Steamy Kitchen» Sweets & Libations

Halloween Candy Inspired Cocktails

SteamyKitchen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:35:36 +0000

Snickertini.

Peppermint Pattini.

Starburst Martini.

Almond Joy Martini.

See this sexy woman right here? (my husband saw this photo and said, “cocktails? what cocktails?!”)

This is Jessie Jane Lee, a very talented bartender who helped me mix, taste test some fantastic drink recipes for Halloween.

Come read all about it and the get recipes on Steamy Kitchen on TLC!

Best Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

SteamyKitchen — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:29:20 +0000

I’ve never been a fan of scones until I met Kathy Winkler, the owner of a local cooking school that I used to teach at. One day, I walked in, arms full of ingredients to prep for a class I was teaching that evening and Kathy handed me blueberry scone that just came out of the oven. I almost didn’t try it, because the scones I knew were dry, dense, flavor-less and so hard you could use it as pumice stone.

So I stood there in the studio kitchen, wondering where I could hide this scone without Kathy seeing, and then she looked at me and said, “Try it! It’s still warm from the oven!”

Well, dang it. If I threw it out now, she’d notice. In fact, even if I was sly and just dropped it in the trash can, it would probably have clunked so loudly like a rock that she’s sure to hear. I grabbed a big glass of water as my chaser and broke into it with my hands.

Soft. Moist. Warm.

Then I took a bit. Ohhhhhh….moist, rich, delicate.

The moist, rich and delicate qualities has everything to do with mixing the scones by hand with a wooden spoon, which prevents you from over working the dough. Oh, um yeah, and maybe a little teeny tiny bit to do with the butter and sour cream in the recipe too.

One more thing, I’m going to confess that the original name for the lemon glaze is really lemon curd. But I have an unnatural phobia to the word “curd.” It just doesn’t sound appealing and if you try to feed my kids anything with the word curd in it, there’s a 99% chance that they’ll fling it back in your face.

Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze Recipe

These scones are made specifically with very little sugar, because the accompanying glaze provides all the sugar you need! If you’re making these scones and do not plan on either a glaze or jam, you can increase the amount of sugar if you’d like. But I totally recommend the glaze!

makes 12 scones

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
2 cups light sour cream
1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350F

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Cut in softened butter. Gently fold in the sour cream and vanilla. Fold in blueberries. Try not to over work the dough to keep the scones light and delicate. Scoop dough (about 1/2 cup) onto lightly greased cookie sheet and bake 30 minutes (depending on size) or until the tops are golden brown. Serve with the Lemon Glaze.

Lemon Glaze (or Lemon Curd) Recipe

3 lemons
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons butter

Zest the lemon with a microplane grater. Cut each lemon in half and juice the lemons. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, eggs and sugar. Whisk constantly and make sure the mixture does not come to a boil (or the eggs will curdle). When the mixture is hot, turn the heat to low and whisk in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue cooking on low for 6 minutes until the lemon glaze has thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.

Best Birthday Cakes Ever

SteamyKitchen — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:42:31 +0000

David Lebovitz, Deb Perelman and I shot this GoodBite.com video about Birthday Cakes to Die For last month, and I think I’m going change the title to Birthday Cakes to Live For because that’s the point of a birthday, isn’t it?!

And it just so happens that my birthday is tomorrow, and if I could have just one silly birthday wish, it would be a homemade birthday cake. Actually I wouldn’t mind one of each of these:

Birthday Cakes To Live For Roundtable

Barefoot Contessa’s Strawberry Country Cake

Last month, Andrew and Nathan made the same cake for Andrew’s own 6th birthday, except the little boys they requested fluffy marshmallows stuffed inside the cake! The boys insisted that THEY bake the cake and assigned me role of videographer.

But watch as Chef David of Forking Delicious shows you the grown up version of Barefoot Contessa’s Strawberry Country Cake.

Video: my boys bake Ina Garten’s Country Cake

SteamyKitchen — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:45:25 +0000

He knew EXACTLY what kind of cake he wanted for his 6th birthday.

And it sure wasn’t Mommy’s same old shortcut, store-bought cake mix crap.

You see, I’m so not a baker. I love my sweets…I just want someone else to bake it for me! The trouble with cooking for a living is that I’ve turned my boys into little gourmands who turn their noses at cake mix! Sheesh!

And a little confession…because I’ve been caught by my 6 year old:

I’ve used the SAME EXACT choo-choo train cake mold for BOTH boys every single year for their birthdays. Same exact brand and flavor of cake mix too. For a while, it didn’t matter…when the boys were itty bitty teeny weenies ages 1-4yrs, it didn’t matter because at that age all they cared about was CAKE! Anything with sprinkles, frosting, chocolate or copious amounts of sugar was okay with them.

Plus, I didn’t think they would remember that they’ve had the same cake year after year. I knew I could get away with it for their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th birthdays. #5 was a bit dicey, but thank goodness for the water balloon fights to distract him from the cake.

This year, for his 6th birthday, Andrew didn’t even want to take the chance that I would have anything to do with his cake. He declared that he and Nathan were going to bake his birthday cake by themselves and even told me, “no yucky cake mix, Mommy!”

Sheesh! Cake snobs!

