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!

It was 8:30 am, and I woke up with a lump in my throat and fear in my heart. I had to leave in 1/2 an hour, and I was charged with bringing something for a potluck! Oh no! The place I would be going had few cooking facilities other than a grill, and as I would be busy swordfighting and weaving, there would be no time for cooking. So, with what was in my cupboard, this is what got thrown together, and believe it or not it actually worked well and went over.
It was transported and cooked in one of the dollar-store aluminum pans - both because it was disposable and the thin layer of aluminum would allow it to cook more easily on the indirect heat of a grill (although you could also bake it quite easily.)

Filling:
3 cans of peaches with their juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup brown sugar

Topping:
2 1/2 cups oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon nutmeg
3/4 cup melted butter

In a small bowl, whisk together a few tablespoons of the peach juice and the cornstarch. Dump the peaches and juice into a 9 x 11 pan, then stir in the brown sugar and cornstarch/juice mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine the oats, sugar, and spices. Pour the melted butter over the mixture and stir.

Spread the topping over the filling and cover with foil. “Bake” on a grill or over a fire (use indirect heat - turn half the grill on and set the pan in the other half) for 20-30ish minutes, or in a 300 degree oven for 30 minutes, until it’s bubbling and hot.

Easy, quick, and tasty - if you don’t have peaches, try canned cherries or apples. Try adding 1/2 cup chopped nuts to the topping if you’d like - play around! This recipe is a good “basic” that is quick to throw together - but can be as fancy as you care to make it.

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.

No, this isn’t a commentary on the PC qualities of how we refer to fruit. It’s about creating your own fruit reductions and sauces - something I’ve only recently started doing, but have fallen in love with. Since it is winter, and getting fresh fruit can be an expensive proposition, using frozen fruit in new ways is especially attractive. By simply boiling frozen fruit, you can get a sauce to use just about anywhere - on your Flourless Chocolate Cake or whipped in with plain cream cheese. With significantly less sugar and more flavor than processed “fruit sauces,” this is a great way to treat yourself without guilt.

The method itself is simple - in a large saucepan or steep-walled frying pan, combine approximately 2 cups frozen, unsweetened fruit and 2 cups water. Place over medium-high heat and boil, stirring occasionally. The boiling water will break down the frozen fruit, and you’ll get a very watery, soupy mix. Let this mix boil down, stirring every few minutes, until it is as thick as you’d like (for medium-thick, great as a sauce, it usually takes 15-25 total minutes.) Depending on your tastes, this mixture can easily be sweetened by adding a tablespoon or so of honey or sugar while it’s reducing (boiling), and a few sprinkles of salt will up the flavor. If you would prefer a smooth sauce instead of the slightly chunky one that this results in, give it a few go-rounds in a blender or food processor. Unsweetened, the sauce will be fairly tart - this is because the fruit they freeze is usually much “younger” than the fruit you’d buy in the store - it didn’t spend as much time being shipped around, and is usually picked smaller and slightly less ripe than fruit destined to be sold “fresh”.

It’s important that you use frozen fruit in this recipe - when fruit freezes, the water inside it crystallizes, pushing the cell walls out. When the fruit thaws, those cell walls can’t spring back, and the fruit becomes mushy. By putting the fruit in the path of very hot water, the cells not only thaw, but “explode” from the huge change in temperature, and therefore break down much more easily.

Once the fruit is broken down and mixed in with water, you continue boiling it to evaporate the water. This serves two purposes - concentrating the flavor that seeps out into the water, and, along with the natural pectin in fruit, thickening the sauce.

I’ve done this with strawberries, blueberries, and peaches - but it would work with just about any frozen fruit. If you’ve got only fresh fruit - no worries - cut it into small pieces, stick it in the freezer overnight, and then boil it down.

What can you do with a fruit reduction? Just about anything! Some of my favorites -

Using it as a sauce on desserts
Replace 1/4 cup of the liquid in a muffin or quick bread recipe with reduction
Mix 1/2 to 1 cup of reduction in with softened cream cheese for a much-healthier homemade flavored spread
Add to milkshakes or protein shakes
Stir in with your oatmeal
Mix with whipped topping for a fruity way to top things off

Store fruit reduction in a sealed container in your fridge for up to a week - or (for the ultimate in irony) freeze it, then thaw in the microwave or fridge when you’re ready to use it.

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.

This flourless cake is deceptively simple to make, and is great for serving (I am not kidding) 10-15 people with one eight-inch cake. Very rich, kind of a middle ground between true fudge and a true cake. It’s dense and rich, but something you eat with a fork instead of your fingers. This is also a good choice for those with gluten intolerance.

On the more amusing story side, I was about to take a single photo of this when my older brother stopped me and said “WAIT! You need garnish!” Well, I am far from trying to argue with him since our mother would have been very disappointed had we not had garnish. Originally it was going to be a fluted strawberry, but after a trip to the grocery store, there was not a single out-of-season strawberry to be had in any of the three nearest grocery stores. So we ended up making “holly berries” with sliced maraschino cherries and mint leaves instead. Then he fluted a cherry half to use for the “slice” picture. Moral of the story - never get between a caterer’s kid and garnish
To make this confection, you will need:

1/2 cup (4 ounces) of semisweet or dark chocolate. Chocolate chips or baker’s chocolate (the semi-sweet, NOT the unsweetened) both work equally well. If you have the option, use higher quality chocolate, because that is the essence of this cake.
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

(another 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and/or powdered sugar for dusting if you’d like)

You’ll also want an 8-inch round pan, pan spray (or butter) and waxed paper.

