Introducing The Mighty Rhino!

Posted on January 24, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
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More Mighty Rhinos 013The Beloved was feeling cookie-ish on Sunday, so I told him I’d Come Up With Something on Monday for him to munch on throughout the week. Because I am an Awesome wife. Also, I enjoy cookies. I love it when my self-interest dovetails with my being a Devoted Spouse.

Y’all know I don’t really like to go out and buy a couple of ingredients to make a particular recipe. I’d much rather root around in the cabinets and See what there is to See.  And this is what I found.

ingredients 002I mean, aside from staples like milk, eggs, sugar and flour. So, I set out to create a cookie containing as many of my Finds as possible.

Rather than testing and testing a base recipe, I needed one that already worked. Preferably one containing a bunch of the ingredients I had on hand.  I found it in this recipe for Maple Nut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies by the Culinary Alchemist. Incidentally, he also has a blog called “Corningware411, A retrospective on Corning’s space-age material, Pyro-Ceramic cookware.” How completely awesome is that for a niche blog?!  He’s Also a mentor on Bakespace.com.  I didn’t know all these things about him until I started writing this post, and now all of us know.

More Mighty Rhinos 003Anyway, I took CA’s keen recipe and smashed it, bashed it and added items to it until it was almost unrecognizable. And full of chocolate, cashews and pretzel pieces. The poor dear was positively Straining it was so full of Items. So I made the cookies Huge.

Mighty Rhinos 001 My recipe made 16 huge cookies. If you want twice as many cookies, make them half as big as I did.

“But Jen, why ever did you call them Mighty Rhinos?” you may ask.  A facebook fan came up with the name after I asked for suggestions. Other suggestions considered and set aside after the Awesomeness of the Mighty Rhino included:

  • Kit and Caboodles
  • Wake Up and Smell ‘Em Cookies
  • Garbage Cookies
  • Humdingers
  • Hodge Podge Cookies

and

  • Crack

They are pretty delicious. Mix in whatever you want: M&Ms, chocolate or peanut butter chips, nuts, raisins, etc.

Mighty Rhinos
5.0 from 1 reviews
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Recipe type: Cookies!
Author: onlinepastrychef
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 35 mins
What You Need
  • 4.5 oz all purpose flour
  • .75 oz best quality cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process
  • 1 cup rolled or steel cut oats, whirred to dust in a food processor or blender
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder
  • 8 oz unsalted butter, slightly softened
  • 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, very gently rounded
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup
  • 1 large egg
  • large handful coarsely chopped cashews
  • large handful broken salted pretzels
  • 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into mix-in sized pieces
What To Do
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Arrange racks towards the bottom and middle of the oven.
  2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, oats, baking powder, baking soda and espresso powder. Set aside.
  3. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, sugar and sea salt until smooth–no light and fluffy here, folks.
  4. Cream in the vanilla and maple syrup and mix until smooth.
  5. Add the egg and mix until smooth.
  6. On low speed, mix in the reserved flour mixture.
  7. With clean hands, mix in your mix-ins. You can use a spatula if you prefer, but the dough is heavy and sticky.
  8. Optional Step: Cover dough and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours. This allows the dough to “ripen” and the flavors to marry. It’s not necessary, but it does make the cookies taste great.
  9. Portion onto Silpat- or parchment-lined baking sheets.
  10. Flatten each cookie slightly, and bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pans on the racks. Bake for another 7-8 minutes until well-spread and firm on the edges.
  11. Take the cookies out of the oven and let firm up on the sheets for 2-3 minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely.
  12. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, place in zip-top freezer bags, suck out the air, and freeze for up to a month.
Other Stuff to Know

I chopped the chocolate with a serrated knife. This gave me larger chunks and a bunch of chocolate dust, all of which I put in the dough. The dust melts into the dough and the chunks act like chips. I highly recommend this.
Dip your cookie disher in water between scoops. The dough is a bit sticky, and the water helps keep it from sticking in the disher.
If you use rolled oats, whirring them to dust isn’t really necessary. I did it to mine because all I had was steel cut oats. But, if you’ve never added oatmeal dust to your cookies, you really should try it–it is delightful. Leave half of the oats whole and whir the other half and experience the magic for yourself.
Baking time is approximate, depending on your oven and how large you make your cookies. Mine baked for about 18 minutes. Smaller cookies may be done in as few as 10 minutes, so keep an eye on them.

