Archive for October, 2011
Apple pies are one of the most classic American pies out there, with a filling made up of brown sugar-sweetened tart apples and a variety of warm spices, all wrapped up in a buttery crust. Apple pies can come in other forms than just that classic double crust recipe, however, and just about all of them are covered in Apple Pie: 100 Delicious and Decidedly Different Recipes for America’s Favorite Pie. This cookbook is dedicated to apple pie and features 100 different recipes for apple pie alone. There are double crust pies, lattice crust pies, crumb-topped pies and filling combinations that you might never have thought of. It is amazing to see how many ways you can bake an apple pie, and reading through the book will definitely inspire you to bake a pie of your own.
The introduction to the book gives bakers a crash course on apple varieties. Choosing the right apple can make the difference between a so-so apple pie and a great one, and it’s very handy to have a reference that describes what sets a Braeburn apart from a Jonagold from a Northern Spy. The Northern Spy, for instance, is not easy to find in all markets and is primarily available in Michigan and New England, but is considered by many to be the best pie apple. From apples, the book moves on to 10 different types of pie crust that will suit any situation, as well as including tips on how to perfect your crust making technique. Then, the book jumps into the apple pie recipes, with fall pies, summer pies, cream pies, health(ier) pies, special occasion pies, hand pies and no-bake pies that kids will love. The recipes are clearly written with lots of detail in the instructions, especially when it comes to working with the pie pastry, and just about every ingredient used in the book should be available at most markets.
There are several illustrations in the book to guide the reader through some pie-making steps, such as assembling a lattice pie crust, but there are only a handful of photos in the center of the book. Fortunately, all of the recipes have brief descriptions that make them sound tempting even without a photo on the facing page. The best part of this book is the variety, and the most difficult part is trying to figure out which recipe to try first. Wherever you start, you’ll look at a bunch of apples a bit differently after flipping through the book because it will seem like there are a whole lot more options for them than there were before.
Sweet chocolate and salty-sweet peanut butter will always be a winning combination in my book, and these Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes are a great example of it. These bite-sized cupcakes were inspired by the desire to add even more chocolate to a chocolate-covered peanut butter cup. The cupcakes each have a whole mini chocolate covered peanut butter cup (I used Reese’s, but there are plenty of brands that make similar sized candies) inside of a brownie-like chocolate cake batter. This gives you a good dose of chocolate, a good dose of peanut butter, and a baked good that manages to have the perfect ratio of those two elements.
To make these, I whipped up a relatively small batch of a fudgy chocolate cake batter. I filled each mini muffin cup almost half way up with batter, then pressed a miniature peanut butter cup into the center. The miniature peanut butter cups are the snack sized pb cups that typically come individually wrapped in foil. Then, I added a bit more batter to each one just to ensure that the peanut butter cups were fully enclosed in batter. I used small paper liners in my mini muffin cups, but if you are using a nonstick pan, the bite-sized cupcakes should pop right out after baking.
The finished cupcakes had a dark chocolate flavor and the sweet-salty peanut butter center that I was hoping for. The cake is fudgy and moist, although there is really only a thin layer of cake around the peanut butter cups. The cake is an excellent contrast in color and texture for the peanut butter cup in the center. Be warned: these are addictive, and because of their small size it is very easy to eat two at a time.
I felt that these little cupcakes were rich enough that they didn’t need any icing to top them off. Of course, if you get the urge to take them really over-the-top, you can top them with a bit of chocolate or peanut butter buttercream. These cupcakes are best when baked in mini muffin cups. If you don’t have a mini muffin pan and really want to try them in a full sized muffin pan, I recommend filling the pan only halfway up with batter, creating a flatter than standard cupcake to maintain the fudginess of the cake and the ratio of chocolate to peanut butter.
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The phrase “vegan baked goods” once conjured up thoughts of dense, chalky and not-very-sweet approximations of cakes, cookies and other treats. But vegan baked goods have become much more advanced over the past several years as bakers (and those who like to eat baked goods!) have spent time refining their techniques and recipes to make treats that are just as tasty as conventional baked goods. Vegan baked goods are winning competitions on the Food Network and vegan bakeries, as well as bakeries with a wide variety vegan offerings, are opening all over the county.
