March 19, 2012

Baking| Quick Cinnamon Apple Buns with Cinnamon Icing {no yeast} … A Guest Post!

“All human history attests
That happiness for man,the hungry sinner!
Since Eve ate apples,
Much depends on dinner.”
Lord Byron

This recipe is inspired by my search for ‘quick breads‘ when I first saw the Daring Bakers challenge for February. One thing led to another and googling for cinnabons I found several links online to the Cooks Illustrated recipe for Quick Cinnamon Buns. I added apple to the filling too. The QUICK result – Quick Apple Cinnamon Buns!Of course I procrastinated since the challenge said quick breads that would be ready in next to no time, no rising etc. “Yeah, no problem, I can do this tomorrow!“. I did but that tomorrow came too close to posting date.I posted Double Chocolate Dessert Popovers instead and I’m finally blogging this quick bread to feed a friends hungry blog!These are for Suma @ Cakes & More, a very sweet and extremely helpful food blogger in Bangalore. I have endlessly bothered her for baking stuff from Bangalore that I cannot find in Gurgaon/Delhi, and she obliges happily each time. My list began hesitatingly with dark cocoa {from Nilgiris} and vital gluten … then I stole a mile when offered an inch! Now I regularly get parchment paper, instant active yeast, piping bags and much more from this lovely lady.She hesitatingly asked me a short while ago if I would do a guest post for her, and I was amazed! After all I have pestered her to do, it is her right to ask, and for me to oblige! So for you Suma, here’s a ‘quick bread’ which works great for breakfast, and doubles up as a comforting delicious dessert too.It’s a wonderful feeling to have dessert baking while dinner is served. Bonus … the house smells so good! If you are wary of the yeast monster, these are quick buns for you. And, even if you aren’t afraid of the yeast factor, yet want some fast track yumminess, these are worth every bite. Do head across to Cakes & More for the recipe!

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

October 20, 2011

Baking| Classic Spiced Apple Walnut Buttermilk Coffee Cake – R’ock-tober #baketogether

“Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits.”
Henry David Thoreau

Cinnamon, apples, walnuts, brown sugar…these are a few of my favourite fall ingredients. Put them in together to make a Classic Spiced Apple Walnut Buttermilk Coffee Cake and you will rock October! This is just what Abby Dodge guaranteed when she put out the #baketogether recipe for October … a Classic Spiced Coffee Cake with ‘your twist‘ to the recipe.

She says, “I selected Classic Sour Cream Coffeecake for this months’ #baketogether because it is, well, a classic – one that should be in every recipe box even if yours in stashed on your computer. The flavors are traditional: cinnamon, nutmeg (I like mine freshly grated), butter, brown sugar and sour cream. The method is straight-forward and the batter can even be made with a hand-held mixer (just like my Mom used). It’s these qualities that make it such a great #baketogether recipe. This base recipe is perfect as is YET there’s literally hundreds of ways for everyone to switch things up. It’s the perfect vanilla canvas that’s just waiting for some twisting and shaking.” Coffee cakes are usually single layer cakes that may be square or rectangular like a Stollen or loaf-shaped rectangular cakes, and are are typically flavored with cinnamon, seeds, nuts, and fruits. These cakes sometimes have a crumbly or crumb topping called streusel and/or a light glaze drizzle.

I love it when I have a classic basic recipe that I can play around with, which is why I like to #baketogether each month despite the obvious lack of time I feel.Moist, delicious, packed with flavour, light, FALL, fruity … these were the thoughts that buzzed through my head as I tasted the first bite. Even though the cake is said to taste better on day 2, it tasted fab on day 1. No cake can sit there in it’s ‘whole’ shape in our home; justice has to be done to it asap!The first bite into the lads mouth…and he said, “Mmmmmm, tastes just like pumpkin pie Mama!” It’s amusing to see how he connects to food. He loved that Praline Pumpkin Pie I made exactly two years ago. Anything with similar flavours takes him back to that gorgeous pie I baked from Park Avenue Potluck CELEBRATIONS for a virtual dinner party for the ‘fight against cancer‘ with the The Society of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.The house filled with fall aromas as the cake baked, warm cinnamon aromas wafting through lazily, a good morning that day where there were thankfully no power cuts. I substituted the sour cream in Abby recipe with half home made yogurt and half buttermilk as we don’t get sour cream locally here. The substitiution worked a charm resulting in a fabulous moist texture.Before I get to the recipe, I’d like to thank the very talented and wonderful Jennifer Bartoli {who also blogs at Chocolate Shavings} for interviewing me for an article in the National Post, Toronto, that was published today. ‘Gear up for gastronomic greatness‘ makes for an interesting read. Its about me and 2 other very talented food bloggers and our favourite kitchen tools and appliances.

I’d also like to thank Best of the Web for showcasing Passionate About Baking in this weeks Best of the Web’s picks.

Classic Spiced Apple Walnut Buttermilk Coffee Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Bake Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Yield: 12-15

Classic Spiced Apple Walnut Buttermilk Coffee Cake

A moist and packed with 'fall' flavours coffee cake. It's got a few of my favourite things - apples, cinnamon and walnuts!

