experiment: apricots.

This evening, I wanted pie.

I really wanted pie. But besides the fact that I am entirely, uncharacteristically out of butter [gasp!], the thought of making pie crust in this sticky weather was far from appealing. So I improvised a bit.


Yesterday morning, I happily swam - er, walked to the farmers' market in a welcome downpour. All the colors of the flowers and produce popped so beautifully in the wet greyness; I was particularly drawn to the fresh apricots, and am I ever glad that I took them home with me. I'd been thinking about the drool-worthy apricot tart that C. made recently. Why not try to recreate it, minus the tart part?


Yum. These simple baked apricots tasted like candy! They're not fancy, but they were just what I wanted. Always looking for an excuse to break out the cute creme brulee dishes, I experimented by slicing one apricot into quarters and another into eighths and put one sliced apricot in each dish. (You could use any ovensafe dish - small, large, whatever.) I liked the eighths a bit better because the smaller slices meant more slightly-caramelized edges, but both worked. I added a bit of almond extract because I love the apricot/almond combination; vanilla would be great, too. And while I used granulated sugar, just a bit of brown sugar might also be delicious.


Yes, obviously, I ate both dishes. All in the name of research, of course!


Baked Apricots

2 apricots
1/2 tsp. sugar
pinch salt
dash of almond (or vanilla) extract
[These are approximate and could be adjusted for any number of apricots.]

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Slice the apricots into quarters or eighths. Toss in a small bowl with the sugar, salt, and almond/vanilla.

3. Place in ovensafe dish; they can touch but shouldn't overlap too much so that they can caramelize evenly.

4. Bake for 45 mins., until beginning to caramelize. Enjoy!

birthday brunch ii.

Because where there is brunch there should also be eggs of one kind or another, I made a mushroom leek quiche to go with the braided bread last week. It also gave me a great excuse to buy an official quiche pan - just like a removable-bottom tart pan but with higher sides - that I'd been pondering for a while. I'm not typically an impulse buyer of bake/cookware, in part because I'm perpetually in a severe shortage of storage space; I like to live with my coveted items on a mental list for a while, and then when I've lamented not owning something a sufficient number of times, I pounce. (Currently on the list? A mini-bundt pan; a rectangular tart pan; a pizza stone; the KitchenAid ice cream attachment.)

Anyway, this quiche pan will be getting a lot of use because its first outing went beautifully:


I can also imagine concocting heartier fruit tarts or adapting chocolate pies to this pan. It's just so pretty!

And the results were tasty, too. I used this crust recipe, minus the sugar, and will have to be coaxed to use any other from now on. It has just a bit of apple cider vinegar in it, which apparently relaxes the glutens in the flour. This crust didn't crack, stick, or give me any problems with the rolling-out process - a first for me. Hello, new friend!

I made a few small changes to the quiche recipe. Smittenkitchen only called for 3 eggs; I think her quiche pan is smaller than mine because 3 eggs were definitely not going to cut it. Martha Stewart seems to call for 10 eggs in most of her quiches. (Eek!) Ina Garten doesn't seem to have a quiche recipe. (Nooo! Ina! You're usually there when I need you! [Wails.]) Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything suggested 6. That sounded right to me, and it worked. I also used baby bella mushrooms rather than large white because I like them and thought they would distribute themselves better. As smittenkitchen suggested, I also left out the dabs of butter on top of the quiche - certainly unnecessary with the sprinkling of swiss.

Eggs-cellent. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.)


Mushroom Leek Quiche
crust from Orangette, first introduced to me by C.
quiche from smittenkitchen, adapted from Julia Child and Martha Stewart

Crust:
4 tbsp. ice water, plus more as needed
3/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
[1 tbsp. sugar - *not for a savory tart]
3/4 tsp. salt
9 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1. In small bowl, combine ice water and vinegar.

2. In food processor, combine flour, [sugar,] and salt. Pulse to blend. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal; there should be no pieces of butter larger than a small pea.

3. With the processor running, slowly add water-vinegar mixture, processing just until moist clumps form. If you pick up a handful of the dough and squeeze it, it should hold together. If the dough seems dry, add more ice water by the teaspoon, pulsing each time.

4. Turn out the dough onto a board or clean countertop, gathering and pressing it into a disk about 1 1/2" thick. Wrap in plastic and then press a bit more, massaging away any cracks around the edges so that you have a smooth disk. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (Dough can be kept in refrigerator for 4 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw in refrigerator overnight before using.) Before rolling it out, allow dough to soften slightly at room temp.

