Chocolate Pudding

 

Santa Barbara is an especially wonderful place to experience spring (and all the other seasons) not only because of its beautiful landscape, but because of the plants and animals found here. Each morning I wake to the sound of many different birds singing and as I cycle to school the bees and butterflies float around and add to the music. 

 

 I woke up the other morning to find that the many buds on the Jasmine vine outside my room were very nearly blooming. I have only had this plant one year, a gift from my mom (thanks mom!), and I love it (and fully intend to cart it with me to my next destination in June). It offers privacy and shade year round, and in the spring it brings the enchanting fragrance of Jasmine in my room and a beautiful view of blossoms.

Anyway, so the countdown began. And, finally after watching and waiting for a few days the first flowers opened up and shared their delightful fragrance. Spring had arrived!!

For me spring brings a number of things to mind. My dad's birthday, spring break, and Easter... or rather Lent.

Lent is (well I can't write it because I'll go to hell)... but I'll just say that while Mardi Gras is awesome the next forty days is not great. Lent means two things fasting and giving up something.

While I fully understand the purpose of such practices it does not make this season easier to bear.

So in the spirit of Lent and frugality we have humble desserts like pudding (not the English type).

Chocolate Pudding

adapted from Martha Stewart's FOOD Magazine

Serves 4

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups milk

4 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Place a fine-mesh sieve over a medium bowl; set aside. In a medium saucepan, off heat, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt and cocoa powder. Very gradually whisk in milk, taking care to dissolve cornstarch. Whisk in egg yolks. 

2. Whisking constantly, cook over medium heat until the first large bubble forms and sputters. Reduce heat to low; still whisking, cook 1 minute. Remove from heat; immediately pour through sieve into bowl. Stir butter and vanilla into hot pudding.  

3.Place plastic wrap directly on surface of pudding (to prevent skin from forming); chill and keep up to 3 days. Before serving, whisk pudding until smooth.

NOTES: If you whisk constantly there is no need to use a sieve. Also, once it begins to thicken watch it closely as it turns to pudding very quickly!! Finally, chilling it for a bit is nice, but warm pudding with some whipped cream is amazing!!

Salve!

¡Conchas!

Rainy days require baking and so, of course, I obliged. Unfortunately, my pantry was low on supplies so I threw on my wellies and headed out in the rain. It was a great walk, somehow Santa Barbara manages to be even more beautiful when it rains. The creek was full, the grass was electric green from the recent downpour, and the trees were swaying in the wind.
With my Cicero midterm approaching I was due for a healthy dose of procrastination so I decided to make bread. And not just any bread, pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread). MY FAVORITE!!
Pan dulces have always been a mystery to me. I have never known what each type was named and I don't really know much Spanish so a typical experience at a panaderia involves a lot of miming and pointing at the different pans. I usually choose a few of my all time favorite -- the calavasa empanada which translates as a "pumpkin turnover," BUT I am here to tell you that this is more than just a turnover. The pastry is not flaky like an American turnover, but rather a delicately rustic bread with a hint of sweetness and a touch of what I think is celery seed (maybe). Inside the turnover is pureed pumpkin that is perfectly sweet! I know what you are thinking, pumpkin pie, right? But no, it's really not. It is uniquely Mexican. It is not ostentatious, overly sweet, or heavy. It is perfect. In addition to the empanadas, I like the yellow eggy types encrusted in sugar (which I think are called cuernos), the pink cookies, and the conchas.
Anyway, to get back to it, there is only one panaderia in my town and it's not good (sorry Goleta). So I decided to make some type of Mexican sweet bread myself if I could manage it. Not ever having had a recipe, the secret art of Mexican bread making has eluded me. But, no longer! Diana Kennedy has a good recipe in her book From My Mexican Kitchen. And although, it is not perfect -- it definitely provides a good launching point for further experimentation!

Conchas
adapted from Diana Kennedy's From My Mexican Kitchen 


The Starter (For Two Batches)
2 scant c. all-purpose flour
2 tbs. dry yeast
3 tbs. warm water (plus more if necessary)
2 large eggs


The Dough
4 scant c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 tbs. unsalted butter
1 c. eggs beaten (4 or 5 large eggs)
1/4 c. water


The Sugar Topping
1 scant cup all-purpose flour
2/3 c. confectioner's sugar
1/4 c. unsalted butter
1/3 c. vegetable shortening (a rounded 1/3 c.) + 1 tbs. for cocoa topping
1 tbs. ground cinnamon
1 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

For the starter:


1. Put yeast in a small bowl and add the warm water, pressing out lumps with a wooden spoon until it has the consistency of thin, smooth cream.


