Merry merry!

Whew! It’s been busy here, as I’m sure it has been wherever you might be. Santa was good to me, and he was also good to you, dear readers. Do you know how I know?

Because he (in the form of my wonderful boyfriend) got me this cookbook. Which means he got YOU a whole bunch of these fabulous recipes forthcoming on my blog. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, etc. You’re welcome.

This book has, in addition to great recipes and useful info, wonderfully simple typography. Black and red, traditional font. I kinda geeked out over it when I first opened it. But let’s not talk about paper and ink, let’s talk about butter and flour.

let's get back to the food...

For our Christmas brunch my mom made some Svoboda family staples – palačinky, known to most as crepes. This eastern-European version is much less fussy than crepes I think. All you need to remember is a 2:1 ratio. 2 eggs, 2 cups of milk, 1 cup of flour. You got that? 2 of the wet things, 1 of the dry thing. This is also perfect if you have some milk that is going south…sour milk makes wonderful palačinky. And it’s simple! Whisk everything together and let it sit for a few minutes, perhaps in the fridge (if you have room). The trickiest part about these is the butter. It should be a hot hot hot pan and the butter should be brown when you pour the pancake in. Let the bubbles subside and just when you think the butter will burn, strike (while the pan is hot, incidentally)!

They are easy to flip because of all that butter on the pan (be generous, it’s Christmas!). A thin spatula will be your friend.

a THIN layer of jam

Then spread on the jam of your choice. We used homemade blackberry preserves and red currant jam. I like a tart-ish jam, but that’s the way I roll. I also prefer to be stingy on the jam…it’s my personal preference, but you might feel otherwise inclined.

This is such an easy recipe and the results are always delicious. It’s hard to screw these up. Whenever I make them, they are a hit, and people always ask for them again. Do yourself a favor this winter and do some pouring, flipping, spreading, rolling, and sprinkling. And Happy Holidays!

Don’t be afraid

i'm easy

Listen, I’m going to show you how to make bread and you are going to make it. It is so simple, and if you are in and out of your place on a Saturday or Sunday running errands and such, you can make a loaf or two and have fresh bread ALL WEEK. You will never ever want to buy bread from the grocery store ever again and you’ll find all sorts of ways to love bread…with ricotta cheese and honey, with a piece of salami and provolone, toasted with butter, topped with smoked fish and cheddar. You will have to find reasons NOT to eat bread.

And it’s so easy to make variations. I’m going to give you recipes for 2 types of hearth bread, also known as artisan bread, the kind you get when you go to restaurants and you end up eating the equivalent of a loaf before dinner. I love hearth bread, and you will too.

yeasty ooze

all set to rise

Basically all you have to do is mix the sponge, put a flour mixture over it, let it sit, mix them together and you have your dough. Then it’s time to rise…some people see this as the pain in the ass part. But if you have an oven with a light in it, you will have the perfect environment for dough rising. Just set your bowl in the oven, put the light on, close the door, and the oven will heat to a yeast-friendly 75-80 degrees. Then it’s a waiting game. And we can play that game.

puff doughy

I love the look and smell of risen dough. It’s all warm and soft and light. You need this is your life.

all set

crispy, doughy, wonderful

Since it’s snowing here (currently in CT) and I’m prepping for my boyfriend’s family’s holiday party, I’ll just post the Rye Bread recipe now and once I’m done glutting and frolicking in the snow I’ll give you the regular hearth bread recipe.

Come on folks, I made like 4 loaves in the past week and a half. You can do this! People will be so impressed with you (not that they aren’t already…you’re lovely!) Don’t make me sing pep songs and stuff.

Traditional Jewish Rye Bread
from The Bread Bible

Time Schedule:
Dough Starter: minimum 1 hr, max 24 hrs
Minimum Rising Time: 3 1/4 hrs
Oven Temp: 450 then 400
Baking Time: 45 to 55 minutes

Dough Starter Ingredients:
3/4 cup bread flour
3/4 cup rye flour
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 cups water

Make the Sponge:
In a mixer bowl or other large bowl, place the bread flour, rye flour, yeast, sugar, honey, and water. Whisk until very smooth to incorporate air, about 2 minutes. The starter will be the consistency of a thick batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Set is aside covered in plastic wrap while you make the flour mixture.

