easy – Recipicity

December 26, 2009December 30, 2016

Nut Butter Crunch (Toffee)

Toffee ingredients — Ingredients for making toffee.

This one is easy, but you do need a candy thermometer at least the first few times. It’s is from River Road Recipes.

Parts list:

2 sticks butter
1 c. sugar
2 Tsp. water
1 Tsp. light corn syrup
1/2 c. chocolate chips
2/3 c. chopped nuts

Toffee in the lava stage, around 305F degrees

Melt the butter and sugar together, add the corn syrup and water. If you used unsalted butter, a tiny pinch of salt at this point couldn’t hurt. Use a wooden spoon to stir constantly over medium (medium-high if you’re daring) heat, cook the syrup to 320F. It will “stick” around 260 and again just near 300. Keep stirring and once the relevant proteins and carbs do their thing (Maillard reactions or caramelization, respectively), the color and texture will change and you’ll be back off to the races – be extra careful between 300 and 320 – it will sneak up on you and you don’t want to overshoot by too much.

Pouring the toffee — Pouring the rocket-hot toffee

The finished toffee, before coating with chocolate

Pour the lava onto a greased cookie sheet or a silpat-covered sheet pan. You’ll want to move the saucepan as you pour to spread the sugar around, then tilt the pan this way and that to get it as even and spread as possible. Let it cool thoroughly.

Melt the chocolate in your usual way (you do have a usual way, don’t you? I like a double boiler… Bittman has a great video on tempering chocolate) and spread thinly on the cooled toffee. Sprinkle with the nuts if you’re feeling like a nut. Or not, if you don’t. Let the chocolate set. Break the toffee into bite sized bits and package up for gifts or… not… if you’re hungry.

Don’t leave this sitting out. First, it will get eaten up. Second, anything left will get soft and nasty – remember this is basically sugar, so it’s crazy hygroscopic. Also, this is why I think of this as Christmas candy – it would have been nearly impossible to keep in humid Maryland summers.

Note on doubling
I sometimes make a double batch, but since it gets so foamy, you need to do this in a large dutch oven. Even if you have a big enough pot, don’t try a triple batch: you won’t have time to pour and spread the toffee onto three different pans before the last bit overcaramelizes (what we usually call “burns”).

Why corn syrup?
Yes, you need to use corn syrup because you want several kinds of sugar structures (sucrose, gulcose, fructose) in your toffee to prevent big crystals from forming. Eventually the heat will break down some of the sugars (caramelization) but you want a bit of a buffer, so just add a squeeze of corn syrup. (Now that it comes in squeezable bottles – why did that take so long?)

Finally, safety first:
Do not turn your back on this very, very hot sugar. It can boil over. If it gets on your skin, you will be burned. It takes a surprisingly long time to cool – no licking the spoon or thermometer, please. If you don’t use a silpat, put the cookie sheet on something heat-resistant (and don’t touch it for a few minutes). Really, this stuff is worse than oil – it’s just as hot as a deep fryer, but sticky. Tight-fitting long sleeves too, please. (Can you tell I’ve been burned by this stuff once or thrice?)

December 26, 2009July 12, 2017

Almond Cake

For those of us too chicken to try Steph’s macarons, this will get you your almond fix. As a bonus, it’s very, very easy and is always a crowd pleaser.

This was in the food section of the The Week in November 25, 2005 as a summary of an LA Times article about Lindsey Remolif Shere’s Chez Panisse Desserts cookbook. How’s that for attribution? It does indicate, however, why this may seem familiar: it’s not a new recipe. In fact, looking at the original now, I see that this is officially dubbed “Almond Torte” but we’ve been calling it almond cake for so long, I’m changing the title.

Parts list:

1 1/4 c. sugar
8 oz. almond paste
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
6 eggs at room temperature
1 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. table salt
9-inch cake pan or springform pan

Hey! Almond paste isn’t the same thing as marzipan. Nor is it the same as ground up almonds. You’ll probably see some paste that comes in a 7 oz. package. Note that you need 8 0z., and there is a manufacturer that puts 8 oz. of almond paste in a can (UPDATE: now a box). We’ve used both, and really, you need all 8 oz. or it messes with the fat ratio in the cake. Just sayin’.

Mix the almond paste and the sugar in your mixer or food processor. You want sandy looking almond-sugar without lumps of almond paste. Start slow – when we do this in the mixer, it invariably tries to throw some of the sugar and almond paste out of the bowl – just pick up any big lumps and chuck ’em back in the bowl.

Almond Cake creamed butter, sugar and almond paste — Cream the butter, sugar and almond paste until it’s white and fluffy.

Cream the butter and almond-sugar mixture. Watch the color during this step; you want it to go from yellowy-tan to almost white. This is your only real chance to get any air into the cake, so don’t skimp here.

Add the vanilla and the room temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each to become fully incorporated before adding the next. (I break them into a measuring cup to check them and then pour them in one at a time.)

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder and add to the batter and mix until just combined.

Butter and flour (or Baker’s Joy and/or parchment round) a 9″ round x 3″ deep cake pan or a springform pan (We’ve only used the springform a few times – there’s really no need and it’s a pain to clean). Pour/spread in the batter (depending on your room temperature, you may need to even it out a little in the pan) and bake in a 325F oven for an hour to 75 minutes.

Almond Cake cooling — As the cake cools, it will sink a bit in the center and pull from the edges of the pan.

