TWD: Honey Peach Ice Cream

Yes. More Peach. Get over it.

So, let's chat for a minute about kitchen gadgets/appliances. I am a low tech gal. I don't even own a computer at home. And while initially, it was because I'm cheap and didn't want to buy a computer and pay for monthly internet. Now, I kind of enjoy it. Luckily, I can access the internet on my phone if something is urgent (because, sometimes checking the lyrics for the song Delicate by Damien Rice is super urgent), but I can't imagine how many hours I'd get sucked into the internet.

I don't own two of the major components of this recipe: An ice cream maker or a food processor. It sucks. I wish I had the space to have every imaginable kitchen appliance and utensil imaginable, but I don't. So, I have to make do.

It's not a big deal, really. I actually get a weird pleasure out of preparing things without fancy dancy equipment. Like... "Ha! I don't need no stinking food processor! That's what hands are for." But, it doesn't make for the prettiest of dishes, that's for sure.

As usual with ice creams... this was easy to make. Even without the food processor or the ice cream maker. And as much as I love peaches, I, surprisingly, wasn't all that crazy about this recipe. There was kind of weird wang to it and I'm not sure if it has something to do with the honey or if maybe I cooked the custard incorrectly. It wasn't bad... it just wasn't something that made me want to curl up on the couch and eat the whole tub (which, honestly... is probably a good thing).

If you like peaches and honey and ice cream (and who doesn't?) then you should give this recipe a try. Maybe you'll love it! At the very least, check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie peeps and be sure to get the recipe from Tommi of Brown Interior.

Brown Butter Peach Bars

Summer must be here. It's not the 90 degree days or the kids being out of school for vacation that tells me so. Nor is it the fact that I can't get enough of sauvignon blanc right now (eventually, I'm just going to have to attach an IV drip, I think). You know how I know? Peaches. Glorious, juice dripping, soft fuzzy peaches.

My dad stopped by the farmer's market last week and bought his standard amount of peaches: a whole bushel. He always graciously shares the peaches and I ended up with just about 2 pounds of peaches. Hot damn. It's almost as good as winning the lottery.

Immediately I thought I would make a peach pie. So, I decided to give a new pie crust recipe a whirl, but when I opened up my recipe folder to find a new crust recipe, I came across this little gem. The words "brown butter" immediately grabbed my attention. Remember how I fell in love with browned butter? Sadly, my affair with browned butter was merely a fling. But after seeing this recipe, I knew we were destined for a little re-do action. (The fact that my relationship with browned butter is similiar to my other people's relationships with past boyfriends/flings is merely a coincidence, I assure you).

This recipe is everything you want in a fruit bar. It's tangy and sweet. It's soft with a crumbly, yet firm crust. And it absolutely must be made the day before... It needs time to sit and soften up. Again there's a similiarity there with old flames, eh? But, that's where the similiarities end. While you want the reignition of the old flame to be quick and easy... these bars certainly are not. Proceed with this recipe, just like you do with your old flames, my friends... with extreme caution. Cause trust me, you'll wind up out of 3 hours of your life and 3 pounds heavier .

But... sometimes, it's worth it.

Brown Butter Peach Bars
Recipe from New York Times, adapted from Big Sur Bakery in Big Sur, CA

Seriously, this recipe is excellent, but it is a time consumer. It's not something you can whip up in an hour, or two, or three. There are multiple parts involved, so read through the recipe and be prepared. Also, like I said before, make these bars the day before you're going to serve them. They definitely need time to sit and soften.

I would make a change to the recipe for next time. The entire recipe calls for a crapload of orange zest. I would scale back. I'd use the orange zest and juice of 1 orange for the jam and the zest of one orange for the filling. Cutting the amount of oranges you need in half. I liked the citrus-y zip you get in the recipe, but I felt like it masked the fresh peach flavor a bit too much.

For the jam:
1 cup sugar
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
½ vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped
4 cups ½ inch diced, peel-on, peaches (about 2 pounds whole)

For the crust:
1 cup unsalted butter
½ cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 ½ cups flour

For the filling:
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
Zest of 2 oranges
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
½ vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped
10 tablespoons unsalted butter.