Flour Mixture Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 plus 1/8 tsp instant yeast
2 tbsp caraway seeds
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
cornmeal for sprinkling

Make the flour mixture and add it to the sponge:
In a large bowl, whisk together the bread flour (reserve 1/4 cup if mixing by hand), yeast, caraway seeds, and salt. Gently scoop it onto the sponge to cover it completely. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow it to ferment for 1 to 4 hours at room temperature.

Mix the Dough:
Add the oil and, with a wooden spoon or your hand, stir until the flour is moistened. Knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together, then scrape it onto a lightly floured counter. Knead the dough for 5 minutes, enough to develop the gluten structure a little, adding as little of the reserved flour as possible to keep it from sticking. Use a bench scraper to scrape the dough and gather it together as you knead it. At this point, it will be a little sticky. Cover it with the inverted bowl and allow it to rest for 20 minutes. Knead the dough for another 5 to 10 minutes or until it is very smooth and elastic. If the dough is sticky, add some of the remaining reserved flour, or a little extra.

Let the Dough Rise:
Place the dough in a 2-qt dough-rising container or bowl, lightly greased with cooking spray or oil. Press down on the dough and lightly spray or oil the top. Cover the container with plastic wrap. With a piece of tape, mark the side of the container approximately where double the height of the dough would be. Allow the dough to rise (ideally at 75 or 80 deg) until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Using an oiled spatula or dough scraper, scrape the dough out onto a floured surface and press down on it gently to form a rectangle. Give it 1 business letter turn. Oil the surface again, cover, and mark where double the height would now be. The dough will fill the container fuller than before because it is puffier with air. Allow to rise a second time until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Shape the dough and let it rise:
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and press it down to flatten it slightly. Round the dough into a ball about 5 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches high and set it on the cornmeal sprinkled baking sheet. Cover it wit a large container or oiled plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it has almost doubled, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes. It will be about 7 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches high, and when it is pressed gently with a fingertip the depression will very slowly fill in.

Preheat the oven:
Preheat the oven to 450F 1 hour before baking. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating. Place a cast-iron skillet on the floor of the oven.

Slash and bake the bread:
With a sharp knife or single-edged razor blade, make 1/4- to 1/2-inch deep slashes in the top of the dough. Mist the dough with water and quickly but gently set the baking sheet on the hot stone or hot sheet. Toss 1/2 cup ice cubes into the pan beneath and immediately shut the door. Bake for 15 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 400F and continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Halfway through baking, with a heavy pancake turner, lift the bread from the pan and place directly on the baking stone or sheet below, turning around as you do for even baking.

Cool the bread:
Remove the bread from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Back to the Butter

You know, in a way, this post is anti-climactic. Sure, I was all excited about using 3 1/2 sticks of butter in one recipe…but at the end I am going to tell you to halve the recipe anyway, unless you want to be shaping cookies for the next 8 years. Or you decide on a hunch these will be your very favorite cookies (they quite possibly could be!) and you want to dive in full bore. So while I have like 10 lbs of dough which DOES contain 3 1/2 sticks of butter, you will most likely have quite a bit less. But I suppose that’s a good thing. Because 400 dkg is a LOT of butter.

hand inserted for scale purposes. and i have rather large hands.

But let’s move past the butter and into the recipe for Vanilkové Rohlíčky, which roughly translates to “vanilla rolls” or vanilla croissants I suppose. In non-cookie form, rohlíčky are the Czech version of croissants and if you ever find yourself in the Czech Republic, I recommend going to any market and buying some. Then get some butter and some apricot marmalade…take a bite of the rohlík, spread on some butter and plop on some jam, and repeat until you are swearing you’re moving to Prague.

These don’t have any vanilla in them, so your guess is as good as mine as to why they are called vanilla rolls. Maybe they’re vanilla like I am vanilla. Which is to say, they are not chocolate rolls (čokoladové rohlíčky), and my guess is that they are also terrible dancers. Just kidding, I am a rocking dancer.

see?

