Winter's Twilight

Glancing out my window I happened to notice the buds on the tree in my yard (I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know what kind of tree it is--the leaves are maple-like but the buds seem to belong to something else and it doesn't drop keys/helicopters...) Against the darkening dusk sky the image seemed to embody the end of winter and the arrival of spring, something I think we've all been anxiously awaiting. (Click to enlarge.) 

Photo by Whimsy Bower

Chewy Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies Recipe

I hate to start on a sad note but this is the first baking I've done since I lost my mom and the emptiness she left behind was all too noticeable. I think she really would have enjoyed these cookies and I wish I could share them with her. But I'm glad I can share them with you, and I hope you enjoy (click photos to enlarge)... 

The goods:  

Flour and spices:  

Butter and ginger (I used frozen cubes), pre-mixing:

  

Butter and ginger, post-mixing:

  

I love the sunflower pattern the mixer made:

  

A delicious mound of chocolatey goodness:

  

Mixing the chocolate into the dough:

  

The dough, wrapped and ready to be chilled:

  

The cookies are shaped and ready for the second chilling:

  

After a quick roll in the sugar:

  

Fresh out of the oven: 

 

I thought the photo needed some flowers, but since I didn't have any fresh ones on hand I improvised:

   

And a bonus shot I took of the Super Moon (silly name but cool to look at):

  

Chewy Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies [My notes/changes in brackets]

• 7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate [I use and like Bakers Chocolate. You might also want to save yourself the trouble of chopping and simply buy chocolate chunks or chips]
• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 8 tablespoons [1/2 cup] (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger [I used frozen cubes from the grocery store]
• 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses [I used what I had on hand, which turned out to be less than I thought so I supplemented with corn syrup]
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Line two baking sheets with parchment. 

 

Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. 

 

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa. 

 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined. 

 

In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. 

 

Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more. 

 

Heat oven to 325 degrees. [I would postpone this step until you're ready to roll the cookie balls in sugar.]

 

Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. 

 

Roll balls in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

 

Makes about 2 dozen [I made mine slightly smaller and ended up with 31] 

 

Original recipe here.  

 

My Verdict I was slightly worried when I saw the recipe didn't include eggs but it turns out they weren't needed. The SO and I agreed that the texture of these cookies is excellent: slightly crispy and melts in your mouth. We also agreed that the flavour is too heavy. The chocolate would be good on its own and the gingerbread would be good on its own, but together they're overwhelming. You can't eat a lot of these at one time (maybe that's a good thing). And for the amount of work involved they didn't rock my world. But the texture makes these cookies worth further experimenting. I'm thinking maybe cut out the gingerbread (i.e., the spices and molasses) and try making them into chocolate-dried cherry cookies. Or skip the chocolate and molasses and go for straightforward spice cookies. On the other hand, if you like spicy, rich treats, these are for you.

Want to see what else I've made for my 2011 baking project? 

 

January: Double-Chocolate Brownies

 

February: Angel Food Cake with Raspberry Sauce

 

Photos by Whimsy Bower

[Edited to update title, links, and for formatting and clarity. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com]

 

 

Homeward Bound

This photo was taken by me about six years ago on my last trip to Greece with my mom. That's her walking down the alley to our house on the left.

Some of you may already know that I lost my mom this week. It was sudden and unexpected and drove home the realization (for me) that it's not if smoking kills you but when. It also made me realize how much of who I am I owe to my mom. My entire domestic side from decorating to cooking, baking, gardening, crafting and even cleaning is thanks to my mom. My appreciation for well-designed and well-made clothing also comes from her. She was a domestic goddess before anyone even knew such a thing existed. I already miss our long chats about what was happening in our gardens or on our favourite Food Network shows.

Thank you, mom: you were an amazing person and the best role model anyone could ask for. You're in my heart always.

House of Blues

Vignette on my kitchen windowsill.

Photo by Whimsy Bower

Make Your Own Seed-Starting Pots

Just a few more weeks until spring! And now is the time to get busy with seed starting (if you haven't already). The cost (financial and environmental) of gardening can definitely add up; most places don't recycle plastic pots and peat is over-harvested. I've also found that the coconut-fibre pots don't break down readily in the soil, so I'm not sure how well roots can get through them. Newspaper, on the other hand, is fully biodegradable, non-toxic (soy-based inks are used), and often free. I found these tutorials for making newspaper pots and I thought I'd share (they're two of the better ones I uncovered). Have fun and happy gardening! 

[Edited to update links. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com]

Happy Valentine's Day

Photo from FreeImages

Tempted by an Angel Food Cake (Recipe + Bonus Raspberry Sauce)

I've done a lot of baking in my day: cookies, cakes, muffins, pies, tarts, yeast and quick breads--but until now I had never made an Angel Food Cake. I'm not sure how I'd managed to miss out for so long. But this weekend, knowing I'd be visiting my family, it seemed like the perfect time to make and share a cake. And I am no longer an Angel Cake virgin! 

Click photos to enlarge... 

The goods (note the lack of oil and butter):

  

I thought I'd take a picture of my oven to show the rack in the lower position, where it needs to be, and neither kitty could resist coming to investigate (don't worry--the oven is off).

