mini vanilla bean scones

Posted on 12 April, 2013 by natalie

So, you may have noticed (or may not have noticed, if you’re still searching for a new rss reader) that there was no Thursday Things yesterday. I do apologize, I got back from vacation last week, but apparently not back from my “blog vacation” which lasted an entire week longer than the rest of my vacation. You see, there’s this funny thing about going on vacation where I somehow come home to 234923842943 more things to do than there were before I left?

I am still doing laundry from vacation. I thought I washed everything before we left but there is always more to do. So much more… It. Never. Stops.

Ever.

In fact, I’m beginning to think that there’s a portal in the back of our washing machine that just throws the clothes back into the hamper. Or Sophie is pulling them off of the hanger and just throwing them back into the hamper while I sleep.

I’m not sure, but there is clearly some sort of mischief going on here. After four days of doing laundry and cleaning I finally gave up and decided just to try again this weekend.

I had to clear my head, think about other things… like how we can get back to vacation land. Or, since that’s not really the most attainable option, I decided to dream about my future career in a little bakery in a sea-side town like La Jolla, about having little elves to do all my cleaning and laundry, and about butter.

Lots and lots of butter.

Whenever you are feeling down, the cure is butter. When you’re sad? Butter.

Like 9 times out of 10 the answer is butter.

Except when you step on the scale after your week-long vacation of over-indulgence… Nope, even then, when you realize that you have to return to real life and then you fall into a post-vacation depression, the answer is still butter.

I’ll just disguise this butter as breakfast, and put this glaze on top. I won’t even know it’s there.

Yes, that should do just fine.

Plus, think of all the calories you will burn just working the dough, right? Surely, that counts for something.

And we will make them “mini” because then they aren’t nearly as bad for you. Mini makes it more cute and less bad for you. Yup, sounds great. A delightful breakfast, snack, or dessert for any day.

You know it’s a good sign when your breakfast can moonlight as dessert.

Oh, and we’ll talk more about the vacation later… Thursday, perhaps? ;)

Mini Vanilla Bean Scones

Makes: 12 mini scones, or 24 super mini (1-bite) scones

Printable Recipe

For the scones:

3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups Sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 sticks (1/2 Pound) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1 large egg
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste*

For the glaze

5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste*
pinch (like 1/8 teaspoon) salt

Make the scones:

Preheat oven to 350˚F degrees. Stir 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste into 3/4 cup heavy cream and set aside.

In your food processor, pulse flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Once mixed, add cubed cold butter and pulse with flour mixture until the mixture resembles crumbs.*

*If you prefer to do this by hand, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together, then cut in the cubed butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until it resembles crumbs.

Mix vanilla cream with egg, then combine with flour mixture; stir (or pulse, if using processor) gently just until it comes together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and gently pat it into the shape of a rectangle. (Mixture will be pretty crumbly.) Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick.

Use a knife to tidy the edges to make a pretty rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 equal-sized rectangles. Next, cut each rectangle in half diagonally, to form two triangles.

Carefully transfer triangles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 18 minutes, removing from the oven just before they start to turn golden. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze:

Combine 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste with 1/2 cup milk, set aside for about 5 mintues.

In a medium bowl, put 3 cups of powdered sugar and whisk in the milk until thoroughly combined. Taste and add more powdered sugar to taste. If the mixture thickens up too much on you, add milk as necessary 1 tablespoon at a time.

Carefully dip each cooled scone in the glaze, and place on a wire rack over a foil-lined baking sheet (to catch the drippies). Alternatively you could drizzle the glaze in a pretty design, whatever you prefer.

Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days in an airtight container at room temperature, if glazed.

You can make them ahead by freezing the cooled (unglazed) scones, defrost at room temperature for several hours (depending on ambient temperature) and glaze once defrosted.

[ Adapted from The Pioneer Woman ]

Sunday Brunch: Bouchon Bakery’s Blueberry Muffins

Posted on 24 February, 2013 by natalie

These muffins will change your life. They are so light and moist that you will forget all about those dense, dry, or gummy things from the bakery case at the grocery store. These particular muffins have juicy berries, a hint of lemon, and crunchy almond streusel. It’s everything you could possibly ask for in a muffin (and maybe even a little more).

The magic takes place overnight. Now I know muffins are usually in the family of instant gratification, but Thomas Keller insists that the overnight rest to allows the flour to fully hydrate and gives the flavors time to marry.

Is it really worth it? All that t extra time between mixing and eating just so it can hang out in the fridge?

