Week 5: And we have a Winner

Maple Walnut Coffeecake

• Rating: 4
• Difficulty: 2
• Cost: ≈ $11
• Weight 215 lbs
• 50 minutes active time, total time 105 minutes

Last night, Friday night, I made the first of two cakes/pie, Maple Walnut Coffeecake, and I’m please with the results for two reasons.  First I didn’t cringe after smelling or tasting it.  More importantly, my wife and my daughter both tried and gave it two thumbs up!  Baking something they liked is important to me.  This was a week of redemption in the oven.

Both the recipes I tackled this weekend originated from Epicurious.com.  I really believe they are one of the most extensive online recipe sources, pulling in recipes from a some reputable culinary publications.  I started the week intending to make a New York style crumb cake, however, after reading the ingredients I noticed it relying way too much on sugar and butter for all the flavor.  I learned an important lesson last week, just because you want something to turn out good, doesn’t mean it will.  On the other hand, I didn’t want to just fall back and make another chocolate cake, no I was all in on this coffee cake.  I looked around a bit and discovered the Maple Walnut Coffee Cake.  I read the ingredient list carefully, and decided that it was a no fail recipe.  So Friday night, I went to it.

Sunday afternoon while driving back from dropping off my daughter at YMCA camp, my wife says to me, “You’re going to make this again, right?”  She doesn’t want to wait an entire year before I make this again, and she told me my daughter would like us to save her a piece for later in the week.  I think these reviews are the reason this is a 4 star recipe.  It has both the walnuts and maple syrup in balance, and doesn’t really on white sugar for sweetness.

The recipe was, for the most part, well written and very easy to follow, and I would give a 2 for difficulty.  No strange baking techniques.  No frosting.  No labor intense mixing.  You could make this with just basic kitchen utensils, although I used the food processor to make the crumb mixture, I’m sure a blender would done just fine.

Really, the only part that frustrated me was the pan, which in the end wasn’t a big deal, and really emphasized the necessity or reading recipes at least twice before you start.  The recipe states at the beginning, “. . .butter and flour lightly a 9-inch pan.”  However, at the end of the recipe it tells you to, “. . .remove the side of the pan, and transfer the cake, removing the bottom of the pan.”  I got to this point and was unsure if I should pull out a can opener or just leave it in the pan.  Staying relatively calm, I left the cake in the pan.  Sure this might be a problem if presentation mattered. But presentation wasn’t an issue here.

Remember if you try this recipe, use a spring-form pan or a pan with a removable bottom.  Also, don’t fill the pan to the top with batter and crumb mixture.  If you do, there might be a bit of  a mess on the bottom of your oven.  Otherwise, this was easy all-the-way around.

Not much else to tell.  It was a simple, flavorfull recipe that surely everyone will enjoy.  It doesn’t cost much to make in terms of dollars or time.

Week 5: Double Whammy

I’m still bit down about the Tomato and Cheddar Cheese Pie from last week.  I so much wanted an instant “wow. . .this is wicked pie!”, I’ve decided on giving tomatoes and cheddar cheese another try.  I’ve found a different pie, using more classic flavor pairings with cheese and tomatoes.

My wife has not been overly enthusiastic about my choices: mayonnaise chocolate cake, olive oil cake with candied oranges, nectarine and plum crisp, and of course, the tomato and cheese pie.  I’m listening, okay, and making a second, safer, more crowd-pleasing cake.  A crumb cake.

Week 4: Tomato and Cheddar Pie

This week I’m preparing a Tomato and Cheddar Pie.  I’m a little concerned, however, because a number of other people who made this recipe didn’t look kindly on it.  Despite the negative reviews, I’m going forward with this recipe because of its uniqueness, featuring two of my favorite ingredients, tomatoes and cheese, and giving me an opportunity to go to the Farmer’s Market.  I’ve never heard of a tomato pie, though I’m not surprised.  Historically pies were a means to transport nourishment, not a dessert item.

This week’s pie, Tomato and Cheddar Pie, is from the August issue of Bon Appetit.  Most of the dishes I make originate from there.  On a monthly basis they come up with a range of recipes that are easily accessible to just about all skill levels.  As I mentioned I choose this recipe because it features tomatoes and cheddar cheese.  I thought it was an easy choice being tomatoes are just coming into season.  I decided I would go to the West Allis Farmer’s Market on the way home from work, grab a variety of tomatoes, use some local Wisconsin cheddar cheese, and enjoy this for dinner Saturday night with a nice wheat beer.

By the time I got to the market most of the farmers were already gone, and there were not too many tomatoes out.  I ended up purchasing organic tomatoes after going up and down the isles several times.  Note, a farmer’s market is at its best an hour or so after opening.  I went too late.  For the most part I stuck with small and medium-sized tomatoes.  Other than hastily finding tomatoes nothing else inspired me. I wish I knew what to do with kohlrabi because they were the size of bowling balls, and there is something mysterious about them.

Overall, the pie was rather simple to make.  I would rate it a 3.5 on the difficulty scale.  It would have been a 13, but the crust required some tinkering around with to get it to the right consistency.  By the book, the crust was a little too sloppy, not forming up into a springy, elastic dough.  It was rather mushy and difficult to work.  I added about a 1/2 c. more flour than called for, and it came together nicely about the same tenderness and elasticity as a pizza dough.  I also didn’t roll out the crust between two sheets of plastic wrap.  I have a problem with plastic wrap.  Namely it always seems to end up in a little ball.  But other than that it was very simple.

