Food Fascination

Now that we’re finally moved and I have a new kitchen set up, Food Fascination is back! While re-organizing my pans, I found the ancient Abelskiver pan I haven’t used in years. If you’ve got one of these pans sitting in the back of your cupboard, time to pull it out and use it. If not, they can usually be picked up very inexpensively in a thrift store. If nothing else, the fluffy, airy batter makes great flapjacks on your grill.

Abelskivers (or Ebelskivers) are traditionally very fluffy pancake balls with a small bit of apple in the center - but tradition needn’t stop you. I love these just plain with a fruit compote, or with a strawberry in the center, or made sweet with chocolate sauce for dessert. Once you’ve got the basic batter, it’s easy to play around with spices and additions.

The trick to abelskivers is to get a very airy, fluffy batter. When the batter cooks, it raises enough that you can flip the ball and it will cook in a round(ish) shape. You’ll want your hand or stand mixer for the egg whites - if you don’t have one, beat in whole eggs with a whisk until your arm is tired and the batter is fluffy.

For a basic, unspiced abelskiver you’ll need:
4 eggs, separated into whites and yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups buttermilk (or 2 cups milk + 2 tablespoons white vinegar)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda

In a large bowl, stir together the egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla with a whisk or fork until it’s a creamy yellow color and slightly fluffy. Mix in the buttermilk. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. If you’re adding spices, blend them in here as well.

In a separate bowl, using a hand or stand mixer, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks (when you pull the beater out, the peaks will stay in the foam). They’ll at least quadruple in size.

Using a scraper spatula, fold the egg white foam into the batter. (Folding is a method of mixing where you scrape from one side of the bowl down to the bottom and across the top, which incorporates the foam without breaking down all the little air bubbles.)

Heat your pan over medium heat, coat with a light layer of cooking spray, and fill each of the depressions 2/3 to 3/4 full with batter. As it cooks, it will rise a bit. Place whatever filling you’d like in the center. After about 1-2 minutes, use a spoon to lift the edge - if it’s brown and holds together, scoop the spoon under the ball and roll it over to cook the other side - this is a technique that will take some practice.

Once the abelskivers are cooked, they should lift right out of your pan. Top and enjoy!

A note on spices:
Like most pancakes you can use a huge variety of spices in these. My personal favorite combination is:
2 tablespoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, and 2 teaspoons cardamom. Other options might be:
1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons allspice
Or, try going savory (reduce the sugar in the batter as well)with:
2 teaspoons garlic and 1 teaspoon thyme; or 2 teaspoons basil and 1 teaspoon dried onion powder.

A note on fillings:
The classic filling for abelskivers are apples - usually small chunks of poached apples or apple pie filling. However, just about any small chunk of fruit is tasty with a sweet batter.
A great way to mix it up, though, is reduce the sugar by half and go with a more a savory batter. Try adding bits of cooked sausage, bacon, or steamed vegetables. Let your imagination run wild - these are as plain or as fancy as you’d like them to be!

OK, I know you think that this would be impossible. But I promise, it’s not! I was challenged to make this cake for a friend’s baby shower, and all things considered, I think it turned out well.

When you’re cooking with a particular (or several) dietary restrictions in mind, it is important to be mindful of even the things you’re not used to noticing. For example, I was about to spray my pan with canola oil when I noticed there was also soy in the spray. You can pick up specialty ingredients in most “natural” food stores or bulk shops - in the Northwest, Fred Meyer actually has a great selection of organic and “unusual” ingredients for fairly inexpensively.

This is one of those recipes where a stand or hand mixer is incredibly helpful - if you don’t have one, then buckle down for some true elbow-grease work

You’ll need:
12 egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups sugar, separated into 2 3/4 cup bowls
2 Tablespoons vanilla, French vanilla, or almond extract
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt

Start by separating the eggs. There are several ways to go about this - my preferred is to carefully crack the egg and pass the yolk back and forth between the two halves of the shell, letting the white drip off into a bowl. However, you can also have someone hold a slotted spoon over a bowl, and gently crack the egg into that. There are also little contraptions, such as this one that you can set over the bowl. However you choose to do it, you’ll need a dozen egg whites. By separating them, you’re keeping the structural components of the egg whites without the richness and heaviness of the yolks.

Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites, and use the whip attachment on your mixer (or your hand whisk) and beat the living daylights out of the egg whites. Once they’re starting to stand up on their own (they will increase in volume by several times), slowly add in the first 3/4 cup of sugar and flavor extract. Continue to whip/whisk until the foam stands up on its own and has a definite structure.

In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the sugar, rice flour, cornstarch, and salt. (The rice flour provides the bulk and drying properties of wheat flour, while the cornstarch provides the structure that holds everything together - what gluten usually does in wheat-flour baked goods. There are thousands of different gluten-free flour mixes out there - this is one of the simpler mixes, but is also not as expensive and easier to put together.) Sprinkle the mixture over the egg whites and using a flat rubber scraper, gently fold the mixture in. Starting from one edge, gently scrape down towards the bottom of the bowl, then up and over the flour. Continue this until it is combined.

Pour the batter into a non-stick pan or a lightly greased pan that has been dusted with rice flour. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool until it’s still warm, but you can safely handle the pan. Run a knife around the edges, and turn over onto a wire rack to cool completely. This is best left unfrosted and served with whipped topping - or combine a bit of orange juice with powdered sugar to make a glaze to drip over the cake while it’s still warm.

I tried making granola for the first time the other night, thanks to Caro over at DIYnamite

The recipe she provided is a great place to start, and the comments over there had a few questions as to the “whys” of particular bits of that recipe. So here we go on the Fascination version:

2 cups old-fashioned oats (not the quick oats - this is because “quick oats” have been parcooked, and will absorb the oil in your recipe much more quickly - leading to squishy, slightly oily granola instead of crunchy goodness. If you only have quick oats, half the oil and replace with water.)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar (the choice between light or dark here is a taste preference - dark has a “deeper” more “molasseses-y” flavor, while the light is a cleaner flavor. Either one works.)
1/4 teaspoon salt (eliminate this if you’re trying to cut out salt. In this recipe, it simply works as a flavor enhancer.)
1-2 cups total of… well, whatever. Some of my favorites include chopped walnuts, chopped almonds, raisins, craisins… really any nut, wheat germ, or dried fruit. Some more structurally sound fresh fruits, such as apple chunks, also work very well; a good rule of thumb is that if it squishes easily, use the dried version. Not sure what you want to try? Look at a box in the grocery store and give it a shot.
3 Tablespoons oil (this will coat the ingredients and prevent burning in the oven)
1 Tablespoon water (this is to cut the oil and help separate the ingredients so you don’t end up with one clump)
1-3 Tablespoons additional flavor…try a small amount of vanilla, or honey, or even fruit juice.

Heat the oven to 275 and line a cookie sheet or pan with foil.

Combine the dry ingredients (minus any dried fruit) in a large bowl. Simmer the liquid ingredients together, whisking to combine. Pour the warm liquids over the dry ingredients and stir to combine. (You want the liquids to be hot so they will soak into the oats and start cooking - if they were cold, they would “sit” on top of the oats rather than soaking in and would be a half-burnt mess out of the oven.)

Spread over the foil-covered pan and roast in the oven for 30-45 minutes, stirring once. Add any dried fruit and continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven, cool, and store in a sealed container. Enjoy!

Bread pudding is one of those desserts that is easy to make, easy to alter, and is best made with leftovers. If you’ve got dry bread sitting around, use it! Otherwise, the cheap bread in the back of the bakery works just as well.

4 ish cups of dried bread, cut or ripped into small pieces
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Combine the bread and milk in a large bowl. Set that aside to let it soak. By letting the bread soak, you’re softening it up and letting it absorb the milk.

Whisk together the remaining ingredients. Stir in with the soaking bread.

Pour into a 9×9 or 9×12 pan. Bake at 350 for 40-55 minutes, or until edges are brown. The pudding will puff in the oven, then fall as it cools. Serve warm or cold with ice cream, whipped cream, caramel sauce, or just by itself.