5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough until large enough to fit your pan. Transfer dough gently into pan (*I like to fold it into a quarter), then ease it into the seam and up the sides. (*Don't stretch! It will just shrink right back to its original position, as I learned the hard way with my very first tart.) Trim the edges to extend about 1/2" beyond the edge of the pan, then tuck the excess under to reinforce the top edge of the crust. (*At this point, I like to refrigerate the tart shell for about 15 mins., just to let it firm up again.)


6. Line the shell with a buttered piece of foil, shiny side up, pressed down firmly and filled with pie weights or uncooked beans or rice. (*Make sure the weights come up the sides of the tart.) Bake at 400F for 8-9 mins. Remove the weights and foil and bake for 2-3 mins. more. Remove from oven when shell is just starting to color and shrink from the sides of the pan.


Filling:
3-4 leeks, white parts only, sliced thinly (*I like to slice them and then wash them thoroughly.)
1/2 c. water
Salt
3 tbsp. butter
8-12 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 tbsp. port (*I used sherry because it was what I had; white wine would also work.)
6 eggs
1 1/2 c. whole milk
1/4 c. grated Swiss or gruyere cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Boil the leeks in a covered saucepan with 1/2 c. water, 2 tbsp. butter, and 1 tsp. salt until liquid has almost evaporated. Lower heat and stew gently for 20-30 mins. until leeks are tender. Set aside.

3. In a large pan, melt 1 tbsp. butter and add mushrooms, 1/4 tsp. salt, and port/sherry/white wine. Cover pan and cook over moderate-low heat for 8 mins. Uncover. Raise heat and boil for several minutes until liquid has completely evaporated and mushrooms are beginning to saute. Stir cooked mushrooms into leek mixture.

4. Beat eggs, milk, and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl to blend. Gradually stir in leeks and mushrooms, then pour into partially cooked pastry shell. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 30-35 mins. until just set and nicely browned.

birthday brunch i.

Things that make me nervous. Frisbees. Being forced to decide my food/drink order quickly. Shopping in crowds. And bread. Not eating it - baking it. Even with the inspiration of friends who nonchalantly produce delicious and creative loaves, I'm tentative and skeptical. (The majority of my few and feeble bread attempts, until recently, fell in the "could double as a handy doorstop or free weight" category.) I've started to have some success with the much-celebrated no-knead bread, though, and no longer automatically skip past a recipe as soon as I see "add yeast" and "let rise."

So after I bookmarked this one a while ago, I'd been waiting impatiently for the perfect opportunity to [gulp] give it a try. And what better opportunity than celebrating the lovely C.'s birthday with a boozy brunch?

I proofed my yeast, gave myself a stern pep talk, and got to work. The outcome? Bread that was not just edible but pretty darn delicious, if I do say so myself. Triumph! Even better: getting to share it with good friends on a shady porch, enjoying a perfect summer day and brunch bounty [documented by C. herself] that included coffee, quiche [more on that shortly], chocolate raspberry cookies, watermelon/feta/basil salad, blueberry muffins, and mimosas. Mmm. I have very talented friends. Happy birthday, C.!


I will, without any doubt, be making this bread again, and I'm already looking forward to trying different filling combinations. The dough is like a brioche, so you really couldn't go wrong. Plain old cinnamon and sugar? Dark chocolate? Cream cheese and strawberry jam? Walnuts and apples? Yes.

So proud!

Braided Lemon Bread
from smittenkitchen, adapted from King Arthur Flour

Sponge:
6 tbsp. warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. instant yeast (*I used active dry and it worked just fine.)
1/4 c. flour

Dough:
Sponge (above)
6 tbsp. sour cream
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs (1 beaten for dough, 1 beaten with 1 tsp. water for egg wash later)
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
Pearl sugar for sprinkling (*I didn't have any - though apparently Ikea sells it and I may look the next time I'm there - so I did without and it was fine. It would be nice, though.)

Filling:
1/3 c. (2 1/2 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. sugar (*I only used a scant 1 tbsp. and might in fact leave it out entirely next time.)
2 tbsp. sour cream
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. flour (*I used 1.)
1/4 c. lemon curd (*Cheating with store-bought was a handy shortcut. If you have time, though, smittenkitchen includes a recipe.)

1. Make sponge:
In a small bowl, combine the sponge ingredients. Stir well, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and set aside for 10-15 mins.