For this recipe, you’ll want to use or create a double boiler. If you have one, great. If not, easy fix. Put a saucepan with a few inches of water in it on the stove over low heat. Put a Pyrex (or heat-resistant glass) bowl that is large enough to sit over the saucepan and not fall in over the water. When the water simmers, you’ve got a double boiler. The idea here is to heat what’s in the bowl (or top of the double boiler) very gently, using steam rather than direct heat. This prevents the water in the chocolate from entirely evaporating and “seizing” (creating little unmeltable balls of cocoa butter).

Set up your double boiler or pan and bowl and turn the stove on low. While you’re waiting for water to simmer, cut a circle of waxed paper to fit in the bottom of your pan. Spray or butter the pan very well, set the waxed paper in, then spray or butter the paper.

In the bowl or top of the double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring reguarly until they’re almost entirely melted. Turn off the heat. Use a whisk or a fork to stir in the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and cocoa powder. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 375 for 20 - 25 minutes. The cake will not rise very much, and will become bubbly on top. When there is a crust and it no longer jiggles when you shake the pan, it’s done. Pull it out of the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Turn the cake out of the pan. Do this by setting your serving dish across the top of the pan, then turn the whole thing over so the cake slides out onto the dish. If this doesn’t work, run a small knife along the edge of the pan. If even this doesn’t work, dip the pan into hot water for a few seconds to melt the edges. Remove the waxed paper.

Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Sprinkle cocoa and / or powdered sugar over the top. Serve with whatever garnish you choose- whipped cream, ice cream, raspberry sauce, and fresh berries all go well.

Once entirely cooled, you can store this cake in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two weeks (if it lasts that long!). For easier cutting, try dipping your knife in a glass of hot water. This will melt the cake as you cut it, and help get cleaner-looking edges. Or just have everyone dig in with a fork. Either way.

So these ended up looking like some sort of 2nd grade art project - this is what happens when I bake at midnight while having wine and conversation with friends. However, they are really tasty and a great little surprise. I made them for my office for Solstice, because “this means summer is on its way” but other suggestions have included making these a 4th of July treat with a sparkler in the top or as a unique way to do birthday cake for a kid. However you choose to make them, Ice Cake Cones are much more simple than they seem.

You’ll need:
Your favorite cake recipe or boxed cake mix (and the ingredients the mix calls for)
12-18 basic ice cream cones
Frosting (premade or make your own)
Toppings (sprinkles, food dye, etc)

Heat the oven to 350.

Fill a 9 x 13 baking pan, muffin pan, or medium cookie sheet with a layer of dry beans or dry rice. Nestle the ice cream cones into these (this will hold them up as you move them into and out of the oven). Fill each ice cream cone about 3/4 of the way with cake batter. You’ll be able to fill 18 or so ice cream cones, but if you only have 12 put the remaining batter in a small pan or muffin cups and bake along with the cones.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 1/2 an hour.

Frost and decorate, then enjoy!

Why can’t I add pineapple, kiwi, gingerroot, papaya, figs, oranges, or guava to my Jell-O?

Because carrots are too darn tasty.

OK, I kid. Kind of. I grew up very close to the Green Jell-O capital of the world (Utah, for those of you playing at home) and was sadly exposed to the “we can put anything in Jell-O and it qualifies as a dessert!” mindset. Thus we had green Jell-O with carrot shreds and marshmallows on top (because mini-marshmallows make anything a dessert too).

Enough, however, about my childhood torture. Despite those inauspicious beginnings, I actually rather enjoy the jiggly wiggly gelatin treat, be it brand name or otherwise. I even like it without alcohol mixed right in! As carrots taught me, however, there are some things that simply could not or should not go into gelatin, because it ruins the wonderfully odd texture.

The way gelatin does its work comes from the protein it is constructed of. The structures of the protein are easily broken down and rearranged, mostly based on temperature. Thus hot water melts the powder and breaks down the protein structure, and when the gelatin is cooled, the proteins grab onto one another again and create the gel - like substance that we call Jell-O.

Gelatin is made from collagen (not the hooves and horns of cows, although it is an animal-based product - vegetarians and vegans beware). Collagen is very sensitive to acids, because the protein structure is so fluid, they are easily broken down. All the fruits listed are very acidic, and so the proteins won’t be able to find each other and form bonds, no matter how long you leave them in the fridge. However, if you *do* want to be able to add fruit to your Jell-O, try sliced bananas, apple chunks, or grapes. Basically any fruit that doesn’t make you slightly pucker when you put it in your mouth (it’s the acid that does this) should be OK to at least try.

