My Thanksgiving.

THANKSGIVING 2009

Well the wife and I are home for Thanksgiving. Not going anywhere and not having any company, we did not want to have to deal with alot of fuss.
So a trip to the store:
1 lb Bacon
2 potatoes
1 small jar minced garlic
1 pork loin
1 red onion
1 can crushed pineapple
1 can cranberry sauce with whole berries
1 bag shredded cheese
1 can collard greens
2 cans mandarin oranges

I marinated the pork loin in pineapple, pineapple juice, and garlic overnight.
The next day I laid out the bacon, smeared it with chopped onion and garlic (forgot to take the smearing photo so just imagine).

Wrapped it all up tight with plastic wrap. The plastic wrap helps with stickiness and keeps control of the pork loin and bacon.

The wrapped pork loin was placed on a roasting pan into a 375 degree oven. Near the end I turned on the broiler (350 degrees), to get the bacon a good color and crisp. The internal temp was around 170 plus or minus.

All I have to say is Yum. The bacon was crisp and the loin tender.

For a sauce I mixed the cranberry sauce, the pineapple (drained), and two cans mandarin oranges (drained). Then fine chopped some red onion and mixed it all together.

So with some cheesy roasted potatoes, the greens and the pork loin it all came together.

Turkey Day Chocolate

So I was wandering around in a Micheal's and kinda got sad about not being a pastry cook anymore, so I went home and started baking. I had some left over "good" chocolate so ganache was made. That led to a Devil's food cake. Just had to pick up some blackberry jam for part of the filling.

Cake:
I kinda cheated with the actual cake and used to box cakes (duncan hines, I think). The two fit into one 9" cake round.

Gananche:
2.75 lbs of chocolate, melted in a double boiler
1.37 quarts heavy cream
.25 lbs of butter
splash of corn syrup

Melt butter, corn syrup, and chocolate in a double boiler
At the same time heat to boiling the heavy cream
when cream heated, set aside.
when chocolate melted, add cream and let sit for a few minutes
then whisk to combine, til smooth and homogeneous.
place in a bowl and cover in plastic wrap, making sure that plastic is on the surface of the ganache (otherwise a skin will form)
let cool over night on the counter.

Filling:
Blackberry jam warmed on the stove to make it easy to spread on the cake layers.

chill cake in the refrigerator and cut into layers (more evenly than mine hopefully)

Sugar dough:

18 ounces Sugar
2.25 pounds Softened butter
5 ounces Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Paste
1 tablespoons Almond extract (or to taste)
18 ounces Bread Flour
2.25 pounds Cake Flour
5 ounces sour cream or yogurt

Cream Butter and Sugar
Add Eggs, Vanilla, and Almond Extract, mix til just combined
sift the flours and add
Add sour cream mix to combine
mold into disk, wrap with plastic and cool to set up
When cool roll out to desired thickness
and cut

Nom Nom Nom

Sausage Biscuit with Egg – The Delicious Daily 11.22.2009

Sausage Biscuit with Egg – The Delicious Daily 11.22.2009: "

Homemade sausageBrunch of champions.

"

Minty Sweet: Peppermint Whoopie Pies by Kitchen Witch

Minty Sweet: Peppermint Whoopie Pies by Kitchen Witch: "
When I unexpectedly found myself with a $25 gift certificate for RegionalBest.com (thanks Keren!), I immediately set myself to the task of buying the most delicious-looking thing that cost closest to $25 including shipping. The result? A half-dozen peppermint Whoopie Pies from Kitchen Witch, a holiday take on the Amish / New England classic. And at $27.50 including shipping, they fit the bill.

Proud of my prowess for bargain-hunting, I promptly forgot about the purchase, but was delighted to receive a package marked 'Perishable' a few days later. Opening up the box, the pies were safely nestled below packing material in an airtight baggie, in which they were individually wrapped in the traditional plastic wrap. Happily, half of the cakey cookie part did not come off with the plastic wrap when opened (a whoopie pie pet peeve!).

