Salted Rice Krispy Treats

June 19, 2013 by Mackenzie

As its my last week of work here in Indonesia, I decided to share some of my favorite American desserts with my colleagues. I brought in a massive Deep Dish Apple Pie on Monday, my family’s favorite dessert, Pretzel Jello Salad, on Tuesday, and these Rice Krispy Treats today! They loved all of them and I had a blast making and sharing these desserts with them.

The pretzel jello salad will come in a future post, but these Rice Krispy treats need to go up now! They were easy to make, delicious to eat and unique with the addition of the sea salt. I highly encourage you to make these asap – they are fantastic!

Salted Rice Krispy Treats
Recipe adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Makes 16, 2-inch bars

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 10 oz bag large or mini marshmallows
6 cups rice krispy (puffed rice) cereal
1 bar dark chocolate

Directions:

1. Butter an 8-inch square pan. In a large pot, melt butter over medium low heat. Let it melt, foam then turn clear golden and then slightly brown. This gives it a really good nutty taste but if you are impatient, just melt the butter 😉

2. When the butter is melted (and browned if you want), turn the heat off, sprinkle in the sea salt, and stir in the marshmallows. Stir until the marshmallows are smooth – you may need to turn the heat back on to low to get them to melt, but don’t let the marshmallows actually cook.

3. Take the pot off the stove and stir in the cereal. Fold it in gently, until it is all combined, then transfer to the prepared pan. Press it down with your hands to get it smooth and even.

4. Melt chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, then drizzle over rice krispies. Place in the fridge so the chocolate hardens but take it out an hour before you serve them so they return to room temperature. They are also pretty darn good after just a could minutes of cooling!

Red Wine Velvet Cake

June 18, 2013 by Mackenzie

To complete Indonesia Cooking Marathon #2, we made this Red Wine Velvet Cake from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. In Tom’s words, it was “Super Fantastic!” But really, it was divine.

Instead of using food coloring to get the deep red color, this recipe calls for red wine. Although the alcohol cooks out, the flavor of the wine is still strong in the cake – giving this red velvet cake a delicious, unique flavor! A perfect “adult” cake 😉

I made a simple cream cheese frosting to go with it, but boy, it really finished it off well! Top it off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and I think you’ll really enjoy this recipe!

Red Wine Velvet Cake
Recipe adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
Makes one 2-layer, 8-inch round cake

Ingredients:

Cake:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup red wine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup Dutch cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon table salt

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese
1 1/6 cup powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon vanilla
2-4 tablespoons milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of two 8-inch, round cake pans with parchment paper and lightly coat with butter (sides too). In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth with an electric mixer. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about three minutes. Add the eggs and beat well, then beat in the red wine and vanilla.

2. Add the rest of the cake ingredients to the wet mixture, piling it all on top before mixing it all together with a rubber spatula. Divide batter between prepared pans and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then flip out and cool completely on a wire rack.

3. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla with an electric mixture, until light and fluffy (1-2 minutes). Add milk to reach desired consistency.

4. Place the first cake layer on the serving platter and spread 1/2 the frosting over it (I just did the tops and not the sides). Place the second layer on top and spread the rest of the frosting over it. I sprinkled some dark chocolate shards over the top, add if you want! Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Deep Dish Apple Pie

May 26, 2013 by Mackenzie

Sunday was quite the day in the kitchen! Not only did we make this gnocchi in tomato vegetable sauce, this roasted beets and root vegetable salad with quinoa, homemade granola, and focaccia bread – but we also made this deep dish apple pie! And my oh my, what a pie!

I’ve made quite a few apple pies in my time. Apple pie is a staple at our Thanksgiving and it’s probably one of my favorite desserts – so I’ve made a fair amount of apple pies! However, I believe this pie has easily defeated any of its other competitors – in sheer size and of course, deliciousness.

This pie is made in a springform pan instead of a regular pie dish, which allows this pie to be deep and the filling to be almost double a normal-sized pie. Because it is such a large pie, it takes quite a while to bake – about an hour and a half – but the wait is more than worth it!

Although it is quite the pie, it isn’t too heavy since the top is just a streusel crumble rather than a second layer of pie crust. I added rolled oats to the streusel because one, I love oats, and two, it gave it an apple crisp twist – which is another apple dessert that I love.