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 Mighty Rhinos 012All hail the Mighty Rhino

 

 

 


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Sunday Suppers (Monday Edition): Chicken Soup with Kale

Posted on January 23, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
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soup! 004Even reconstituted, the soup still turns to Jell-o in the fridge. Nice!

I made some stock the other day. A ton of it.  Probably close to three gallons.  We just recently have been getting rid of our plastic kitchen storage in favor of glass, and I just don’t have enough of the glass containers lying around to just breezily relegate 4-5 of them to the freezer for the next few weeks. So, I did something that I had never thought to do before with stock, although I should have. Duh. I reduced it.  There wasn’t anything in the stock that would get bitter with boiling, so after straining it, I just let it boil. And boil. Until it had reduced by about 2/3, leaving me with a gallon of ridiculously gelatin-rich stock. And a rain cloud in my kitchen.

After cooling the stock pretty quickly, I chilled it in two–only two!–glass containers until it set up like Jell-o. reduced stock 002

See–I’m not even kidding! Jell-o.

And then I scooped it into cupcake papers and froze it.  I ended up with 30 frozen stockcakes, each ready to be reconstituted at 1:3, and they all live happily in the freezer in two gallon-sized zipper bags.

The Beloved brewed in Charlotte this weekend, so I thought it would be Kind of me to make him some dinner last evening, so I broke out 5-6 stockcakes and used them, along with some organic chicken breasts, kale and Other Vegetables, to make a Very Lovely and Filling Soup.

I hesitate to write this as a recipe, because making stock and making soup are really just techniques.

Stock:

  1. Put a bunch of meaty bones in a pot.
  2. Add some aromatics and some acid.
  3. Cover with cold water.
  4. Slowly bring to a low simmer and walk away for several hours.

Soup:

  1. Put what you like and what seems to go well together in a pot.
  2. Add stock and/or water and/or wine and/or Some Other Liquid.
  3. Season to taste.
  4. Simmer everything together for awhile.

See? Told ya.  So, I’m not going to turn it into a Recipe.  I’ll just show you what I put in mine. Oh, I just remembered! As a bonus: Continue reading →

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The Food52 Cookbook: The Regifting

Posted on January 18, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
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Share your favorite recipe for a chance to win!

A couple of weeks ago, I won a copy of The Food52 Cookbook through a giveaway hosted by Heather, @FarmgirlGourmet. (Thank you, Heather)!! Last Friday, it came in the mail, and The Beloved and I spent portions of the weekend Perusing its Pages and curating a short list of 21 recipes that we found particularly inspiring and delicious-sounding.  Not to say that all 140 recipes aren’t great–they all seem to be. For some, though, I didn’t need more than the name of the recipe. From the name, I can put together something Extremely Yummy without having to look at the specific ingredient list. You know the kind of recipe I mean–the ones whose titles are a description of the dish itself: White Fish en Papillote with Citrus on a Bed of Asparagus and Mint Risotto. (No, this is not a recipe in the book, but it could be).

There were a couple of recipes–just a couple–that the winner for that week submitted without ever having tried. I think that is cheating, although the recipes won and obviously deserved to be in the book. But still, I think you should have actually made–or at least tasted–your submission. But then again, I wasn’t an editor and I didn’t make the rules.

At any rate, we have our short list, and now it is time to pass on the book. I hope that the winner curates their own short list and then passes the book along to inspire someone else, but I shan’t hold the winner to that. Besides, this book really is a keeper. The pictures are lovely–I like the Artful presentation of the ingredients for each dish–and the words are nice, too, with a little about each cook and maybe a short back story on the dish as well as Food52 community members’ feedback on the recipes.  The folks who submitted are all passionate cooks, and it certainly shows in their work.  I really have been inspired, and this year I will be doing a series of posts based upon our Short List of Yum. But you don’t want to hear about that right now. You want to know how to win this copy for yourself. Continue reading →

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On Cooking without Eating. And Some Potato Soup.