So, the boys looked through my cookbooks and picked out Barefoot Contessa Strawberry Country Cake – we brought it over to my friend, Jan’s place. We celebrated two birthdays that day….Wilbur, Jan’s pot-bellied pig, turned 1 year old and Andrew turned 6.

The Birthday Boys

Video: Andrew & Nathan make Barefoot Contessa Strawberry Country Cake

Yes, they really do bake. I gave them verbal instructions, but it was hands-on all them making the cake. I was in charge of the video camera, they wouldn’t let me touch any of the ingredients!

Barefoot Contessa Strawberry Country Cake Recipe

recipe from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Parties! Cookbook. Of course, Andrew modified the cake to include sliced marshmallows…and since Nathan snuck and ate half of the strawberries, we had to supplement with fresh peaches too.

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

For the filling for each cake:
1 cup (1/2 pint) heavy cream, chilled
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter the bottom of two 8-inch cake pans. Then line them with parchment paper and butter and flour the lined pans.

Cream the butter and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, then the sour cream, zests, and vanilla, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine just until smooth.

Pour the batter evenly into the pans, smooth the tops, and bake in the center of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then remove to wire racks and let cool to room temperature. If using 1 cake, wrap the second well and freeze.

To make the filling for one cake, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until firm. Slice one of the cakes in half with a long, sharp knife. Place the bottom slice of the cake on a serving platter, spread with 1/2 the whipped cream and scatter with sliced strawberries. Cover with the top slice of the cake and spread with the remaining cream. Decorate with strawberries.

How Artisan Japanese Sake is Made

SteamyKitchen — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:32:45 +0000

Many of you know that Japanese sake is made from rice, but did you know that premium artisan sake is done mostly by hand? Very little machinery is used, which is why this is a true art form. I’m continuing my series on Premium Artisan Japanese Sake and this post is dedicated to telling the story of how the sake is made.

I didn’t think a slideshow was good enough — so I spent 6 hours putting this little movie togther for you. Yes, you heard right…6 glorious hours putting together a 10 minute video. It would have taken another 4 hours if all of the content wasn’t already there from my sake partner-in-crime, Vine Connections.

How Premium Japanese Sake is Made

(0:30) Just like wine, region matters for Japanese Sake. Each brewer comes from a different prefecture (or region) in Japan and its geography, climate and “recipe” all affect the final product.
(0:50) In its final bottled form, Japanese Sake is about 80% water, so the purity and quality of the water has a significant impact to the taste of the sake.
(1:17) The rice used for premium sake is different than table rice – many artisan brewers use Yamada Nishiki rice
(1:35) It’s all about the rice! See photos of the rice grains – from regular table rice to Ginjo rice to Daiginjo rice. Compare how different they look (shape and color.) Brewers use modern milling machines to remove the unwanted outer layers of the rice.
(3:00) After milling, the rice kernals are washed, soaked and then steamed
(3:44) Koji mold is sprinkled onto the rice to start the fermentation process to convert starch to sugar to alcohol. See how it’s done by hand!
(4:40) Photo of koji and rice after 48 hours – it smells faintly like sweet chestnuts
(4:50) Moto, a yeast starter is added and over 100 million yeast cells develops in just 1 teaspoon!
(5:07) Over 4 days, more koji, steamed rice and water is added and stirred by hand with long poles – impressive photo
(5:22) The carbon dioxide that bubbles up to the surface of the fermenting mixture or “moromi” is mixed back in through a crude foam beater
(5:33) The moromi is fermented at low temperatures – while industrial sake brewers can finish this in as little as 18 days, artisan brewers can take as long as 32 days to ferment
(6:00) See an artisan brewer’s sake press. Once the moromi is finished, the sake is pressed through this simple machine called “fune”
(6:41) An even more extravagent way of pressing sake is simply letting it drip down in hanging cotton bags through its own weight
(7:10) Extreme Sake?! Yes totally! This sake, called Divine Droplets is drip-pressed in a hand-made igloo built right outside of the brewery
(7:50) Pasteurization also done simply by hand and in small batches
(8:07) Learn how to read a sake label – the sake that Vine Connections imports all have a distinct label that tells you region, grade, type of rice and flavor profiles
(8:48) Fantastic new product called sparkling sake that I love! sake2me is made with premium junmai sake and infused with all-natural flavors.

Japanese Sake Posts

Here are other sections that we’ll be covering in the next few weeks

Japanese Sake Grades

How is Sake Made? (this post)

Artisan vs. Mass Produced Chart

Food and Sake Pairing

How to Read the Labels

How to Serve Sake

How to Have Sake Tasting at Home

What’s a fun, modern way to enjoy sake? Sparkling Sake: sake2me

Tasting Notes: Living Jewel

Tasting Notes: Divine Droplets Sake

Tasting Notes: Wandering Poet Sake

Tasting Notes: Snow Maiden Sake

Steamy Gifts For You

You still have a couple more days to enter my giveaway – I’ve actually got 3 giveaways going on:

A Club Med Vacation! (ends sometime Monday June 15th) HURRY!

$50 Sur La Table Gift Card Giveaway (ends on Tuesday June 16th 12pm EST)
Dr. BBQ Cookbook Giveaway (ends June 21st 12pm EST)