In a word: Yep.

I was positive I overbaked these muffins. Positive. I spent all this extra time waiting for them to cook to a perfect golden-brown, so by the time they reached that color, I did my toothpick test and it came out dry as a bone. Now, with the the toothpick test I usually looks for a few crumbs to show there is still some moisture in there, so of course I was devastated. After the overnight rest, I was going to have to start all over again. I took a bite anyway, just to see how they were.

They were perfect. They had a perfect tender crumb and bright, blueberry flavor, with just a subtle almondy sweetness from the streusel. If I were to do it over again, I would probably add some brown sugar to the streusel to make it more streusely (totally a word).

I adapted this muffin recipe from Shannon at A Periodic Table, who makes it a little more user-friendly for the average home cook, who may not want to measure 72 grams of eggs. Since I was using her recipe, I didn’t even realize that I was leaving out the molasses called for in the book (which may lend a darker hue to these pale muffins) but, to be honest, I didn’t miss it one bit, and her addition of lemon helps to brighten up the flavor of these beautiful muffins.

You can find the original recipe on page 76 of the Bouchon Bakery Cookbok, and if you don’t have molasses in your pantry, don’t fret, your muffins will survive just fine without it. I added the almond streusel from the book, but it really wasn’t necessary, the muffins would’ve been just as delicious without it.

Bouchon Bakery’s Blueberry Muffins

Yields 1 dozen muffins

Printable Recipe

For batter:

¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup + 1 ½ Tablespoons cake flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
7 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons unsulfured blackstrap molasses* (I left this out)
3 Tablespoons clover honey
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup buttermilk + 2 Tablespoons (reserved for post-batter rest)

For berries:

Scant 1 cup of frozen berries
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

For streusel:

¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup almond flour
½ cup granulated sugar* (Optional: use ¼ cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup brown sugar, or replace all of the granulated sugar with brown sugar)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter

Toss berries with 1 Tablespoon of flour and return to the freezer.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt; set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until pale. Scrape down the sides and add the sugar, continue beating until light and fluffy; about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl (again) and add the lemon juice, zest, and honey (molasses too, if using) and continue beating to incorporate. Scrape down the bowl, and add the eggs and vanilla, mix on low speed until combined; about 30 seconds.
Add the flour mixture and buttermilk in 2 additions (flour-buttermilk-flour-buttermilk) mixing on low just until incorporated. Be extremely careful not to over-mix the batter. Scrape down the bottoms and sides of the bowl one last time, and then either transfer to a new bowl or leave in that one, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 36 hours.
While that is doing its thing, you might as well make the streusel. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and stir into the dry ingredients with a fork until completely mixed. Cover and refrigerate until show time.
When ready to make the muffins, take the batter out of the fridge and set on the counter to come to take the chill off. Preheat the oven to 425˚F and line a muffin tin with paper cups.
Once the oven is preheated, add the reserved 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to your batter and gently fold into the batter to loosen it. The batter will be very thick (and conveniently scoopable). Sprinkle the berries over the top of your batter and gently fold into batter, using as few strokes as possible.
Scoop batter into muffin cups, and sprinkle with up to 3 tablespoons of streusel, lightly pressing the streusel into the muffin batter.
Place the pan in the oven and lower the temperature to 325˚F. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
These muffins are best served fresh, but can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days, or individually wrapped and frozen once cooled. Set out overnight to thaw or reheat, wrapped in foil, in a 325˚F oven for 20-30 minutes until heated through.

Adapted from A Periodic Table & The Bouchon Bakery Cookbok

Sunday Brunch: Cinnamon Sugar Popovers

Posted on 17 February, 2013 by wee eats

There are a lot of “tricks” that are mentioned whenever making popovers. So many, in fact, that it makes you wonder how anyone makes a popover at all. Half of them are even contradictory to each other, which is why it took me so long to finally get around to making them. You always see the pictures of sad, deflated popovers (Even Food & Wine’s “foolproof” recipe features a picture of sunken popovers) and everyone’s got a “secret” to achieve the perfect popover. I will tell you the only important piece of advice, the only advice that I followed: DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.

I made the batter, put them in the oven, DID NOT TOUCH THE DOOR and they bake (and poofed) perfectly.

My one request: Please make this in a popover pan. I hate buying single-purpose items for the kitchen, but you will not achieve nearly the same lift with a muffin pan as you will with a popover pan. I’m sorry, it’s just not happening. So, use a muffin pan if you must, but just know that you are absolutely, without a doubt, robbing yourself of the true popover experience.