Posted on January 13, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
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potato soup 007Here it is, Day 8 of 10 of The Master Cleanse. I have swallowed no solid food since Thursday evening, January 5. When I started this whole thing, it was an impulsive move. I had been reading about it and Pondering the idea of it and researching it, and then I just said, “What the hell, I have all the stuff I need here.” And I was drinking lemonade the next morning, staring ahead at ten long and unpleasant days.

But you know what? They haven’t been unpleasant at all, actually. Except for that salt water flush. Dear lord, that sucks. Yeah, I’ve had a couple of low energy days. I’ve had some headaches, the odd breakout or three, some aches and pains. And I have been more than a little Snippy. But I figure it’s what has to happen to truly detox after years of eating pretty much whatever the hell I wanted. Plus green smoothies.  And I actually credit those with minimizing the detox symptoms.

Last Friday morning, I Informed The Beloved that I would not be cooking for him–or anyone–for the duration of the cleanse and he’d best remember how to make some ramen. Except for I said it sweetly. Sort of.  And he, being supportive, completely understood and looked at me, worriedly and with Furrowed Brow, and asked, “Do you want me to do this with you?” Sweet, right? And I said, “No, sweetie. You have to work. I don’t think they’ll let you work in the bathroom.” He agreed. So, I fully intended to sit around, drink my lemonade and pound down my water, read, do some work, but stay Far Away from Food until Monday, January 16.

Guess what happened? I couldn’t.  I couldn’t stay away. First, there was that chicken that had been defrosting that I needed to do something with. Then, there were the leftovers to deal with. And then last night I decided to make some cream of potato soup. Why? Because we had potatoes, and they needed to be used. Continue reading →

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Finding The Balance for The Balanced Pastry Chef

Posted on January 10, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
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Balancing ActClick the picture for attribution.  Thanks, DigitalNative for the fantastic photo.

You may or may not have noticed that I changed the name of my blog from Pastry Methods and Techniques to The Balanced Pastry Chef. I changed the name after really coming to understand on a deep personal level that food can heal, and food can kill. Not like the Deadly Oleander–suddenly and with sharp stomach pains–but slowly and insidiously.  And advertisers keep wanting us to buy Killer Food. Dead food.

I really don’t want to sound all scarily heavy and Depressing, but I think there are still people out there who think that, if it’s sold in a grocery store as food, then it must be okay to eat.  And that’s just not true. The more overly processed the food is, the more I feel the need to enclose the word in quotation marks, thusly: “food.”

And that’s where the balance comes in. Because y’all know I’m a Fan of sugary goodness, of gooeyness, of deep, dark, chocolatey love, of caramel. Mmmm…..caramel…. Continue reading →

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Sunday Suppers: Citrus-Fennel Pollen Roasted Chicken

Posted on January 8, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
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Citrus Fennel Pollen Roast ChickenFriends, it is a sad, sad day when I have to report that I roasted a beautiful chicken in a cast iron skillet and then didn’t get to eat any of it. Not even a taste. You see, I am doing the Master Cleanse right now, and that means No Food crosses these lips.  I do, however, get to drink a lot of lemonade made with Organic Grade B maple syrup, organic lemons and pure water. And cayenne pepper.  I also get to do some other stuff which I’d rather not discuss right now, but which I am sure will make my insides Bright and Shiny.

Since as you all well know, I am not a planner, I literally just jumped into the cleanse without considering all the Awesome Food that’s in the house right now. In Retrospect, we should’ve eaten down the fridge a bit, but I didn’t want The Beloved to feel deprived. So here we are. And there we were with a chicken that’d been thawing for a couple of days in the bottom of the fridge.  And then there I was, Lemonade Girl, realizing that I had Best cook that guy.  And that’s how I got to watch as The Beloved ate all sorts of yumminess. He said it was every bit as good as I had expected it would be. So, yay. I guess.  But still.