  

My rather messy job of lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper (it also probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to lightly grease the sides of the pan): 

  

I don't usually sift flour since it comes pre-sifted but the recipe specified sifting it with the sugar, so I figured no harm in doing it again: 

 

The beginning of the egg separation process. I separated the eggs into two smaller bowls and then poured the whites one at a time into my mixing bowl. That way if I ended up breaking a yolk I would only contaminate one white rather than the entire batch. It didn't matter if I got some white in the yolks but yolk in the whites would have ruined them: 

  

As you can see I did end up breaking a couple of yolks, but miraculously none got in the white (I caught them just in time): 

 

Ever wonder what a dozen egg whites look like? 

  

Getting the whites foamy: 

 

Eventually they start fluffing up and forming firm peaks. It's kind of an amazing process--that smallish amount of liquid ended up filling the entire mixing bowl: 

  

Wish I could dive right in: 

 

Action shot! The SO took a photo of me folding the flour and sugar into the egg whites: 

 

Getting the mixture into the pan turned out to be messy business. This isn't the most beautiful cake:

  

Baked and golden (and looking very much like a meringue): 

 

The recipe says to turn the pan upside down and rest it on its feet or on the neck of a bottle. Well, my pan doesn't have feet (I inherited it from my mom--it's probably older than I am) and all the bottles I had on hand were too big. I figured this was a reasonable compromise:  

Fully cooled and released from the pan. I think I should have put a vase of flowers in the middle ;) 

 

I knew this cake would have a simple flavour (there's no fat in it whatsoever) so I whipped up a raspberry sauce to go with. Ultimately I probably needed more sauce but it was a fantastic combination:

 

Angel Food Cake [my notes/changes in brackets] Makes one 10-inch cake [8 servings]

• 1 cup sifted cake flour, (not self-rising)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 12 large egg whites
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with rack in lower third but not on bottom shelf. 

Prepare a 10-inch angel-food-cake pan: Using the pan as your guide, cut a circle from a piece of parchment paper; use it to line bottom of pan. 

Using a sieve, sift flour and 1/2 cup sugar onto another piece of parchment. Set sieve over a bowl, and return mixture to sieve; sift again and set aside. [I simplified this by eliminating the parchment step and just setting a sieve over a bowl and putting the flour and sugar into it before sifting them together.] 

Place egg whites in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the cream of tartar, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt; continue beating until soft peaks form, about 2 1/2 minutes. 

With mixer running, add remaining cup sugar a little at a time, beating no longer than 1 minute. Raise speed to medium-high; continue beating until firm, but not stiff, peaks form (when beater is lifted, only the tip of the peak should fall over slightly). 

Gently transfer egg-white mixture to a large, wide bowl. Sprinkle a third of the reserved flour mixture over the whites. 

Using a whisk [I used a spatula--how do you fold with a whisk?], gently combine in a folding motion, allowing batter to fall through the whisk as you fold. Sprinkle remaining flour mixture over whites in two more batches; fold until just combined. Be careful not to overmix because the egg whites will deflate. 

Using a large rubber spatula, transfer batter to prepared pan. Run a knife gently through the center of the batter to remove any large air bubbles. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean and cake is springy to the touch, 45 to 50 minutes. 

Remove pan from oven and invert onto its legs, making sure cake clears the surface of the counter. (If using a tube pan, invert it and hang over the neck of a bottle.) Let cool completely, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

To remove cake, re-invert pan, top side up. Run a knife around the inner and outer edges of the cake before releasing the bottom. 

Cake will keep up to 2 days at room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic. To serve, slice with a serrated knife.

Original Recipe here. 

 

I also worked out nutritional information. Per serving: 237 calories, 0.2 g fat, 52.7 g carbohydrates, 0.5 g fibre.

 

My Verdict: Despite my slight departures from the instructions the cake turned out perfectly. It's light and beautiful (and weirdly fun to make). It's also a little bland, so I was really glad I'd made the sauce! But this cake would lend itself to all sorts of variations (cocoa and spices immediately come to mind) and toppings (fruit, chocolate sauce, ice cream...) My sister even pointed out that it would make a good base for trifle. And if you're watching the fat in your diet then this is the perfect sweet treat. Will definitely be making this again.  

Whimsy Bower's Raspberry Sauce (you might want to double the recipe to be sure to have enough)

12 oz (340 g) fresh raspberries, rinsed but not dried 

1/3 cup sugar (more or less, according to how tart the berries are) 

splash of liqueur (I used peach schnapps but orange liqueur would also be good) 

splash of water 

Place half the raspberries in a saucepan over med-low heat, along with remaining ingredients. Cook, covered, until raspberries break down. Remove lid and allow to simmer gently for about 5 minutes in order to thicken sauce. Taste and adjust sugar, if needed. Turn heat off. Add remaining berries. Place lid back on pot and allow sauce to cool before serving. Store in refrigerator. 

8 (small) servings. Per serving: 45 calories, 0 g fat, 11.4 g carbohydrates, 1.4 g fibre 

Want to see what else I've made for my 2011 baking project? 

January: Double-Chocolate Brownies  

Photos by Whimsy Bower

[Edited to update title, links, and for formatting and clarity. Follow me on my official site: AspasiaSBissas.com]