1. Make the jam: in a 3 quart pot and using a wooden spoon, mix together the sugar, orange zest and juice, and vanilla bean and seeds. Place a candy thermometer in the pot and set over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for a few minutes, until it reaches 220 degrees. Add the peaches and boil, stirring occasionally, until the peaches turn into a thick jam and the thermometer returns to 220 degrees, 35 to 45 minutes. Wear long oven mitts as the jam can splatter. (When the jam begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, it's nearly there). Transfer the jam to a wide pan to cool. Remove the vanilla bean.

2. Prepare the crust by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Cook until the white milk solids start to brown and smell nutty, 5 to 10 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve set over a heatproof container. Freeze until solid.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the confectioner's sugar and flour. Scoop the chilled brown butter into the flour mixture and, using a pastry cutter, blend until crumbly. Transfer the crumb mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and firmly pat it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the crust until golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool.

4. Make the filling: whisk together the eggs, sugar, zest and flour in a large bowl. Place the vanilla bean and seeds and the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until the white milk solids start to brown and smell nutty, and then strain through a fine sieve. Carefully add the brown butter to the egg and flour mixture, whisking until the butter is incorporated. Remove the vanilla bean.

5. To assemble the bars, spread half of the filling over the baked crust. Spoon large dollops of the peach jam over the filling, reserving a quarter of the jam. Pour the remaining brown butter filling over the peach jam, and finish by spooning smaller dollops of the reserved jam over the top. Bake until the filling is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Makes 24 bars.

Biscuits

Some things we're born with and we can easily identify which side of the family it came from. For instance my naturally curly hair? My mom's side. My height (err... should I say, lack thereof)? My dad's side. Physical attributes are certainly the easiest to lock down as being genetic.

Personality attributes? Not so easy. Who knows... they could be inherent or they could be learned. Can my silly sense of humor be traced to my mother or my paternal grandma's genes? Or is it from living with my silly mother and being around my silly grandmother? I think most people would agree that personality traits are more learned, than they are passed down genetically. But, some of these things... things like... green thumbs, good luck, and general disposition can be as much genetic as the color of your eyes.

Science may disagree with me... but when have I ever listened to what other people tell me (genetically passed down from many of my "dance to our own beat" relatives no doubt)? Yeah, that's right. NEVER.

Like most girls raised in the south, I come from a long line of biscuit makers. And not just any biscuit makers... excellent biscuit makers. Sadly, I can really only attest for one of my grandmother's biscuits as I wasn't ever at my paternal grandmother's for breakfast, but I'm assured that both grandmas biscuits were excellent. Different and uncomparable, but excellent.

Now, that brings up a good point. There are many types of biscuits out there. But the two general camps are... light, fluffy, and airy or heavy, dense, and flat. I'm an equal opportunity biscuit lover, but if I had to pick one type over the other (forced to choose at gunpoint, mind you), I'd pick the heavier, densier biscuit. Just personal preference.

I've been on a bit of a quest to find the perfect biscuit recipe for me. Something that defines me as a biscuit maker. Not exactly like either grandma's, not exactly like my mom's or my aunt's, but my own.

I haven't quite found it yet, but to be fair... I haven't quite mastered the technique yet either. But, I'm getting there... and I'll keep trying... eventually I'll get it. It's in my blood.
Crusty Buttermilk Biscuits
The Gift of Southern Cooking Edna Lewis & Scott Peacock

I originally heard of Edna Lewis by way of Rebecca's incredibly awesome and hiliarous blog Ezra Pound Cake, but I ended up stealing the recipe from A Yankee in a Southern Kitchen.

I didn't use lard this time, I used a combination of butter and shortening. BUT, I will try this recipe again with lard. Lard is the key to good biscuits, and hell... you only live once and as long as you aren't eating it everyday... is a little lard gonna kill ya? Nope, but it will make feel like you've died and gone to heaven when you bit into a biscuit made with lard.

5 cups sifted White Lily Unbleached Flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder (See below)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 cup cold lard
1 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F with rack in middle

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into large bowl.

Add lard, coating it with flour, then rub between your fingertips until coarsely blended with some 1/2 inch lumps.

Make a well in flour mixture, then add buttermilk, stirring with a fork just until dough forms(it will be soft & sticky). Turn dough onto floured board and need 8-10 times.

Roll dough out with a floured rolling pin into a 12 inch round (1/2 inch thick).

Using a fork dipped in flour prick all the way through every 1/2 inch.

Cut out as many rounds possible with a 2 1/2 inch cutter dipped in flour.