Skimping on baking time is the one thing you can do to mess up this cake. It will look beautiful and puffy and golden brown after about 50 minutes. It’s lying to you! Don’t believe it. It’s all a trick. If you take it out now, the center will sink and you will be sad. (It will still taste fine, but it won’t look so nice – can you tell we’ve done this a few times?) Test with a toothpick in the center and look for the center to spring back when pressed lightly. Don’t test halfway between the edge and the center – test in the center. (UPDATE: if your kitchen is particularly warm, you might even consider popping the filled pan into the fridge to firm up the butter for 5 or 10 minutes. This will give the batter a chance to set up a bit in the oven before the butter loses all its structural integrity.)

Let the cake cool for about an hour or so – it will pull away from the edges a bit. Run a knife around the edge and unmold if you springformed, or dump it out onto a cooling rack if you used the regular pan. If you let it cool overnight in a cold kitchen and it seems reluctant to leave the pan, put the pan in a hot water bath for a few minutes to soften the butter you greased the pan with – it will pop right out (don’t do this with a springform – they’re notoriously leaky and no one wants soggy cake).

Almond cake all dressed up — All dressed up… for me to eat!

A sprinkle of powdered sugar and a few slivered almonds (toasted if you’re feeling fancy) make it look really nice. We usually don’t bother unless we’re taking it to a party. (The almond garnish is a nice warning to the nut-intolerant as well, since the cake doesn’t really look like it’s full of nuts.)

December 22, 2009

Split Pea & Barley soup

I have never been a fan of split pea soup, but this one converted me. When it was made for me, it was just pea soup, but had rice in it, and the recipe called for cauliflower or broccoli or carrots. Or rice or whatever. Since I’m always looking for ways to use hulled barley, this is the way I make it. It’s delicious, really. I mean it!

You should know that I am one of those people who always double the garlic called for in recipes. I’ve made this with 8 cloves of garlic, but most were tiny cloves. I’m not sure that 10 good sized cloves of garlic would be a very good idea in this soup. At 5, it adds heat and flavor, but the soup is actually a little delicate, and I don’t think it would be well served by more garlic.

The recipe:

Chop 2 onions (about 1 cup) and saute in a few (3-4) tablespoons of olive oil, in a large soup pot. Peel and smash 5-7 heads of garlic (don’t chop, smash. It really will taste better!) and toss in with the onion.

Chop some carrots, throw a couple handfuls in with the savories. Add spices — sage, salt, fresh ground red and black pepper. Add some more pepper. And maybe a little bit more than that.

When the carrots start to soften, add 6 or so cups of water and three bouillon cubes (or 6 cups of stock, or whatever equivalent works for you). When it comes to a boil, add 2 cups of split peas (most of the $.89 bag from the grocery store) and 1/2 -2/3 cups hulled barley. Reduce heat, but keep it above a simmer.

Add some more spices – bay leaves, thyme, more pepper. Pepper is really the main spice here, add more than you would think. Avoid oregano and basil, they don’t work well in this soup.

Keep the soup bubbling for about two hours, until the barley is done and the peas are mushable. Check on it every 15 minutes or so, stirring and adding water as needed (I usually end up adding another 2 or 3 cups of water over the cooking time. It’s all good though — when the water evaporates, the spices and flavors stay in the soup, so you aren’t ‘watering it down’). When you stir, help the peas smush by pressing them against the sides of the pot with your stirrer.

When it’s at a consistency you like, eat and enjoy! This also freezes really well.

December 20, 2009

Pizza Dough

My standby pizza dough recipe. There are three containers of it in my fridge RIGHT NOW. This version makes three small (about individual-size) pizzas.

339 g unbleached AP flour, 1 t ea sugar, salt, and instant yeast (mix in yeast or salt first, though, to keep them from coming in contact with each other and the salt KILLING THE YEASTIES DEAD). 237 g water and a good splash of olive oil. Mix into a rough dough.

The beauty of this is that you can use it almost immediately, or leave it out on the counter for a few hours (or days). Put it in the fridge for up to 3 days (any more than that, and the yeasties are exhausted, and the crust gets kind of airless). If you use it immediately, the crust will be dense, but super-tender (don’t pile on the toppings). If you wait a while, and knead it well, you’ll get more gluten formation, so more structure to support toppings.

Increase the water and roll out very thin, for a crispier crust (wetter dough = crispier crust)

You can sub in some cornmeal for the flour (gram for gram, but I wouldn’t go above 30 g), but then you must let it rest a day so that the cornmeal can soak up some water and soften. Otherwise, it seems to slice up the gluten, and you end up with a dough that won’t stretch or knead without tearing.

Bake it any way you like! I’ve used a pizza stone, but usually I just build it on a pan with cornmeal underneath, and throw it in, and it’s still great. The hotter, the better — I usually bake at 475-500.

nb: the recipe also makes great nearly-instant pita bread!!

ETA: This is a great freezer-stocking recipe! Separate the dough into balls of about 200g, roll each out into a thin circle. Lightly flour and place each on its own silpat or plate in the freezer for a couple hours. When frozen, place each in a gallon-sized freezer bag and store for up to 3 months! Clean pizza boxes are excellent for storage, and will help keep them from getting broken. To use, simply brush off excess flour and place on a silpat or peel dusted with cornmeal. Add sauce and toppings as desired, and bake at 450F until browned.