Recipe #8: "Family Style" Coconut Macaroons

Ever have one of those days where you feel like you’ve been treading water for a while and all of a sudden you could tread no more?  Yep.  That was my day today.

But in the aftermath of a good cry and a run with good company (thanks Traci!), I decided that I was going to end the day on a successful note….a feeling opposite of the one I have had for a good short while now.  Bring on the baking….

I have to confess that I have already made this recipe oh about 100 times.  It is my “go to” for any get together where I can bring a little something to share (and though I love love love this recipe, I hope this contessa journey expands my “go to” vault with both premade and self-created sweets).  It’s easy, it’s quick, and it is so so so yummy.  I get tons of compliments and recipe-requests for this one (but I always give Ina the cred)!

Since I have made this one so many times, I thought, why not try to tweak a solid base recipe and test the waters of making my own contessa creation!!!  So I decided to try and dip my little macaroons in some semi-sweet chocolate just for a little twist (I need to venture out on my own by taking baby steps).

I decided on semi-sweet chocolate because a) they didn’t have the baking chocolate squares in milk chocolate, but mostly because b) because I thought anything else would have been too sweet or too bitter (ooooh! Look at me and my developing contessa palate!). 

I waited for the macaroons to cool while I melted the chocolate.  I chose to dip just the top in the chocolate, and with fingers crossed, watched my hubby take a bite (he already likes this recipe a lot, so I wasn’t sure how he would react).  SUCCESS!!!!  People…this is a first.  He said he actually liked the recipe better with the chocolate!  WOOHOO!!!  I can’t wait to hear additional reactions tomorrow.

I think I will end this blog with the following:  a dear friend of mine gave me a card on my first day of teaching that said “do one thing every day that scares you” (Eleanor Roosevelt).  I hung it up in my classroom and have looked at it (and loved it) every day for a year and a half.  But today, I am going to put my own spin on it, just as I did with the macaroons.  No matter if you feel wonderful or if you feel defeated, do one thing every day that makes you feel successful.  Even when I thought I wouldn’t, today, I did. 

Recipe #7: "Family Style" Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Seriously….what is better than butter, sugar, and vanilla?  That’s pretty much what makes up the shortbread dough in this recipe and is my favorite taste-testing stage of any cookie recipe.

Loved that I could make this dough and toss it in the fridge to chill while doing laundry, browse Real Simple, etc.  Once chilled, the cookies are just a bit more work than other scoop-and-drop cookies in that you need to pinch off dough, roll it, egg-wash it, dredge it in coconut, press a dent in it and then drop jam into each little ball.  But once it’s all said and done, not only are they super cute lil’ cookies but they are SUUUPER tasty.  This recipe is definitely proof that less is more….YUM!

By the way, it seems to me that there are a lot of people out there who don’t like coconut, and I just can’t help but feel that their lives are a little less sweet. 

Side note: I love that this recipe is found in the kids section….I can’t wait for our little Deano to help with the “thumbprint” part of the recipe!

My next research question: Why do some cookie recipes call for the dough to be chilled and others do not?  Is this just a shortbread thing?  I wonder…

Recipe #6: "Family Style" Pumpkin Banana Mousse Tart

With this recipe, I got the chance to get THE cutest tart pan!  Love love love!

I like this homemade crust better than the Frozen Key Lime pie and the Raspberry Cheesecake ones.  This is the same recipe with the addition of a little cinnamon…..yum! 

I had the chance to catch Ina making a homemade crust on tv, and she showed a little trick in forming a perfect crust at the seam where the pan moves from horizontal to vertical.  She used the bottom edge of a measuring cup to press the crust into the corner!  It made the crust super even all over.  I am SO glad I saw this trick, and hope you can use it too!

This was my first attempt at putting together and using a double broiler and it turned out to be easy (thank goodness as I did not need a third strike on my confidence)!  I definitely recommend a) mashing the banana a ton, or even pulsing it in the food processor and b) babysitting the mixture in the double broiler.  I was not about to have another boiling-over fiasco like the rice pudding.  While it took my mousse mixture a bit longer for it to heat and thicken up, I was glad that I put the time into watching it.

I thought it turned out great, and so did my mom, husband, and a few peeps from work!   Mom raved about it (kind of part of a mom’s job J).  Even my step-dad, who doesn’t like banana anything thought it was good!  I got a few comments saying that you could taste a good mix of the two flavors, and that it wasn’t too heavy in one way or another.  But here is the thing: I think you need to like banana-flavored desserts to like this recipe.  I personally only like bananas to taste that way, so it wasn’t my personal favorite. 