Bake, almost touching on an un-greased heavy baking sheet, rotating sheet after 6 minutes if browning unevenly for 12-15 minutes.

Brush tops with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Serve warm.


Cooks Note: Flour mixture with lard can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
Recipe yields 10-15 biscuits. Be careful not to add to much flour as the dough should be sticky.

Homemade Baking Powder Recipe; Edna Lewis

1/4 cup cream of tartar
2 tablespoons baking soda

Sift ingredients 3 times together, store in an airtight jar. Use in the same quantity as required baking powder. Keeps 6 weeks.

TWD: Cinnamon Squares

I love cinnamon and I had been dying to give this recipe a try. Finally Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures chose this recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie.

Now, being a purist, I like my cinnamon on it's own. So, I was a little disappointed when I read through the recipe and saw the addition of chocolate to the batter as well as the frosting. I don't like my cinnamon mixed with my chocolate. Bummer. But, being the substitution queen that I am, I searched high and low for cinnamon baking chips (Okay, so I really only searched the grocery store and world market, but you get my drift) only to come up empty handed.

What's a girl to do? Make do. I had some Ghiradelli Cappuchino Chips lying around, so I threw those in the batter and used them for the frosting. Next time... I'll skip 'em and just make this a straight up cinnamon cake. I don't really think it even needs a frosting, a dusting of confectioners sugar would have been enough for my tastes.

This cake is delicious. Moist and full of cinnamon flavor. It would be a great breakfast cake or snack cake. I feel like cinnamon gets a raw deal... only mixed with apples and pumpkin, it deserves it's own cake like this one. Let's bring cinnamon back, a la Justin Timberlake.

TWD: Chipster Topped Brownies

I have this small problem. I'm the type that usually thinks that when you take two seperate good things and put them together... that you get an even more amazing thing. Confused? Let me give you some examples...

Biscuits? Awesome. Sausage Gravy? Awesome. Put them together? Totally awesome.

or...

Warm Brownie? Awesome. Ice Cream? Awesome. Warm Brownie with a scoop of Ice Cream? Totally awesome.

It makes sense. Which is why I thought that this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was going to be a knock-out. It was essentially a chocolate chip cookie baked on top of a fudgy brownie. How genius is that, right?

I made a half recipe and made the recipe exactly as written (except I used pecans instead of walnuts in the brownies) and what I ended up with was so rich, after a few bites, I couldn't handle it anymore. (If I'd had some ice cream to go with it, incidently, I could have polished off the whole pan, I think. But by itself, it was just too much for me).

I felt like the cookie part didn't have enough flour in the recipe. Even when I tasted some of the dough, I thought to myself... hmm... this doesn't taste like regular cookie dough. It wasn't nearly as good as cookie dough generally is.

And when it baked, the top hardened, but the inside never really set up. It was gooey (which, in my book is generally a good thing). The brownie set up nicely and was so intense and fudgy. The other issue I had, was what the chocolate chips from the cookie all sunk down to the brownie. Which, I think contributed to the fact that it was too rich for me.

If you like rich desserts, then this is right up your alley. And I think if I had had some ice cream to eat with this, I would have LOVED it. But, by itself... it was just a little too much for me. Sometimes... two parts are better off alone than they are together, I guess....

You can find the recipe on Beth's blog: Supplicious

Peanut Butter-scotch White Chocolate Blondies

Two years ago today, I started this blog. So it's my blogiversary, or my blogirthday? Whatev. All I know is that it's been a fun couple of years. I've gone outside of my comfort zone (thanks mostly due to the baking group, Tuesdays with Dorie) and stretched my baking expertise greatly.

If I've learned anything in these two years, it's that baking isn't easy. I still can't make a white or butter cake that I'm happy with. I haven't mastered the art of cake decorating or making pretty fluted edges on my pie crusts. But all that aside, it's something that I really, really enjoy. I love putting my apron on and getting my bowls and scale out and spending some time in my kitchen.

The biggest challenge for me, is getting rid of my baked goods. If I worked in a huge office or had a large network of neighbors or friends around, I'd probably wind up baking every day. I love it so much, but I always find myself saying... I can't bake those brownies! I don't need the extra calories and even though I do it a lot, it pains me to have to throw away 3/4 of a recipe after I've made it. (You should see my freezer, it's stocked with baked goodies that I felt too guilty to throw away, but will probably never pull out and eat).