But a recent article in the Wall Street Journal reports that with the increased success of vegan baked goods, many bakeries that sell them are distancing themselves from the term vegan. Bakers have found that although buyers are receptive to the products – and that many love the idea that their baked goods are egg free, dairy free and gluten free (although gluten free products don’t have to be vegan, of course) – many buyers are turned off by seeing the word vegan attached to the products. Numerous bakeries have said that they don’t use the word “vegan” in their store’s marketing. Some who initially used the word and later removed it reported a steady increase in business after distancing themselves from the term, even though their recipes didn’t change. There are many strongly pro-vegan eaters who are offended by bakeries distancing themselves from the term, while others feel that as long as the products (and the movement) are gaining acceptance, that is all that counts.
Are you put off by the term “vegan” when it is attached to your baked goods? Or do you know people who are turned off by that, even if you’re not?
I bake and cook vegan things on a fairly regular basis, such as my Pumpkin Cranberry Loaf, Chai Latte Muffins and these Orange Chocolate Cupcakes. There are definitely times when I won’t go out of my way to mention that something is vegan, simply because I feel that a good product will speak for itself regardless of what ingredients were used. Other times, I’ll mention it after a given cupcake has been eaten, since I know that it’ll help dispel the myth of the tasteless vegan pastry. That being said, I will also admit that I’ve had some good vegan baked goods and others that still harken back to the days when a quality “vegan baked good” was little more than a myth and that there are times when even I’ll approach them with skepticism. Vegan baking has come a long way and there are some outstanding products out there – and I’m sure that whatever they’re called, there will be even more good things to come.
When you bake a pie to bring to a family dinner or a potluck, how to you carry it with you? I’ve done everything from covering the top of the pie with plastic wrap or aluminum foil to sticking the pie plate into a cake carrier. My favorite way to transport a pie is to leave it uncovered and hold it myself, or have someone hold it for me, so I know that the pie is safe while it travels. Another option comes in the form of a new pan from Nordic Ware, a Covered Pie Pan. The pie plate itself is a heavy duty aluminum that gives you a very sturdy base for your pies and ensures even browning. The neat thing about the plate is the plastic lid that comes with it, because it snaps into place on top of the pie in much the same way that a lid snaps onto a cake carrier. When in place, the lid makes the pie easy to transport. Perhaps even more importantly, it also helps keep the pie fresh when you’re just enjoying it at home.
The pie plate isn’t quite as decorative as some of the stoneware plates out there, which look beautiful when you set them on the table to serve, but the lid will seal the deal with many pie bakers on this pan for it’s overall convenience.
You can top a cake with whipped cream or glaze it with ganache, but the most popular way to finish off a cake is with a layer of buttercream frosting. Buttercream is a sweet frosting that is rich with butter and has a silky texture that melts against your tongue when you bite into it. There are several types of buttercream and some are far more common than others.
A simple buttercream, also called an American buttercream, is probably the most common buttercream variation. This frosting is made by creaming together butter, confectioners’ sugar, milk or cream, and some kind of flavorings until everything is smooth and fluffy. This type of frosting is sweet, easy to work with and keeps very well, all of which make it a very popular choice with cake bakers. The other common type of buttercream is a meringue-based buttercream. With this type of frosting, either Italian meringue (hot sugar beaten into egg whites) or Swiss Meringue (egg whites and sugar heated together and beaten) is prepared and cooled, then a generous amount of butter is beaten into it until the frosting is glossy. These types of buttercreams have a much lighter texture than a simple buttercream and they have a much more distinct butter flavor to them.
Less well known buttercreams include a French buttercream, which is prepared in a similar way to the meringue buttercreams but uses egg yolks that are beaten until very light instead of egg whites. This type of buttercream tends to be the trickiest to make. There are also custard based buttercreams, where a flavored pastry cream has butter beaten into it to form a rich, thick buttercream typically used for filling cakes rather than frosting them. These additional buttercreams are also excellent examples of how easy it is to experiment and use other ingredients – peanut butter or nutella, for instance – to make your own twist on buttercream that you can use to frost your favorite cake or cupcake recipes.
