Two Spoonfuls: The Egg Foam Method

We're back! I've pretty much unpacked what I can in my new kitchen so it's time to get back to cooking. This week I'm back with Alton, tackling the Egg Foam Method. I won't try to explain this one to you because I just don't understand it, too much scientific mumo-jumbo for me. It's all about bubbles, that much I know.

This section of I'm Just Her for More Food is full of recipes for things we wouldn't eat in my house, so I decided to go with the Spiced Angel Food Cake. (Nick doesn't really care for Angel Food Cake, but I knew he'd eat it if there was any cake around).

I should have taken more notice of the bad mojo when I first decided to go with this recipe. First of all, I couldn't find my angel food cake pan. Once I did, I discovered it was kind of gross and needed to be replaced. I got this new one for 50% off at Michael's. It's all clean & new. Check!

I read through my ingredients list to make sure I had what I needed. Check! Then I went to make the cake and found that I didn't have what I needed after all...run to the store and get Cream of Tartar...and more eggs (you need 12!). Check!

Once I got started with the process, I then discovered that I'd donated the wrong whisk attachments for the hand mixer I kept....run to the store for new hand mixer. (Alton says to beat the egg whites with a hand mixer so you don't miss anything at the bottom of the bowl). Check!

Next, I whipped my eggs to a foam, added my cream of tartar and then whipped the heck out of those eggs till I got "medium" peaks. I added the sugar...the cake flour & spices...folded it in. Check!

Next I poured my batter into the pan to bake. Here's where it went really wrong. Batter goes in, batter comes out. I had the lovliest pool of goo on my counter at this point. Obviously I didn't whip the eggs enough, or I bought a bad pan, or I'm just not capable of baking an agel food cake from scratch (this is the likely answer).

Here's where the whole thing went into the sink and down the drain. What a comedy of errors this cake was. Why didn't I read the signs and just make something else?!?!

Thank goodness for the grocery store taste test cake that I had in the fridge. At least we didn't have to go without cake after this DISASTER!

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Help for next time:
Baking 911 - Tips for baking an Angel Food Cake
The Prepared Pantry - How to Bake an Angel Food Cake from a Recipe
Recipe - Espresso Chocolate-Chip Angel Food Cake

maybe next time

I guarantee Jenn had better luck than I did, let's go see.

Two Spoonfuls: Oreos

Okay, so you all know by now that I'm packing up my house to move to Washington (in 3 weeks!), so I'm gonna cheat a little this week. I should be working on "The Straight Dough Method" according to our friend Alton Brown. I just couldn't find the time to not only read through the 54 page chapter, but to bake bread as well. Sorry. Instead, I'm going to summon up my previously learned Alton Brown skills and make homemade Oreos, hooray!!

I found this recipe on a blog I like to read called The Cupcake Project. The writer of The Cupcake Project got the recipe from Laurie of Heaven is Chocolate, Cheese, and Carbs. Laurie got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, who got the recipe from the book Retro Desserts by Wayne Brachman, and you're getting it from me! Now that's passing it on, eh?


Homemade Oreo Cookies

The Chocolate Wafers

• 1 1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 Cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1/2 Cup plus 2 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
  
• 1 large egg

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.
2. Beat in the butter and the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough into circles, or use a cookie cutter to shape.
   
4. Bake for 9 minutes at 375 F. Set on a rack to cool.

I used a fluted cutter for my cookies, but when they were done the shape had all but disappeared. Plain old circles would be better for me next time.


The Filling

• 1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar (I tossed mine in the food processor instead of sifting
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.

2. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

3. To make a cookie, pipe teaspoon-sized blobs of cream into the center of a cookie using a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch round tip. (I just used a spoonful)
4. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie, being careful not to break the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

These cookies were really yummy and super fun to make. I took a few of them with me on a trip to Seattle and our real estate agent gave them 2 thumbs up.

If you'd still like to know about Alton Brown's Straight Dough Method (that I didn't tell you about today), you can watch a great episode of Good Eats here:
Part 1
Part 2
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Fun Stuff


~ Interested in some more retro recipes? Check out this book, it's on my Wish List.

~The history of the Oreo Cookie

~ How to Properly Dunk an Oreo Cookie

~ Oreo Recipes from NabiscoWorld.com

~ A pattern to make your own felt Oreo

~ Want to tease the kids? How about some Oreo soap?

I'm pretty hungry now, let's see what Jenn's cooking....