I am happy to report that my confidence is back!  My next recipe goes into the “Kids” section of the book….thumbprint cookies!

To Sift or Not to Sift?

First, let me start by saying that I LOVE when people leave me advice (thanks mama Lewis)!  Here is the skinny on sifting:

-          It is kind of an outdated thing in terms of its original intention.  My contessa research led me to find that packaged and stored flour used to (like a long time ago) get clumpy or have “foreign bodies” (aka bugs, dirt, etc…ew!) in it.  Sifting was a necessary means of getting rid of these things.

-          The sites Straight Dope and Joy of Baking both say that today, the only real concern is that flour compacts during shipping and storage (Joy even goes as far to say that there is “pre-sifted” flour, but don’t believe it because, again, it compacts during shipping), so if a recipe calls for sifting, you better do it for a higher quality baked good. 

-          I have to agree with Straight Dope in that I did feel more like a profesh baker when I sifted together the dry ingredients in my vintage sifter.

Just like the room temp eggs, I am now a firm believer in sifting when it calls for it. 

Ps: the motto for the Straight Dope site is “fighting ignorance since 1973: it takes longer than we thought”.  Ha!  

Recipe #4 and #5: "Family Style" Rum Raisin Rice Pudding and Flag Cake

So, I actually made the rice pudding last Sunday and the flag cake today.  I was planning on writing the rice pudding blog Tuesday night, but had to postpone as we were in the hospital with our lil guy who was having trouble breathing on his own.  He needed a moment to be on oxygen and regain his strength, but is back home now, and I’m happy to report that he is back to his happy-go-lucky self J

So first: the rice pudding.  I have to say that the thought of this recipe sounded kind of nasty.  I’m not one to oppose food based solely on texture, but let’s face it, rice pudding sounds just about as appetizing as tapioca…meaning not at all.   I think my husband said it best when he said “I think I don’t like it because I don’t think rice should be this sweet”.  Well put. 

The recipe itself was not that hard to make, with one key exception: bringing the half-and-half to boiling.  All was fine and dandy until I came to this step.  I put the half-and-half in the pot, knowing full well that I couldn’t crank it to Spinal Tap level of 11 and expect it to not burn or boil over.  So I put it on medium-high heat and watched it carefully…..for like 10 minutes.  I decided that the heat needed to be higher, so I increased it just a tad, turned around for like .5 seconds, and the next thing I know, the half-and-half is half in the gas burner (see below).  Lesson learned: be patient when bringing any kind of dairy to boiling.  BOIL SLOWLY!

Something must have gone awry (perhaps the boiling over) because the final product came out a bit soupy.  My rice pudding-loving mom said it had great taste, but that she could do without the raisins, and that it would be perfect with a firmer texture.  Needless to say, my high hopes of making a rice pudding so wonderful that it would blow all other rice puddings out of the water were dashed.  

And that was disappointment #1….

And second: the flag cake.  I have actually made this before, and it was a disaster.  But it was so long ago that I again had the high hopes that I could make the most fabulous cake for today’s super bowl party, with everyone ooohing and aaaahing and hoisting me up on their shoulders just like the winning team (which WILL be the Packers by the way).  I am here to report (before the game mind you) that this will not be happening.

I did everything right…..eggs, butter, and sour cream at room temp.  I was on my mixing game, doing it for just the right amount of time at just the right speed.  I sifted.  This time, nothing was going to go wrong.  Except it did when it baked.  As a result of the disaster last time, I decided to bake half in cupcakes, and half in a smaller (and accurately sized) sheet pan.  Neither came out good.  Both collapsed and tasted like eggy-sponge….exactly like last time.  Grrr!  No amount of super-tasty frosting was going to cover this up.  I’m not sure if it is a result of the altitude or not, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be attempting this one again. 

Disappointment #2.

The most frustrating part of both of these failed recipes is the time I put into them to have them not turn out to even minorly edible concoctions.  My confidence is just a little bit shattered, but I am hoping to redeem myself next week with a pumpkin banana mousse tart J 

Ps: not being able to accept these two failures, I made chocolate chip cookies last week and brownies this week (both from scratch) as consolation prizes for the friends and family awaiting my weekly trials.

Pps: I still need to research sifting (thanks to Karen L for the tip though on my previous post!).