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Sfogliatelle

09 Saturday Feb 2019

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, baking, books, family, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

baking, cake boss, sfogliatelle

He had me at this statement:
“Unless you are a professional baker and an accomplished one at that, you probably shouldn’t try to make these. I’ve seen grown men brought to the brink of tears trying to make sfogliatelle.”
Thus was the introduction to the Sfogliatelle recipe in Buddy Valastro’s Cake Boss cookbook so I absolutely had to try it. I would be meeting Buddy Valastro at his Cake Boss tour in Raleigh NC, 2011, and wanted to tell him that at least I tried.

My son and I truly enjoyed the intensity of this recipe process. Buddy was right, it’s not for the faint of heart and you need a really BIG table. I covered our wood dining room table with a plastic tablecloth so we would have enough space.

1

Holding the sfogliatelle dough after it went through the pasta machine.

Starting Buddy Valastro’s “The Cake Boss” sfogliatelle dough. We put the sfogliatelle dough through the pasta rollers about a dozen times, sometimes folding it in half, until the texture seemed right.

2

Beginning to stretch the long strip of sfogliatelle dough.

Here we begin to stretch the sfogliatelle dough.

3

Continuing to stretch the sfogliatelle dough.

Stretching the sfogliatelle dough.

4

The dough gets thinner.

Stretching the sfogliatelle dough. The recipe is on page 175 of Buddy Valastro’s “Cake Boss” book.

5

Stretching sfogliatelle dough.

We had to be so very careful to not poke holes through the dough

6

Stretching the thicker edges of the sfogliatelle dough.

Stretching the edges of the sfogliatelle dough.

7

The sfogliatelle dough felt incredible, like cool, soft velvet.

It’s hard to believe this dough was made from just flour and water with a little sea salt. Amazing! It had a cold velvety texture and was super drapey and soft.

8

Checking the thinness of the sfogliatelle dough.

The dough is almost thin enough! We had to take that little strip from the pasta machine and stretch it to 7′ by 2 feet. It hung over the ends of the table.

9

Not too many holes in the dough. Yay!

Sfogliatelle dough, stretched and thin enough with not too many holes. My son Noah and I are elated that we did it.

10

Spreading shortening by hand and rolling the dough.

Beginning to roll the dough. Noah spreads shortening completely across the dough as I roll it.

11

Continuing to roll the sfogliatelle dough.

Continuing to roll the dough. We cut the two foot roll into two pieces and put them on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator to bake the next afternoon.

12

Slicing the long roll of sfogliatelle dough.

The roll of sfogliatelle dough is sliced 3/4″ thick for the beginning of Lobster Tails.

13

Pressing the dough out like a telescope to make the cones for filling.

Pressing the dough out like a telescope, the dough is formed into a cone.

14

Piping the pate a choux pastry into each cone of sfogliatelle dough.

Pate a Choux (Cream Puff dough) is piped into each cone of dough. It was quite a challenge piping filling into all the bent ones. They looked like mummy-strangled popovers, with filling oozing out all the cracks.
The suspense is building, isn’t it? All that flaky goodness is surely going to be something amazing? Well… see the next photo.

15

hahaha our super crispy and flakey sfogliatelle are all wonky!

Ha ha ha ha! All our Lobster Tails burst! They look seriously deformed. We were ROFL over them. But they actually are extraordinarily light and crispy with a blizzard of shattering crumbs with each bite.

16.

A sugar-dusted, crispy, light, amazing Sfogliatelle, recipe from The Cake Boss cookbook.

Sugar-dusted Lobster Tail. Recipe from the Cake Boss cookbook. 3 days to make, 7 luxurious minutes to eat, 8 seconds to lick the fluffy, Italian Cream Custard Filling and last crispy crumb off the plate.

I took a small container filled with the best of the sfogliatelle to Buddy Valastro’s show. He was so charming and entertaining and awesome! A genuine good-hearted soul. After his show, we stood in line for our chance to meet Buddy and get a picture taken with him. The line moved fairly quickly.
As soon as it was our turn to meet Buddy, I opened my bin to show him my attempt at Sfogliatelle. The first thing he said was “Those smell good!” He picked one up and held it and studied it and said “It’s so light!” I was so happy! I asked him what we did wrong to make them all burst at the seams and he told me we rolled the dough too thin, to keep it thicker next time and to not push the cone out too much so there was more overlap of the strips. I got the impression that he would have loved to talk a lot longer about making good sfogliatelle but other guests were waiting in line for their photo with him. I would have loved to talk for hours about pastry! We got our picture and I walked out feeling so encouraged. It was a fantastic experience.