On a slightly related side note, having a box of gelatin around is not a bad idea. Just the unflavored stuff - it will do amazing things for the texture of your meatloaf. Don’t believe me? Here’s the deal - collagen is that gristly stuff in most meats - the stuff that, other than fat, makes up the white marbalizing streaks in full cuts of non-ground-up meat. Pot roast (rump… cow butt) cuts are famous for this. When you cook collagen for a long time at a low temperature (as you are supposed to do with pot roast) the gristly stuff turns into gelatin, which gives roast beef and pot roast that smooth, almost creamy fall-apart texture. So don’t turn up the heat, and don’t force it, and you’ll love the texture.

Of course, cooking meat loaf for a long time at a low temperature would lead to a brick for dinner. However, a teaspoon or so of unflavored gelatin in your meat loaf recreates this effect. Don’t go overboard, or you’ll end up with what appears to be Jell-O with meat. Even worse than carrots.

Oh, and for those of you who imbibe and are still stuck on my “alcohol mixed in” comment a few paragraphs above, try the college-student thing and make flavored gelatin according to box directions, but replace the cold water with cold liquor - rum and vodka make good choices - pour into small once-sized cups, and refridgerate for the classic Jell-O shot.

1 small package cream cheese (8oz) - room temperature
1 1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon baking soda
3 cups white flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips or semi-sweet baking chocolate
1 Tablespoon butter or margarine

Cream the cream cheese and sugar together until fluffy. (The crystal structure of sugar is very angular, and when you mix it in with something rather vigorously, it rubs and scratches the surface, and allows air into the mixture. This air makes the cookies feel “lighter” once they come out of the oven.)

Mix egg and lemon juice into the cream cheese and sugar until fully combined. (The egg adds the proteins needed to give the cookies structural support… once baked especially, they hold everything together rather than turning into soft crumbs.)

Pour in 1 cup of the flour and the baking soda. Mix thoroughly . Add last of flour, and stir until all flour has been incorporated. Dough will be very sticky.

Place butter/margarine and chocolate in a small microwave-safe container. Microwave for 20-25 seconds, or until butter is melted and chocolate is beginning to soften. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. (If you microwave chocolate until it is entirely melted, the water inside of it will evaporate and the chocolate will “seize” - turn into little globules of rather unappetizing chocolate-like product. By adding some fat/oil and applying only minimal heat, you minimize evaporation. The other option is to create a double boiler style setup by placing a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water and stirring constantly. Either way, treat chocolate gently!)

Using a rubber scraper or wooden spoon, drop bits of chocolate over surface of the cream cheese dough still in the mixing bowl. Fold (dig your scraper or spoon in on one side, and very carefully run it along the bottom of the batter, then lift up and over the top) gently until the dough is swirled, but not mixed.

Drop by small teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake 10-13 minutes in 350 degree oven. Cookies are done when puffed and slightly resistant to touch. Edges will not noticeably brown. Pull out of oven, and transfer to cooling rack.

Q: I just bought a dual-mode (convection and standard) oven, and the user’s manual says cakes are best done in standard mode. Why is this?

The short answer: Because they’ll look better

The long answer:  A convection oven is an oven that uses a giant fan to circulate the hot air inside an oven, baking things more evenly (and more quickly) than a standard oven. In fact, they are so much more efficient that when baking convection, it is recommended that you both shorten the baking time and reduce the oven temperature by 25-50 degrees. Put simply, a convection oven is “hotter” than a standard oven.

For most things that most people bake, this is a good thing. However, when you start combining this even, forced-air heat with more delicate baked goods, it can get tricky.

Cakes (and for this case, lighter quick breads such as muffins) rely on baking powder or baking soda to get their airy feel. These two ingredients are simply chemicals that react with the chemicals in the other ingredients to add air to the mix. It’s like in third grade when you put baking soda in orange juice to create “orange soda” - the acid in the orange juice mixes with the baking soda and creates carbon dioxide. When this happens in a batter, the air gets trapped and gives the cake lift. When the batter begins to solidify, the air bubbles are “baked in” and stay there. This allows the uncooked batter to lift even higher, because there is a base for it to grow on - kind of like climbing a ladder.

In a regular oven, the heat rises from the bottom of the oven, through the batter, cooking the bottom first and lifting the cake as it goes. In a convection oven, the batter is bombarded with heat from every direction. This cooks the cake from the edges in rather than bottom-up - so when the leavening does its job and the cake tries to rise, it starts building on itself from every direction. The result of this is a cake with a top that rises a bit at the edges, falls a bit in the middle, and then puffs up in the center. It won’t affect the taste of your cake at all, but if you are going for the classic, even dome appearance, switch your oven over to standard mode.

The other option, especially if you’re planning on decorating the cake, is to level it out manually. Freeze the cake for anywhere from 20 minutes (in the pan) to overnight (turn it out of the pan and wrap in plastic wrap). Then use a serrated knife* to cut off the top of the cake and create a level surface.

Then put the “leftover” cake you just cut off in a bowl, top off with a bit of milk, and enjoy the favorite of caterer’s daughters everywhere!

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

* Serrated knives are those knives with edges that look like waves - lots of little points. When you use these in a sawing motion (rather than cutting straight down) they cut breads and deicate foods (such as tomatoes) much more evenly.