So how does a peppermint whoopie pie taste? Pretty good, I must say. The cakey part was extremely moist and chocolatey, and the peppermint filling was the of the traditional creamy, slightly slick texture which usually inhabits the inner section of a whoopie pie, but with a light peppermint flavor. Kind of like a very big, cakey peppermint patty. It was very easy to eat--the only problem was how quickly and easily it disappeared. Luckily the portions are fairly modest as whoopie pies go--i.e., not the size of a saucer--so you feel pretty good about having a bite (or three) of a second pie. At least I did.

Kitchen Witch cookies can be found on RegionalBest.com or on Etsy.

"

Kugelhopf

---begin-tinykitchen---

Title: Kugelhopf

Sponge
Milk, yeast, and bread flour
to 2x size

Cake
Cream butter and sugar and salt (paddle)
add eggs
Dough hook
Add flour
mix
add raisins
Pan buttered almonds on sides
bowl, spray, wrap, ferment
2x
flour surface, punch slightly
shape in to long log shape
into angel food pan (buttered etc)
Proof 2x
bake 375 degrees
out of pan cool
powder sugar coat
---end-tinykitchen---

Orange Cake

---begin-tinykitchen---
Title: Orange Cake

Takes a long time to cook will look done but is not,

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1.5 cups sugar
4 each eggs, separated
2-4 each oranges, zested
3 cups all purpuse flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder, sifted
.5 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
.5 teaspoon salt, sifted
1 cup orange juice

Directions:
Cream butter, sugar, zest, salt til greasy (creamed well)
sift dry together
Whip whites with a little sugar to a soft peak
alternate adding wet and Dry combing thoroughly each time
Gently fold whites into batter (will loosen the batter
When it comes out and cools slightly brush with citrus simple syrup, poking holes in the base and also on top when unpanned.
A simple glaze of powdered sugar and orange juice can be used to glaze the cake.

325 degrees

takes awhile to cook, will look done but is not....45-1 hour 30 min
---end-tinykitchen---

Le Weekend, poundcake

---begin-tinykitchen---

Title: Le Weekend

Ingredients:

* 3 ounces butter
* 7 ounces sugar
* 3 each lemon zest
* 3 each eggs
* 2 each yolks
* .5 cup sour cream
* 5 ounces ap flour
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1 ounce cornstarch
* 3 tbs. rum

Directions:butter, sugar, lemon zest creamed heavily, scrape
add eggs slowly incorporate, scrape down each time
add sour cream incorporated scrape down
add rum mix til smooth
Sift dry
add in parts, mix til just incorporated, scrape

Loaf pan, spray heavily, paper bottom spray
pour into pan
Bang pan to settle

When out of oven brush with lemon simple syrup(Serves --)350 degrees
---end-tinykitchen---

Chocolate Caramels

---begin-tinykitchen---

title: Chocolate Caramels

Ingredients:

* 370 grams sugar
* 500 grams heavy cream
* 350 grams glucose
* 24 grams butter
* 50 grams honey
* 50 grams dark chocolate , can be express, orange, etc

Directions:Cream, sugar, glucose, honey cooked to 248 degrees
off heat
add chocolate and butter
pan, spray paper spray
pour into a quarter sheet pan, cool
Should be firm but not solid, a slowly pressed knife should cut through
Pre coat bottom with tempered chocolate
cut into 1" squares
Enrobe with Tempered milk chocolate
finish with grains of Kosher saltCooked caramel

---end-tinykitchen---

Baguette dough

Ingredients:

• 21.25 ounces bread flour
• 16 ounces water, warmed
• .5 ounce yeast, fresh
• .4 ounce salt
• 1.5 ounces wheat germ

Directions:water, yeast
flour
germ
salt
mix around 7 minutes
bowl, spray , dough, cover
ferment
punch
scale 16oz (2)
shape
rest
shape
rest
in pan proof

Why?

