What to do with left over lemon curd

When it comes to making treats for my family I've been feeling a bit.. lazy.. and uninspired. I opened my fridge to see what came to mind and I saw some left over lemon curd. I read a lot of food blogs and look at a lot of recipes and when I saw the lemon curd I instantly remembered that I saw a recipe for lemon curd brioche rolls. I'm not very comfortable when it comes to bread and doughs so I thought it would be nice to challenge myself. The dough was far too wet for mixing by hand so I was so very grateful for my bosch. You make the dough the day before and roll and bake the next day so it was perfect for Christmas because I wasn't spending hours in the kitchen. The result? Deeeelicious. I may or may not have eaten 2 of these for lunch on Christmas. And then ate another 1 1/2 later that night.

This was my first time making anything even brioche inspired so I was pleased with the results. They do take a bit of patience, work and time so I don't think they will be an everyday thing but next time I have some extra lemon curd hanging around it will be hard to deny myself.

Recipe and some great pictures here: http://carolinesbakeshop.blogspot.com/2009/04/lemon-brioche-rolls.html

Up top is a lousy picture of my own. But! Good news! For Christmas my sister gave my a light cube so my horribly lighted pictures will be a thing of the past. Hooray!

Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater

Instead of the usual Tips and Tools Tuesday I thought that I'd do something a little different.

Whenever I make something with pumpkin the recipe rarely calls for an entire can so I almost always have extra pumpkin hanging around. I wanted to make something quick and easy that would use up some of the pumpkin I had.

Disclaimer: I am usually anti boxed cake mix because of all the additives and well, I'm a baking purist. I also understand that not everyone is as comfortable with baking as I am and sometimes you just don't have the time or patience to make a cake from scratch.

I found this great recipe for a pumpkin butterscotch cake. It's super quick and easy to put together and it's really good. Pumpkin and butterscotch really compliment each other. I baked it in a bundt pan but you can bake it in any cake pan. The texture is similar to the average butter cake, it's not a typical dense bundt cake. If you don't have pumpkin pie spice on hand I'd do 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1/4 tsp all spice.

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cake

1 box of yellow or white cake mix

3.4 oz box of instant butterscotch pudding

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice mix

4 eggs

1 cup pumpkin

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pans, either by using parchment paper or spray and flouring; set aside. Combine the cake mix, butterscotch pudding and pumpkin spice and mix until blended. Add the eggs, pumpkin, vegetable oil and water and mix until batter is well blended and not lumpy. Pour into cake pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until cake bounces back when touched. Cool in pan for 15 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I did a simple powdered sugar glaze for my cake but a cream cheese frosting would also be amazing.

Even bumbling bees believe in santa

At the close of another year, we want to say thank you and to wish you a warm and happy holiday season.

Spreading some office cheer

My husband just started a new job and we decided that it couldn't hurt to boost his popularity by having him bring in mini loafs of quickbread for Christmas. I made 22 loaves each of Chocolate Chocolate Chip (my favorite!) and Pumpkin Spice.

I had left over chocolate batter so I made a huge loaf, but not wanting to slow down I didn't even take my own advise and just sprayed the pan instead of using parchment. And you probably guess it, when I went to remove the loaf the bottom half decided to stay in the pan. Luckily for me, I get to eat an entire loaf of ugly chocolate chocolate chip bread :).

Tips and Tools Tuesday: IKEA FLÄCKIG

Oh no! Days before christmas and you still have shopping to do! What is a poor soul to do? Here's a suggestion, head to IKEA. Not only is IKEA affordable but it's massive, you're bound to find SOMETHING for someone. I love modern design so I usually spend a lot of time at IKEA but you'll be surprised with the little gems you'll find in the kitchen area downstairs. I can't speak for the pots and pans but some of the kitchen gadgets are a find. They might not be made to last long enough to pass on to your children after you die but they're good enough and cheap enough to try out and see how it goes.

Anyway, the whole reason behind this post? These guys!

