Category — Bakeware

I am currently obsessed with lime popcorn. I eat it while waiting for dinner to cook because, really, any excuse to eat it is just fine. I make the quickie Orville Redenbacher Lime and Salt, but imagine how great it would be to cook and make my own flavors! Glamour has this amazing recipe for Chili Lime Tequila Popcorn that I’m dying to try!

Chili Lime Tequila Popcorn
Adapted from Dolcetto Confections

Ingredients:

4 quarts freshly popped popcorn
1/4 cup butter, melted (Note: I use less–butter is absolutely optional)
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1 teaspoon tequila (optional)
1/2 small jalapeno, seeds and membrane removes, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or SilPat. Set aside. Put popcorn in a large, clean paper bag. In a medium-size bowl whisk together the butter, lime juice and zest, and tequila. Add the jalapeno. In a small bowl combine the black pepper, salt and red pepper.

Drizzle butter mixture over the popcorn, fold over the top of the bag, and shake until the popcorn is coated and moist. Sprinkle pepper mixture over the popcorn, fold over the top of the bag, and shake a few times to coat.

Spread the popcorn evenly over the baking sheet and bake until the popcorn is dry, five to seven minutes. Store in clean paper bag for up to 1 day.

Cuisinart Popcorn Maker

Theater Popcorn Popper

Say it isn’t so! I’ve never seen croissants so perfectly baked at home,  but Tracey from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures did just that! I’m so jealous and terrified that if I ever attempted this recipe my croissants would go up in flames. For you brave bread souls:

Find the formidable recipe at Tracey’s Culinary Adventures!

Some things you’ll need:

Rolling Pin (J.K. Adams High Roller Gourmet Rolling Pin Individual Pieces Cookware)

Ruler (12-1/4″ long x 2″ Wide Aluminum Ruler)

Knife (Harold Import Company TBCL Cooking Knife 15 Centimeters)

Cannelle et Vanille is one of my favorite blogs out there. It’s written by Aran and wonderfully styled, photographed and curated. She has a true artist’s sensibility and I never walk away from her blog without feeling totally amazed and absolutely incapable!

This is an image from her post “Pear, Hazelnut and Brown Butter Cakes”.

Here is her recipe with suggestions by me!

“Pear, Hazelnut and Brown Butter Cakes
makes a dozen mini bundtcakes
1 cup (125 grams) superfine brown rice flour
1/2 cup (50 grams) hazelnut flour
2 Tbs (20 grams) tapioca starch
1/8 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
10 Tbs (140 grams) unsalted butter, browned
1/3 cup (85 grams) brown sugar
1/3 cup (100 grams) maple syrup
1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
2 eggs
2 pears, grated
1 cup (200 grams) superfine sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Place the butter in a small saucepan (Cuisinart Chef’s Classic Saucepan) and cook it until the milk solids start to turn brown on the bottom of the pan and smells nutty. Strain it and let it cool slightly.

In a large bowl (Sur La Table White Stoneware Batter Bowl), whisk together the first seven ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, maple syrup, eggs and vanilla bean. Add the cooled brown butter and whisk. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated. Fold in the grated pears.

Divide the batter in the mini bundt pan mold (Wilton Excelle Elite 6-Cup Mini Bundt Pan). Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes.

Let them cool for a couple of minutes in the pan. Remove the cakes from the pan and toss them in the cinnamon sugar.

Next time I play hostess, I think I’ll make some of these homemade hostess cupcakes that was posted by Sassy Smith on The Family Kitchen.

Homemade Hostess Cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 hot coffee

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl sift together sugar, Dutch process cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla and then add into the dry ingredients. Whisk in the hot coffee (Keurig Gourmet Mini Plus Personal Brewer).

Fill lined muffin cups 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes (Rachel Ray 12 Cup Muffin Pan). Remove from oven and allow to cool.

For the filling:
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup marshmallow creme

In a medium bowl, beat together all filling ingredients. Fill a large piping bag (Ateco Plastic Coated Pastry Bag 18 Inch). When cupcakes are cool, press tip into the center and squeeze 1-2 tablespoons of the cream filling into the center. Repeat for all cupcakes.

