notes from my food diary

My son really loves doughnuts.  Every time we go somewhere where doughnuts are on display he will ask me to buy some for him.  But I don’t like making doughnuts too often.  I basically hate frying them, besides the temptation is too much when we have too many doughnuts at too many times.  So when I saw recipes in Vegetarian Times about baked doughnuts, I tried them right away.  I do have the pan needed for the recipes and I tried both regular and chocolate recipes.  But before you get too excited, I found that baked doughnuts are not the same with fried doughnuts.  Never ever will.  If you like fried doughnuts, stick with them.  Though baked doughnuts a bit healthier than the fried ones, they don’t have the feel of fried doughs in your mouth.  These are more like small cakes, the chocolate ones were a bit dry to my taste.  I wasn’t too disappointed in making them because my son still enjoyed the treats I made for him and the frosting he made  

So here are the pictures of baked doughnuts, they are simply feasts for your eyes only.  If you are still interested in making them, the recipes can be found here for French Toast Baked Doughnuts and here for Devil’s Food Baked Doughnuts.

Several weeks ago I had unexpected offer to take some quince from my friend.  Julie, whose daughter is carpooling with me in the morning to school, talked to my neighbor down the road who has a quince tree in his yard, which I don’t know about until then.  I always suspect that is an apple tree yet quietly surprise that he has never picked the fruits every fall whenever I drive past his house.  The fruits always fall to the ground and from far away they do look similar to Golden Delicious apples.  That lone tree bears lots of fruits every year.  My friend has a way to to talk to a stranger and she would get something from just talking.  I admire her for that because I’m usually shy around strangers.

Julie gave me about a dozen or so quince and I set out right away to find recipes to use those quince.  I didn’t have to find farther than in my kitchen, the answers actually came from two books.  One was A Passion for Desserts by Emily Lucheti and the other one was preserving book.  Emily Lucheti’s book is divided into season and it gives me what to make for every season.  One of the recipes in there is Walnut Shortcakes with Baked Quince, appropriately in the autumn desserts chapter.  It said that quince has to be paired with richly flavored ingredients such as walnuts.  This worked for me and I was happy to try it.  The key to cooking quince is patient because if you want to have that deep red-orange hue, you have to cook at least a few hours.  

The walnut shortcakes were so good and I made them thin enough so I didn’t have to cut them into two.  Instead I used two disks to sandwich the chantilly cream and doused those with quince sauce.  This is a rich dessert as said so, thus presenting it after a light meal would be ideal.

The rest of the quince was made into quince preserves and I still have to find time to bake some scones to eat with them.  It will come later on this month or next, I just can’t wait to eat it!

Walnut Shortcakes with Baked Quince

Makes 6 servings

Baked Quince:

3 large quince

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup Sauvignon Blanc

2-inch cinnamon stick

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds removed

Walnut Shortcakes:

3 ouncces (3/4 cup) wanuts, toasted and finely ground

3 tablespoon sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

Chantilly Cream to serve

To make the quince:  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Peel, quarter and core the quince and place them in a single layer in an ovenproof baking dish.  Heat the sugar, water, wine, cinnamon stick, and vanilla bean in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil.  Pour the hot syrup over the quince.  Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake until a knife easily pierced the flesh, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  With a slotted spoon, remove the quince from the pan.  Cut the quince into 1-inch pieces.  Put the poaching liquid in a small saucepan.  Over medium-high heat, reduce the liquid until slightly syrupy, about 5 minutes.  Place the syrup and the quince pieces in a medium bowl.  Cool to room temperature and refrigerate.

To make the shortcakes:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Combine the walnuts, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Using a pastry blender or paddle attachment on an electric stand mixer, mix in the butter until it is pea sized.  Add the cream and stir until the dough comes together.  Form the dough into a 5-inch disk.  On a lightly floured work surface, pat or roll the dough out to 3/4 inch thick.  Cut into 2 1/2-inch circles.  Place the circles on the prepared baking sheet, several inches apart, and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

To assemble the shortcakes:  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Cut each shortcakes in half horizontally.  Reheat the quince for 10 minutes and the shortcakes for 5 minutes.  Place the bottom of a shortcake on each of 6 dessert plates.  Place some quince and some syrup over and around the shortcakes.  Top with some Chantilly Cream.  Place the top halves of the shortcakes over the cream.  Drizzle the remaining sauce around the shortcakes.  Serve immediately.

Chantilly Cream: 

Makes 2 cups

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form.  The cream should hold its shape but still satiny in appearance.  It should never be grainy.

Source:  from A Passion for Desserts by Emily Luchetti

These two things were popular items to purchase in the baked goods booth in my son’s school fall festival.  With the addition of cinnamon in the peanut brittle, it added a touch of spiciness to them.  The butter toffee were a classic, simply delicious and with a perfect crunchiness.  Either one of these will be a nice companion to cool and creamy desserts.

Cinnamon Peanut Brittle

Makes about 25 to 35 pieces

2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup light corn syrup

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups roasted salted peanuts

1 teaspoon baking soda

Grease well a 13×17-inch baking pan with sides with vegetable oil.

Combine 1/2 cup water wth the sugar, cream of tartar, and corn syrup in a medium-size heavy saucepan fitted with the candy thermometer.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  After it boils, stir occasionally.  Boil the mixture until it reaches 340 degrees.  The color should be deep golden brown.  Remove from the heat and, quickly, sitr in the cinnamon with a wooden spoon.  Stir in the butter until it is melted, then the peanuts and baking soda.

Pour the mixture onto the oiled pan and spread it out a bit with the back of a wooden spoon, to about 1/4-inch thickness (it may not fill the whole pan).  Let the brittle harden, uncovered, in a cool place, 30 to 45 minutes.

