I started cooking with beer and I can’t stop

Howdy and happy summer! Summertime makes me think of two things: the beach and some ice cold drinks. Of course, iced coffee is always at the top of my list (I’ve been drinking it since I was four, I know, it’s bad), but now that I am recently old enough, beer is now part of my summer! Since I started working at an awesome local craft brewery, I’ve been bringing home more beer than I can drink– so I started cooking with it!

 

I got the best birthday present, the Craft Beer Cookbook, for my birthday, and it’s really gotten me hooked. Everything I make is amazingly delicious, craft beer is a great tool for cooking because it adds lots of depth of flavor. Now I know that there are a lot of people who are either craft beer “snobs,” or don’t know what it is, so I’ll explain. Craft beer is typically made in smaller batches, and doesn’t use adjunct ingredients. For example, some big names may use corn or rice to feed the yeast, but they don’t give that much flavor. Craft beer does not use these filler ingredients, and therefore has a fuller, more-developed taste. Yum!

I’m still learning more about beer and working through the cookbook, but I find myself wanting to cook with beer even when I’m not trying out a new recipe. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that this past week I made beer-braised chipotle chicken with red peppers and drunken cilantro lime rice (from the cookbook). It was super easy to make, and the sauce was basically just beer that we allowed to cook in a pot for a bit with the chicken. The rice was also cooked with beer, I used an amber ale instead of the recommended pale ale with citrus notes, and I’m thinking, why don’t I cook with beer all the time? It’s basically a pre-made sauce; the brewers already took the time to develop a beer with nicely balanced flavors, and as cooks all we need to do is throw some protein and vegetable in there!

So next time you are staring in your fridge and don’t know what to make, grab a cold one and make some awesome chicken with it! Or try the cookbook, because there is soo much more than chicken in there! I have to tell you, I don’t believe in making brownies from scratch, because they never seem to come out as fudgy as the box mix. But I made the chocolate stout brownies from the cookbook and they were the BEST. I ate the whole pan, they were rich, velvety and fudgy, and I can’t make them ever again if I plan on fitting into my new summer clothes. I will have to experiment a little more with beer in desserts, and I will report back to you. Happy cooking!

Forgot something? 3 Easy Last-Minute Thanksgiving Dishes

It’s Wednesday night and sleeting where I am; so at this point if I’ve forgotten anything for my Thanksgiving feast, there’s no way I am going to get it. Improving in the kitchen is fun, but it’s always nice to have a backup plan. Here are some backup plan Thanksgiving dishes that you might be able to make with stuff you already have.

Appetizer: Stuffed Crescent Roll-Ups

I don’t know about you, but I always have some extra crescent roll or pie crust dough in my fridge. Last year I didn’t plan enough appetizers, so I improved these roll-ups, and they were a big hit! There are a lot of good ideas of things to do with crescent rolls from Pillsbury, but I made my own creation. I made it as one big roll; roll out all of the crescent dough so it doesn’t have the perforation. Then on 1/4 of it, spread some pesto, layer pepperoni and ham (or other meats you have and want to use), some cheese, cut up roasted red peppers, and spinach. Then roll it up like a log and place on a pan. Cook in your oven using the instructions for the crescent rolls, it may need extra time. When it’s done, take it out and carefully slice it. You’ll have some nice slices packed with flavor, and you don’t have to tell your guests how easy it was to make!

Dessert: Crack or Cookie Pie

I’m not saying you need to turn to hardcore drugs, crack is a kind of chocolate-caramel bark that is as addicting as, well, crack. You can find my detailed instructions of how to make it here, all you need is saltines, butter, chocolate, and sugar!

If you don’t want any addictive desserts or don’t have saltines, you might want to try a chocolate chip cookie pie. An original Nestle Toll House recipe, the ingredients are pretty standard and you should already have most of them. You can always substitute a different kind of nut, and you don’t even need to use a pie crust! Make it in advance and stick it in the oven before you serve it; it’s delicious warm with some ice cream on top.

I hope this saves you from some hungry guests! It’s hard to imagine not having enough food for Thanksgiving, but let me tell you, it’s not something you’ll ever want to experience. I wish you all a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving, and a successful Black Friday if you’re into that kind of thing. Happy eating!

Can you taste the quality? How to tell a good bakery from a bad bakery

Because I bake all the time, I can easily spot or taste a bad quality baked good. I also worked at a high-end bakery for years, and know exactly what top notch cupcakes are all about. My town just got a new bakery, and I was too curious not to try out their stuff (plus they have espresso, so there was no way to lose). But when I walked in there, I knew off the bat that the cupcakes were not going to meet my high standards. For those of you who want to determine the quality of a bakery, here are the signs.

The first, refrigerated cases. If there are cupcakes and pastries in a display case that doesn’t have precipitation on it or isn’t making a whirring noise, then you’ve found yourself some Crisco frosting. There are multiple ways of making frosting or pastry creme, but if it doesn’t have to be refrigerated then there’s a high chance that there’s something that’s preserving it, something you don’t necessarily want to eat. That being said, most things should be allowed to sit out for a while to come to room temperature, which is fine. You want to watch out for things that never need to be refrigerated.

