Whole Maine Lobster

Every year, TK and I go up to the Berkshires for New Years. Over the years, we have tried going out on New Year's Eve with mixed results. In the end, we've settled that the best plan is to not leave the Lakehouse at all if possible. Instead, we do lobster. When in New England, we figure, we are pretty much obligated to procure fantastic local lobsters, which we serve with haricot verts and potato gratin. This differs from our Summer lobster meal, when we serve our lobster with corn on the cobb and jalepeno cheddar biscuits. It is something I look forward to all year, and a great way to kick off the New Year. You just can't go wrong with a perfect whole lobster, boiled in salt water and served with butter and lemon. When your base ingredients are that good, the best thing to do is to let them speak for themselves, serve them simply, and enjoy.

Our preferred size lobster is between 1.5 lbs and 2 lbs (or to be entirely accurate, however much over 1.5 lbs the seafood salesman will give us before charging us the 2 lbs. lobster rate). Larger lobsters do not automatically mean better meat. The real 20 lbs. giants that they raffle off  in stores actually tend to have tougher meat. Lobsters shed their shells, and at certain parts of the years their shells are softer and thinner than others. These soft-shelled lobsters are significantly easier to crack, barely needing the cracker at times. Still, the softer the shell is, the newer it is, and the more room to grow the lobster has. This means the lobster will have more water weight and less meat inside, so you might want to consider a slightly larger lobster. These particular lobsters were the more common hard-shells.

The generally most anticipated part of having lobster is the killing of the lobster. Now, I think of lobsters as mutant sea bugs, so I have very little pity for them. But no one wants to make anyone suffer. We like to sedate the lobsters a little bit. We store them with wet paper towels on top in the fridge before we're ready, and then remove them one at a time and drop them in the pot. Sometimes, the fridge will be enough to make them mellow, but for particularly feisty lobsters, we put them in the freezer for about half an hour or less to sedate them. We try to minimize the time between when they are out of the fridge and when they are in the water. We submerge them completely, and feel that that is more humane than dragging it out by knifing them in the skull beforehand, though some do choose to do so.

Boiled Whole Maine Lobsters

lobsters
sea salt
butter (1/4 cup per lobster)
lemon juice (1/2 lemon per lobster)


Boiling Time For Lobsters:
1 lbs lobsters: 8-10 minutes
1.5 lbs lobsters: 12-15 minutes
2 lbs lobsters: 15-18 minutes

When you can pop the antennae off, your lobster is done.

1. In the largest pot you can find with a tight-fitting lid, add 3 quarts of water for each lobster you want to boil, filling the pot about 2/3rd to 3/4 of the way full.
2. Add generous amounts of sea salt (approx. 3 tablespoons per quart) to water and bring to a healthy boil. You are trying to mimic seawater.
3. Remove your lobsters from the fridge one at a time and quickly dunk them head first into the boiling water. Make sure to remove the rubber bands before dropping them in the water as the rubber in the bands can actually change the taste of the boiling liquid. Don't worry, and don't drag it out. The lobster won't get you.
4. Boil your lobsters for the necessary time depending on what size lobsters you have. (See above)
5. The easiest way to tell if your lobster is done is to pull at one of its antennae. When it is fully cooked, it should pop-off in your hand with little to no resistance.
6. Remove lobsters from pot and allow to rest and cool for at least five minutes.
7. Melt butter in individual ramekins.
8. Add lemon juice to the butter.
9. Serve with lobsters, shell crackers, and a bowl for discarded shells.Remember this is not a race to see who can finish their lobster first.

Strawberry Torta (Strawberry and Cream Cake)

Recently, my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. My mother is Swedish and my parents met in Sweden, so naturally she requested a Swedish dessert. There is nothing more Sweden-in-Summer to me than fresh jordgubbar (strawberries) and fresh whipped cream, lightly sweetened but still a touch of tang. Swedish cooking is about highlighting fresh ingredients while they are still in season, and this cake is really all about highlighting the natural goodness of the strawberries. The cream is just slightly sweetened so as not to overwhelm the berries. Strawberry and Cream torta (cake) is a cross-cultural favorite, and a great way to celebrate Summer, special occasions, or just because. While in traditional Swedish recipes a sponge cake is used, in this recipe a chiffon cake creates a more buttery flavor while keeping the light structure of a sponge cake.

The most intimidating thing about making this cake is torting the cake- or dividing the cake into three layers. Even though it is a tall cake that requires a 2" tall pan or a springform pan, that takes a little precision from an admittedly clumsy person. The first time I made it I went with only two layers, but added mashed strawberry to the top layer, to be topped again with whipped cream. That was pretty good, and certainly was easier to manage with a knife, but I felt the cake to cream ratio could be a little better and that I needed to get comfortable cutting a single cake into three layers. This is particularly true if I ever want to learn how to make princess torta, the royalty of Swedish cakes.

