The most time consuming part of making an apple pie is prepping the fruit. The apples need to be cored, peeled and sliced – and when you’re talking about 6 or more apples, that turns into quite a bit of work! This is the reason that tools like fruit wedgers exist, to make it even easier to slice up those apples (or any similar sized fruit) once they are otherwise ready to go. This particular tool, the Dial-a-Slice Fruit Corer and Wedger has an unusual feature to it: you can adjust the size of the slices because there are two sets of blades, so you’re not stuck with one size of fruit slice. It’s funny how a simple change like this can really expand your options and make a tool a little more useful. The Dial-a-Slice cuts either 8 thick wedges or 16 thin ones. Use the thin wedges for cakes, tarts, muffins and other quick cooking desserts. The thicker wedges are better for pies and cobblers, but you can use a mix of thick and thin if you like to have a variety of slightly crisp thick pieces and ultra-tender thin ones in your desserts.
Pearl sugar is a type of specialty sugar that is often used in baking in Scandinavia and a few other countries in Northern Europe. The sugar is not completely round, like real pearls, but it comes in large round-ish chunks of sugar. The most remarkable thing about this type of sugar is that it doesn’t melt easily when exposed to moisture or to high heat, meaning that you can mix it into some cookies for a little crunch or sprinkle it on top of a cake and the sugar will stay put (and stay very visible) as you bake. Pearl sugar can be found in different sizes, varying primarily by brand. Some are the size of large sea salt flakes, while others are more like peas or macadamia nuts. For me, the smaller sizes tend to me more versatile because they can double as sprinkles for baking.
At a glance, pearl sugar resembles sugar cube pieces. Sugar cubes are compressed blocks of sugar that are designed to dissolve easily in hot liquid. The individual grains of sugar are not held tightly together. Pearl sugar is much more heavily compacted, which is why it does not melt easily during baking. Mixing pearl sugar into baked goods will give them soem extra sweetness and crunch. Sprinkling it over the top of a bread or pastry will do the same, and will also give your baked good a nice finishing look.
You won’t find pearl sugar in just any market – not unless you live in Scandinavia, Belgium or some other country where it is commonly included in goodies – but you can find it at some specialty cooking stores, like Sur La Table, and at Scandinavian import stores, like the food section at Ikea. And, of course, you can also find it online.
I definitely like my muffins with a cup of coffee in the morning, and this muffin has a nice infusion of coffee on its own. Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins have a nice combination of coffee and cocoa, thanks to the inclusion of some instant espresso powder to the recipe. They also get a little extra hit of chocolate from the generous amount of chocolate chips stirred into them!
These are big muffins that, thanks to a thick batter, rise up well over the top of the muffin pan. They’re very satisfying as breakfast or as a snack. The muffins are also very soft, tender and moist inside, though the have a good firm feel to their muffin tops (not too soft, like a cupcake). Most muffins can be served warm or at room temperature, but I would definitely recommend serving these just warm enough that the chocolate is slightly melty when you take a bite.
Because of the chocolate chips, these are a little bit more chocolate than coffee on the mocha scale. The muffins aren’t too sweet, largely because of the coffee and cocoa powder in the batter, but I used milk chocolate chips to add some extra sweetness back into them. Dark chocolate will work, too, if you’re more a fan of that, though I definitely thought that milk chocolate worked very well for these. If you want to increase the coffee flavor in these, just double the amount of instant espresso powder (or Starbucks Via, which is what I used) in the recipe.
+Continue Reading
Irish food is much more than stews and soda breads, although they are some of the dishes that first come to mind when thinking about Irish cuisine. Irish Puddings, Tarts, Crumbles, and Fools is dedicated to the desserts of Ireland, and there certainly are a lot of good looking desserts in this book.
The book is divided up into six chapters by recipe type: Puddings, Tarts, Crisps & Crumbles, Fools & Flummeries, Tea Breads & Cakes, and Christmas treats. Each of these chapters starts off with a little introduction to the recipe type, why the recipes are popular and what types of recipes – and ingredients – you can expect to find in each category. The descriptions get even more specific when you turn to the individual recipes, as each is accompanied by a paragraph describing some of the history of the recipe or baking tips for it. The recipes are simply written and easy to follow. Many include a number of variations that will enable you to experiment with the recipe to suit your own tastes. There are plenty of beautiful pictures to inspire you to get into the kitchen, as well.
All the recipes call for Kerrygold Irish butter. Irish butter is European-style butter, which has a higher butterfat than your average American butter, so it tastes slightly creamier. It also has a very slight tang of cheese or buttermilk to it, which makes it taste richer. You can find it at some markets and at specialty stores, but you can also simply substitute regular butter into all of these recipes if you can’t find it. For me, while I like to use it in baking, I like it even more on toast (perhaps on Soda Bread!) and end up using it for that and run out before I use it strictly for baking.