Deep Dish Apple Pie
Serves 12-16
Recipe from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Pie dough:

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and diced
1/2 cup ice cold water

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, sugar and salt and pulse to combine. Add the diced butter and pulse just until you have pea-sized pieces of dough. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Drizzle the water over the dry mixture and work it together with your hands. Knead briefly then form into a large disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for two hours.

Apple pie:

Ingredients:

1 recipe of above pie crust

Filing:
4 lbs apples, 1/2 green apples and 1/2 Fuji apples
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Streusel topping:
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoon butter, melted

Vanilla ice cream

Directions:

1. Prepare crust: coat a 9-inch springform pan with oil. On a floured surface, roll out chilled pie crust into a 16-inch round – 1/4 inch think. My trick to getting a rolled out pie crust into the pan is to roll it back over the rolling pin and then slide your arm under it and then you should be able to lift the whole thing up and transfer it to the springform pan! Trim the overhang to one inch, crimp edges and then place the dish into the fridge while you prepare the apples.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel, core and chop apples into bite-sized pieces. Place them all into a large bowl and drizzle with the lemon juice. In a separate small bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and then mix into apples.

3. Spoon apples into prepared crust and spread them as flat and evenly as possible. Bake pie for 30 minutes (if the tips of the apples begin to brown and burn, cover the top with foil).

4. While pie is baking, make the streusel topping. In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, cinnamon, salt, flour, oats and baking powder. Pour in the melted butter and mix to combine. Stick in freezer until pie has baked for 30 minutes.

5. After 30 minutes, remove the pie from the oven, decrease the oven temperature to 325 and then spoon the streusel onto the top of the pie – pressing gently into apples. Return to the oven and bake for an additional hour. Cover with foil if the streusel begins to brown too quickly.

6. When the pie has finished baking, remove it from the oven and let cool to lukewarm. Run a knife around the crust to loosen the edges from the pan. Carefully loosen the clamp on the springform and slide it over the top and off the pie. The pie slices best when chilled in the fridge, but warm pie and ice cream just can’t be beat. Take your pick and enjoy this tall and proud creation!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

May 2, 2013 by Mackenzie

My college church group had a pie bake-off last week at our end-of-semester party. I made this strawberry rhubarb pie and took 2nd place (to a delicious blackberry pie!)!

There were two strawberry rhubarb pies at our party, mine more on the sweet side and the other on the tart side. The other recipe was from Smitten Kitchen if you’re looking for a tart pie but I loved the sweet taste of this one! It still had a tart flavor from the rhubarb but was less significant – it was a perfect combination!

I also got a lot of compliments on the crust! I used a recipe from a New York Times bake-off and adapted it slightly. It was perfectly flakey and buttery and delicious!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Makes one pie
Crust adapted from The New York Times and pie recipe from Food Network

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/8 teaspoon table salt
15 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

Pie:
2 1/2 cups chopped fresh red rhubarb
2 1/2 cups washed, de-stemmed and halved strawberries (big strawberries can be in thirds)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons minute tapioca
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons butter, cubed small
1 egg white, beaten with 1 teaspoon water
Turbinado sugar

Directions:
1. Prepare crust: In a food processor, pulse together the flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until pea-sized bits form. Add 3-6 tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse until dough begins to come together in a ball. Separate the dough into two balls, one with 2/3 of the dough and the other with 1/3 of the dough. Wrap disks in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour or up to three days.

2. Roll out large disk for the bottom crust. Transfer to pie plate. Chill in refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

3. Filling: In a large bowl, mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, tapioca (dry), flour, zest, juice, cinnamon and vanilla. Pour into chilled crust. Dot the cubes of butter on top of the filling. Roll out top layer and place over filling. Crimp to seal edges. (Or make a lattice or use biscuit cutters to make a circle design). Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Make a foil collar so prevent the edges from burning. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes then decrease temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 45-50 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Honey Almond Caramel Crunch Topped Cake with Custard Cream Filling

April 30, 2013 by Mackenzie

Libby’s birthday was last weekend and we made this cake to celebrate! IT WAS AMAZING. One of the best cakes I have ever had in my life. Hands down.

The cake itself is simple – not too sweet and slightly dense. The pastry cream filling in the middle adds a touch of sweetness and pairs perfectly with the cake. The honey almond caramel crunch topping however, is a whole other story. This is what makes the cake.

You make caramel, but it is sweetened with honey so it has a wonderfully, unique flavor. Then you mix almonds into it and you get honey caramel coated almonds – amazing by themselves! Add this to the top of your cake and you’ve got the best cake you’ll ever have.