As excited about the chicken as I was–roast him in cast iron atop a Bed of Aromatics with another cast iron pan on top of him for crispy skin–I was even more excited about the Side Dish.  Very toasty Israeli couscous cooked in the pan drippings.  I mean, doesn’t that sound great?  Onions, celery, carrots, lemon slices, salt, pepper and Citrus Fennel Sea Salt, not to mention the happy chicken drippings, all forming a luscious, thickish broth to plump up and cook my toasty couscous. Yes.

So, here’s what happened. Mostly The Beloved cooked while I directed. He was In Charge of cutting up all the vegetables and lemons and spatchcocking the chicken.  I was In Charge of seasonings and couscous cooking. I was very well behaved and didn’t taste anything, which is a completely Alien concept for me. I did have The Beloved taste everything for seasoning, though, and since we were cooking for him, it all Worked Out.

It smelled great. And The Beloved was happy. But I can tell you, I will definitely be recreating this meal when I am once again allowed to chew, swallow and digest.  Hopefully you’ll try it, too.  And it’s honestly not so much about the spices or the veggies you choose as it is about the cooking method.  Do use cast iron if you have it. If you only have one cast iron pan, you can use another heavy pan on top of the bird or even a couple of bricks wrapped in foil. That’s a real thing, by the way–Chicken Under a Brick.

Citrus-Fennel Pollen Roasted Chicken
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Recipe type: Main and Sides
Author: onlinepastrychef
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 40 mins
Total time: 1 hour
Serves: 4
Very yummy, and even doable on a weeknight. The chicken will take about 40-45 minutes to roast at 375. Cook in a hotter oven and you’ll probably be out of the oven in about 30-35 minutes.
What You Need
  • For the Chicken
  • 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
  • 2 scrubbed carrots, roughly chopped
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 lemon, sliced
  • 1 lovely chicken, about 4 pounds
  • olive oil for rubbing
  • kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
  • Citrus Fennel Sea Salt (or your favorite accent flavorings)
  • For the Couscous
  • 1 Tablespoon each olive oil and butter
  • 1 cup Israeli couscous
  • juices from the roasted chicken and vegetables plus enough broth stock or water to equal about 1 cup of liquid
  • salt and pepper, if necessary
What To Do
For the Chicken
  1. Preheat your oven and a 10″ cast iron skillet to 375-425F (your choice. Honest).
  2. Wash and dry the chicken well.
  3. With kitchen shears, cut down either side of the backbone. Save it for stock.
  4. Turn the chicken skin side up on a cutting board and press down firmly to flatten him out. You will hear some cracking sounds. Try not to think about it.
  5. Rub a bit of olive oil evenly on both sides of the chicken.
  6. Lightly salt and pepper both sides. Set the chicken aside.
  7. Evenly distribute the onions, carrots, celery and lemons in a 12″ cast iron skillet.
  8. Sprinkle the vegetables with a bit of kosher salt and pepper. Sprinkle on about a teaspoon of the Citrus Fennel Sea Salt (or whatever you’re using).
  9. Place the chicken, skin side up, in the skillet. Season with another teaspoon or so of the Citrus Fennel Sea Salt.
  10. Put the chicken in the oven on the center rack. Roast for 15-20 minutes.
  11. Open the oven and put the 10″ skillet (or your bricks) on top of the chicken and press down lightly.
  12. Continue to roast until the breast meat reads about 155F and the thigh meat reads 175F, another 15-25 minutes, depending on your oven temperature and the size of your bird.
  13. Remove from oven and carefully move the chicken to a warmed platter. Cover with foil and let rest while you’re cooking the couscous.
  14. Pour out the pan drippings through a strainer and reserve for the couscous.
For the Israeli Couscous
  1. Measure the pan drippings, if you have less than a cup, add water or stock to make up the difference.
  2. Taste the liquid and add a pinch of salt if necessary (ours didn’t need it because we did not have to dilute our drippings)
  3. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat until hot.
  4. Add the butter and oil.
  5. After the foam subsides, pour in the couscous.
  6. Stir to coat the couscous and let toast until a lovely, toasty color.
  7. Pour in the cup of liquid. Stir and cover.
  8. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer until done, about 10 minutes for the brand we used. Check your package directions.
  9. Serve with your beautiful chicken and vegetables.
Other Stuff to Know

Make sure to take the chicken out of the fridge at least an hour before cooking so he can come up to temperature a bit.
Serve the aromatics as a side dish or save them to use in making a broth or a soup.
You don’t have to roast your chicken on top of vegetables at all, if you don’t want to, but they do contribute to the wonderful juices for cooking the couscous.
Our couscous came out risotto-y. If you want yours a bit drier, either cook an additional minute or two or drain the couscous before serving. Put it back in the pan and cover it. Leave it over low heat for a couple of minutes to finish drying before serving.