Meeting Buddy Valastro after his Cake Boss show in Raleigh NC 2011.

For years I kept one sfogliatelle in the freezer because “That’s the sfogliatelle that was touched and blessed by Buddy Valastro!” haha That was the only time I’ve ever made sfogliatelle but I’m thinking of giving it another go.

I raise a toast to the true Cake Boss.

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In Lieu of Luke’s Diner – Sugar Crusted Orange Ginger Muffins

05 Wednesday Oct 2016

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, allsparkledup, baking, family, food, recipe, tea time

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

baking, food, Gilmore Girls, Luke's Diner, muffins, recipe

The plan was to get a free cup of hot coffee from “Luke’s Diner” in town. Commemorating the 16th anniversary of Gilmore Girls, and to celebrate the upcoming debut of a Gilmore Girls mini series, Netflix sponsored pop-up “Luke’s Diner” in coffee shops all over the country. Oh my goodness, I love that show!

I had every intention of going and really looked forward to it. In fact, I even walked toward the line and snapped a picture. What a special event in town!

"Luke's Diner" pop-up at one of the local coffee shops

“Luke’s Diner” pop-up at one of the local coffee shops

But then I started to miss my own “Rory” so much that I had to leave. If I had stayed, I feared I would have started to cry and end up blubbering something like “Will you please be my daughter? I miss my daughter! Anyone in this line, can I please be your Lorelai because my daughter lives halfway to China and I’m missing her so much and we watched Gilmore Girls together when she was going to college and HOW can I possibly get a cup of coffee that we would have shared but can’t because she’s halfway to China??” If I had stayed, I totally would have done that. 0_0

So I left without coffee, immediately went home and did a Sookie thing – I whipped up some Sugar Crusted Orange Ginger Muffins and cried the entire time. I sure did.

Sugar Crusted Orange Ginger Muffin

Sugar Crusted Orange Ginger Muffin

I made up this recipe years ago, just because I needed a batter that fit in the big, new muffin tins. I still use my favorite batter-scooping spoon, even though the handle is broken.

Scooping the muffin batter with the broken spoon, just because it's the perfect size and shape for scooping.

Scooping the muffin batter with the broken spoon, just because it’s the perfect size and shape for scooping.

Sugar Crusted Orange Ginger Muffins

Sift together in a large bowl:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cardamom

Mix together in another bowl:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup oil
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp grated orange rind

Mix together in another bowl:
3/4 cup raisins (I like golden best but any raisin will do)
3/4 cup candied ginger cut up into little pieces (I never buy the precut ginger because it has too much sugar sprinkled on it. All that extra sugar changes the texture of the recipe. It’s better to buy candied, sliced ginger and cut it up yourself with scissors.)

Dump the egg mixture into the flour mixture and quickly stir with a whisk or wooden spoon about 5 or 6 strokes. Mixture will be lumpy and NOT mixed together.

Dump in the raisins and ginger.

Stir quickly and thoroughly but briefly using a wood spoon or whisk. Mixture will be lumpy. Make sure you scrape the dry ingredients off the bottom of the bowl while mixing. If the batter gets rubbery and stretchy, you mixed it too long and the muffins might be tough. Anyway, drop spoonfuls of batter into greased, large muffin tins.

Sprinkle tops with coarse sugar crystals.

BAKE at 400F for 20-25 minutes.

Makes 12 large muffins.

Spicy bits of crystalized ginger and raisins stud this ginger & cardamom muffin.

Spicy bits of crystalized ginger and raisins stud this ginger & cardamom muffin.


After I had two cups of good strong coffee and a muffin, I felt better. But since I miss my daughter so much, I’m declaring it Official Wallowing Day. Truly. At least once a year I just need a good wallow.

I miss you and love you, Heather. <3
And Texas just seems like half-way to China. ;)

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It’s a BFN Day! Yay!

27 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, baking, Baking for Neighbors, BFN, community, food

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

baking, Baking for Neighbors, BFN, bread, community, food, Sourdough Grain Bread

You can read more about Baking for Neighbors Day on this post. Today was BFN for the 4th neighbor and I sure enjoyed it!