Two Spoonfuls: The Creaming Method

Hey there, I'm back this week with Alton Brown to tell you about The Creaming Method (you'll remember that I've been working my way through "I'm Just Here for More Food"). This method refers to that wonderfully vague phrase you see in tons of recipes, "cream until light and fluffy". This is one of those phrases that always gets me a little nervous. What exactly does that mean, "light and fluffy"? hmmm? Well, Alton is here to help us out. In a nutshell, here's how it goes:

• Measure all ingredients. Fats should be "pliable but solid". You want soft butter, no signs of melting.
• Combine dry ingredients (except sugar) and give them a whirl in the food processor.
• Beat eggs together along with any extracts.
• Using your stand mixer on medium with the paddle attachment, mix the fats a bit to spread them around the bowl. Then, slowly add the sugar and beat until the mixture lightens in color and increases slightly in volume.
• Reduce speed to stir and add the egg mixture, slowly. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed.
• Add dry ingredients in 3 installments, alternating with liquids. Ending with the liquid will give you a smoother batter.
• stir in any chocolate chips or nuts etc.
• Bake

So, that's the basic method. I learned quite a few little tidbits in this chapter. First, Alton went through some great ways to prepare your pan for baking.

I whipped up a batch of AB's Kustom Kitchen Lube before I got started on my Chocolate Pound Cake. It's just a blend of flour and shortening that can be used to grease baking pans. No more grease and flour for me. Yay! Thanks, Alton.

Alton suggests mixing the eggs together first when baking, "so that the water in the egg whites can hook up with the emulsifiers in the yolks". They'll absorb faster into the batter.

I'm a slave to the food processor now, I love to use it in place of sifting. I don't miss that kitchen gadget one bit. All of my dry ingredients went for a spin together.

I followed Alton's recipe for Chocolate Pound Cake. Nick gave it two thumbs up, for me it was just okay. I think I expected it to be a little sweeter (3 cups of sugar!) and a little more chocolatey. I'm not a great baker though, I probably did something wrong. Anyway, it's good and there's a ton of it. Ayone want to come over for a sample?
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Want to try a pound cake recipe?

• Chocolate Pound Cake from Food Network
  
• Deep Fried Chocolate Pound Cake
• Brown Sugar and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple-Espresso Glaze!!

What is a pound cake?
Check out what Wikipedia has to say about it.

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Something tells me that Jenn is making something that might not go with my cake, let's see what she's up to.

Two Spoonfuls: The Biscuit Method

This week we're headed back into Alton Brown Territory. For me, it's The Biscuit Method, and I'll tell you right now...anything with the word "biscuit" in it is okay with me. Biscuits are my favorite, favorite food (next to cake & cupcakes with sprinkles. mmmmm, cupcaaaaakes). But the Biscuit Method isn't just about biscuits, nope, it "refers to any procedure that calls for solid fat to be 'cut' into flour." The most common uses are for biscuits and pie crusts.

I'm not going to try and explain how the science works when you make biscuits, but I will give you a few of Alton's tips from this method:

1. Freeze butter, chill shortening.

2. Rub the fat into the dry goods, rather than cutting. Alton refers to the way you'd rub a puppy's ear. awww

3. When cutting biscuits, press straight down with a biscuit cutter, then twist. Don't twist as you press down, it can cause uneven rising.

To test this method, I made the Phase III Biscuit (Alton's new favorite biscuit). I'll admit I consider myself a pretty bad baker, though my husband doesn't agree. Baking things like biscuits kind of makes me nervous. Sticky dough makes me nervous. Sticky dough is an understatement in this case.

I followed the rules. I tossed my dry ingredients in the food processor. I grated my frozen butter (which was a mess. It stuck to the grater, it froze my fingers. Yuck!).

I rubbed the butter into my dry ingredients with my fingers. Again, yuck. I suppose this is another reason sticky dough makes me nervous. I'm not a messy fingers kind of girl.

I folded the wet ingredients into the dry and then placed the dough onto a floured piece of wax paper. The instructions said to use the wax paper to fold the dough a couple times, as gently as possible, into a rectangle. This is where everything went wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong. Did I say sticky? The dough wouldn't "fold" into anything but a globby mess. The dough was a disaster. I ended up scraping it off the wax paper and using an ice cream scoop to drop the dough onto the pan.

I didn't get those nice, round biscuits we all love. Each one was a different size. A different sized cow patty shape, or what my dad used to call "road apples". Gross

In the end, they tasted great. I'm sure I did something wrong. Maybe I touched the dough too much. I rubbed the puppy's ear too long. I don't know. I'll try again some other time, or maybe I'll go for Alton's Chicken & Dumplings recipe instead. Dumplings are a mess, right? That's perfect for me. haha

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There are several of Alton's biscuit recipes on the Food Network website.
Or, you can watch a video of the master here: Part 1, Part 2 starring the famous MaMae!

And if you're in the eastern part of the US, I strongly urge you to stop in at a Bob Evans Restaurant. In my opinon, the best biscuits on earth. I mean it. I drive miles out my way to eat them. I have a folding map of Bob Evans restaurants. It's serious.

Most people know that in the UK, "biscuits" are more like cookies. And there really isn't a British (that I've found) equivalent to the American biscuit, the closest thing is a scone. And a scone is a scone. Confusing, no?