Ingredients

For the streusel:

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup oats {ground}

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

100gm unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup yogurt

1tsp lime juice

1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped

2 apples, cored, peeled, diced

Instructions

To make the streusel:
Combine the brown sugar, flour, oats and cinnamon in the bowl of your food processor and mix briefly. Add the diced chilled butter and pulse until the ingredients are well blended and form small crumbs. Pop in the fridge while you make the cake batter.
To make the cake:
Heat oven to 180°C. Line the base and sides of an 8" springform tin.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Whisk until well blended.
In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until well blended, about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stop to scrape the bowl and beaters as needed.
Add about half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until blended.
Add the buttermilk / yogurt mixture and continue mixing just until blended. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the remaining flour mixture, followed by 3/4 of the chopped walnuts. Reserve 1/4 for the topping.
Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Evenly scatter the diced apples followed by half of the streusel mixture over the batter. Spoon the remaining batter evenly over the streusel and spread evenly. Scatter the remaining streusel and reserved walnuts evenly over the top.
Bake until the top is browned and a pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 43 to 45 minutes {mine took an extra 15mintes}. Cool the pan on a wire rack until warm or room temperature.

http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2011/10/baking-classic-spiced-apple-walnut-buttermilk-coffee-cake-r%e2%80%99ock-tober-baketogether.html

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

November 11, 2010

Baking| APPLE CINNAMON WALNUT PARCELS … where Ottolenghi met Greenspan!

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Martin Luther

Day before yesterday did not begin in a good way. I woke up to find the fridge wasn’t as cold as it was supposed to be. Big S I G H … what an arduous task when I had my hands full with so much already. Transfer, spring clean, clear … and stuff the other fridge to the gills. The upside of course was the urgency to use up my frozen puff pastry which was saved up for a rainy day! Another positive was that the fridge repair man showed up within 6 hours, was a gem, fixed the fault in 10 minutes … Woot!!

I had made the puff pastry from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook a couple of weeks ago, and it was time I used it up, so I was back to Google for ideas. Saw turnovers, pop tarts, pies … and so much sweet and savoury ‘puff pastry deliciousness’ online. Also found Tarte Tatins that the boy has been on my case to make ever since he saw Meryl Streep making it in Julie & Julia! But then I saw a Dorie Greenspan ‘Flaky Apple Turnovers‘ recipe on Cream Puffs in Venice, and I knew this is just what I wanted to make…

… Dorie Greenspans adapted apple filling would happily be parceled into the Ottolenghis puff pastry. What a great meeting of 2 great cookbooks, and authors I admire. If you have the pastry ready, the rest is done in a matter of minutes. The filling is simply tossed together so that the apples are nicely coated with the flour mix. There was some butter in Dories recipe, which I completely forgot about, but we didn’t miss it in these classic and quintessential parcels. This is a simple, yet delicious sweet vegetarian pastry, good for breakfast, good for a snack … and also great for dessert. I gave it a low fat cream glaze… you can give it an egg white or yolk glaze, or maybe a milk glaze.Puff pastry is a very versatile pastry to have on hand. A quick search online throws up infinite ways in which to use this delightful pastry. making it at home is a breeze. Do bear in mind the weather has to be cool, or cold. Summer heat and the butter will ooze out leaving you in a puddle of despair, crying copious tears. I’ve been there, so I know. For me here in North India, this is a winter pastry, indulgent and full of promise.

I did some puff pastry savoury swirls for someone yesterday, and they were winners. That post will be here soon too. Am already missing the luxury of puff pastry sitting in the fridge/freezer, and can see myself making another batch pretty soon. Yay winter, and yay Ottolenghi! Do you make your own puff pastry, or do you buy ready-made? Just curious. I have no choice but to make it; yet it isn’t as daunting as I thought it was!

More ‘Fruit in Baking‘, a passion for me as you might know, so this is also headed for this months Monthly Mingle that I am guest hosting for my spicy-sweet friend Meeta. If you are BAKING WITH FRUIT this month, do send it in to Monthly Mingle posted HERE.

Apple Cinnamon Walnut Parcels
1/2 quantity puff pastry {recipe follows}
Apple Filling {recipe follows}
Milk/Cream for glazing
Rough Puff Pastry
from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, pg 281
{I used half portion of pastry for this recipe. I’ve used it previously in peach galettes this past summer}
300gm plain flour
1 tsp salt
180g unsalted butter, frozen
140ml ice cold water
Method for pastry:
Sift the flour and salt. Grate 80g of the frozen butter into this and mix lightly.Add the cold water, using a knife, stir the flour and water together until a dough begins to form. Now use your hands to bring it into a ball {You might need a little more water}. Press into a neat square, wrap it in cling film, and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle with a long edge 3 times its width. Grate the remaining butter and spread it evenly over 2/3rds of the rectangle.Take the third which is not sprinkled, and fold it over the middle of the buttered part, then fold the two layers over the remaining single layer. You will be left with 3 layers of pastry and 2 layers of butter separating them.
Turn the pastry by 90 degrees. Dust with flour and roll out into same proportions as first rectangle.Take one of the short sides and fold it over to reach the middle of the remaining part of the pastry. Fold the remaining third on top of the first one to get 3 layers on top of each other. Wrap pastry in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Repeat again 2 more times, and chill for at least an hour. The pastry will keep in the fridge for 4 days, and in the freezer for a month.
Filling:
Adapted from Baking:From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan.
2 apples, chopped apples
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries/raisins
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp flour
Method:
Toss all the ingredients together and make sure the apples pieces are well coated with the flour.
Making the parcels:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Roll out the puff pastry thin, trim the edges, and cut into 6 equal squares.
Place about 1-2 tbsp of the apple filling in the centre of each. Draw the four edges up to the centre, using a drop of cream to seal the corners when they meet. Place the trimmings on top of each other, gently press together, and cut out small hearts if you like. Stick the heart to the top with a drop of cream. {Don’t over stuff the parcels or they might pop open while baking}
Brush the tops of th pastry with milk/light cream, sprinkle with vanilla sugar, and bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. Transfer onto a cooling rack.
Serve warm maybe with a drizzle of unsweetened light cream.

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