It has been a long time since I baked for neighbors. I got a bit derailed when we got an anonymous note in the mailbox over a year ago. An anonymous neighbor put a pretty blue envelope in our mailbox. Inside was a cute card with dogs on the front. And inside the card was written “Keep your #$%&* dog out of our yard. We’re tired of it dragging your recycled beer bottles into our yard too. You’ll be glad to know that we’re moving because of you. #*#%@ “… etc.

If that neighbor knew us, they would have known that we’ve never owned a dog. They would know that we don’t drink and we do our own recycling so there are no bins of bottles. If our neighbor knew us, they would have known that I broke my back and was doing a great job of recovering. And they would have known how much I love to bake.

So instead of being discouraged and scared of meeting that anonymous neighbor that hates us, I decided to keep going with Baking for Neighbors. Today I handed the fourth neighbor a loaf of steaming hot, fresh from the oven, Sourdough Grain Bread.

Sourdough Grain Bread

Sourdough Grain Bread

When I handed her the foil-wrapped bundle, she was surprised and delighted. That made me so happy! I guess she’s not the neighbor who put that note in our mailbox.

All wrapped in napkins and foil, tied with string - a big loaf of Sourdough Grain Bread fresh from the oven for neighbor 4.

All wrapped in napkins and foil, tied with string – a big loaf of Sourdough Grain Bread fresh from the oven for neighbor 4.

I’m all encouraged now to keep going with BFN Day! Four neighbors down, 67 to go. ::big smile::

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Meringue Breakfast Buns again

17 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, recipe

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Tags

baking, breakfast, brunch, eggs, food, meringue, Meringue Breakfast Buns, recipe

While it was freezing outside, this was going on in my oven this morning.

Savory Meringue Breakfast Buns in the oven

Savory Meringue Breakfast Buns in the oven


I posted about this before and you can find the recipe on my blog here.
They were soooo delicious. Oh the crunch! Oh the creamy! Something magical happens when you bake cheese on top of meringue. Please try it!
Meringue Breakfast Buns, served with banana drizzled with Tomato Marmalade.

Meringue Breakfast Buns, served with banana drizzled with Tomato Marmalade.

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More Christmas

26 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, Christmas, family, food, sparkling, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

baking, candy, Christmas, Christmas tree, cookies

I will be away for a bit but want to leave you with a couple photos. I’ll post more when I return.

Making gingerbread.

Making gingerbread.


Gingerbread snowmen with wood pick arms and raisin buttons.

Gingerbread snowmen with wood pick arms and raisin buttons.


Decorating gingerbread.

Decorating gingerbread.


The fun part of making cookies.

The fun part of making cookies.


Christmas 2014 7676
Christmas 2014 7681
Lots of sprinkles!

Lots of sprinkles!


Italian Sienese Nougat Candy

Italian Sienese Nougat Candy


Wrapping each little square of Sienese Nougat Candy in cellophane. Washi tape worked great.

Wrapping each little square of Sienese Nougat Candy in cellophane. Washi tape worked great.


Springerli. The rolling pin and cookie mold are from House on the Hill http://houseonthehill.net/index.php?p=home

Springerli. The rolling pin and cookie mold are from House on the Hill http://houseonthehill.net/index.php?p=home


The first cookie tray for the company office.

The first cookie tray for the company office.


Christmas 2014 7797
Christmas 2014 7798
My mom made the miniature tree under the cloche. I have several small forests of trees; this one is on top of the tall dining room book shelf.

My mom made the miniature tree under the cloche. I have several small forests of trees; this one is on top of the tall dining room book shelf.


We never see our tree lit until Christmas Eve. Every light in the house is turned off and the house is very dark. The light sets are turned on one by one according to the scripture. Here is the very first set, lighting the star at the top of the tree over the manger scene down below.

We never see our tree lit until Christmas Eve. Every light in the house is turned off and the house is very dark. The light sets are turned on one by one according to the scripture. Here is the very first set, lighting the star at the top of the tree over the manger scene down below.


With a completely fused spine, I'm unable to get down to floor level to look through my camera lens so focus is hit or miss. But I love this photo and I can identify with a clueless sheep. Yet my Lord still watches over me tenderly.