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And here are a few more pictures of The Beloved’s Solo Feast. Enjoy.
Citrus Fennel Pollen Roast ChickenOur lovely chicken from Bailey Newton’s Triple B Farms.

 

Citrus Fennel Pollen Roast ChickenAdd some Citrus Fennel Sea Salt purchased from @PollenRanch

 

Citrus Fennel Pollen Roast Chicken
Would you look at all that juicy, flavorful goodness in the pan? And all that crispy skin?!
I am Quite looking forward to chewing again.

Oh, and if you’re wondering if we’ll be throwing out any food, the answer is no.  Some stuff can go in the freezer, and The Beloved will eat his Fair Share of what’s in the fridge. Lots of stuff that we own will still be fine for me to enjoy when I’m all Cleansed.

So that’s it. Have a lovely day.

 

 

 


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A New Year’s Smackerel

Posted on January 4, 2012 by onlinepastrychef
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new years snack 012Hello, friends, and Happy New Year–January 4, to be precise.  I trust your holidays were lovely. Ours were.

The first of the year is the traditional time to Take Stock and set some goals, to close one chapter (or book) and open another.  I have never been a big one for resolutions. I can recall that a friend of a friend used to host a New Year’s Party and as part of the festivities, everyone was asked to write down their resolutions and then share them with everyone else at the party. Further, they would contact all the Party-Goers every quarter to remind them of their resolutions so they could Take Stock and Adjust as Necessary. Really?! Downer, right?  More like a shareholders’ meeting than a party.  Not festive at all.  Decidedly disgruntled, I Refused to participate on the grounds that any resolutions that I Might make were nobody else’s business, and I didn’t need a group of (subdued) revelers to Hold me Accountable.

Let’s just say that that particular tradition faded quietly away.

So, I don’t have any resolutions to share with you. I do have some Items to share, however.

Item 1: since I felt all Give-y last month and ended up giving away a Chemex coffee maker, some wee prep bowls, my favorite hot sauce and a kitchen scale, I have decided that I shall be Give-y at least once a month.  Some stuff I may give away, as Enumerated by some facebook fans: Microplanes, offset spatulas, Useful Gadgetry, Silpats, Keen ingredients, more scales, thermometers and whatever else seems Fun.

Item 2: I haven’t made any videos in awhile, but I think they are a Useful Tool, especially for visual learners.  If you have any ideas for instructional videos, let me know. Nothing too specific–I’m not going to make a video on how to make a coconut cake with lemon curd filling and coconut cream frosting. But I will be happy to make one on how to make fruit curd or even on how to frost a cake, if you want.

Item 3: With every post, tweet, status update, email, video and Interaction, my intention will always be to help, to teach, to support.  And maybe to be funny.  But never to be mean.  I will never make you feel dumb because you ask a question.  I will never get all Snobby on you. I won’t ever be that Overblown Food Blogger who makes you think you can’t Possibly make the Awesome stuff that I make. You guys should just know that.  So, please, ask questions–I’m here to be a teacher and a friend, not some kind of Weird Pastry Oracle.

Item 4: My fundraiser for Johnston County Animal Protection League is ongoing. There’s a button for donating over in my side bar, if you’re feeling give-y.

Okay, so that’s that. And now, I want to share with you the Smackerel that The Beloved and I shared on New Year’s Night.  Easy, tasty and–Bonus–on Sticks!

 new years snack 001The components: cubes o’ bread, cheese, sticks. Oh, and fire.
  new years snack 010And if we’re gonna play with fire, we’d better go outside…
 new years snack 026Bread on stick, stick in fire.
 new years snack 018Add a dab of goat cheese or a wee slice of havarti.
Back into the fire. Or not. Put in face.

new years snack 034

What better way to spend the first evening of the new year,
and what better company?