Anyway... to celebrate my the start of year #3, I decided to follow my current cravings. Lately, I have not been able to get enough of two things: peanut butter and butterscotch. Both alone and together. A few weeks ago, I had a peanut butter and butterscotch milkshake at the local dairy dip here in town. Holy crap it was a spiritual experience, I tell you. Peanut Butter and Butterscotch are a match made in heaven.

So, I tinkered around with a recipe from betty crocker and came up with a different version. It's dang tasty. And, I have a feeling that this peanut butter and butterscotch obsession is just going to snowball from here...

Thanks for reading my blog for the last couple of years!

Peanut Butter-Scotch White Chocolate Blondies

These are rich and sweet. Like Mega sweet. (Which is why I adore them). The peanut butter gives the bars a more a sandy texture than your regular blondies, but I honestly didn't get enough peanut butter flavor, so I'd encourage the use of some peanut butter chips in the batter, to amp that up.

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 square pan.

Beat sugar, butter, peanut butter, vanilla and egg together in a bowl with a hand mixer until well blended. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add chips and stir to combine it all together.

Press/spread into the prepared pan and cook for about 18-23 minutes. Until the edges are starting to pull away from the pan and the mixture seems set. Cool on a rack and cut into bars when cooled.

Yields: 9-12 bars (depending on how big you make 'em) :)

TWD: Fresh Mango Bread

Full disclosure: I was NOT excited about making this recipe. It just didn't sound all that appealing to me. For one, I don't really like mango. I mean... it's okay, but not something I feel like should be thrown into breads. I like it more when it's mixed with lime, garlic and pineapple and spooned raw over a grilled piece of fish or something.

I recently bought my first mango, though. About a month ago, my grocery store had mangoes on sale and I thought... hmm... I'll buy a mango. Why not? When I got that bad boy home... I had NO idea what to do with him. I mean... what in the world is that hard center about? I couldn't get my knife through it and it had no discernible start or end point. I ended up just sawing off random bits of the ends. And the taste? Blech. It was like eating slightly dampened chalk.
I had a feeling that this mango was not a ripe mango.

After that experience... the mango and I... well, we were on the outs.

I had already decided to skip this week of Tuesdays with Dorie, until I was browsing my grocery store's circular for the week and saw that mangoes were on sale again this week. Awwwwwww... hell. That's a sign, no? So... I picked one up. (Luckily I had read in the Tuesdays with Dorie weekly Problems & Questions forum how to pick a ripe mango... A ripe mango, apparently has a little give when you press it, fyi).

I nonchalantly started to make this bread yesterday... again fumbling with the awkward mango and it's hard core. There HAS to be a way to cut a mango, but I couldn't figure it out on my own. So, again, I ended up just whacking around the ends and trying to avoid the core. The recipe calls for diced fresh mangoes? Well... mine ended up being massacred fresh mangoes. But, who cares, right? I'm not going to like this recipe anyhow...

I only made a third of the recipe and fit all the batter into a mini loaf pan and the only substitution I made was regular raisins instead of golden. And, I must say... I'm starting to see a theme here. Much like how the ever-expanding fat rolls that I have keep spilling out over my waistbands (ala muffintop), so do all the pie, muffins, cakes, tarts, bread recipes that I make of Dories in their pans. I mean.. What the hell? Is it just me? (It could have something to do with the fact that I rarely make a whole recipe and I'm always halving/thirding/quartering recipes and Dorie always writes her recipes like this... "pour the batter evenly amongst the muffin tins" She never says... "fill your muffin cups up 3/4 of the way." So, everything oozes out... (last weeks tart? holy moly)). So did this recipe. Ooozed out all over the place. Arg!

Anyway... Folks... I'm renaming this bread... NINJA Bread. Because it totally sneaks up on you and blows you away. Seriously. This bread is like candy. (I did add extra brown sugar to the recipe... I like my breads sweet, what can I say?). Dangerous Candy Ninja Bread. I loved the crunchy top and the chewy edges. YUM. I think I'll play around with this recipe in the future... and try out some other fruits instead of mango (cause... i'm still not best friends with the mango... haha I just flashed back to the SNL sketches about Mango ).

So, thank you Kelly Baking with the Boys for picking this recipe... and thank you Harris Teeter for having mangoes on sale this week.