With a completely fused spine, I’m unable to get down to floor level to look through my camera lens so focus is hit or miss. But I love this photo and I can identify with a clueless sheep. Yet my Lord still watches over me tenderly.


The tree completely lit about 40 minutes later, Christmas Eve.

The tree completely lit later Christmas Eve. We didn’t have time to put the ornaments on so there are very few. But the lights make the tree lovely!

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Dessert Tea

15 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, baking, birthday, family, food, party, projects, tea time

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Tags

All Sparkled Up, baking, dessert, dessert table, food, party, Rosanna, tablescape, tea time

The timing was right… It was Rosanna’s 8th Annual Tablescape Contest, my daughter-in-law’s birthday, and I was finally healed enough to tackle an ambitious baking event. What better way to celebrate all three than with a Dessert Tea!

1 Dessert Table

Dessert Tea table setting

Here is the table before I started adding all the desserts. I made the tablecloth from an old bedspread with fringed edge. (You can see scraps from that old tattered bedspread in the photos of Tea by the Sea. Crafters don’t waste any scrap. Ha!)

I adore Rosanna’s style and was hoping to enter her 2013 tablescape contest last summer. But we didn’t get the remodel done in time and I wasn’t very mobile back then. The china cabinet was emptied so we could move it around and all the china was stacked on two tables in the living room. That’s when I got the idea for a blue and white and yellow theme for a table.

This year, I thought about the Dessert Table theme for weeks. Each time I got an idea, I added it to my notes.
2 Dessert Tea notes

4 Dessert Tea Centerpiece

Four elegant mugs on a dessert pedestal hold the floral centerpiece.

After I decided on the serving dishes, I wrote a list of tasks, desserts and a tentative baking schedule.
3 Dessert Tea schedule
There were two main focal points for the table, Rosanna’s elegant Luxe Moderne mugs for the centerpiece, and her La Mode fashion plates.
I used four of Rosanna’s mugs on a vintage dessert pedestal to make the centerpiece. I was so excited about this design. It has a lot of potential and I plan on using four mugs as a centerpiece base for other tablescapes.

Sugar cookies were painted following Rosanna’s designs on her mugs. I wrote about the cookies here. It was challenging to paint the designs! I have new respect for Rosanna’s design skill.
5 Gilded dress cookies
The fashion plates are so pretty!
6 Rosanna Inc La Mode plates

7 Napkins hung like little dresses

These are not dresses, they are napkins! Small squares of fabric folded are diagonally and draped over a miniature hanger. A bit of ribbon and trim… and you have sweet petite dresses!

9 Tiered server with various trays

This server was made to accommodate round plates. But rectangle platters made for more interest.


This tiered server used to be bright red, yellow and blue but I painted it all white with acrylic paint. Instead of using round plates on the server, I used two rectangle trays on the bottom. It looked great!

12 Layered desserts

Dessert Tea – Layered Desserts with Vanilla Bean Cake, Raspberry Mousse and Orange Gelatin with Raspberry and Mandarin Orange Slice.

To continue the fashion theme, I cut 6″ to 8″ squares of fabric for petite tea napkins and fringed the edges. Each napkin was folded and draped over hangers to look like dresses. Most were folded diagonally. Each was tied at the “waist” with ribbon, a little flower tucked in the waist and a small piece of trim was draped over the top to look like a collar.

I made the miniature hangers from pieces of coat hanger cut with wire cutters. One coat hanger made three miniature hangers. The metal cake stand was perfect from which to hang the napkin dresses.
8 Little coat hangers

The tea service was on the back of the table, behind the desserts. I wrote how I made the Sugar Bonnets here.
10 Dessert Tea tea service
On the tiered server, top to bottom: Spritz, squares of Fudge and Shortbread, Butter Cookie Dresses.
11 Dessert on three tiers
I experimented with a new baking pan to make the Layered Desserts. They were delicious and so pretty! I will post the recipe some time.

The Layered Desserts looked perfect on the long rectangular tray.
13 Layered desserts
I also made a Lemon Orange Cheesecake topped with Pineapple and a Marmalade Glaze. So delicious!
14 Pineapple Orange Cheesecake

16 Cherry Tarts

Dessert Tea – I didn’t have time to make round pastry shells. It was quick and easy to cut squares with a pizza cutter and place the pie pastry in the tart pan.

