Armenian Nutmeg Cake

The Daring Baker's April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. We had to pick one or both to bake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake. I chose to make the nutmeg cake which was the perfect addition to the brunch at our monthly book club.

The nutmeg cake was a very simple yet flavorful cake which is made in a springform pan. I halved the recipe and used a 6" diameter pan. Also I eliminated the nuts and added a bit of cinnamon to deepen the flavor. I did use a whole egg in the halved recipe (although I picked the smallest one I had available) instead of only using half of an egg! The result was a cake with a sweet crumble crust and beautiful crumb. My friends and I loved it and the cake has officially been added to the "make again" category.

Apple Crumble Muffins

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles. 

I decided to try a recipe that I hadn't made before which used up ingredients I had sitting around in my house AND I had the perfect baking occasion to bring the resulting muffins to... a baby shower!

I based my apple crumble muffin recipe off of a recipe from HandleTheHeat.com and made some alterations of my own and the altered recipe is posted below:

Apple Crumble Muffins

Yield: A dozen

Adapted from Handle The Heat

Crumble

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 oz butter, cold and cut into chunks

Muffins

• 2 oz butter, melted and cooled
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 heaping cup plain apple sauce (no sugar added)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crumble combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a small bowl. Using a fork, cut the chunks of butter into the flour mixture until the butter pieces are about the size of peas. Set aside.

For the muffins beat the melted butter, egg and brown sugar then mix in the applesauce to combine. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop or a spoon, divide the muffin batter into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the batter with the crumble mixture evenly, pressing in gently. Bake for 17 minutes, or until golden brown.

The muffins came out moist and flavorful. I wish that the crumbles were more flaky and didn't melt into the top of the muffin as much as it did. I think this was a flaw in my technique though rather than a problem with the recipe. The muffins were eaten with fresh fruit and berries... a wonderful reminder of the upcoming Spring season!

Scones/Biscuits

This month's Daring Baker's challenge was a nice change of pace from some of the more labor intensive challenges of the last few months. Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers' host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens! The beauty of this challenge was how easy it is to create a scone, yet at the same time how difficult it can be to master the technique to get the "perfect" lightness.

I decided to make a lightly sweetened cream scone. I used a recipe which was a combination of the recipe that Audax supplied for the Daring Bakers and this recipe from the Joy of Baking.

The scone was topped with freshly whipped cream and sliced strawberries. I had the opportunity to use the whisk attachment on Cuisinart Smart Stick Immersion/Hand Blender. It worked perfectly! I've had trouble making small quantities of whipped cream with my stand mixer and don't actually own a hand whisk (say it ain't so!!)... so the whisk attachment was the perfect tool to create whipped cream for two!

 The scones were still warm from the oven when we dug into the mouthwatering combination of berries and whipped cream. I was happy with the interior crumb of the scone. I do wish that I had gotten more rise out of the scone, but it didn't seem to impact the lightness of the scone.

Homemade EggNog

What winter is complete without post about random cooking projects? The last month has been filled with finals, holidays and lots of randomness. I'm going to try to post some of these over the next few weeks, starting with..... EggNog!

What holiday isn't complete without this creamy, sweet and rich drink? Well according to EW, it is too much of a holiday season tradition to pass up. Thus the endeavor began to create our own EggNog cocktail... because I wasn't interested in going for the beverage which is purchased directly from the supermarket isle!

We settled on a homemade EggNog cocktail recipe courtesy of Kitchen.com. We were feeling slightly more boozy than the recipe suggested and added a bit more liquor (for a full shot of rum per glass).

A little bit of nutmeg sprinkled on top added the perfect spicy aroma.  A homerun recipe worth repeating! Cheers!

Thanksgiving 2011 Treats

We went traditional and new for desserts for this year's Thanksgiving. First up was a luscious pumpkin pie. This treat was specifically requested by Mom and since I'd never made pumpkin pie before... I was a bit nervous about how it would come out! It was completely homemade: we roasted our own pumpkin, made our own crust and grew our own eggs (Ok, so the last one isn't true, but I wish it was!).

I've never been able to make a good fluted pie crust, so instead we created a braided crust. My co-chef of the night's first time braiding... his braiding skills were quite accomplished!

The pumpkin filling took longer than I expected to set/cook in the oven, but in the end resulted in a creamy smooth texture. I was very happy with the resulting pumpkin pie and definitely plan on baking another one for next year!

My co-chef has been after me to make a pear dessert for a number of weeks now and I figured that Thanksgiving was as good a time as any. After much research I settled on a pear tart which I very very loosely based on a recipe from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. The biggest change I made was using sunflower seeds instead of almonds. I had an abundance of sunflower seeds in my kitchen, and they're an inexpensive substitute which imparts a nutty flavor to the dish.

I added ground sunflower seeds to the crust which I formed as a free-form tart which was pre-baked to a golden brown and allowed to cool before it was filled. The filling and sliced pears were cooked until they were a golden brown. The house smelled amazing!

All in all the pear tart was pretty good. The pears and the crust I loved the flavor of, but the filling was a bit odd. I think it would have been better with the sunflower seeds chopped more finely. It was also difficult to tell when the filling was done. I would definitely make the crust and pair it with pears again, but would not repeat the filling.

Of course... no pie or tart dessert is complete without fresh homemade whipped cream!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. What were YOU thankful for this year?