Don't ask me how to say the name, it's a mystery to me too. These bowls are really the best purchase I've ever made at IKEA which is saying a lot because I spend a lot of money at IKEA. You get both bowls for $4! Hello! You don't find a deal like this every day. Ok, well.. yeah you can, at IKEA. I know, you can find cheap mixing bowls at the dollar store and whatnot but they're not of this quality. These bowls are microwave, freezer, dishwasher safe. The bottom half of the bowl is grippy silicone so mixing is a lot easier. The side handle and pouring lip make them PERFECT for pouring batter. Did I mention that you get both bowls for $4?

I picked a set up while randomly shopping one day and then purposely made a trip back to IKEA to buy more. I have 4 now, 2 small and 2 large and they still nest perfectly. I have noticed that when I make brownies in them that the dishwasher doesn't get them 100% clean but I don't mind washing a single bowl by hand. Now, don't get me wrong, if you're out hunting for a gift for your wife, do not give her a stack of these bowls and expect her to die of happiness. They're great but no one wants a stack of bowls for Christmas. But, since they're so cheap you can go buy that cookbook she's been eying or a gift certificate to a cooking class.

And, a nice little bonus to loving IKEA, if you use your debit card when you checkout and you get a percentage back in a mini gift certificate on the bottom of your receipt. It's a small percentage, 3% if I remember correctly, but if you save up your receipts the amount can add up. Plus, it's free money! It only applies to debit cards, not credit so make sure to put in your pin!

Breaking from the mold

When you baking for a living, it's easy to get sick of making the same thing over and over. I love donuts. Can't get enough of them. I know they're horrible for you but given the opportunity I'm the first one in line at Banbury Cross. I think this is because I don't make donuts. You have the fry them and it's just too much trouble so donuts are the one sweet treat that I'm not completely sick of. Whenever I started at a new bakery I was more than happy to "taste" every little thing that was offered to me but after a few months the novelty of eating anything and everything wares off and you just want a carrot stick.

This christmas I decided to make sugar cookies. At first I wasn't super excited about it because to be honest, they're kind of a pain. You have to make the dough, chill it, have a small window of opportunity to cut the cookies out before the dough warms too much, bake them and then frost them. Once I started though I realized how much I enjoyed myself because even though there are a lot of steps, it's something different. I'm glad that I made myself do it because I think I needed the break from baking the everyday bumbling menu.

I was surprised by how tasty they turned out so I'm submitting the recipes to the Department of Agriculture and soon I'll be able to sell em.

Tips and Tools Tuesday: Bosch Mixer

I think that every baker wishes for a counter top mixer under the christmas tree if they don't already own one. Luckily for me, my mom had one too many mixers and gave me her Bosch mixer and my life has been a dream since. The Bosch mixer isn't just a mixer, with attachments it's an entire army of kitchen tools. Aside from doing my taxes, I think that my Bosch can do anything. Just check out all the attachments you can get. I own pretty much all of them and my favorites are the food processor and the blender.
This isn't my mixer but the same model. On the base of the machine there is a little mixer kama sutra that shows all the exciting positions the mixer can be put in. Mmmmm..sexy... kinda. Not really.

The mixing attachments are attached to the middle of the bowl, unlike most mixers where the attachments are on a separate arm that gets lowered into the bowl. With most mixers you have the stop and scrape the bottom of the bowl where the attachment can't reach, a problem I've never had. Also, since the attachments are in the bowl I can remove the center of the lid and add ingredients while the mixer is moving. The lids are also great since they fully enclose the bowl so you don't want to worry about things spilling out. My favorite thing to do is to add all the flour at once, put on the lid and watch the flour cloud be contained to the bowl. The bowls I have are HUGE. I've tripled cookie batches and everything still mixes evenly.

The Bosch mixer is a work horse, it has more power than any Kitchen Aid I've used. My mixer is at least 12 years old and still runs perfectly. It runs like a champ and I can mix anything in it, including bread dough. When I first received my mixer I had to learn to not over mix because the mixer has so much power the mixing time is significantly reduced.
I'm not going to lie, Bosch mixers are significantly more than Kitchen Aid but I also believe that you get what you pay for.