19 Dessert table

Dessert Tea – a table set with a delicious assortment of desserts: Layered Desserts, White Chocolate Praline Cake, Pineapple Marmalade Cheesecake, Cherry Tarts, Spritz Cookies, Fudge, Scottish Shortbread, Butter Dress Cookies, Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Macadamia Frosting, Honeydew Melon Balls with Blueberries and a bowl of Cherries.

20 Fabric napkin folded to look like a dress on a hanger

Dessert Tea – napkins folded diagonally and hung on a miniature hanger, tied with ribbon and draped with lace.

Two bowls held Honeydew Melon balls and Blueberries and Cherries, garnished with fresh mint.
15 Fresh cherries honeydew melon and blueberries
Cherry Tarts were on a glass dish.

I only had four covered glass dishes but that was enough to place four Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel and Macadamia Frosting.
17 Chocolate Cupcakes with Caramel Macadamia Frosting
The birthday cake was a White Chocolate Praline Cake with homemade Strawberry Raspberry Jam topping.
18 White Chocolate Praline Cake
All together, the table looked lovely and the event was a huge success!

I submitted my photos and won an honorable mention in the tablescape contest… happy face! =)
My daughter-in-law was thrilled with her birthday, the girls loved the dress napkins and all our guests enjoyed the delicious desserts.
And it was the perfect event to celebrate the return of my health and stamina after such a long recovery. A sweet day indeed!

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Meringue Breakfast Buns

31 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, recipe

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

baking, breakfast, eggs, food, meringue, Meringue Breakfast Buns, recipe

So much has happened since I last posted. I’m sorry for the long delay. Please accept my apologies. Some bloggers have trouble coming up with topics to write about but my problem is I’ve got too much.

One thing I’ve been busy with is cooking and baking. I didn’t cook or bake much for almost three years so I’m thrilled to be back in the kitchen again!

My mom was visiting and I didn’t have anything special for breakfast except for day old buns and eggs. So I whipped up these Meringue Breakfast Buns. They were delicious and perfect for guests.

Meringue Breakfast Buns - an egg yolk in a bun topped with cheesy meringue, served with Balsamic Cucumber Raspberry relish and sour cream.

Meringue Breakfast Buns – an egg yolk in a bun topped with cheesy meringue, served with Balsamic Cucumber Raspberry relish and sour cream.

You can make any quantity you want, but I like to make a dozen at a time and refrigerate the leftovers to eat cold for lunch the next day. The cheese won’t be crisp anymore but they are still delicious. They’re great for breakfast on the run too.

MERINGUE BREAKFAST BUNS

Ingredients:

~ 12 small rolls, about the size of a small muffin or cupcake. This is a good time to use day-old rolls too.
~ 12 egg yolks
~ 3 or 4 egg whites (reserve the remaining egg whites for some other recipe)
~ 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
~ Olive oil (optional)
~ About 1 cup grated cheese, any kind
~ Salt and pepper
~ Dried or fresh herbs of your choice
~ Herb dipping oil (optional)

Start by preparing the rolls. This can be done the night before if you want to save time in the morning. Use a small paring knife to cut a piece out of the bottom of the rolls or buns. The portion I cut out looks like a shallow little cone. You don’t need to cut much out, just enough for an egg yolk with a little cheese. Place the rolls cut side up in a muffin tin. Brush the inside with olive oil if you want. I’ve used olive oil or softened butter or nothing and they’re all good.

Slip one egg yolk in each bun.

Sprinkle the egg yolk with a little grated cheese and herbs of your choice.

Sprinkle the egg yolk with a little grated cheese and herbs of your choice.

To make a dozen Meringue Breakfast Buns, you’ll need a dozen egg yolks but only 3 or 4 egg whites. [Note: Save the rest of the egg whites for another recipe or cook them in a skillet to make Roulades, shown further down this post.]
Beat 3 or 4 egg whites with 1/8 tsp cream of tartar until fluffy. The meringue won’t look the same or peak the same as a dessert meringue that has added sugar. Don’t worry, it will still bake nicely on top of the buns.

Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the meringues.

Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the meringues.

Sprinkle a little grated cheese on top of each egg yolk. Add a little sprinkle of herbs over each yolk.

Use a spoon to spread meringue over each egg yolk. Cover the top completely.

Sprinkle more cheese and salt and pepper over the top of each meringue.

Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the meringues.

Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the meringues.

Here you can see I left some meringues without cheese.
4 Meringue Breakfast Buns
5 Meringue Breakfast Buns
Cheddar cheese is great but I’m partial to asiago.

Grated asiago and dried herbs sprinkled over the egg yolk in the bun.

Grated asiago and dried herbs sprinkled over the egg yolk in the bun.

7 Meringue Breakfast Buns

Look at all that fluffy meringue!

Look at all that fluffy meringue!

Brush the leftover cutouts from the rolls with herb dipping oil and place them on a cookie sheet to bake at the same time as the Meringue Buns.

The little cutouts from the rolls are brushed with herb dipping oil and baked in on a separate pan.

The little cutouts from the rolls are brushed with herb dipping oil and baked in on a separate pan.

When picking buns to use, make sure they are small enough to be placed in the muffin tin. For this batch, the buns were bigger so they touched and barely fit in the pan.
10 Meringue Breakfast Buns
If the buns are a tight squeeze, try not to let the meringues touch when you spread the tops.

Try not to let the meringues touch so they can be separated easy after baking.

Try not to let the meringues touch so they can be separated easy after baking.

Both Meringue topped buns and the small roll cutouts are baked at the same time at 375 degrees. The cutouts will be done after about 10 minutes but the buns stay in longer. (In this photo, I baked the cutouts and slices of leftover buns to make croutons for a future use.)
All ovens are different. In my oven, a LIQUID center egg yolk takes 15 minutes, a SOFT BOILED egg yolk takes 16 minutes, and a HARD BOILED egg yolk takes 17 minutes. If you’re going to eat these cold the next day, bake 16 or 17 minutes.

Bake brushed roll pieces for 10 minutes at 375. Bake Meringue Buns for 15 minutes for a liquid center yolk, 16 minutes for a soft-boiled yolk and 17 minutes for a hard-boiled yolk.

Bake brushed roll pieces for 10 minutes at 375. Bake Meringue Buns for 15 minutes for a liquid center yolk, 16 minutes for a soft-boiled yolk and 17 minutes for a hard-boiled yolk.

The cheesy topping on these is amazing! It forms a delicious crispy shell on top of the meringue!
13 Meringue Breakfast Buns
14 Meringue Breakfast Buns
15 Meringue Breakfast Buns

Fun to eat and Yummy!

Fun to eat and Yummy!

17 Meringue Breakfast Buns

Egg White Roulade
I spread the leftover, fluffy beaten egg whites in a medium hot skillet, lightly greased with olive oil, about 1″ thick and sprinkled herbs and pepper over the surface. When the bottom was golden, I flipped the egg white over till it was golden brown. The hot baked egg white was sprinkled with cheese and rolled up.

The cooked egg white rolled up.

The cooked egg white rolled up.

19 Meringue Breakfast Buns

20 Meringue Breakfast Buns

Meringue Breakfast Buns, with crisp cheese-topped meringue and hot, liquid egg yolk inside.

To make the Cucumber Raspberry Relish, I simply diced a cucumber with raspberries and tossed the mixture with balsamic vinegar, boiled apple cider and a little salt and pepper. It was so good with the eggs!

Meringue Breakfast Buns, hot from the oven, served with Cucumber Raspberry Relish and Sour Cream.

Meringue Breakfast Buns, hot from the oven, served with Cucumber Raspberry Relish and Sour Cream.

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

14 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in American Girl Dolls, baking, dolls, food, Uncategorized, Valentine's Day

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

American Girl dolls, baking, cookies, dolls, Valentine's Day

American Girl dolls, Kit, Nellie and Josefina, bake Valentine cookies together.

American Girl dolls, Kit, Nellie and Josefina, bake Valentine cookies together.

Last year we made shortbread hearts. You can see that post with the recipe here.
https://allsparkledup.com/2013/02/20/we-finished-off-the-valentines-day-cookies/
Today I’m baking cherry raspberry tarts. It was Valentine’s Day 1974 and I arrived home from school to a wonderful surprise. My mom had made heart-shaped tarts filled with a pink fluffy cherry filling of cherry jello and cool whip. Ever since then, my must-have Valentine’s dessert is tarts… but I’ve never made them. I was always too busy or didn’t have the ingredients. I’ve made cherry tarts just a handful of times all these years but never on Valentine’s Day. Today will be the day!