Enough about biscuits, I want to know what Jenn's got cooking...

Two Spoonfuls: The Muffin Method

This week, I'm going to continue with Alton Brown's book, "I'm Just Here For More Food" by talking about The Muffin Method. Generally speaking, The Muffin Method is used for things like muffins, pancakes and quick breads.

Basically, the method is as follows:

- Sift together dry goods

- Combine all liquid ingredients (including sugars - because sugar dissolves so quickly, it's considered one of the "wet" ingredients)

- Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Do not overmix! Only mix the ingredients until they come together. There should be lumps at this point and they will bake out.

So, that's it. I had to give one of Alton's recipes a try, and I went with the least muffin-ey recipe in this section of the book. I've made "Chocolate Chip Cookie #10". Traditionally, cookies are made with the Creaming Method (we'll get to that in another post), but in this case, the butter is melted so the Muffin Method is used instead.

Technically, I'm not supposed to copy Alton's recipe out of the book, so I'll just tell you how it went.

Alton is a firm believer in using weight to measure ingredients, rather than volume. It's a much more accurate way to measure, especially with things like flour that can compact differently. I use my digital scale from when I was on Weight Watchers. It's great because you can set it back to zero after putting a container on it.

Another great tip I learned in this book is to use my food processor to sift the dry ingredients. This will aerate them and keep you from having to mess with those awful flour sifter thingies, eugh.

I used a small ice cream style scooper to dish out my dough. This seems to be a very standard method, but it's taken me ages to catch on. It'll make your life a lot easier if you do it this way rather than spooning the dough. What a mess. And, your cookies will all be the same size!! yay

I loved this recipe because the butter was melted. For some reason, creaming butter into a batter just makes me get all tense & nervous. I know, I'm weird that way. haha The final result was a really yummy cookie, and it was easy.

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Now, I don't want to leave you empty handed, so here's where you can get Alton's other chocolate chip cookie recipes:

~ The Thin
~ The Chewy (This one uses the Muffin Method)
~ The Puffy

And if you'd like to see Alton's Good Eats episode where he makes all 3 of these recipes, click here for part 1 and here for part 2. Cool!
While we're on the subject of chocolate chip cookies, you might want to check out this article from the NY Times, it's a keeper.

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I believe Jenn is searing this week, let's go see what she made...

Two Spoonfuls: Good Reads

Welcome to another episode of Two Spoonfuls with Ginny & Jenn. We've decided to get the new year started with a little help from Alton Brown of Good Eats fame. Cheesy logo and theme song aside, Good Eats is a great show! Naturally, you can watch the show, but Jenn and I would like to introduce you to a couple of Alton's books. I'll be talking about the baking side of things with "I'm Just Here For More Food" and Jenn's going to tell you about Alton's first book, "I'm Just Here For The Food", a sort of general cooking primer.



First, I'm going to let you in on a little secret about me. I'm not one of those Food Network junkies, so it takes a lot to get me watching a cooking show on a regular basis. I know I have a lot to learn about cooking and baking and the way Alton presents information really works for me. It's one thing to open a box, add some eggs & maybe a little milk and throw it in the oven, but I want to know why. That's what's so great about this book. I'm learning what the difference is between wheat flour & cake flour, and how to measure it properly. Did you know that once you've opened a can of baking powder it's only good for 6 months?! I didn't.


"I'm Just Here For More Food" is divided into sections as follows:

Introduction - All about good baking habits, equipment, measuring and other basics

The Parts Department - The ingredients in the ingredients and the stuff in your pantry like flour, sugar, butter and eggs.

The book is filled with cool illustrations and diagrams that appeal to my visual side.

Then there are the methods of mixing:

The Muffin Method

The Biscuit Method (mmmmmm) and The Pie Variation

The Creaming Method

The Straight Dough Method

The Egg Foam Method

and The Custards

Along the way are tons of factoids, diagrams, notes and other little tidbits that really make this book stand out. I love a cookbook with pictures, but it's even better when you get actual helpful information and knowledge that will help you make the recipe a success.

What I've Learned So Far:

I'm only in the Parts Department section but I already know enough to notice that when I tried a recipe from my new Ben & Jerry's cookbook last week, something was wrong. I followed the directions for Blonde Brownies to the letter, I used the pan they said to use and this is what I got.

A big cookie. Not brownies. There was definitely a lack of moisture in the batter and the pan they suggested was obviously way too big. Perhaps the 1 egg should have been 2? Maybe there should have been milk? Anyway, the big cookie was really tasty, it just wasn't brownies. My point is, that now that I'm reading Alton's book, I feel confident enough to try adding something next time to make the dough into batter. I knew there needed to be more moisture in the recipe. I hope to get a lot of knowledge out of Alton's book and I plan to read it cover to cover.

Now I'm anxious to see how Jenn's doing with "I'm Just Here For The Food", because it's next on my reading list!