Tips and Tools Tuesday: Parchment Paper

I don't know about you but when I was growing up when making cookies or really, any baked treats, when it came time to actually put the item in the oven we'd have to spray the cookie sheet. Cooking spray is pretty awful, it's pretty impossible to spray just the pan and when you're done baking you have to scrub the pan, trying to get the baked cooking spray off. Where there isn't a cookie, the spray bakes onto the pan and it's this horrible tacky yellow gunk that is near impossible to remove. When I would read through the baking instructions of a recipe and the phrase "grease and flour" appeared I pretty much knew that there was a 50% chance my beautiful baked item wasn't going to come out of the pan.

Muffin cups are pretty magical, aren't they? They keep the cupcake from sticking to the pan and it makes clean up a breeze. Parchment paper is pretty much the same idea but has so many uses that you'll never bake without it again. I never considered using parchment paper until I started my first bakery job in a grocery store bakery. They used parchment under EVERYTHING. Bread, cookies.. if it went in the oven it was pretty likely that there was parchment paper under it. When I switched jobs to a small commercial bakery I learned the they had even more uses for parchment paper.

Parchment paper is great for cookies because you'll never have to worry about cookies sticking to the pan. Just place a piece of parchment paper on the pan, place the dough on the paper and bake like normal. Your cookies turn out exactly the same but once they're cooled you can just lift them off without struggling with a spatula. And yes, there are nonstick pans these days but you still have to spend time cleaning them and hoping that you don't scratch the nonstick coating off. All the oil and butter from the cookies ends up on the parchment paper which you just throw away or recycle. Magic! To be fair, there are some cookies that still might stick (like macaroons) but spraying the parchment paper resolves that problem and it still helps you with cleanup. I like to stack cookies but some cookies have sticky bottoms (like oatmeal raisin) which makes stacking a headache. I cut up the parchment that I actually baked the cookies on and place a square between the cookies.

Even more impressive is using parchment paper under your cakes. Baking a cake can be a frustrating thing because sometimes you spend all the time and energy to bake a beautiful cake only to have the darn thing stick in the pan and sometimes even crumble or break as you try to unpan it. A trick I learned in the bakery; cut the parchment paper in a circle so that it fully covers the bottom of the cake pan but still lays flat. Bake your cake as normal and let it cool in the actual cake pan. Cover the top with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Because your cake is chilled it will be firm and more durable. To remove your cake the next day, tap the edge of the cake pan on the counter at a 45 degree angle. Rotate the pan and continue tapping. Eventually your cake will fall out, entact and beautiful. If the cake won't budge, try tapping harder or if all else fails, run a knife or spatula around the edge. Simply peel the paper off the bottom and you're done!

You can also make your own piping bag for decorating cakes with parchment. I've always used plastic bags but at the bakery I worked at we used melted chocolate to decorate with so I had to learn how to use parchment. Using parchment paper to decorate with is cheaper than buying a plastic bag and I always have parchment paper around but rarely remember to buy plastic piping bags. Plus, I like to save the plastic bags for when I'm using decorating tips. Here's a great video that shows how to fold a piping bag.

Parchment paper is avialable at pretty much any grocery store but it's sold on a roll, like foil. The paper will have a curl to it and I don't want to fight with the paper when I'm trying to scoop cookies. I prefer to buy parchment paper that is packaged flat. At gygi they have parchment paper in a 1/2 sheet size and a 1/4 sheet, it's up by the register. If you have the costco mentality and like buying in bulk to save, Standard Resturant supply has a great price.

Say wha? Grasshopper Brownies?!?

I've been thinking about it and you know what's missing from The Bumbling Bee's menu? Snickerdoodles. Who doesn't love a good snickerdoodle? Problem is, good snickerdoodles aren't as easy as I thought. Yesterday I baked a batch and they turned out like giant flat pancakes. The taste wasn't right either, it was more like a sugar cookie with a touch of cinnamon....close to a snickerdoodle but definitely not right. I've found that the best way to come up with a good recipe is to research other recipes to help troubleshoot your own. I think I might have worked something out so I'll be making even more snickerdoodles today, here's to high hopes!