2. Sift flour into the bowl of a standing mixer. Add the yeast mixture to the flour with eggs and beat with the dough hook about 2 minutes. The dough should be stiff and sticky. (IF the dough is dry and flaky, and not coming together and pulling away from the sides, add warm water in 1 tbs. intervals until it reaches the correct consistency).


3. When the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl, remove from the bowl and set on a lightly floured work surface to rest for 1 min.


4. Flour your hands and shape dough into a round cushion. Place on a well-greased and floured baking sheet and make three deep diagonal slashes across the surface.


5. Cover with a piece of buttered waxed paper and a thick towel and set aside to rise in a warm place, about 70 degrees, until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

For the Dough


1.Add the flour, scant 1/4 c . of sugar, salt, butter, eggs and water to the starter and beach with the dough hook at a high speed for about 4 minutes. Add teh rest of the sugar and beat for 4 minutes longer; the dough should now be shiny, soft, and sticky forming a cohesive mass that pulls away from the bowl. If it does not pull away then add a small pinch of flour and beat for a few seconds more. Repeat this until it no longer sticks to the bowl.


2. Flour your hands and work surface well.Scrape the dough out onto the board and quickly form it into a round cushion shape. Let it rest for one minute while you butter and flour a large bowl.


3. Put the dought into the bowl, cover with buttered wax paper and a thick towel, set aside in a warm place (75 degrees F) for 2 hours. Then place the dough in the refrigerator to rise slowly and season well, about 12 hours.

For the Sugar Topping


1. Just before the end of the long rising period, lay a "cookie sheet sized" piece of parchment paper on your work surface and prepare the sugar topping. Sift the flour and confectioners' sugar together. Cut the fats inot the flour and mix thoroughly with your hands until you have a soft, pliable dough.


2. Divide the mixture into two equal parts. Set one half aside.


3. Taking one of the halves of the mixture, add the cinnamon and mix well (until the cinnamon is fully incorporated -- no swirls or streaks) -- it should be soft and malleable.


4. Taking the other half, add the cocoa powder and 1 tsp. of shortening. Mix thoroughly.

Putting it all together


1. After the long rising period, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and let it rest for 1 minute. Flour your hands and quickly work the dough into a round cushion shape.


2. With a plastic dough scraper or very sharp knife, cut the dough into four equal portions. Then divide each of these into four again -- making 16 portions.


3. Lightly flour your hands and roll each piece into a smooth ball by using your cupped hands to rotate and firmly push down the dough. (NOTE: The key here is traction. Too much flour and the dough won't grip the work surface and reshape, too little flour and it will stick too much. After a few tries you'll get the hang of it.)


4. Place the balls of dough on buttered or parchment-lined baking sheets about 3" apart. Flatten each ball a little.Take a small piece of the sugar topping and rolli nto a ball about 1" in diameter. Again, dust your hands with flour, and with your fingers, flatten out a ball of the topping into a disk of about 3" in diameter in the pal of your hand (NOTE: Keeping your hands floured is very important, otherwise the sugar topping will stick to your hand and not be able to be lifted and pressed into the balls of dough. So... flour your hand (the one you are pressing the sugar topping ball into each time.). Press the sugar topping disk very firmly onto one of the balls of dough so that they adhere well. Repeat until all the balls are covered with either a cinnamon or chocolate topping. Then decorate with a traditional cutter or improvise, cutting the topping in a shell or a cross-hatch pattern. (NOTE: I used a pastry cutter to make a cross-hatch as it was much easier than a knife. Just make sure you flour your pastry cutter between each cut.)

5.Set the buns aside to rise, uncovered, at a tempurature of about 75 degrees F until almost doubled in size, about 2 hours.


6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place one or two of the racks in the top half of the oven. Bake the conchas until the dough is light and spongy to the touch and the exposed surface around the topping is a rich brown color, about 12 minutes. (NOTE: The bottom of the buns will be a very light golden brown color.)


7. Carefully transfer the conchas to a rack to cool in a place free from drafts.

Salve!

Cranberry Oatmeal Scones

So how did I rectify the bad caramel cookies?? SCONES!