And that does it. If you’ve never put Bread in Fire, you really should. And then smear it with cheese. It was rather Heavenly. Take care, and have a lovely day.

 

 

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Hammock Week: The Last Week of the Year is Always the Weirdest

Posted on December 28, 2011 by onlinepastrychef
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Empty hammockPlease click photo for attribution

I’m not sure why that is.  It’s like there’s this huge build up to Christmas: frantic shopping and decorating and cooking and baking and partying and some worshiping and some more shopping and then some Oh Shit I Forgot Doololly’s Gift and the Final Mad Scramble at the Eleventh Hour.  I don’t know, it’s just a lot of build up to a one, maybe two, day event.  Spurred on by the crazy Target Shopping Lady, we all run around like Mad People making sure to get it all done. And then it is done. (It came just the same). Makes me wonder: should we spend literally 60 times as much time getting ready for a Thing as we spend on the Thing Itself?

And after the Thing is over, we all crash. And we eat. Because on January 1st, we have all sworn to Stop Eating. And between now and then we have a refrigerator, freezer and pantry to clean out people. Don’t just sit there; get busy!

Before we know it, it’s time for New Year’s. Everyone has a different tradition, I guess, but lots of folks dress up and get all Celebrate-y and make sure to find someone to kiss at midnight and they sing and they drink and dance and blow horns and What Not. And most of them haven’t even recovered from Christmas. Some folks don’t even work between the two holidays. Nobody goes to school. Not a lot gets done in the earning/learning department during that weird last week of the year.

The saggy, strange hammock of a week that hangs between the sparkly posts of Christmas and New Year’s.

What have I been doing during Hammock Week?  Let’s see.  I slept a Very Lot on Monday, because I was Exhausted from our Whirlwind Christmas Trip.  I did some writing and cleaning of cat cages.  I bought some glass storage containers, because we are trying to get away from plastics.  [As for the rise of plastics in the first place, I blame Sam Wainwright. (Click that link. Seriously. It's awesome)]. I baked a cake and mailed it off to a dear friend. I sent some folks a few of my new business cards.  We have a friend coming to stay overnight on Thursday, so I expect some Cleaning lies in my future. Ye Olde (Newe) Sleep Number Bed will be arriving on Friday. I eagerly await finding out MY sleep number, as does The Beloved.

Even with some Activity, the whole week feels like a giant Pause. A held breath. The moment when a yo-yo reaches the bottom of the string and just. hangs. there.

It’s as if the whole Christmas-celebrating world grinds to a halt before ringing in a new year that everyone hopes will be better than the one we are leaving behind.  Many folks start the new year on such a hysterical high note that they spend the First Actual Day of that new year in a near-coma. Not an auspicious beginning.  I’ve never really been one to Drink to Excess during celebrations, but even so, as the hammock swoops up to New Year, my intention is to spend January 1st the way that I’d like to spend my year: by giving, by sharing, by being kind.

My wish for all of us is that we find those things that fulfill us and live every day with positive intention, affirming the good in ourselves and others. Without being all Pollyanna-ish, I believe that we can know about the negative stuff going on in the world while still focusing on the good.  We attract what we focus on, and I will focus on the right, the good, the healthy and the tasty.

 

 

 


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Moravian Sugar Cake, or As I Like to Call It: Dear Lord, Get This Out of My House Before I Have to Bring Out the Stretchy Pants!

Posted on December 22, 2011 by onlinepastrychef
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Moravian Sugar CakeSee?! I let The Beloved have some this morning before he left for work!

If you follow me on twitter or over on my facebook page, you may have noticed that I’ve been going On a bit about Moravian Sugar Cake.  And, unless you are from central North Carolina (or maybe from the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania area), you have probably never heard of it.

I grew up in Charlotte, which is about an hour and a half or so from Winston-Salem.  And because of that Proximity, I took it for granted that everyone ate Krispy-Kreme Donuts and had Moravian Sugar Cake for Christmas.  See, many tasty things come from Winston.