ANYHOODLE, let’s get back to baking here. This is another mound it all on the counter and squeeze away recipe. It’s good for getting any aggression out, or for strengthening hand muscles. Or both!

all that beautiful butter

2 nutty balls

We used Almond Meal from Trader Joe’s but I highly recommend grinding your own nuts–the flavor difference is incomparable (please cease and desist making various “nut” and “balls” jokes in your mind). If you have a food processor (I do not…HI SANTA!) this is simple. If you don’t but you have one of those hand chopper contraptions that you have to smack the top of…you are in for a long night. There are a ton of nuts in this recipe, and they should be finely ground. I also recommend walnuts instead of almonds.

roll em out

slice em up

Rolling and slicing sounds easy, but it is not. My boyfriend’s dad has these specific cookies he calls “curse cookies” because every time he makes them he ends up swearing up a storm. These, my friends, are my curse cookies. You have to work the dough considerably before it rolls out nicely (it will be quite warm)…and since you’re using your fingers there are always ridges that never seem to disappear on the roll. Slicing them is fine, but you have to make sure you slice the right length. I would go so far as to put a ruler next to them if I weren’t so lazy. THEN, oh boy….then comes the real challenge:

how cute and how EVIL

Here is my grandmother showing the correct way to shape the cookies. You have to kind of coax them into little crescent shapes. You will do one, it will fail, you will try another, it will fail, you will try another, it will work and you’ll think you’ve mastered it, but then on the very next one you’ll crack it all over again

FAIL

You will never master these cookies. My grandmother is 86 years old and she has not mastered these cookies. But you will make them, year after year, because they are delicious. When they come out of the oven and are steaming hot you’ll throw them into sugar and they will bathe in sweetness and you will be sold on the idea of these cookies.

like freshly powedered snow

Mark my words, friends. It’s like childbirth (I imagine). As soon as you put these little babies in your mouth…….wait. Ok, it’s not like childbirth. But what I am trying to say is that the minute one of these lands on your tongue and melts away, so will all the memories of the painful process.

sweet babies

Vanilkové Rohlíčky (halved for your convenience)
from Kniha Kucharských Předpisů

24 dkg mouka (2 cups flour)
20 dkg másla (1 3/4 sticks butter–what is that, like, 14 tbsp?)
7 dkg cukru (1/3 cup sugar [we accidentally used this much for double the recipe and I think they were still great--I like things not too sweet...if you are the same, consider cutting this amount a little])
11 dkg rozstrouhaných mandlí se slupkami (1 1/4 cups finely chopped walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mound all the ingredients on a clean counter and knead until you form a smooth dough. Wrap in plastic and let rest in the refrigerator for an hour.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and, working in small batches, rip off some dough and roll it with your fingertips to about about 1/3-1/2″ in diameter. Cut about 1 1/2″ segments and shape into crescents. Place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes (or until slightly browned). Remove from the oven and immediately toss in a good amount of sugar so that all sides are coated.

Being efficient

First of all, I have been promising you butter. I have been dangling butter over your head, and I’m afraid to tell you that I am not delivering once more. But you know what? I wasn’t even planning on posting today, so if you pretend this didn’t happen, then I am still on schedule to show you butter tomorrow. Let’s do that, ok?

So anyway, by now you have made a bazillion shot glass and thimble cookies (you are fast!) and you are sitting around with 4 separated egg whites in a little container (do not even tell me you threw them out. sacrilege!!). And you are a modern person…you recycle when it’s not painful, you try to take short showers (except when you come back from a winter run and you’re oh so cold and the shower takes a solid 20 minutes to thaw you out), you buy recycled toilet paper. Etc etc. So it’s only natural that you’re looking for a way to make some use of the extra whites in your life. Friend, look no further. That is why I am here! Go on and put those egg whites in your KitchenAid bowl, or if you are a masochist like me, choose one of those manual egg beater type dealies (really though, don’t do this. do the first one, or use one of those hand-held electric ones). Then go grab some powdered sugar…put some in the egg whites. How much? What do I look like, a scientist? Try a half a cup or quite possibly a full cup. I was so maddened by the whipping that I can’t really remember. But you like to experiment, don’t you? Whip those egg whites until they’re glossy and they hold stiff peaks.

that's right...nice and shiny

Then do a little taste. Not sweet enough? Add some more sugar. Too sweet? Well, you’re f’ed.