Using your hands, and wearing cotton or plastic gloves if desired to keep off any fingerprints, break the brittle into pieces.  Store in an airtight container.

Source:  from Gale Gand’s Just A Bite

Classic Butter Toffee

Makes about 1 1/2 pounds

Butter

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon light-color corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup bittersweet chocolate pieces

Line a 13×9 x 2-inch baking pan with foil, extending foil over edges of pan.  Set pan aside.

Butter sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan.  Melt 1 cup butter in the saucepan.  Add sugar, the water, and corn syrup.  Cook and stir over medium-high heat until mixture boils.  Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan.  Reduce heat to a medium; continue boiling at a moderate, steady rate, stirring frequently, until thermometer register 290 degrees F, soft-crack stage (about 15 minutes).  Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a steady boil.  Watch syrup carefully after it reaches 280 degrees F to prevent scorching.  Remove saucepan from heat; remove thermometer.  Stir in vanilla.  Pour candy into the prepared pan, spreading quickly to an even thickness about 1/4 inch.  (Toffee will not cover entire surface of prepared pan.)

Let candy stand for 2 to 3 minutes or just until set.  Sprinkle with chocolate pieces.  Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes.  When chocolate pieces have softened, spread melted chocolate over candy.  Chill in refrigerator about 20 minutes or until candy is firm.

Use foil to lift candy from pan.  Break candy into pieces about 2 inches across.  To store candies:  place candy in layers separated by pieces of waxed paper in an airtight container; cover.  Store at room temperature for up to 3 days, refrigerate for up to 1 month, or freeze for up to 3 months.  Thaw candy, if frozen, before serving.

Source:  from Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies, 2007

When was the last time I updated this blog?  Almost 3 weeks ago.  A lot has been going on since then, I admit that it’s a lot harder to keep my promise to updating this blog more often.  A lot of my activities lately were for my son’s school.  This past Sunday there was a fall festival in his school which I participated in.  I baked lots of baked goods to raise some money needed to finish new classrooms.  The planning took place about 2 weeks before the festival started, and I recruited one of my church friends to help me bake cookies.  Some of the things I made were brownies, cookies, small cakes, peanut brittles, butter toffees, galettes, and quick breads.  Every day I made something last week and it really helped that I only had to work two days last week.  The hard work I put it in paid off, most of my baked goods were almost gone.  I felt great helping the school raise money, the only downpoint was that I was asked again to donate my baked goods to raise something else through my church   I know, it’s not a downpoint, it’s actually a good thing.  To be able to help in any way I can for a good cause is always something that makes me a happy person.

Today is my son’s birthday and I felt bad because I didn’t have time to bake him a cake, instead I bought an ice cream cake for him.  We celebrated in a small and intimate way this year because of the school activiy that happens too close to his birthday.  Being an understanding son, he actually didn’t mind it, as long as my husband and I bought him an aquarium with fishes this year   We obliged and he ended up very very happy birthday boy. 

I’ll be back this coming weeks with a news to write about and some recipes that I tried for the festival.  Not all of the baked goods I made got photographed so I can only share some of them.  Be patient!

About two weeks ago my friend, Julie, went to Hood River to buy some peaches and nectarines.  She asked me if I wanted to buy nectarines too.  I, who couldn’t resist eating summer fruits, said yes, of course.  I didn’t have the luxury to go to Hood River to buy those since I had to work.  Julie, on the other hand, had some time before her school starts again.  My family loves eating nectarines more than peaches; peaches, they’re good for canning and that’s what my family likes to eat peaches best. 

So she bought me this humongous box of nectarines.  She warned me beforehand that it would be big, lots of nectarines, and that’s cheap too!  For only 65 cents per pound, the nectarines were cheaper than buying them at the grocery store.  Plus, they’re definitely better in flavor.  I hauled 25 pounds of nectarines to my house and started calculating my moves about saving and eating all those.  After eating a few pounds of nectarines, I decided to make jams.  They’re getting soft by the day and I certainly didn’t want to waste them.  We are not tired of eating summer fruits like peaches and nectarines yet because come fall and winter those fruits are in distant memory already.

Thus, somewhere last week or a week before that, my one day of the week was devoted to making nectarine jams.  I got 5 pint bottle of jams that I haven’t tried yet.  I’m sure they’re good.  After that, I was left with about 20 or so nectarines.  Still that much?  I scoured the Internet for some recipes.  One caught my eyes, and it’s the Nectarines in Vanilla Wine Syrup from The Washington Post of August 29, 2007.  The recipe is similar to the one I just tried last month.  But instead of water, it uses white wine for the syrup.   I’m sure getting a bit tipsy after drinking this syrup would be great sometime in the winter   These nectarines were meant to be used in a nectarine pie recipe from the same website.  Originally I was thinking of doing that but since I haven’t got the right nectarines yet, might as well make them first. 

Again, my busy day of the week was filled with canning nectarines in vanilla wine syrup.  No wonder my weeks have gone so fast and I felt like I haven’t done anything yet.  I had some leftover nectarines from making it and they’re kept in the fridge since.  Just this week I decided to make panna cotta to go with those nectarines.  The lovely and smooth panna cotta texture with almond flavor and the tanginess from yogurt pairs well with the sweetness of the nectarines.  

Honey Panna Cotta

Makes 4 servings

For panna cotta:
1 1/4 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-ounce envelope)
2 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup mild honey
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract

Nectarines in Vanilla Wine Syrup

Whisk together yogurt, honey, and almond extract, then whisk in cream mixture.

Pour mixture into 4 small bowls and chill, covered, until set, at least 8 hours.

To serve: Top bowls of panna cotta with nectarines and their juice. Drizzle with additional honey if desired.

Source:  adapted from Gourmet, July 2008