CRANBERRY OATMEAL SCONES

adapted from Gourmet Magazine November 2001

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar plus additional for sprinkling

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

Finely grated zest from 1 large navel orange

2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk plus additional for brushing

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.

2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt. In a food processor pulse the dry ingredients plus the oatmeal 15 times.

3. After placing oat mixture in a large bowl, add butter. Mix together using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse meal with small (pea-size) lumps.

4. Stir together zest and buttermilk. Toss cranberries with oat mixture, then add buttermilk, stirring with a fork just until a dough forms.

5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape dough into a rectangle approximately 11" X 8" (use a rolling pin if needed) and 1" thick.

6, Cut dough in 12 triangular pieces and place on a lined baking sheet.

 

7. Brush tops of scones with buttermilk and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in middle of oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes, and transfer to a rack.

Yields: 12 scones

NOTES: If you do not have a food processor (like me), just place the oats on a cutting board and chop them up until they are a coarse meal. Also, MIX THE DOUGH WELL! Do NOT leave large clumps of butter as they will melt out of the scone and into the oven and voila! FIRE!! (trust me, I've done this. You don't want it to happen to you. Finally, to achieve the 12 pieces cut the dough in half lengthwise. Then take one section and cut it into 3 equally sized pieces and then take those pieces and cut them in half diagonally. Repeat with the other half of dough.

Since it came up, what do you do if your oven is on fire??

1. TURN OFF the oven!

2. EXTINGUISH fire (in my case, I saturated a towel in water, opened the oven, and threw it in. It smothered the flames and everything was OKAY!, an alternative would be a fire extinguisher).

 Salve!

Caramel Crunch Butter Cookies

A few years ago a good friend, who loves baking just as much as I do, gave me Elinor Klivan's Big Fat Cookies book. Nearly every recipe (if not all of them) was paired with a photo of each cookie looking both mouthwatering and monumental. At first I was skeptical, after all how many recipes have I tried from books with pretty pictures that turn out badly. But, Ms. Klivan delivered. Every cookie was just sweet enough, just chewy enough, just crunchy enough; every single cookie was GOOD! I quickly located some of her out of print cook books from a used book site and have slowly throughout the years been exploring my way through Fearless Baking and 125 Cookies: to Bake, Nibble, and Savor. These books too have offered truly original recipes and useful tips from Elinor. My favorite thus far is the Cranberry Caramel Buckle (and the Fig and Pine Nut cookies)!

So today, after my second midterm and Cicero, I decided to bake. I turned to Elinor, who is always there with something good to try. And sadly, today I was (for the first time) disappointed. With limited ingredients on hand, I searched my books for something simple and found the Caramel Crunch Butter Cookies. The recipe includes a sweet anecdote about this being the first cookie she made on her own. Plus it had caramel, something I adore! This had to be the cookie that would melt my troubles away...

It turns out that this cookie is sickeningly sweet and needs more cookie and less caramel. Somehow, somewhere, the sugar must be decreased. The butteryness of the cookie was lost to the melted caramel in the cookie and there was no crunch. Instead they were chewy, and not in a good way. Elinor, Elinor, where did you go wrong?

CARAMEL CRUNCH BUTTER COOKIES

Adapted from Elinor Klivan 125 Cookies: to Bake, Nibble, and Savor

1 c. sugar

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Line a 1" rimmed metal baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place 1/2 c. sugar in  a heavy bottom pan and cook sugar over low heat. When sugar begins to melt increase heat to medium and cook until amber in color, watch closely. When the sugar is completely melted and caramelized pour onto parchment-lined sheet and let cool until it is hardened; approximately 15-30 mins. (CAUTION: the caramel is very hot!) When the caramel is completely cooled, wrap it in the parchment and using a mallet, heavy skillet, or rolling pin, crush the caramel into 1/4" pieces. Yields approximately 1/2 c.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Sift flour and baking powder and set aside.

5. Cream butter, remaining 1/2 c. sugar and vanilla on medium speed in an electric mixer. Decrease speed to low and add half the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Add 2 tbs. water, mixing until just blended into dough. Add remaining flour and mix until just incorporated. Stir in crushed caramel pieces. Using a level tablespoon of batter for each cookie, place mounds of batter 2 1/2" apart on the baking sheets.

6. Bake until edges and bottoms are golden and cookies flatten, 14- 16 mins. Reverse the baking sheets after 7 mins, to ensure that the cookies cook evenly. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 min. then transfer to a cooling rack.

Yields: 22-24 cookies

Salve!