For the ganache:
3/4 cup cream
7 ounces chocolate

Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat stirring frequently until the cream is hot and just starts to boil. Immediately pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Spread warm but slightly cooled ganache over the tops of the filled cupcakes.

For the icing:
1/2 stick butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2-1 tablespoon milk

Once the ganache is set, whip together all icing ingredients until smooth, adding more milk if necessary. Fill a piping bag and pipe on the curls or write fun messages on your cupcakes.

The Fig Test Kitchen takes the simple Honey Roasted Fig recipe to a whole new level. The Fig Test Kitchen offers up different ways to taste these yummy treats and have beautiful images to boot. I re-posted their recipe, but you MUST visit their site here.

Basic Honey-Roasted Figs

14 figs (about a pound), 1/3 cup honey, 2 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh rosemary or thyme (optional), Salt and pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2) Slice figs in half and place cut side up on cookie platter (Oneida Bakeware Professional Large Cookie Sheet)lined with foil and lightly greased with olive oil

3) Brush (Rachael Ray 2-pc. Nylon Tools Pastry Brush Set) figs with honey and sprinkle rosemary or thyme evenly over them (herbs optional)

4) Season with salt and freshly ground pepper

5) Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the honey begins to caramelize. Let figs cool to room temperature

It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and pink ribbons are springing up everywhere–even in the kitchen. Blogger Baking Equals Love has such a personal story attributed to her Pink Ribbon Rosewater & Pistachio Shortbread. Read it here.

Pink Ribbon Rosewater & Pistachio Shortbread

recipe tweaked from A Culinary Journey by Peter Gordon

Makes around 24 – 30 cookies

125 g unsalted butter softened

100 g caster sugar

1 egg yolk

2 Tbsp rosewater (or 1Tbsp rosewater + 1 tsp vanilla for a more subtle flavour)

70 g ground pistachio (or ground almonds)

210 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

pink food colouring (optional)

1. Cream butter and sugar briefly.  I just did this by hand, because you don’t want to get too much air in there.

2. Beat in the egg yolk and then stir in ground pistachios, rosewater and a couple of drops of food colouring.

3. Sieve in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix to form a dough.

4. Form into a lump, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten slightly.  Refrigerate for one hour.

5. Preheat your oven to 180oC.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.

6. Take the dough from the fridge and divide in two.  Put the other half back into the fridge.  Roll the dough out in between 2 pieces of baking paper to around 0.5 cm. Cut to shapes with a cookie cutter – a pink ribbon one in my case – and place on prepared baking trays.  Sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar.

7. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes (mine took exactly 11 minutes) – be careful not to brown.  Cool on a wire rack (Sur La Table Cooling Rack).

8. Store in an airtight container for up to one week (Crate & Barrel Airtight Container).

Awareness Ribbon Cookie Cutter

Alexander McQueen was the king of skulls–he could make something macabre into something beautiful.  McQueen’s skull motif is probably one of his most famous, and in the spirit of the month, all hail McQueen!  Here are some of my favorite  McQueen items that have inspired me in the kitchen to make skull candy:

Women’s Alexander McQueen Studded Skull Clutch

Women’s Alexander McQueen Skull-Print Chiffon Scarf

Skulls Candy Mold

And Skull and Crossbones Ice Cubes? A party isn’t complete without these!

Halloween Party Skull Ice Cube Tray Kitchen Tools

Smart Planet Donut Maker, $29.95 at Cooking.com

I love Donuts, but several years ago I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which means I can’t eat anything made with wheat flour (rice flour and corn flour are ok).  Since pretty much every commercially-made snack has wheat flour in it, this means I have to do a lot of my baking at home.  It hasn’t been too hard to find delicious gluten free substitutions for things like brownies (I prefer the Gluten Free Pantry Brownie Mix) and cookies (King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Mixes).