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all! May your day be full of sweetness that lingers in the most pleasant way.

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The first BFN Day… To the First Neighbor, I took Butterflake Herb Rolls

04 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, Baking for Neighbors, BFN, community, food, Inspirational, recipe, Uncategorized

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Tags

baking, Baking for Neighbors, BFN, bread, community, food, neighborhood, neighbors, recipe

And also to the Second Neighbor!

It started several weeks ago. I don’t like admitting this, especially to myself, but my recovery seems sooooo s. l. o. w.! sigh. (I actually sighed after typing that sentence.) I broke my back on July 16th, 2012 and got scoliosis surgery in October. It’s been over a year. So come on, what’s with this tedious recovery? Alas, my research proves that I’m normal and doing well. But it still takes me days to recover from a simple outing because riding in a vehicle is just not friendly to my concrete spine. Not yet.

On the plus side, my stamina is better than it’s been in years. I’m tackling long overdue tasks, such as sorting through bins of old papers and organizing shelves. I’m rearranging rooms and overseeing remodeling. And I’m back in the kitchen cooking and baking. But I want to do more. I want to be involved in Community.

Since I can’t get out easy, I’ve decided to serve my own neighborhood. I call the service …

BFN – Baking for Neighbors.

Instead of bye for now, my BFN is Baking for Neighbors. I think there are 71 houses in my neighborhood. I barely know four of them so just one or two at a time, I’m going to bake something for all my neighbors. Baking for Neighbors will give me an excuse to bake, encouragement to walk outside (which is still slow and painful), and I’ll get to meet new people. It’s a win-win situation!

Several days ago I declared my first BFN Day. I took Butterflake Herb Rolls. This recipe has been in my family for decades. It was from an old Pillsbury Bake-Off cookbook my mom had. I wrote up the recipe on a blank card, which is now all stained from use.

Butterflake Herb Loaf recipe

Butterflake Herb Loaf recipe

Herb Butter Recipe

Herb Butter Recipe

I rarely make these rolls so I’m not sure why I started with them. It just seemed like the right recipe and I was at peace. And they are delicious! With each recipe I pick, I’m going to pray that it will be ok with the neighbor and perhaps even be just what they need.

Butterflake Herb Rolls

Most yeasts no longer needs proofed but I did it anyway. 4 1/2 tsp (two packets) of yeast are softened in 1/4 cup warm water.

Dry yeast is sprinkled on warm water.

Dry yeast is sprinkled on warm water.

In a large mixing bowl, place 1/3 cup shortening, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tbsp salt and 1 cup hot scalded milk. Cool to lukewarm.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-2

Blend in 2 eggs and the softened yeast. I also mix in two cups of the flour at this point and beat till the batter is smooth. Gradually add 2 1/2 to 3 more cups of flour.

BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-3

The first two cups of flour are beaten in, making a nice smooth batter.

On a floured surface…. And here I pause. I wonder if all bakers enjoy sprinkling a surface with flour. There’s just something magical about scattering that soft powder over the counter and then spreading and smoothing it out with your bare hands. I love the dusty flour on my hands.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-4
Knead the dough on a floured surface till smooth and satiny. This was the first time in over two years that I kneaded dough so I ran out of steam fast. I wasn’t able to get it to “smooth and satiny” but it still turned out.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-5
I put the dough in a greased bowl and place it in the cold oven. Then I turn on the oven light. The light from the lightbulb is enough heat for the dough to rise. While the dough is raising, I make the herb butter. I usually leave out the onion and just used fresh or dried garlic. Sometimes I add a little more of everything if I want a stronger herb roll.

BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-6

We were out of Cayenne Pepper so I scraped the last little bit of Chipotle Pepper from the jar. There was about 1/8 tsp. We were out of fresh garlic too so I ground up dried garlic with a mortar and pestle.