Why is there no photo support in iBlogger iPod app???

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Gingerbread season went well

Well Xmas has come and gone. Our gingerbread village went very well and had very few structural problems. New Mexico weather tends to dry out the royal icing fast but we just had daily inspection to keep the houses up and looking good.

Green Man Finished.

Well My Green Man Chocolate Display piece is finished.
It took alot of my time and is now sitting in the display window for the resort store. Hopefully the general manager will not give it the thumbs down, he is picky and weird.

This is a view of the side, had to be double sided to go in the window.

This side is my favorite of the two.

Started to Build

I have stepped up the building of my chocolate piece. Today I got the headpiece mounted and some leaves molded and attached. I also got the headpiece's coloring much more blended and fixed.

side 1

side 2

I plan on adding some(probably) Royal Icing leaves to the brown vines, small ones. and something on the base for coverage...not sure. Maybe some extra sugar spikes and pieces sticking out, maybe some fondant leaves laying on the base??
I am very glad it is as stable as it is, was worried that the head piece would be too much for the support.

Almost Ready for the Showcase Window

Ok so I have begun to assemble my Chocolate Piece, slowly but surely. Mostly white chocolate with milk chocolate modeling chocolate vines. I am going for a forest/fall theme, hence the tree-like appearance.

The base will be covered with these white chocolate curved vine-y (hard to explain) things. Also there will be molded leaves around the head piece (see below), along with small green leaves for the brown vines. I have extra sugar (clear center pieces) bits to plug in if necessary too.

The Head piece is a white chocolate molding of a Green Man ceramic I have hung in my kitchen. I need to do some more shading and coloring to finish him up. I am not totally happy with the head piece, but then I am not an artist (painting anyway). There are two head pieces, the sculpture had to be two sided.

I will update with more photos when I am closer to finishing and when I am finished. This piece gets put in our hotel store window....

Plated Dessert

Frangipan with Strawberry and Strawberry Sauce and Almonds, Peach Soup, Dark Choco Ganache Brownie with Choco Sauce and Passion Fruit Sauce

A Normal Day

A Dessert for on of our restaurants.

A Dessert for a Banquet, you can see they loop around the table.

Small party plate up, Frangipan Tart with Brandied Caramel Pineapple and Papaya and pineapple compote with a Brix garnish and Fried Basil, with Vanilla simple syrup.
I had a rough day and then I had to come up with this on the fly.

Random thoughts and a mess of mama's BBQ

I have been thinking about the entry into next years Chocolate Fantasy. I have been combing the property for styles and ideas and I think I have hit upon one. Not going into it but I think it should work. May include a plant like theme but then I don't know the actual theme to Choc. Fant. yet so that hinders me.

We need to revamp the truffles at work, the flavors are getting dull. Also need more time to do such things..never ever seems to be enough time, even with a full staff.

I bought a "new to me" book yesterday. Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations by Nancie McDermott. I have been eyeballing this book for about a year and never had the extra dough to buy it. As a transplanted southerner in New Mexico, I have found this book to be delicious, visually and recipe-wise. There is even a recipe for my favorite thing during Christmas....Boiled Custard!! It may be bad for you but it is soooo delicious.

I was going to put some lyrics here from Emmet Otter's JugBand Xmas but could not find it properly, so here is the song in the Video. Enjoy!

Busy Breakfast

Well the end of summer is bringing the upswing in business. Mornings are getting busier and parties are getting bigger. Above is just half of the pastries for a large party, restaurants and such at work.

I am still waiting for my coworker to email me photos of my plated desserts, hopefully she will get around to it soon. To avoid this problem I have taken a camera to work and stashed it in my work drawer.

BBQ Song for the Southern United States

I was searching around and found this awesome BBQ video on Trailer Trash BBq.

Enjoy