-the-month: The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

First I made the dough. Do not be afraid, prettys. Just grab a partner and when in doubt, leave the dough to rest if it's not doing what you want it to do. Here's the strudel recipe:

Apple strudel

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

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Here is your efficient, paper thin strudel dough with a creepy hand lurking underneath. Fantastisch!

All right, while it was resting I made the filling. Use whatever filling you want, really, sweet or savory. I kind of came up with my own thing, subbing matzo meal for bread crumbs and cooking the apples before baking. Here's the filling recipe we were given:

Apple Strudel Filling

from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

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Here is my naked, unbaked strudel. I think I rolled this a bit too tight, my filling exploded a little bit. But you cut it up anyways so that will be our little secret, ja? THE GERMANS MUST NEVER KNOW.

And here is the finished product, all crisp-like and hot. And cleverly photographed as to not show the shameful burst bits. I think I could've let it bake a little longer, even though I left it in longer than it said to. It could be a bit more golden brown, I think.

In spite of everything, it was tasty and I enjoyed this challenge. I mostly picked at the filling throughout the days but at this point we didn't have much food left in our dwindling kitchen and I think there were a few days in which Brian survived solely on strudel. There are worse things for a poor college student to eat.

Ich bin ein Auslander und spreche nicht gut deutsch. Bitte langsam, bitte langsam, bitte spreche sie doch langsam. What? Fun challenge, can't wait until next month when I actually have a kitchen again!

Is it caramel? Is it toffee? It is... delicious.

First off, Happy Mother's Day this Sunday! Cheers to my mommy and grandmamas. My mom was bugging me for a blog update so this can be part one of her present. The rest will arrive later.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently. My finals were last week so I was either studying, feeling bad about not studying or trying to not have a panic attack prior to the finals. Which doesn't allow much time for baking. Not many more updates the rest of this month either: after today I'll be traveling, moving and will be on vacay until June! I already did the Daring Bakers challenge which I'll post on the 27th so check back for that.

Joe and I are taking a mini trip to Washington, D.C this week. I've never been and Joe has a family friend there and hence: mini trip. We decided to bring hostess gifts to Joe's friends so Joe made bread and I was assigned to make something sweet. My options were kind of limited, we've packed most of my baking supplies except for cookie sheets. Cookies seemed kind of boring though so I pulled out The Sweet Life for unique ideas.

The Sweet Life has tons of unique (and delicious) dessert recipes, including a few candy recipes that I had yet to try. After narrowing down the list of things that can be made in a baking sheet, Joe convinced me to try the almond honey caramel chews. Despite the fact that we had neither honey or almonds. But dreams cannot be deterred! As long as you have $15 to spend on the extra supplies.


These were fairly easy to make, especially if you've made caramels before. These were a little different than anything I've made though because you make the caramel in pot over the oven (traditional), pour it into a pan (yawn) and then BAKE it. Odd. It worked though. Well, I'm not sure what worked because I'm not sure what putting them in the oven accomplishes. But um, they turned out.

These were good but need tweaking, I think. If I were to make them again, I would cook the caramel a little longer but I like a chewier caramel. I would also add more salt (maybe even on top, a la sea salt caramels), add vanilla and not add the two full sticks of butter. My candies came out greasy so I would definitley scale back on the butter, maybe even only one. Yes, ONLY ONE STICK and several cups of heavy cream. Practically diet food.

This would make a great holiday gift though because it's fairly simple, yummy and makes a TON. You could switch up the nuts too, I would do with pecans because I luuuuurve pecans. Pecans are really the only nut I like, actually. Other nuts I find kind of 'meh' with peanuts (though this technically not a nut, eh? Why not call it the 'pealegume' if its actually a legume, scientists?) and brazil nuts at the bottom of the list. Brazil nuts are just wrong, they are what I imagine bits of hardwood floor taste like. The most disturbing part is that despite that they taste like stale wood chips, I occasionally still crave them. Welcome to my brain. It is a strange place.

For the first time, I actually found the recipe online so I don't feel bad about posting it and you can all enjoy the deliciousness that is The Sweet Life. Check out the recipe here.

I will leave you with this Brian quote before I leave to tide you over.
BJ: Food-- the number one import into Brian's mouth.
Me: .... what's the number two import?
BJ: You don't want to know. *long awkward silence* Dirt. The number two import to Brian's mouth is dirt.

I crave wood chips, Brian apparently eats dirt... we're a household of people suffering from pica.