These cinnamon-sugar popovers are light, airy, and perfectly sweet. As I was biting into it, I was thinking about how much the flavor resembled one of my other brunch favorites, the german pancake. Now I feel like I should cover my next german pancake in cinnamon sugar. Yeah, that’s totally happening.

Sorry, back to the popovers. They taste like a donut without the heaviness… and without all the guilt associated with eating a donut. I ate like 3 or 4 of these before I felt as guilty as I feel about eating just one donut! (Nutritional value totally unrelated to the guilt, this could be a bad thing, but they’re not deep-fried so I’m going to say I’m winning this one).

These, like all popovers, are best served fresh from the oven, but the BF was definitely snacking on the last of them cold as an after-lunch snack. So they’re definitely still edible, but there’s no way that they are as delicious.

If you find yourself crunched for time, you can make the batter the night before, store it in the fridge, and bake them off the next morning (just make sure you take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature before baking). The batter comes together so quickly, though, that I don’t see why you would possibly need to make it in advance.

Cinnamon-Sugar Popovers

Makes 12 large or 24 mini popovers

Printable Recipe

For the popovers:

2 cups milk, warmed
4 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
½ Tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the sugar dusting:

½ cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Place the greased popover pan on a baking sheet and place in the oven while it preheats to 350ºF.

2. Once the oven is preheated, warm the milk in the microwave about 1 minute, just until warm to the touch. Set aside. Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in another bowl.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until pale yellow. Once frothy, slowly whisk in the milk. Make sure the milk is warm, not hot, or the eggs will curdle.

4. Add the flour and whisk to combine. Add the vanilla extract and continue whisking until smooth.

5. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and fill each tin ½ to ¾ full with batter and quickly return the pan to the oven. Once the oven door closes, lock it with your imaginary oven door lock.

6. Bake 50 minutes for full-size popovers, or about 35 to 40 minutes for mini popovers (I started peeking through the window around 30 minutes, if you don’t have a window, don’t even think about opening that door until 35 minutes in). Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool about 5 to 10 minutes, until you can comfortably handle them. Note: If you are using a muffin tin or mini muffin tin, your baking time may be less (see below).

7. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl. When you can handle them, dip the popovers in the melted butter and then toss with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

* You can grease your tins with butter (which I used), but there is folklore surrounding the need to use vegetable shortening, and equally as much about using vegetable oil, or even PAM. I put about a teaspoon-sized cube of butter into each mini tube before putting it into the oven. The pool of butter did give them little “pigtails” at the end, I wish I’d taken a picture. They were super cute.

* I’m lazy and too much whisking makes me tired, so I used an immersion blender, and added the ingredients in the order listed.

* I’ve read that regular-size muffin tin popovers will bake in about 35 minutes or 18 – 23 minutes for mini-muffin tin popovers., but I’m not sure since I’ve not made them.

Sunday Brunch: German Pancake

Posted on 3 February, 2013 by wee eats

What’s better than a nice puffy pancake on a cold Sunday morning?

Nothing. That’s what.

I don’t remember exactly how the dutch pancake was introduced to our family, but I remember that I was young, and it involved a lot of melted butter, powdered sugar, and a 9×13 cake pan full of delicious.The huge, browned air bubbles were the best part. The family would grab at it from around the table and despite the huge breakfast dish served before us (did I mention mom made it in a 9-BY-13 pan!?), there was never once a single bit left over.

Not even a bite.

Back then mom called it a “German” pancake, but since then I’ve also heard it called a “dutch baby” or “dutch pancake” as well. I’m not sure which is correct. I suppose you can call it whatever you like, after all, “A rose by any other name…” right?

Something like that.

I’ve made mine a bit fancier than mom’s by cooking and serving it in a pretty skillet and sprinkling it with fresh berries. I’d love to say that it’s my favorite skillet because it cooks the best, or has some sort of magical powers of deliciousness, but really it’s just because it’s purple (what more reason do I need?)

Oh, and I give it a nice, healthy drizzle of my favorite top-secret 2-minute-berry-syrup… which will no longer be a secret by the end of this post (Lucky you).

I usually give it a dusting of powdered sugar too, but I had already made enough of a mess that morning and I didn’t want to tempt fate by carting out the powdered sugar.

Yes, that is my entire container of sugar that exploded onto the floor, in hopes of attracting every bug within a 10-mile radius. Yes, I was annoyed. Usually this would be the part where I would decide it “wasn’t meant to be” and call it a day.