Great additions to this include:
1/2 to 1 cup raisins (let this soak with the bread and milk)
1/2 cup sliced apples
Canned fruit cocktail
Canned peaches
Brown sugar instead of white sugar

Or use cinnamon raisin bread.

Or toast the bread for 5 minutes in the oven before mixing it with the milk.

Long story short, this is a great basic recipe that can stand up to lots of experimentation. So have fun! Just be sure to leave the milk, eggs, butter, and bread in similar amounts - these are what give the pudding structure and weight.

I’ve been on a crepe kick lately. I have no idea why - perhaps it is that I was getting sick of using tortillas for everything, except I still love tortillas. Perhaps it’s that when it comes down to it, crepes are fun, unusual, tasty, and inexpensive to keep around. Whatever the reason, I’m making these practically constantly these days (photos coming soon.) Almost every culture has some form of basic flatbread that can be used for many different purposes. Mexican food uses tortillas. Greeks have pitas. Indian has… well, flatbread. And the French have crepes. Their slightly eggy goodness is simple to stir up, and with practice (or a good sense of humor) are quick to put together, and can be used for everything sweet to savory. Pick up a pack of 8 for $4 in your grocery store if you like, or spend $2 in ingredients and get a few dozen.

The first thing to remember about crepes, though, is your first few will turn out a little rough. Even if you have years of practice, and even if you do everything “right”. They will still be entirely edible, but they may not be pretty. So soldier on, and they will improve.

You don’t have to have a fancy crepe iron or pan to make these - really all you need is a small frying pan (most preferably Teflon or non-stick coated) and a heat-resistant spatula or scraper. If you did get a crepe iron for your housewarming or wedding, though, time to pull it out and have some fun. But first, the batter.

This is the most basic batter recipe. Once you have practice, you can add spices or flavorings, but experiment first with the basics.

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 eggs

If you have a blender or food processor, throw all four ingredients in and whirr until smooth. If you don’t, whisk them together with a whisk or a fork until it’s fairly smooth (if you have a few small lumps, don’t worry about it.)

Here’s the important part. Let the batter sit. I know, you want to get going on making these yummy things NOW. However, if you don’t let the batter sit, your crepes are going to be holy - and I don’t mean blessed. They’ll still taste fine, but all those air bubbles in the batter actually impact how they turn out. Because crepes are cooked very thin, the bubbles burst when exposed to heat and leave holes in your crepes. These are holes your filling can ooze out of and get all over your shirt, plate, pants, and kitchen floor (believe me, I speak from experience). However, if you let the batter sit for even an hour in the fridge, the air bubbles all float to the top. This is part of what will contribute to your first few crepes turning out a bit oddly, but it will improve the batch wonderfully. I usually make a bowl of batter in the evening and leave it, covered, in the fridge overnight - then make them up fresh for breakfast. Really, though, if you make just a few at a time, you can keep the batter around for three to four days. It will start to darken in color, and the crepes will brown a bit more quickly, but they will still taste great.

Use the time to wash dishes. Make fresh orange juice. Warm up berries for your crepe filling. Watch an episode of Law and Order or House. Whatever, just make yourself wait.

Now that you’ve got a bowl of batter with bubbles on the brink (yay alliteration), you can actually make the crepes. If you have a crepe iron, then it depends on which iron it is, and check your user’s guide for instructions. If you are like 90% of Americans and are about to use a frying pan:

If you are using a non-stick pan, do not spray it with anything. If your pan is not coated, spray a very very small amount of cooking spray on it. Place your pan over medium-high heat and let the pan heat up. Using a tablespoon or small measuring cup, dollop a small amount of batter (I usually use about 2 tablespoons for my six-inch wide pan) in the center. Grasp the handle (don’t forget your hotpad!) and swirl the batter around the bottom of the pan until it’s in a thin, roughly circular layer. Let the crepe cook for one to two minutes, or until it is holding together and there is no more runny batter. If you’ve made a particularly thick crepe, you can turn it over if you’d like. Otherwise, slide your scraper or spatula under an edge and loosen the crepe from the pan. Slide it off onto a plate. And start again.