A couple of things to be aware of: the milk, eggs and butter for the cake need to be at room temperature – so be sure you get those out early. Also, there is a total of an hour and a half of rising time for the cake. Be sure to account for that!

Honey Almond Caramel Crunch Topped Cake with Custard Cream Filling
Makes one 9×9, single layer cake (although you slice the one layer in half for the filling)
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
Cake:
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast (one 1 1/4 oz package) – not active dry!
3/4 cups whole milk, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Topping:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
Two pinches of sea salt

Filling:
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
Two pinches of sea salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

Directions:
1. Set out the milk, eggs and butter for the cake in advance so they are at room temperature when you are ready to make the cake.

2. First, make the cake batter: Combine all of the cake ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl, stirring until combined, then for an additional two minutes. Scrape down the sides, cover with a towel and let rise for one hour.

3. After an hour, butter a 9-inch cake pan. Stir the batter to deflate it slightly and then pour it into the prepared pan. You may have to really shake the pan to get the batter to cover the whole thing. Cover again with a towel and let rise for an additional 30 minutes.

4. During the second rise, make the honey almond caramel topping: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter, sugar, honey, cream and salt until the butter is melted. Bring to a simmer and let it boil for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture will become a shade darker. Remove from heat and stir in the almonds. It’s no longer going to be liquidy, it’s going to be all almonds 🙂 Set aside to cool slightly, until the second rise of the cake is completed.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. When the cake has finished its second rise, scoop out the almond topping and spread it evenly over the top of the cake. (Save yourself a little bit to snack on too!) Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes, until the almonds are slightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool for ten minutes before removing it from the pan. Run a knife around the edges before you remove it and then invert it onto another cooling rack or plate. The almonds won’t fall off when you invert it, so don’t worry. Let cool completely.

6. While the cake is cooling, make the custard filling: Warm the milk in a medium saucepan and then pour into a bowl or cup (ideally with a spout). Set aside. In a new saucepan, or the previous one cleaned and dried, whisk the yolks and sugar vigorously for one minute – off the heat. Whisk in flour and salt. Drizzle in the warm milk, a spoonful at a time, whisking constantly. Once you’ve added half the milk, add the rest in a steady drizzle. Return the saucepan to the stove and cook on medium-high heat until it bubbles. Reduce to a simmer for one to two minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla extract. Let the custard cool completely.

7. When the custard and cake are both cool, you can assemble the cake. Using a serrated knife, slice the cake in half and place the bottom half on a serving platter. Spread the pastry cream on top of the bottom layer and then place the top half back onto the cake. Serve and enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce

March 8, 2013 by Mackenzie

This recipe is one I made more than two months ago for Steve’s birthday! It’s been buried on my “to blog” list and I just haven’t had a chance to write it up! But with spring break upon us, I have all the time in the world to blog and cook and bake and blog and bake and cook and blog and…. 🙂 It’s going to be a great weekend 😀 We don’t leave until Monday morning for Arizona and with all of my suite and all my friends gone – I literally have nothing to do except cook and bake and blog about it 😀 Don’t worry, I don’t plan on eating all of it. I plan on giving it to some boys I know who are staying here over break, and bringing some of it to AZ for the team.

But back to this recipe… It’s pretty easy to whip up and the vanilla bean/salted caramel combo is to die for. The cake is quite dense, and almost has a cornbread-feel to it (or maybe I was just hungry for cornbread). I think we all agreed that the leftovers the second day were even better than having it the first day – not sure why, but hey! That just means another excuse to eat cake!

Vanilla Bean Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce
Makes one 9-inch cake
Recipe from Food and Wine

Ingredients:

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped or 2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream

Salted Caramel Sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a nine-inch round cake pan. Cut out a circle pf waxed paper the size of the pan and place in bottom. Spray lightly with cooking spray so that it comes out easily. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients, for the cake, together (flour, baking powder, salt). In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add both sugars and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between and then add the sour cream and the vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.

2. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour
, until golden and springy and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes then invert onto a wire rack, remove parchment paper carefully and allow to cool completely.

3. When the cake is almost cool, make the caramel sauce. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup and bring to a boil. Using a wet pastry brush, wash down any crystals on the side of the pan. Boil over high heat until a deep amber caramel forms, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully whisk in the cream, butter and salt. Let cool.

4. When ready to serve, poke the top of the cake all over with a skewer and pour the caramel sauce over the cake, allowing it to seep in and drip down the side. Cut into wedges and serve.

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