perfectionist grandmother not included

Once it is sweetened to your liking, you’re ready to form your, as my grandmother calls them, “little doojickles.” I am unsure of the official spelling of doojickles, but that’s I hope you know what I’m saying. In Czech they are called “sněhový pusinky,” which means “snowy kisses.” I think that is a darling name for these little guys. You can just plop them on a baking sheet with a small spoon, OR, if you are fancy-schmancy like I am (clearly), you can grab a pastry nozzle and stick it in a plastic bag and pipe them out. But heed this warning: you are all excited about your innovation and you are not really paying attention to the Big Picture. You don’t know it now, but you are well on your way to making turds. Oh sure, when you first pipe them out they’ll be adorable…pristine white and glistening like…well, like little snow kisses:

so innocent

And you’ll preheat the oven to 200ish (we moved the temp up to 250 after it was taking a while…bad move) and you’ll put them in and be all prepared to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Well about 45 minutes later, or however long it took, you’ll take them out to discover:

what have i done?

You made a poop. A dead ringer for some of your dog’s nastier business, actually. But you know what? They’re damn good. They melt in your mouth and get very pleasantly chewy at the end. They are the most heavenly little turds you’ll ever eat. So go forth and crank some out!

Shot glass and thimble cookies

linecké koláčky

Ahoy hoy! Actually, in the spirit of this post, we should say “Ahoj.” That’s “hi” in Czech, and as all you smart foxes have already figured out by now, we’re making some traditional Czech Christmas cookies called “Linecké Koláčky” (that’s lin-ehts-kay ko-lah-ch-key). These are cookies we make every year with our grandmother. It seems like every year the recipe is slightly different, but they always taste good. If the Czech is too much of a mouthful for you, feel free to call them Shot glass and Thimble Cookies…you’ll figure out why they’re called that in a few short pictures.

just throw 'em all together

smooth and shiny

This is the kind of recipe where you gather all your ingredients, throw them together, take off your rings, and dig in. If you have a kitchen scale, use it (in the recipe…1 dkg=10 g)! I converted the measurements into common units for everyone’s ease, but your flour might be heavier than mine. I don’t know…I wouldn’t judge it if it were. All flour is beautiful to me.

I’m showing all the ingredients in a bowl here, but it’s really better to work directly on your counter. Put down the flour first and make a well in the middle for the eggs, lemon juice, and zest. The butter can be worked in. It takes a few minutes to knead it all together, but when you do, the dough is so nice and shiny and smells like lemon zest. It’s wonderful. Then comes the rolling, which is really a breeze.

punch those badboys out

it's thimble time

Just flour a surface and roll the dough out as thin as it goes. Well not THAT thin…but no thicker than 1/8″ and try to have it all uniformly thick. Then comes the fun part–taking a shot glass and punching the little babies out. After you’ve punched out all your dough, take your thimble and punch out a smaller circle in half of the circles you’ve created (this will be the top of the cookie and the solid circles the bottom). Then gather the scraps, reroll, punch some more, gather the scraps, reroll, punch, etc, until you have no more dough. Be sure to get a skinny skinny spatula and scoop the circles up CAREFULLY and place them on a buttered baking sheet. These will burn easily in the oven so keep your eye on them.

golden and thin

hope you like jammin' too (badum ching....i'll be here all night)

A little jam on each and you’re good to go. We used apricot, blackberry, and red currant jams. Red currant is probably my favorite, and the most Czech-y. A little sifted powdered sugar if you so please and….

please excuse the pink tissue paper

Enjoy! Oh, and feel free to halve the below recipe unless you want to make like…a million of these cookies. Which you should! But I don’t know, maybe you have other things to do. I certainly don’t.

(Yes, sharp reader…you are right. We didn’t get to the 3 1/2 sticks of butter recipe. Don’t worry, that is next! I’m not holding out on you…I was just so excited by all the different jam colors and I had to share. Your patience shall be rewarded shortly)

Linecké Koláčky
from Kniha Kucharských Předpisů

48 dkg mouky (3 2/3 cups flour)
24 dkg másla (2 sticks butter [room temp])
20 dkg cukru (1 cup sugar)
4 žloutky (4 egg yolks)
citronové kůry (zest of 1 lemon)
citronové štávy (3 tbsp lemon juice)
Assorted jams for filling

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

Mix flour and sugar into a mound on a clean working surface. Make a well in the center and add egg yolks, lemon zest and lemon juice. Carefully mix together and add the butter. Work the dough for a few minutes until it is shiny and holds together into a ball nicely. Wrap in plastic and let rest in the fridge at least an hour.