Crepes also freeze very well. If you are freezing them, stick a piece of waxed paper between every three to five crepes. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then in a freezer-safe bag or foil. To defrost, simply put them in the fridge for a few days, or microwave on very low power for one to three minutes (or so) per stack.

Here’s the fun part. Filling and actually EATING your crepes. These things are great to feed a group with, because you can set out a variety of fillings and let everyone make their own. For breakfast, great choices include:
Cottage cheese
Ricotta cheese
Whipped cream
Berries (fresh cut-up, or warm up some frozen ones in a bowl in the microwave)
Nutella (an amazing chocolate hazelnut spread you’ll find near the peanut butters)
Bananas
Apple pie filling

From there, use your imagination. Try spinach and chicken in crepes with a cream sauce for dinner. Or sauteed mushrooms. Just about anything is worth a try!

This is from a chat I had via the “Ask Me” box - give it a try if I’m online - I can’t *promise* I’ll respond right away, but if I miss your question there I’ll answer it here.
Q: I need help with baking bread - my quick bread loaves always end up soggy in the middle of the top. I’ve tried extending the bake time and it doesn’t seem to help. Any suggestions?

A: There are three possible culprits when a quick bread goes soft in the middle, all of which should be fairly easy to fix with a little bit of trial and error. When baked goods start going wonky (and that is the official term) - I would say first and foremost, if you don’t have one, buy an oven thermometer! Ovens can vary by as much as 30 degrees, even when they are on the *right* setting. Once you are sure you’re baking things at the right temperature…

The first possible guilty party in soggy quick bread is that the batter is sitting for too long before you bake it. At the point you combine the liquids and dry ingredients the leavening starts to act, and if it’s all used up before it goes into the oven, there is nothing left to create “new” airspace in the bread. Those little air pockets help bake the batter around them by acting as an insulator. So put the batter in the oven as soon as you can.

The second possible miscreant is not enough or not powerful enough leavening. If you have old baking powder / baking soda, then it may have lost its effectiveness. If you can’t remember the last time you bought a new container, throw it out and go get a new one. (Usually 2 years is about the longest you want to keep this stuff around.) If you are using new leavening and still having this problem, then the recipe may not have enough leavening in it. Try increasing it 1/4 teaspoon at a time.

The third possible transgressor is too much liquid. Especially if you live in a humid environment, or have a humid home / kitchen, the flour you are using could already have more moisture in it. When your “dry” ingredients contain more moisture, than you don’t need as many “wet” ingredients to get the proper balance of moisture. Try reducing the liquid in your recipe in 1/4 cup increments (either all the main liquid, such as milk; or, try 1 tablespoon of the oil and 3 tablespoons of the main liquid).

Good Luck!

Q: Why aren’t you supposed to stir muffins too much?

A: The short answer is, because you don’t want them to be tough.

The long answer has to do with the proteins in flour. Flour has a protein known as “gluten” - long strands that, when developed, act more and more like rubber bands, binding the ingredients around the flour together. When you add moisture to flour and mix, knead, or otherwise work the moisture into the flour, these strands of gluten begin to develop. The result of this is a more “solid” texture. This is why you knead yeast bread and why roux works - the protein holds things together.

However, in muffins, you don’t *want* the proteins to hold the ingredients together. The flour is there more to bulk up the mixture and add body. Muffins (this goes for any quick bread, really) also use baking powder or baking soda for the lift. These aren’t very strong leavenings - they will add some air to the mixture, but they aren’t able to fight against very much gluten (unlike yeast).

What happens when you stir quick bread, is you start to develop those long strands of protein in the flour. This makes it more difficult for your leavening (what makes a baked good rise) to actually add air when it goes into the oven. It also toughens up the baked good, because the protein isn’t nearly as tender once it starts holding things together.

So when you’re making muffins, be very gentle when you mix the liquids and dry ingredients together. Mix as little as you can (it’s OK if some flour isn’t entirely combined) and get them into the oven quickly. This will help your muffins rise even higher, and you’ll have more tender crumbs in those delicious muffin caps!

Have a question? Ask the foodie! Email jadetater (a) yahoo [dot] com