The cupcakes that I tried this weekend had a kind of frosting that I am familiar with; it’s made from powdered sugar, butter, milk, and vegetable shortening aka, Crisco. You can tell that you’re eating Crisco frosting if you can hear a light crunching sound when you’re eating it. This frosting is what Wilton recommends to go with their decorated cake pans. It has its purposes, but don’t be wasting $4.00 on a cupcake with this low quality frosting. This is the same for pastries, pastries should always be refrigerated to preserve the cream. You know that there’s something artificial and low-quality going on when it doesn’t need refrigeration.

To tell a good frosting, look for the shine. Buttercream is made from butter, so it should be a little shiny! If it’s made from a lot of sugar and other artificial ingredients, it won’t be reflective at all. It will also be very squishy, and won’t harden even if you refrigerate it. If you refrigerate it and it’s hard and you have to let it sit out to soften, then it’s made from enough butter. Just think how you have to let butter soften for basic baking, it’s the same thing.

Next, the price. This might seem pretty obvious, but if you want top quality unfortunately you’re going to have to pay for it. If you’re getting a sheet cake to serve 40 people for $20, then get ready for your Crisco frosting. On the other end, if you think that you might be paying too much, break it up into servings. Divide the price by the number of people you’re serving. If it seems like something you would spend for a cupcake for each person, then you’re in the clear. Just remember that this won’t count for decorated cakes, that’s a whole other can of worms.

Also, size. This may not be a foolproof method, but I have honestly never had an over-sized cupcake that was good quality. If there’s a bakery that’s selling giant cupcakes, my experiences tell you to expect very dry cake and overly sugary frosting. This is also true if the bakery only carries one size of cake, I just find that practice to be overall strange and I have yet to find such a place that has high quality goods.

Level of richness, and I’m not talking about money. Higher quality goods are going to be richer. The way to tell is by the largest sized slice of cake you can eat. If you cut yourself a huge piece of cake and only manage to eat a portion of it because you’re too full, then it’s very rich and probably good quality. If you’re able to eat a huge slice, then that means it has watered-down ingredients. You get full quickly if you’re eating buttercream made from butter and chocolate ganache made mostly from chocolate; low quality products will use filler like oil and Crisco, which won’t fill you up as fast.

Cookbooks That Will Have Your Back

I’ve recommended some cookbooks in some other posts, but there are so many more that I haven’t talked about! Now that recipes are super easy to find on the internet, I think cookbooks are losing out which is really a shame. Sure, the internet is great for when you’re looking for a specific recipe, but the internet has given me some not-so-reliable recipes in the past. Cookbooks are great because once you find a good one it’s like having a loyal best friend, it will always be there for you and you know it’ll have your back. They are also great for when you don’t know what you want to make; I love flipping through my favorite cookbooks on a rainy day and finding something to bake. Unfortunately like the internet, there’s no way of telling if it’s good when you buy it. So for you I have picked my top six cookbooks, that are as precious to me as family photos (please note that this isn’t a particular order, just the order I’m pulling them off the shelf).

1. The Good Housekeeping’s Illustrated Cookbook (1980 edition)

I referenced this book for the 14 Layer Cinnamon Torte Post, and it is by far the most valuable cookbook I own. I won’t bore you with the same stuff I already wrote, but this book shows you how to do things with pictures and has everything. My mom and my Nana each have one that I was waiting to steal once they were um, “finished with them.” But I found out that you can get it on Amazon.com for about $0.01; so naturally I ordered a half a dozen. I have the 1980 edition, but I’m sure the later editions are great too.

2. Any Mickey Cookbook

Like I’ve said before, Disney knows what they’re doing when it comes to food. I actually have two Mickey cookbooks (and by I, I mean my mom): Cooking with Mickey Around the World and Cooking With Mickey Volume II.I’m not saying you have to get these particular books, I think any Mickey cookbook is going to have classic quality recipes. They’re really cute because it tells you which restaurant and which park the recipe is from. So next time you take a Disney vacation, maybe pick up a cookbook and your vacation can come home with you!

3. How to Squeeze a Lemon

Now I’ll be honest, I got this book and its partner as a gift and I haven’t really read this whole book and there aren’t any recipes in it. But this book is right up my alley because it tells you how to do almost anything, like the little things that cookbooks already expect you to know what to do. So if you’re new to cooking or baking, I’d take a look at it because it can translate some recipes for you.

4. Baking and Desserts

I don’t remember where I got this book but I do know that the spine is worn down from me staring at its beautiful pictures. Don’t you hate it when a cookbook lists a recipe for something without a picture? How are you supposed to pre-salivate over what you’re going to make if there’s no picture? This book just has a million things that I’m planning to make in it, and so far the recipes have come out really well.

5. Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

I couldn’t have a list of cookbooks and not include one of miss Martha’s now could I? I have a whole bunch of her cookbooks, but this one has the most post-its in it so clearly it’s the favorite. Martha has put enough pictures to make me happy in here, and the recipes are a good mix of classic desserts and new things to try. When I’m not sure what to bake, I always grab this book. There’s also a great section with references for what equipment to use and how to do some basic techniques.