I knew it was a long shot but I checked epicurious to see what they had to offer. I've used the website for dinner ideas but never used any of their baking recipes. As usual, I got distracted on their website and came across these little lovelies.

I looooove grasshopper cookies but I love brownies even more so I think this might be bad news for me! I don't think they'll work out for the bakery (maybe a tweaked version for a special..) but they would be a great addition to anyones cookie tray. Especially if that cookie tray ends up in my hands.

Tips and Tools Tuesday: Egg Whites

Beating egg whites are a great way to get volume to your cake and cookies but can also be a huge head ache. From separating the eggs to getting the right peak, there are a lot of opportunities for something to go wrong.

Separating yolks from whites

First, it's easiest to separate the yolk and white when the egg is cold; the white stays together better. There are different techniques and even little tools to help you separate the yolk from the egg whites but I've always used the old school method of cracking the egg, breaking the shell in half and shuffling the yolk between the two shells until the white is fully separated. Be careful though, when using the broken shell to transfer the yolk back and forth makes it more likely that the yolk will be punctured on the sharp edge of the shell.

I've also used the technique of cracking the egg into a bowl and using my fingers I gently cradle the yolk and let the whites slide through my fingers. When I need to separate a lot of eggs (in the commercial bakeries there were times when I had to separate over 50 eggs) I ALWAYS use the hand cradling method because it's faster. Even though the hand method is messier, it's preferred because it's less likely that the yolk will break.

Here's a video that shows both techniques; using the shell and using your hands.

I've worked with bakers who crack all the eggs into one large bowl and slowly remove the yolks one by one. I don't trust myself to do this because even the smallest bit of yolk will ruin the entire batch of whites so I prefer to get 3 separate bowls, one bowl I use for the actual process of separating of yolk and white (what I call the "action bowl") and then I use one bowl to hold the whites and the other for the yolk. After separating each egg I empty the action bowl. This way, if I break the yolk I can just wash out the action bowl and won't have to worry about all the other whites being contaminated. If you do get a little bit of yolk in the whites, all is not lost. Use a broken shell and scoop up the yolk. The yolk is attracted to the shell and makes it easier to fish out rather that using a spoon or your finger.

Building Egg Whites

You may think that you're ready to whip the whites but it's best to wait for the egg whites to come to room temperature. If you're impatient, you can whip the whites while they are cold but it takes a lot longer. If you're mixing by hand I definitely, definitely suggest that you wait for the whites to come to room temperature. Before adding the egg whites to a mixing bowl make sure that the bowl is clean. Any trace amount of fat (butter, grease) will deflate you egg whites which is why it's imperative that the egg whites don't contain any yolk. Begin beating your whites on low and gradually increase the speed. Once the egg whites have become opaque and are at a soft peak, if in the recipe, gradually add the sugar. The sugar will help stiffen the egg whites. Be careful not to over beat, if over mixed the egg whites will deflate and become liquid again. Beat the eggs to the desired thickness. Dip your finger in the egg whites, if the tip of peak falls over when you remove your finger, it's soft. If the peak stand straight up, it's firm. Another sign of stiff egg whites is when the wire whip is making ribbons while it mixes. You'll notice that the ribbons will become more defined the stiffer the egg whites get. If you added sugar to the whites you'll also notice a glossy look to the whites.

Remember, always watch the bowl. While baking I've been distracted and left egg whites mixing for too long. By the time I remembered them the egg whites were so firm they were super dense, almost like marshmallows. It made it incredibly hard to incorporate into the rest of the batter so pay attention!

When incorporating egg whites into the batter it is important to be gentle while folding. If you are too aggressive with folding in the egg whites (stirring instead of folding) you will deflate the egg whites and all that work will be for nothing.

Not sure how to fold egg whites? No problem, I've made a quick little video.