Take dough out and let it warm for about 15 minutes. Flour a working surface and rolling pin and roll the dough out to at least 1/8″ thick, thinner if possible. Using a shotglass, cut out as many circles as possible. On half of those circles, use a thimble to cut out a smaller circle in the center. Gather the scraps, reroll the dough, and continue to cut circles, rerolling as necessary, until there is not dough left. Carefully, using a thin metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for about 8 minutes, but do not take my word for it. WATCH YOUR COOKIES. As soon as there are hints of golden around the edges, take them out. Let them cool.

Empty a few tablespoons of jam into a small dish and add a squirt of lemon juice. Mix the jam to warm it. Using a small spoon, spread about a 1/4 tsp of jam onto the solid round of each cookie. Top with the ringed circles. Dust with sifted powdered sugar.

Here Come the Cookies

Whenever I go to a bakery/store/restaurant and they have cookies in a glass case, invariably several kinds, I always lean towards the oatmeal ones. I don’t know why. I think it’s because I’m not the hugest chocolate fan (gasps!) and oatmeal usually comes with raisins, and they’re usually really chewy and nice. So when I saw this recipe it piqued my interest. I made oatmeal cookies from the How To Cook Everything cookbook last year, and dammit, they were terrible. It called for 2 (2!!!) teaspoons of baking soda, and the stupid things were so fluffy and weird that I think I threw them out after a few days of Wait Maybe They Just Need Another Day To Congeal……..No. Maybe Just One More Day? Nope. Damn you, Mark Bittman!

But let’s be clear about these cookies…I wanted to try them because they had potato chips in them. Also, I got some dried cherries from Trader Joe’s and I was all jazzed about them. They make raisins look so homely.

nature's jewels!

I got this recipe from Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (I know, I already posted a La Brea recipe…fret not, I will be branching out shortly). I cut 2 tbsp of the butter because sometimes I do that and convince myself they are much healthier and taste the same. I guess I just looked at 2 sticks of butter in a total of 20ish cookies and decided that was too much butter per cookie. To be honest, I never plan on making these with the correct amount of butter, so I guess I’ll never know if it made a difference or not.

no match for my powerful elbow grease

Also, she is NOT KIDDING when she says the batter will be tough to mix when it comes time to add the nuts, fruit, and chips. I had to choke up on the spoon to get anywhere, which resulted in batter all over my arm. I did bother to do her whole “switch the trays from top to bottom and turn them around and touch your nose and rub your stomach and pat your head” routine. I don’t know if it works but it keeps you occupied.

shaped and squished

ready to eat

All in all, the cookies are nice and chewy. The potato chips are interesting, but the cherries steal the show. They are oatmeal cookies. They are unspectacular, but I will always choose them in the glass case.

OH, but if you are here for decadence….stay tuned. We’ll talk 3 1/2 sticks of butter in the next recipe. Do you need a visual?

avert your eyes!

I told you so.

Key Largo Oatmeal Cookies

4 oz salted potato chips
6 oz (1 1/2 cups) walnuts
2 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 packed cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups old-fashioned (not instant) oatmeal
5 oz (1 cup) raisins
5 oz (1 cup) dried pitted sour cherries

Adjust 2 racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 350˚. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment or aluminum foil, shiny side up, and set aside.
Place the potato chips in a plastic or paper bag and squeeze the bag a few times to break the pieces just a bit; they should be coarse, not fine. They should measure 2 packed cups. Set aside.
Break the walnuts into large pieces, set aside
Sift together the flour and baking soda; set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until soft. Add the vanilla and sugar and beat until mixed. Add the eggs and beat to mix. Then add the sifted dry ingredients and beat on low speed only until incorporated. Add the oatmeal and beat to mix. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
Transfer the dough to a larger bowl. With a heavy wooden spatula stir in the raisins, cherries, and nuts. Finally stir in the potato chips. The chips should still be visible. This takes a strong arms and some heavy stirring.
Each cookie should be made of 1/4 cup of dough.
Place a large piece of aluminum foil next to the sink and place the mounds any which way on the foil. Then wet your hands under cold water, shake them off but do not dry them, and with your damp hands roll a mound of dough into a ball, flatten it to about a 3/4 inch thickness, and place it on a lined sheet. Continue to shape the cookies and place them 2 inches apart.
Bake 2 sheets at a time for 18 to 20 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back twice during baking.
Let them cool briefly, then with a wide spatula transfer them to racks to cool.

Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Dough

This is my be-all-end-all pie crust. I can’t bring myself to ever use shortening, and I think this is better than an all-butter crust. The cream cheese gives it some tang. It’s super easy to roll out and shape.

marbly-goodness

1/8", give or take

Basically it’s all you want for every sweet pie you ever make. I like to pinch my crusts, but there are a million ways to crimp them—using forks, etc. I think the ol’ thumb and forefinger of one hand against the thumb of the other creates a nice little wave.

ready to be filled

I use the “Food Processor” method but instead I put it in my KitchenAid with the paddle attachment. Sometimes the flour explodes out, but mostly I think this works just fine. I’ve also heard grating the frozen butter in using the largest holes on a cheese grater gets them down to a small size easily so you don’t have to waste your time with 2 knives or a pastry cutter. Rose fusses–a LOT. There’s a lot of freezing things that I skip if I can. To be honest, I don’t really notice much of a difference if I didn’t freeze the bowl before I mix the ingredients. So, you can be obsessive about it if you want, and I’m sure your pie crusts will be divine. I choose to ignore what I want. Environmentally, I save a ziploc bag or 2 every time I make a crust my way instead of Rose’s….so that’s all the justification I need to be lazy.

Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust
from The Pie and Pastry Bible

Pastry for a 9-inch pie shell or a 9 1/2- or 10- by 1-inch tart shell

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon pastry flour or 1 cup (dip and sweep method) bleached all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (for savory recipes, use 1 1/2 times the salt)
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, cold
• 1 tablespoon ice water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Pastry for a 9-inch lattice pie, a 9-inch deep-dish pie, a 10-inch pie shell, or a 12- to 14-inch free-form tart

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
• 1 1/3 cups + 4 teaspoons pastry flour or 1 1/3 cups (dip and sweep method) bleached all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (for savory recipes, use 1 1/2 times the salt)
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• one 3-ounce package cream cheese, cold
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ice water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Pastry for a two-crust 9-inch pie

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
• 2 cups + 3 tablespoons pastry flour or 2 cups (dip and sweep method) bleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (for savory recipes, use 1 1/2 times the salt)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 3-ounce packages cream cheese, cold
• 2 tablespoons ice water
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Preparation

Food processor method:
Cut the butter into small (about 3/4-inch) cubes. Wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it until frozen solid, at least 30 minutes. Place the flour, salt, and baking powder in a reclosable gallon-size freezer bag and freeze for at least 30 minutes.

Place the flour mixture in a food processor with the metal blade and process for a few seconds to combine. Set the bag aside.

Cut the cream cheese into 3 or 4 pieces and add it to the flour. Process for about 20 seconds or until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the frozen butter cubes and pulse until none of the butter is larger than the size of a pea. (Toss with a fork to see it better.) Remove the cover and add the water and vinegar. Pulse until most of the butter is reduced to the size of small peas. The mixture will be in particles and will not hold together. Spoon it into the plastic bag. (For a double-crust pie, it is easiest to divide the mixture in half at this point.)

Holding both ends of the bag opening with your fingers, knead the mixture by alternately pressing it, from the outside of the bag with the knuckles and heels of your hands until the mixture holds together in one piece and feels slightly stretchy when pulled.

Wrap the dough with the plastic wrap, flatten it into a disc (or discs) and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, preferably overnight. (For a pie shell and lattice, divide it in a ratio of two thirds:one third — use about 9.5 ounces for the shell and the rest for the lattice, flattening the smaller part into a rectangle.)

Hand method:
Place a medium mixing bowl in the freezer to chill.

Cut the butter into small (about 3/4-inch) cubes. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.

Place the flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Add the cream cheese and rub the mixture between your fingers to blend the cream cheese into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. Spoon the mixture, together with the cold butter, into a reclosable gallon-size freezer bag. Expel any air from the bag and close it. Use a rolling pin to flatten the butter into thin flakes. Place the bag in the freezer for at least 10 minutes or until the butter is very firm.