But I didn’t. I trudged on.

Only to be defeated yet again when I put the pancake in the oven and thought, “Hm, that’s not really poofing much…”

And then I realized I forgot the milk, which is basically half of the batter. HALF OF THE BATTER! The batter that is basically only 3 ingredients, and I forgot one.

Clearly, I was having one of “those” days. How do I mess up the easiest recipe known to man? Who knows, but after I cleaned up my sugary mess, threw my disgrace of a “pancake” into the disposal, and debated giving up on life a second time… I went full speed ahead for round two… and succeeded.

The “pancake” itself is rather neutral in flavor, I sweetened it just a bit with a dash of vanilla and a bit of sugar, but you can add whatever you like. Though I serve mine with berries, mom always served it with a ~~stick-or-two~~ “drizzle” of melted butter and powdered sugar.

No judgment.

This is the perfect recipe for your next breakfast or brunch, or a day when you have the house all to yourself and want to make something fast, then eat it just as quickly and pretend it never existed, leaving only a blog post as evidence.

Did I mention I made this on a day when the only person in the house to eat it was me, myself, and I?

Oops…

To be fair, I think I earned it after all that work.

German Pancake

[ Printable Recipe ]

For the Pancake:

2 Tablespoon butter
3 eggs
⅔ cups flour
⅔ cups milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla

2-minute Berry Syrup:

1 cup berries, fresh or frozen
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon water
splash of lemon juice

For the pancake:

1. Put two tablespoons of butter in an oven-proof skillet and put it in the oven while it preheats to 400 degrees F

2. Put eggs in a blender and process on low until pale yellow in color. Add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.

3. Carefully pour the batter into the hot pan and return to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the heat to 350 and continue baking another 10 minutes or until golden brown and puffed.

For the “syrup”

1. Measure one cup of berries into a two-cup measuring cup or a bowl and toss with the powdered sugar. If using fresh berries add about a tablespoon of water.

2. Microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes until the berries are popped and the liquid has leaked out. (Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t bubble over the container). Stir and allow to cool slightly before using.

* To make in a 9-x-13 pan, double the recipe

apple cider donut cake

Posted on 12 November, 2012 by wee eats

Fall is full of apples, and apple orchards, and fresh-pressed cider, and hot apple cider donuts and fresh apple fritters.

For most of the country, at least.

The closest I can get is store-bought apple cider… and this apple cider donut cake, which is delicious, and not deep-fried, and still super full of fall flavors.

The original recipe calls for cooking sliced granny smiths in cider, and pureeing them, and adding that to the cake. Since my stores apple selection could be described as dismal at best, I decided to replace the fresh pureed apples with applesauce, which also means you make this any time of the year, in any part of the world, because I’m pretty sure that even if you don’t have fresh apples readily available, you will still be able to find some applesauce.

I also added buttermilk to give it a nice, tender crumb, since anyone who may have tried to substitute applesauce in a recipe may know it can make things a little on the “chewy” side.

This cake is like a fresh cider donut, and since it has “donut” in the name that means you are allowed to eat it for breakfast. And any recipe that allows me to sneak cake into my breakfast regimen is considered a win in my book, especially if you then cover that cake in a layer of sweet cinnamon-sugar.

This cake would be the perfect brunch item, providing you and your guests something to snack on while they wait for your turkey to roast, or it would make a delightful alternative as a Thanksgiving dessert for those of you who don’t care for pumpkin, I know you’re out there.

Apple Cider Donut Cake

[ Printable Recipe ]

For Cake

8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room-temperature, cubed
½ cup applesauce
¾ cup apple cider
½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Cinnamon-Sugar Coating

6 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F and prepare bundt pan with butter or spray.

Put applesauce in liquid measuring cup. Fill with apple cider to 1 cup mark. Stir to combine. Add vanilla to cider mixture and stir to combine again.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition. Add oil and continue beating until incorporated.

Decrease mixer speed to low and add flour mixture alternating with apple mixture (flour-cider-flour-cider-flour), scraping down the bowl as needed. Remember to scrape up from the bottom too to catch any flour pockets that may be hiding down there.

Scrape batter into greased bundt pan and bake 35-45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert onto rack, coat with cinnamon sugar mixture (I sprinkled it over the top, then poured into my hand and rubbed onto the sides), leave on rack until it has cooled completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

[ Inspired by Serious Eats ]

Mini Vanilla Bean Scones

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Bouchon Bakery’s Blueberry Muffins

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Cinnamon-Sugar Popovers

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