The Moravians (or more correctly, the members of the Moravian Church) originally settled in central North Carolina from what is now The Czech Republic and Slovakia by way of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the mid-ish 1700s.  Old Salem has been restored and is maintained as a living history museum and National Historic Site.  According to our friends at Wikipedia, about 70% of the buildings are original. Which means they’re Old, at least by US standards.

But enough about the history.  As far as Young Me (and Now Me, for that matter) was concerned, the whole Raison d’Etre of the Moravians in Old-Salem was to make Moravian Sugar Cake so I could Eat It.  So, what is it, exactly?  It kind of looks like focaccia, with a dimpled surface. It’s a fairly thin yeast-raised sweet dough that is then positively buried under a pile of butter, sugar and a bit of cinnamon.

Done! Hello, Moravian Sugar Cake!

Many recipes that I researched contain potato, although the bakery that made the version I grew up eating does not use potato in their dough.  Honestly, I think that is an anomaly (although it is tasty).  Folks from Central and Eastern Europe like their potatoes, and they would certainly have used potatoes–or at least the water from cooking potatoes–in some of their breads.

Very Soft Dough for Moravian Sugar CakesA very soft dough, indeed. Beautiful.

Up until last Sunday, I had not had Moravian Sugar Cake in probably 20 years. But then, while drinking the Sleep Number Kool-Aid at the mall, we spied the Seasonal Moravian Bakery Stand.  I made the Pleading Eyes at The Beloved, and he graciously allowed (ha!) me to purchase a 9″x9″ square of buttery-sugary goodness.  I warned him that he probably wouldn’t be allowed to have much for himself, but I don’t think he believed me.  Until I served both of us small pieces after dinner Sunday evening. Then, after work on Monday he came home to…No More Moravian Sugar Cake. Why? Because I had eaten the rest of it as I would have if it had been a Pizza. No fork–just folded it over and shoved it in my face.  It wasn’t pretty, and I’m not proud of the fact. But there it is.  He appeared slightly startled.

My justification for eating it was to get it out of the house. The reasoning goes like this.  “This stuff is The Devil. If this stays in the house, I will eat it all and get Very Large. I shall need the Stretchy Pants. Maybe even the Flappy Pants.  I guess I’d better eat it so there won’t be any left in the house and I’ll be safe.”  Aristotle is still rolling over in his grave at my (let’s call it) logic, but I Cannot fault myself.

Dough in the PanSo, then what do I do? I get all Selfless and decide that I Must make Moravian Sugar Cake to “give to the neighbors.” Not to sit alone in bed like Bridget and eat more MSC like pizza. Of course not.  It’s not like I’m addicted or anything.

To make a long story slightly less long, I ended up making 4 jelly roll pans of Moravian Sugar Cake. Of which I have eaten 1/2 of one. Yes, that’s roughly 108 square inches of buttery-sugary goodness that I no longer have to worry about. Because it is In Me.

Moravian Sugar Cakes bakingCare to join me in Stretchy Pants Land?  Make some yourself. And then call me when you find yourself eating it like pizza. I’ll be your support group. You’re welcome.

I checked out several recipes for Moravian Sugar Cake.  The recipe I finally settled on is most similar to this recipe  although I did make several changes.

