Tag: food

Anya’s 11th Birthday Cake: Orange Chocolate

This year, Anya wanted an orange cake decorated with pieces of orange … but she also wanted chocolate. So we made an orange chocolate cake with orange chocolate buttercream. Very tasty!

Chocolate Orange Cake

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • zest of two oranges
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup decaffeinated coffee, cooled
  • 4 medium eggs

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour two 8″ cake pans.
Whisk all dry ingredients (including orange zest) together.
Whisk all wet ingredients together.
Slowly stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
Pour batter into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven, allow pans to cool for approx 15 minutes, then turn cakes onto cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Orange Buttercream Frosting

  • 2 cups unsalted butter
  • 1 Tbsp orange emulsion
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 5 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 10 oz dark chocolate chips

Whip the butter in the blender until light and fluffy. Add orange emulsion and salt.
Heat the whipping cream, remove from heat, and stir in chocolate chips to melt.
Slowly sift powdered sugar into butter while continuing to blend on lowest speed.
Once powdered sugar has been incorporated, add melted chocolate a scoop at a time and continue to blend on lowest speed until it has all been incorporated.

General Tao’s … Turkey

Ingredients

  • Four turkey thighs, deboned and cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
  • 1/2 cup stock
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground pepper
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup corn starch

Combine all ingredients except turkey and mix into a thick paste. Then fold in turkey pieces and coat well.

Add a handful of chili peppers to the oil before frying — the turkey is fried in chili oil. Fry, remove from oil, and drain on paper towel.

Sauce:

  • 1 cup stock
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup or brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
  • 2 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
  • 2 Tbsp corn starch

Combine all sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and heat until thickened. Serve with a veggie (roasted broccoli, garden peas) and rice. I sprinkled ground Aji Lemon Drop pepper powder over the rice, sauce, and peas. Then topped with fried turkey to keep it crispy.

 

Christmas Cookies

We made lots of maple cookies for Christmas — two different types, each of which has a full cup of maple syrup in it!

Anya cut shapes for the gingerbread.

We have lots of maple leaves, 5’s, cats, and seahorses. And some gingerbread people.

 

Cakey Maple Cookies

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3 cup rolled oats
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together the dry ingredients excluding the oats. In a different bowl, combine eggs, maple, and yogurt. Mix into the dry ingredients, then stir in oats. Put about a tablespoon of batter per cookie on a sheet, and bake for about 25 minutes. Remove from tray and allow to cool.

Maple Gingerbread (Needs more ginger and cinnamon!)

  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbps ground cinnamon
  • 1 Tbps ground ginger
  • 1 cup dark maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 egg

Sift dry ingredients together. Combine butter, maple, and egg. Stir into dry ingredients. Form into a ball. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough, cut shapes, and cook for about 15 minutes. Remove from tray and allow to cool

Chocolate Crepe Rolled Cake

This was another video recipe that I tried to transcribe into a list of ingredients

Cake Base

Whip together 2 eggs and 70g sugar
Add 1 tablespoon honey, and whip some more

Stir in 20g butter and 30ml milk

Sift together 65g baking flour and 10g unsweetened cocoa, then fold into egg mixture. Pour thin layer in bottom of cake pan and bake — this is the base of the crepe rolled cake.

Crepes

Whisk together 180g flour and 35g unsweetened cocoa
Add a pinch salt and 10g sugar. Whisk to combine.

Blend in 3 eggs, 260g warm milk, and 160g boiling water. Strain to remove any lumps, then mix in 60g of liquid honey and 25 (g? ml?) vegetable oil.

Cover with cling film and rest for 20 mins, then make crepes in a pan.

 

To make cream cheese filling:

Blend 250g cream cheese, 45g powdered sugar, and 150g Greek yogurt

In a separate bowl, mix 250g cream 33% and 45g powdered sugar. Whip to firm peak state.
whip to firm peak

Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.

Fold in 20g liquid honey.

Assembly:

Lay out a crepe, coat with whip, and fold in thirds toward center. Repeat with all crepes.

Put cake base on plate, coat with cream mixture. Roll crepes into a big circle, then place on cake layer. Wrap additional crepes around. Chill in fridge for 3-4 hours, preferably overnight.

Dust with powdered sugar. Cut and serve.

Cranberry Crumble

I made a cranberry crumble that Scott found in the local news paper

FILLING:

  • 2 cups cranberries
  • Zest and juice of 1/2 orange
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

CRUST:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups almond flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Zest of 1/2 orange
  • 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375F.

Toss cranberries with corn starch and cinnamon. Add orange zest and mix. Then stir in orange juice and maple syrup.

Combine dry crust ingredients. Cut in butter, then add egg whites and vanilla to form a crumble. Press some into bottom of pan. Cover with cranberry mixture, then crumble crust mixture on top.

Bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Allow to cool.

Lamb Shank Tagine

Cooked lamb shanks in the tagine today

  • 4 smoked ancho chillies
  • 5 dried apricots
  • 4 lamb shanks
  • olive oil
  • 1 red onions
  • 8 cloves of garlic
  • 5 fresh red chillies
  • 1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 3 fresh bay leaves
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 400 g tin of plum tomatoes
  • 1 liter chicken stock

Coat shanks with salt and pepper. Sear shanks in olive oil, then add onions and garlic 1for a few minutes until fragrant. Remove from pan.

Add stock, plum tomatoes, spices, and peppers. Add shanks back, cover, and simmer at low heat for about 3 hours.

Rose Hip Jelly

Anya and I picked more rose hips today — we’ve got a LOT of the little things. About half a pound.

We boiled them (plus an apple) in enough water to cover by 1″, added a little lemon juice, then drained the juice. Added a whole bunch of sugar to make jelly (14 oz for every pint of juice), and let it cool and congeal overnight.

Recipe — Walnut Pastry Thing

Walnuts in hard shell — boil in water for for 5 minutes

Pastry:

2 eggs
100g sugar
1 pinch of salt
150g butter
100g sour cream (10%)
600g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, make into a ball. Split and roll — use additional flour for rolling.

Filling:
1 egg white
100g sugar
120g walnuts

Whip egg whites, fold in sugar and walnuts.

Cut rolled pastry dough into wedges, add dollop of walnut mixture to large end, roll toward pointed end.

Brush with 1 egg yolk

Bake at 180℃ for 40 minutes

Dust with powdered sugar

Making the Sausage

Anya and I ground a whole bunch of pork today to make sausage — as we ground the pork and fat, I added whole jalapeno peppers to the grinder. I formed sausage patties and made some breakfast sandwiches. Very tasty — although our peppers seem to lose their heat when cooked.