2. Make dough: (*The KitchenAid mixer did, as usual, an awesome job on this. Directions for kneading the dough by hand can be found over on smittenkitchen.)
Combine sponge, sour cream, butter, egg, sugar, salt, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add flour and mix with the paddle attachment until dough is a rough, shaggy mass. Switch to the dough hook and knead until a soft, smooth dough forms, about 5-6 mins. Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 60-90 mins., until puffy and nearly doubled.

3. Make filling:
Combine all ingredients except for lemon curd in a small bowl and stir until smooth and lump-free. Set aside until ready to use.

4. Prepare bread:
Gently deflate dough and roll on well-floured counter (*using my mom's trick, I wet the counter and overlap two sheets of parchment paper - the water makes it stick well - then flour those, so clean-up is easier) to form a 10x15" rectangle. Transfer rectangle to a (new) sheet of parchment paper. With the side of your hand, gently press two lines down the length of the rectangle, dividing it into 3 equal columns. Spread the cream cheese mixture down the middle, leaving the top and bottom 2 inches free of filling. Spread the lemon curd on top of the cream cheese.


5. Braid bread:
Cut 1" strips crosswise down the length of each outer column, being careful not to cut the parchment paper. (*I held a ruler above the dough widthwise and gently marked the cuts with a knife so that the strips would be even on both sides. Compulsive? Yes. Pleasingly symmetrical? Yes.) Start by folding down the top and bottom flaps. (*If the dough seems too soft at this point, pop it into the fridge, as I had to, for about 10 mins. to let the strips firm up a bit.) Lift top strip of dough and bring diagonally across filling; repeat, alternating sides, until you're out. (*I was careful to make the strips touch each other so that no filling showed. Personal preference.)

6. Transfer braid (on parchment paper) to a baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 45-50 mins., until puffy. Brush the braid with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar (*optional).

7. Bake at 375F for 25-30 mins., until golden brown.


To make ahead: After covering the whole thing with plastic, stick in the refrigerator overnight, and let it sit out for a few hours the next morning to complete its rise. (*I did this and it worked beautifully, particularly since there wouldn't have been time to make this start-to-finish in one morning in time for brunch.) Then bake as directed.

blueberry crumb bars.

Hallelujah, a respite from the heat. Soaring summer temperatures make me crabby and the non-airconditioned portion of my apartment unbearable. (Not to mention what they do to butter once it's been out of the fridge for 5 seconds. Grr.) The past few days, though, have been a blissful, breezy break from the swelteringness. I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to be in the kitchen without risking heatstroke (you think I exaggerate...but no) and baking happily. In fact, I just put an adorable braided bread to bed in the refrigerator; I'm a little bit giddy at the prospect of baking it tomorrow morning and, of course, look forward to sharing it with you.

In the meantime, though, I'll share this recipe. Perfect for the summer: easy to throw together, travels well, likes being refrigerated, and features blueberries. I used frozen because I had some around and I think blueberries freeze remarkably well, though I'm sure fresh would be delicious. Inspired by a very talented foodie friend who has a knack for these things, I've been cutting sugar from more and more recipes that I try. The experiment worked well here, and I ended up with bars that were quite tasty but not too sweet, mild enough to eat for breakfast. (I speak from experience. Of course, I'll also eat brownies for breakfast. Or chocolate cake. So perhaps I'm not the best judge.) Whenever you eat them, enjoy!


Blueberry Crumb Bars
adapted from smittenkitchen, adapted in turn from allrecipes.com

heaping 1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
12 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg
1/4 tsp. salt
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 c. blueberries (*if using frozen, don't thaw first)
4 tsp. corn starch

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9x13" pan. (*I forgot to do this and the bars popped out just fine from my metal pan.)

2. In a medium bowl, combine sugars, flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Blend in the butter and egg using a pastry cutter. (*I used my hands for this, incorporating the butter first and then the egg. I found, as I often do with this sort of step, that crumbling the mixture with my fingers gives me the best control and lets me combine it really well.) Pat half the crumbly dough firmly into the pan; spread evenly.


3. In another bowl, stir together the cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently stir in the blueberries until coated, then spread over the crust. (*Be gentle!) Crumble remaining dough over the berries.


4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly browned. (*This ended up taking closer to 55 minutes for me.) Cool completely before cutting into squares. These cut easily when they're chilled, and they store well in the fridge, too.