Transfer the mixture to the chilled bowl, scraping the sides of the bag. Set the bag aside. Sprinkle the mixture with the water and vinegar, tossing lightly with a rubber spatula. Spoon it into the plastic bag. (For a two-crust pie, it is easiest to divide the mixture in half at this point.)

Holding both ends of the bag opening with your fingers, knead the mixture by alternately pressing it, from the outside of the bag, with the knuckles and heels of your hands until the mixture holds together in one piece and feels slightly stretchy when pulled.

Wrap the dough with plastic wrap, flatten it into a disc (or discs), and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes, preferably overnight. (For a pie shell and lattice, divide it in a ratio of two thirds:one third — use about 9.5 ounces for the shell and the rest for the lattice, flattening the smaller part into a rectangle.)

Store:
Refrigerated, up to 2 days; frozen, up to 3 months.

Understanding
A classic cream cheese crust contains no water and is more tender than an all-butter crust but not at all flaky. I have found it to be so tender it is impossible to use for a lattice top and the bottom crust often develops cracks through which a filling will leak and stick to the bottom of the pan. Very little water is needed, because the cream cheese contains 51 percent water. The addition of a small amount of water connects the two gluten-forming proteins in the flour, producing the rubbery, stretchy gluten that strenghtens the structure just enough to prevent cracking when the crust bakes. This pie crust does not shrink or distort as much as an all-butter crust because there is less development of gluten. The acidity of the vinegar weakens the gluten that forms, making the crust still more tender and less likely to shrink. If desired, it can be replaced with water.

Cream cheese is 51 percent water and 37.7 percent fat, so 3 ounces contain 1.53 ounces (about 3 tablespoons) or water and 1.13 ounces of fat. That means that the pie crust with 6.5 ounces of flour contains the equivalent of about 4 1/2 tablespoons of water. Compared to the all-butter crust, this crust has about 1 tablespoon more water, 1.13 ounces more of fat, and .34 ounce more milk solids. The extra fat in the cream cheese coats some of the proteins in the flour, limiting the development of gluten, which would make it tougher. The milk solids add both flavor and smoothness of texture.

The baking powder lifts and aerates the dough slightly without weakening it, but it also makes it seem more tender.

In developing this recipe, I found that if not using the vinegar and baking powder to tenderize the crust, it is advisable to add one quarter of the butter together with the cream cheese when using all-purpose flour. This helps to moisture-proof it but, of course, takes away a little from the flakiness, as there is less butter available to add in larger pieces to create layers.

It’s Pie Time

Thanksgiving, to me, is all about pies. Christmas can have its cookies, Halloween its candy, and Easter its chocolate… Thanksgiving is the holiday for me. I love a good pie, and even more than that, I love 4 good pies at once, all topped with a dollop of fresh whipped cream (unsweetened, please…I like my cream straight up). I used to be able to eat a slice of each after dinner, but the days of overactive metabolisms have passed me by. Now I like to take a tiny sliver of each to equal about 1 1/2 regular slices total. This year my mom and I made 2 types of pumpkin (the differences between which I’ll explain later), a pecan, and my favorite—open-faced designer apple pie.

awaiting their fate. also i think the stapler in the background really pulls this picture together.

I’ve been wanting to try this pie for a while, ever since I bought the Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It’s not as much work as I originally anticipated and the result is so pretty and delicious. I didn’t have a leaf-cutter and so because I am insane I ended up cutting the leaves out by hand. They look a little wonky, but wonky can be delicious, too. Rose says to make enough dough for a 2-crust pie but I think that is wholly unnecessary. I was making 3 crusts at once and I just used the scraps from each of the 3 and that did it. I’d say probably make 1 1/2 of a 9-in pie dough recipe. Also, make sure to overstuff the pie…seriously, slide those slices in until you think they are going to pop out—they’ll shrink when they bake and you don’t want your apple rose to look deathly ill.

ready to bake!

The only pain in the ass–pre-baking the crust. I hate pre-baking. It’s not really a big deal, it’s just one of those things that irks me, like putting sheets on a bed. But making the bed never ends with warm apple pie in your mouth, if you know what I mean:

Ta-da!