6. Nestlé Toll House Recipe Collection

My mother and I have long since memorized the Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe because honestly I haven’t had a better chocolate chip cookie than that. This book also has the chocolate chip cookie pie which I love, and other fun things that all include chocolate; so of course it’s a win. This book is kind of old too and I don’t know if you need to go buy one, but just remember to keep an eye out for the Toll House recipes when you can because they are usually top notch.

 

Chocolate Demi-Delights

Last week I challenged myself to be inspired by the French and make more individual desserts. Well, voila! Here’s my idea: take a fabulous chocolate mousse recipe, some demi-cupcakes, ganache, and nuts. I give you: Demi-Delights.

This isn’t so much a recipe as an idea that you can run with. You can use cookies, cake, torte, maybe even pie crust? And top it with a dallop of chocolate mousse, ganache or caramel, and something crunchy. Be creative! Here I used chocolate ganache and caramel, but some marshmallow topping with graham cracker bits would be delicious too. With the ingredients in your fridge you can put together something tiny and delicious to eat or share with some friends!

How to Impress People with Chocolate

I lived in a dorm during my first year of college. I had a roommate who I had never met before, and after only one week of living with me she had figured out that I have a chocolate problem. Was she a good detective? Absolutely not. She knew after I hung off the side of my bunk bed to get chocolate from my desk because I was too lazy to get down.

Which brings me to the point of this post: I have spent lots of time thinking about chocolate, baking with chocolate, and eating chocolate, so I have devised a killer yet easy Chocolate Mousse recipe. This can be used not only to fill delicious cakes for a chocolate explosion, but also to eat with a spoon on movie night, or even impress people with! Yes, I said impress people. There are only 2 ways that you can mess up this recipe, and I’m not going to let you, so people will be really impressed with your restaurant-quality mousse.

What you need:

• 1-2 cups Chocolate: use a variety! Just be careful not to use just bittersweet or unsweetened.
• 21/4 cups Heavy Cream: Or whipping cream, they’re the same thing actually.
• 2-3 Egg whites: Depending on how much mousse you need/want.
• Flavoring: Be creative! Add in about a teaspoon of whatever you choose, you can try mint, coffee (you can use extract or instant coffee powder), vanilla, Kahlua, hazelnut….
• 1/4 Granulated Sugar

Get in there and make it!

1. Gather all of the ingredients listed above. For materials you’ll need a hand or standing mixer, assorted bowls, and some nice spatulas.
2. Make the ganache! Mousse is a combination of three things: ganache, whipped cream, and meringue. To make ganache, put your chocolate, flavoring, and cream into a medium saucepan. Then put over medium/low heat (you can crank it up to medium for a bit if you need to, just keep an eye on it if you do) and stir until all of the chocolate melts. Remove it from heat and set it aside. And just because I know you will, feel free to taste that deliciousness.
3. Whip those eggs! You’re going to want that mixer for this unless you don’t want to be using your arm for another week. Your call. If you’re using a standing mixer, be ready to break out your whisk attachment. Separate the eggs, and whip only the egg whites. Do not let ANY yoke, shell, or anything else get into that bowl! Egg whites are snobs and won’t whip up if anything else is in the bowl. Set your mixer or your hand mixer and whip them until they are fluffed up and white, then add in the sugar and mix just a little more. Now you have meringue, congrats!
4. Last part: the whipped cream. Pour 2 cups into a bowl and whip the cream until its fluffy goodness (use the whisk attachment for this too).
5. Put it all together. Put about 1/3 of your meringue and 1/3 of your whipped cream in a large bowl. Get that spatula ready and spoon a little bit of your ganache in there, and get folding. Not the laundry kind; folding here means sweeping the spatula around the side of the bowl and under your fluffy stuff. Keep going until there are no more white streaks, then add more chocolate, whipped cream, and meringue until you are out of the cream and meringue. You may have extra chocolate, don’t worry about it. It’s better to have some extra chocolate in the house than to weigh down your beautiful mousse!
6. Make it pretty, or scarf it down. At this point you are now a successful mousse-maker. Whoo! Celebrate by eating the whole bowl (I may or may not have done this, you’ll never know), or put it in pretty dishes, or in a cake, and refrigerate.

Possible Problems:

1. Overcooking the chocolate.

This can happen if you leave the chocolate in the saucepan for too long, it will stick to the bottom of it and smell kind of crispy. Just keep the chocolate, cream, and flavoring in the saucepan until all of the chocolate is fully melted, then set it aside. It’s usually a good idea to chop the chocolate in some way so that you’re not trying to melt huge chunks, because who has time for that?

2. Flopping your fluffy stuff.

The key to fluffy mousse is fluffy stuff! That’s your whipped cream and your meringue (transformed egg whites). When you start combining everything, make sure that you’re folding and not stirring. Stirring is more of a circular motion that is going to cut up all the beautiful air bubbles and volume that we got into the cream. Be gentle!

If you get so excited about making mousse and you accidentally stir it into a goopy mess, don’t sweat! Throw it in the fridge for a bit and make up some more meringue or whipped cream and fold it back in, then refrigerate again until it sets.