I used to use a saucer and cut around the rolled-out dough with a sharp knife to make nice tidy circles. But it’s a lot faster to just use a bench knife to divide the dough up into little pieces. I cut the dough in half, then half again, etc until the lumps of dough are about the size of a small egg, about 32 rolls.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-7
Each piece of dough is rolled out flat. It doesn’t matter if the piece is perfectly round or not. Herb butter is spread on half the dough piece and then it is folded in half.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-8
Herb butter is again spread on the top each folded roll and then they are slightly overlapped on a parchment covered baking sheet.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-9
The loaf is left to raise. Again, I put them back in the oven and let it stay warm with just the oven light on.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-10
After they raised about double in size, the loaves are taken out of the warm oven and the oven is preheated to 350F. Then they are baked for 20 to 25 minutes.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-11
For giving, I placed a hot loaf, fresh from the oven, on a paper napkin on a sturdy paper plate and wrapped it in foil. And then I carried it next door. :)

I asked the first neighbor if I could take a picture of her holding the plate and she didn’t mind. The reason the foil is left on is because the rolls are keeping warm. But most important of all, it’s NOT about the rolls, it’s about the neighbor. The hands in this photo are more important than what’s on the plate. I want to keep it that way.
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-12
Blessings to you, Neighbor 1!
And here is the second neighbor. Blessing to you too, Neighbor 2!
BFN 1 Butterflake Herb Rolls-13

I don’t know if they’ll ever see this blog. But I was so happy to finally be able to do something for my neighbors.

I shall be posting all my BFN days. 2 down, 69 to go.

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Crust-Lover’s Apple Pie

02 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in baking, food, recipe

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

apple pie, baking, dessert, food, king arthur flour, pie crust, recipe, williams sonomas

Sometimes a gal just needs more crust.

Crust-Lover's Apple Pie

Crust-Lover’s Apple Pie

I very loosely follow the recipe in this 2003 cookbook. Here is a similar recipe Williams Sonomas’ Apple Pie, but I use more apples, more brown sugar and less or no white sugar, triple the cinnamon, a little ginger and nutmeg. I don’t measure the filling ingredients. For the past 35 years, I’ve always used an assortment of apples in pies for better flavor, usually a couple Granny Smith for tartness, a couple Macintosh for extra apple-i-ness, and Rome or Gala for structure.

I discovered King Arthur Flour’s thickener – Pie Filling Enhancer, so now my pies aren’t soup-in-a-crust. The Emile Henry ruffled pie dishes are gorgeous and make any pie look extra delicious. The dishes also bake a better crispy crust than normal glass dishes.

But the crust… oh the crust! The recipe is probably in some cookbook somewhere because there are only so many ways to make a pie crust with few ingredients. It started out as a Good Housekeeping recipe and slowly morphed into a WS recipe with a couple tweaks.

Pie Crust

Whisk together:
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour (I always use King Arthur flour – it has the best flavor and is always consistent)
About 1/4 tsp salt
About 1 tsp sugar
Using a pastry blender, cut in:
2/3 shortening (NOT butter flavor stuff, just the regular white shortening)
1/3 cup unsalted butter
Cut in the shortening and butter at the same time till dough is craggy. If you cut the fats in too little, there will be too much flour when you stir in the water, making a glutenous, stretchy tough mess. If you cut the fats in too much, the fats will coat all the flour, basically greasing it, so you can’t add the water. At that point, your pastry will fall apart when you bake it. So the right amount of cutting-in has some small baby pea-size pieces of butter at the most but mostly looks like a lumpy powder.
Stir in with a fork:
About 6 tablespoons cold water. Sometimes you’ll need more if your house is extra dry, which drys out the flour too. But usually 6 or 7 tablespoons is enough. As you stir with the fork, the dough will almost lump together in one big mass. Press it together the rest of the way. There will still be little bits of yellow butter. That’s good because those bits mean a flaky pastry! Never knead the dough or it will get tough.
At this point, you can chill the dough to use later. I’m usually in a hurry and just roll the dough out between two pieces of floured plastic wrap for pie crust as usual.

Today my back was hurting wicked fierce and I had completely run out of decorative-edging patience. I didn’t do my usual pretty scalloped edging. I didn’t neatly trim the excess pastry from around the pie. I didn’t make cute cutouts for the top. With zero finesse I flopped the excess pastry on top of the vanilla-sugar-sprinkled pie and had one of the boys heft them into the oven.

This suits me fine. I’ve been known to make a pie crust, roll it out flat on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake. Eaten as is. So this pie, with it’s splendid mass of buttery pastry, meets my crust lovin’ appetite today. And the scrumptious apple filling is a bonus!

Cheers!

Just look at all that yummy pastry! Truly a crust-lover's pie.

Just look at all that yummy pastry! Truly a crust-lover’s pie.

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