Moravian Sugar Cake
5.0 from 1 reviews
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Recipe type: Manna from Heaven
Author: onlinepastrychef
Prep time: 3 hours
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 3 hours 15 mins
Serves: 2-50
This recipe makes about 60 ounces of dough, enough to make 2 jelly roll pans of cake. In other words, enough for you and one of your dearest friends.
What You Need
  • For the Dough
  • 1/2 cup warm water (you can use the water from cooking the potatoes, if you want)
  • 1 Tablespoon dried yeast
  • 1 cup unseasoned mashed potatoes (just potatoes–no milk or butter or anything)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 5 1/2 ounces melted butter
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 30-35 ounces all purpose flour, enough to make a soft, sticky dough
  • For the Topping
  • 4 ounces melted butter
  • 3/4-1 cup EACH white and light brown sugars (depending on how sugary you like things)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • several gratings of fresh nutmeg
  • heavy pinch of fine salt
What To Do
For the Dough
  1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, pour in the warm water and yeast. Stir for a minute or so to dissolve the yeast.
  2. Add the potatoes, salt, sugar, butter, milk eggs and about half of the flour. Mix on low until you have a smooth batter.
  3. Change to the dough hook, and add most of the remaining flour. Mix on low speed until combined, and then knead on medium speed for 5 minutes. Test the dough by pulling some up with your fingers. It should be very sticky and stretchy and almost-but-not-quite flow-y. If the dough doesn’t have enough body, knead in the rest of the flour. Keep in mind that wetter is better than drier when it comes to yeast dough.
  4. Once you are happy with your dough, remove the bowl from the mixer and smooth the top of the dough with a pan-sprayed hand or spatula.
  5. Cover and let rise in a warm-ish place for about 1 1/2-2 hours, until doubled in size.
  6. Spray 2 jelly roll pans with pan spray (I made one batch with parchment-lined trays and one without. The parchment isn’t necessary for this, so you can skip it if you want.
  7. Divide the dough in half (I weigh mine) and plop half on each of the prepared sheets. Spray your hands and the top of the dough with pan spray to keep it from sticking, and start stretching/patting/pulling the dough to fit each pan. Alternate between pans to give the dough a chance to relax and make it easier to stretch.
  8. Once the dough is shaped, spray it again with a little pan spray and cover with a lint-free towel or plastic wrap and let rise until puffy, about an hour.
For the Topping
  1. Set your oven racks for the bottom third and top thirds of your oven. Preheat oven to 400F (204C).
  2. Whisk the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together very well.
  3. Once the dough is puffy, dimple the dough all over with your fingers. You don’t have to be gentle–it’s okay if you break holes all the way through the dough, even. Just dimple it all over very, very well.
  4. Liberally brush 2 ounces of melted butter over each cake. The butter should pool in the little dimples.
  5. Sprinkle half the sugar mixture evenly over each cake. Be generous–you pretty much don’t want to see any dough showing through the sugar.
  6. Place the cakes on the racks and bake for 7 minutes.
  7. Switch the cakes on the racks and bake for 7 more minutes.
  8. Remove to racks to cool for a few minutes.
  9. With a large spatula and maybe some help, slide the cakes out onto cooling racks so the bottoms don’t get soggy. Slice however you think appropriate.
  10. Serve warm.
  11. Store at room temperature. If you’re not going to eat all of this the same day, wrap the cakes well and freeze them.
Google Recipe View Microformatting by Easy Recipe

And what to do with any leftover mashed potatoes you might have. Here’s an idea.

Leftover Potato DinnerThe Beloved and I had this for dinner last night, and it was Very Tasty Indeed.

Sam wants Moravian Sugar CakeNo, Sam, sugar cake and potato pancakes are not for foster kitty. I don’t care how
handsome you are; the answer is no.

And that does it. I do hope you make the sugar cake so I won’t be Alone in Shame.  And as this is my last post before Christmas, I again wish all of you the Very Best Holiday Celebration Ever.

Enjoy, and have a lovely day.


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My Wish for You, Now and in the New Year

Posted on December 19, 2011 by onlinepastrychef
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Most likely I will be posting again this week, probably about Moravian Sugar Cake. If you’ve not heard of Said Treat, do tune it–it’s a simple but good one.Wreath

It might be that I should stay away from Picnik, but I mean well…

I’d like to take the time today to come to you not as a teacher or a pastry chef or a blogger, but as a friend.  And as a friend, I wish you and your family the very happiest of holidays.  Whether you celebrate Christmas in a sacred or secular sense, whether you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwaanza or Winter Solstice or some other holiday, I truly hope your celebration is a very happy one.

One of the amazing things about being on the Internet, as opposed to just walking outside my door and blithering to whoever passes by, is that you all come in many shapes and sizes and colors and religions. And I honor you all, as readers and friends, as sources of knowledge and inspiration.  Ultimately, my familiarity–or even my on-boardness–with your celebrations is irrelevant. What is relevant is my sincere wish that your celebrations help bring meaning and joy to your life.

So, whatever and whenever your celebration, I wish you all peace, love and abundance both now and in the new year.

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