But Donuts are pretty hard to make any home, especially since you need to fry them.  Except that now there is a way to make baked donuts at home, and to bake them instead of frying them means they will be much healthier!  It’s because of the Smart Planet Donut Maker.  You can bake donuts in it in 4 minutes.  Four minutes!  Isn’t that incredible???  One of the reviews I read of this product recommended using muffin mix to make the donuts.  I’ll probably experiment a bit to get the mix just right, but for $29.95 this seems like a terrific way for me to get my donut fix.   

The donuts are smaller than average donut size, but since these are healthier then regular donuts because they are baked and not fried, you could always eat two!  Although this is a very exciting product to those of us who are gluten free, this is also a terrific product for moms and dads looking to give their kids healthier snack alternatives.

Make your appliances work for you–make cookies in your waffle maker! Don’t want to turn on the oven? Feeling like you need cookies, right-this-instant-or-you’ll-explode? We’ve all been there. Paula Patton’s photo of Waffled Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies stopped me cold. The blog Dishing Out the Good Stuff really knows how to dish it out!

Waffled Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies  (makes 24+ cookies)
(from The Wafflizer)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soada
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup quick-cook oats
3/4 cup semi-sweet mini-chocolate chips (regular size are too big to work well)

Method:
1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well.
3. Stir in all remaining ingredients, mixing well.
4. Spray the waffle iron grids with nonstick spray or brush with oil.
5. Using a small scoop place a small amount of dough onto each waffle section (some waffle makers have only one section, some have two and others have four.)
6. Close the waffle iron and cook until the dough is set and just beginning to brown. (Mine took 1 minute and 10 seconds — some may take 2-3 minutes)
7. Remove carefully from the grids. Cookies will be soft. (I used wooden bagel tongs and a flexible spatula.) Transfer to wire racks.
8. If desired, drizzle with ganache or light mix of chocolate frosting.

Applica / Grill and Waffle Maker / G48TD

Waring Pro Professional Stainless Steel Belgian Waffle Maker

Cuisinart 6-Slice Waffle Maker

My favorite dessert in the world are fruit tartes . When I eat pies or tartes I go straight for the crust! But instead of just using the tartes for dessert, I thought it would be a delicious alternative to eat tartes for lunch or dinner, made with the one and only Le Creuset Tarte Pan. The stainless steel spatula will be an important part of getting your polenta ready and this All-Clad Stainless Steel Flexible Spatula is perfect. The recipe and beautiful images are via Elizabeth from the Guilty Kitchen!

Zucchini Tarte Tatin with Polenta

Polenta method is adapted from Marcella Hazan

4 cups water or low sodium broth
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole grain cornmeal (medium to coarse grind)
2 small zucchini (approximately 6″ each)
1 tsp. veg oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 oz. Chèvre
1/2 cup asiago, grated
1 Tbsp each of fresh thyme, chives and basil, chopped
1 egg, beaten (room temperature)

1. Bring water and salt to a boil, whisk in cornmeal a little at a time to avoid clumps.
2. Cook over medium high heat for 2 minutes, whisking constantly.
3. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook at a low simmer for 45 minutes. Stirring every 5-10 minutes for at least 1 minute.
4. Meanwhile, slice your zucchini into 1/4″ rounds.
5. Add oil to skillet and heat to medium high. Add zucchini and salt & pepper. Sauté for 6-8 minutes (or until slightly softened).
6. Grease an 8″ round baking dish . Arrange cooked zucchini in concentric circles around bottom of dish. When finished, crumble chèvre over zucchini. Preheat oven to 400°F.
7. After 45 minutes, remove polenta from heat & stir in cheese and herbs.
8. Let stand 15-20 minutes, add beaten egg and stir quickly to combine.
9. When polenta is ready, pour gently over zucchini. Spread evenly with spatula.
10. Bake for 40 minutes for a soft centre. Longer if you want it more set.
11. Take tarte out of oven and slide a knife or spatula around the edges to loosen. Place a large round plate on top of baking dish and flip everything over together to get the tarte out.

via The Guilty Kitchen