I know some people are fearful of making their own pie crusts.  You you shouldn’t.  As long as you have a floured surface, rolling-pin and hands along with a willingness to get a little messy, there is nothing to it.  Don’t worry about the flour on the floor, it’s not going anywhere.  I’ve met a few crusts that were more complicated than assembling a child’s toy on Christmas morning. There was actually one that I totally gave up on and ended up using a store-bought pie shell.  however, this wasn’t one of those overly complicated affairs.  Of course, I did make changes.

For somebody making their first crust it might trigger a panic attack, confirming what they’ve always heard about pie crusts, resulting in loud admonishment to themself, “ah s*&t what I’m to do now!  Why the f*&%k did I think I could make a pie crust!”  Pie crust isn’t rocket science, and anybody can make a tasty one, at times stealing the spotlight. The secret, I believe, is having a dough that stretches and doesn’t tear.  The rest is patience and learning a few basics.

Total active time making the pie was about an one hour, with an additional 2 hours for baking and cooling.  Not too bad considering a cheesecake takes several hours to make.  The big time saver was shredding the cheese in the food processor.  I went through a block of cheese in 3 minutes.  If you’ve never shredded anything in a food processor I suggest you give it a whirl.  Very cool!  Presto, perfectly shredded in seconds.

The other thing I did to make this recipe easier was using the mandolin for slicing the tomatoes to a perfect 1/4″ thickness – 1/8″ slices didn’t work for tomatoes.  The mandolin is one of my favorite kitchen tools because it hides my less than sharp knife skills.  I find slicing stuff uniformly difficult and stressful.  Holding a knife and feeling stressed isn’t good.  Cooking, baking is therapeutic after all.  You don’t want to leave the kitchen feeling like you need to hit something.  Ahh. . .the mandolin makes you look like a pro with a knife, and that makes me feel good.

The only other modification I made was using half the called for dill, and adding about 1-1/2 tbsp. fresh basil.  Tomato, basil and cheese are excellent companions. On the other hand, dill with its’ potent, tangy punch tends to dominate and overthrow other flavors. In hindsight, I would leave the dill out altogether.  Even halving the amount, and adding basil, still left it center stage in this dish.  That’s not where it belongs.  Not in this dish.  It’s a pie, not a pickle!  I’ll give dill and tomatoes a try on a crostini and see if I can dial in on some ratio that is ideal.  I’m not seeing dill, tomato and cheese together.

This pie was a disappointment for me.  I had very high hopes this would be a, blow my socks off kind of dish.  But it wasn’t.  The dill simply overwhelmed the other flavors.  The crust was average.  Nothing spectacular by any means.  As this wasn’t a dessert pie, it didn’t leave me feeling satisfied even though it had more than plenty of calories.  I’m giving it a 2.  This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a try.  If you do, remember to add flour as needed to the crust, use a scant amount of dill and only fold the crust over the top by about 2″ (the top should resemble a ring).  It does have potential, however.  If I would make it again I would really reconsider the ingredients.  I have another tomato pie recipe, I’m interested in how it compares.

There are three things missing from this post:

• The cost to make.
• My weights
• Pictures.

I’ll update Sunday morning.

Rules to Follow

I have a few rules.  Committing to making 52 cakes requires some parameters.  So in the interest of “transparency” here they are:

1. My cake of the week will always be a cake, pie, or tart.  Strictly speaking, this won’t be a cake of the week blog.
2. I’ll always bake between Thursday and Sunday.  Simply because that’s when I have time.
3. I’ll let you know how much time I spend making it, including the time going out and finding special ingredients or equipment.
4. I’ll include the total cost, including any special equipment I have to purchase.  Does this mean I’ll figure out the cost of a cup of flour, a tablespoon of butter or an 1/4 tsp. of baking soda?  I’ll try to assign a standard cost to those items.
5. I’ll rate the level of difficulty on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being the easiest and 5 being the most difficult.
6. I’ll also rate the cake.  I’m one of the harshest critics I know.  I won’t say it was excellent simply because I made it.  No, sometimes I make disasters that are so bad the dogs won’t even try it.  A rating of 1-4 will be used, with 4 being the best.
7. Where I stray from the original recipie, I’ll let you know what I did differently.
8. I’ll provide a link or the source of the recipe.
9. Finally, I will post my weight every week.  The last thing I want this to become is a how to gain a pound a week blog.

I may add more as I progress through the year based on what I learn.

Hello World!

Welcome, this blog is about my love to cook, sharing my experiences in the kitchen and specifically a cake-a-week project I’ve started.  Let me get few things straight with you first, I’m not a professional, I’m not trained and almost everything I do in the kitchen isn’t an original masterpiece.  Secondly, I don’t have an agenda other than not cooking from a box or purchasing it from somebody else.  Thirdly, this isn’t strictly a cake-a-week project.  If I want to make a pie, tart, or even beer, then I will and count it.  This is more about making something yourself, in the kitchen and then enjoying it with whomever.  Finally, I’ll always give credit to where a recipe or an idea comes from.

~~”What do I always say? Anyone can cook.”  Gusteau, Ratatouille (2007)