Speaking of pre-baking…let’s address the pumpkin pie contest we had going on. I kept seeing all these recipes pop up for new and improved pumpkin pie. “Silky!” “Perfectly-spiced” and “creamy” were oft-thrown-around descriptors. I knew I had to try one–I love silky, perfectly-spiced, creamy things (see: panna cotta). So I eventually chose a recipe from Pastries from La Brea Bakery…it had browned butter and vanilla beas, garnet yams, and cream! All good things! So, the catch. It’s a total pain in the ass recipe. It involves STRAINING pumpkin and yam puree through a sieve (I dislike sieves…see: berry coulis), pre-baking the crust, of COURSE, and many fussy ingredients.

damn you, sieve!

at least there are specks of vanilla

I was rooting for it though. I wanted it to be better, partially to justify the extra hour or so of time it took to make. It seemed like blasphemy to then crack open a can of Libby’s and some evaporated milk and have the regular version in all of 5 minutes flat (and no pre-baking, thank you very much). But alas, the conclusion was that the regular-old from-the-can version was much better. Bah! Don’t get me wrong, they were both good…but the La Brea version barely tasted like pumpkin. It was creamy, but too much so. It was silky, but I didn’t notice much of a difference betwixt the two. The lesson? Never try.

the whole spread

Pumpkin Pie
from Pastries from the La Brea Bakery

1 recipe Pie dough (see my next post for a good one)

For the filling:
2 medium jewel or garnet yams (I used regular old sweet potatoes)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 stick (2 oz) unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean
2 extra-large eggs
1 extra-large egg yolk
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp whole milk
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
3 tbsp light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tbsp brandy
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 very small pinch ground cloves
1 small pinch white pepper

For Garnishing:
2 tbsp milk or water
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
4 to 5 gratings fresh whole nutmeg

Adjust the oven rack to the middle positions and preheat to 400˚F.
Prepare and roll out the pie dough. Chill until ready to use.
To prepare the filling: Place the yams directly on the oven rack and bake them until they are very soft and starting to burst, about 45 minutes to an hour. Allow to cool, remove the skins, and set aside.
Turn the oven to 350˚F.
Blind bake the crust (weighed down) for 25 minutes.
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, puree the yams with the pumpkin. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, allow the moisture to evaporate as the mixture bubbles and cooks, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, begin to melt the butter. Using a small paring knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise. With the back of the knife, scrape out the pulp and seeds and add scrapings and the pod to the butter. Swirl the pan to ensure the butter cooks evenly and doesn’t burn. Continue cooking about 3 to 5 more minutes, until the bubbles subside and the butter is dark brown and has a nutty aroma. Remove the vanilla bean.
Add the browned butter and dark flecks to the pumpkin-yam mixture and combine. Strain the mixture into a large bowl.
In a medium bowl, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolk, cream, milk, maple syrup, brown sugar, brandy, ginger, salt, cloves, and pepper. Add to the pumpkin mixture, whisking to combine.
Brush the scalloped rim with the milk or water and pour in the filling to just below the rim.
In a small bowl combine the granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle the topping over the filling.
Bake for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the filling is set and the crust is nicely browned. When done, the filling should no longer quiver when you gently shake the baking sheet.

Open-Faced Designer Apple Pie
from The Pie and Pastry Bible

coming soon!

Come play!

Well hello there. Welcome to Kat in the Kitch (the name that just slightly edged ‘Trina in the ‘Tchen). This is my first blog post. I just kinda decided to create this blog today….so I’m not exactly sure what it’s going to be like. Unfortunately I’m neither a good writer nor an exceptional baker. What I am is an adventurer and obsessive food decorator–not in the Disney characters on ice cream cakes sense, but in the sense that I think food is beautiful and I like mine to be especially beautiful. I’ll give you some examples of what I’ve done in the past, but my real hope is that henceforth I can capture more of the process so you guys at home can play along.

Tiramisu Cake	Open-faced Designer Apple Pie	Salt-kissed Buttermilk Currant Tart	Cranberry Pecan Frangipane Tart
Upside Down Cake	Pistachio Petit-Fours Cake with Marzipan Mushrooms	Perfect Party Cake	Anadama Bread
Apple Surprise Bread	Apple Cake	Raspberry-Chocolate Rugelach	Cake decorating class shenanigans