So I went out and got myself a cake leveler. I try not to overdo it on the niche purpose baking goods, I really do. But I will say that this was a wise $7 investment if you're in for the layer cake long-haul. It took all the intimidation away, created nice, flat, even layers with a simple sawing motion. And is thin enough to tuck away in the baking gadgets drawer. I included a video on using the cake leveler below. You want to start just a little below where the top starts to crown (at the lowest point of the cake) for your first layer. If you are using the leveler and are having trouble getting it started, use the knife to start and then start sawing back and forth and gently rotating the cake.

The original recipe for this is from Cook's Illustrated, but I found the way they organized ingredient measurements to be confusing so I adjusted it for a better mis en place. I also am the type of person that always feels very guilty taking up a bunch of pantry space with a bag of cake flour, so I rewrote the recipe for all-purpose flour. If you have cake flour on hand, use 1 1/4 cup cake flour instead of the all purpose flour and omit the cornstarch from the recipe (1 cup cake flour=7/8 cup all purpose flour + 2 tablespoons corn starch). If you want to plan ahead, you can make the cake portion, free it in plastic wrap (at least double wrapped), then thaw 2 hours before you want to make the cake. If you want to make it the night before, leave cutting the cake to right before you are ready to decorate, cover in plastic wrap, and put in fridge for night.

Lastly, this particular cake that got photographed I made when friends brought over raspberries from their garden. So obviously I put the raspberries on the cake. You don't mess around with that. There's also raspberry in the Frambois we used (Chambourd) in place of Kirsch, due to Frambois being a little easier to locate, so it all works out.

 

Ingredients

 

For the cake

1 cup and 1 1/2 tablespoons All Purpose flour (If using cake flour, use 1 1/4 cup cake flour and omit the cornstarch)
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3 egg yolks, room temperature
3 egg whites, room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

plain bread crumbs (optional)

For the Strawberry Filling
2 pounds fresh strawberries (medium or large, about 2 quarts), washed, dried, and stemmed
5- 6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Kirsch or a Frambois like Chambourd
pinch table salt
 

For the Whipped Cream   

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/8 teaspoon table salt 

2 cups heavy cream (more local the better)

Instructions 

1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and line with a very light dusting of bread crumbs, (or flour if you don't want to be as Swedish about it) round 9 by 2-inch straight sided cake pan or 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper. 
2. Set three tablespoons of the sugar aside for use later. 
3. In medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and rest of the sugar in mixing bowl. 
4. Whisk in 2 whole eggs and 3 yolks, butter, water, and vanilla; whisk until smooth.
5. In clean bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat remaining 3 egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy, about 2 minutes. 
6. With machine running, gradually add the reserved 3 tablespoons sugar. 
7. Increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. 
8. With a rubber spatula, stir one-third of whites into yolk batter to lighten. 
9. Add remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain. 
10. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. 
11. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert cake onto greased wire rack; peel off and discard parchment. Invert cake again; cool completely, about 2 hours, during which you can complete the filling and the cream.
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. FOR THE STRAWBERRY FILLING: Halve 24 of best-looking berries and reserve. 
13. Quarter remaining berries; toss with 4 to 6 tablespoons sugar (depending on sweetness of berries) in medium bowl and let sit 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 
14. Strain juices from berries and reserve (you should have about 1/2 cup). 
15. In workbowl of food processor fitted with metal blade, give macerated berries five 1-second pulses (you should have about 1 1/2 cups). 
16. In small saucepan over medium-high heat, simmer reserved juices and Frambois until syrupy and reduced to about 3 tablespoons, 3 to 5 minutes. 
17. Pour reduced syrup over macerated berries, add pinch of salt, and toss to combine. Set aside until cake is cooled. If you want to wait to whip the cream and decorate right before serving, you can pause here.

1. FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM: When cake has cooled, place cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment. 
2. Whisk at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Reduce speed to low and add heavy cream in slow, steady stream; when almost fully combined, increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture holds stiff peaks, 2 to 3 1/2 minutes more, scraping bowl as needed (you should have about 4 1/2 cups).

1. TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: If using a large serrated knife, slice cake into three even layers. If only making a two layer cake, slice in half with knife. If using a leveler, set the leveler slightly below where the cake starts to crown at the lowest part of the cake if your oven is uneven to cut the first layer. Halve the remaining cake.
2. Place bottom layer on cardboard round or cake plate bottom side up and arrange ring of 20 strawberry halves, cut sides down and stem ends facing out, around perimeter of cake layer. 
3. Pour one half of pureed berry mixture (about 3/4 cup) in center, then spread to cover any exposed cake. 
4. Gently spread about one-third of whipped cream (about 1 1/2 cups) over berry layer, leaving 1/2-inch border from edge, reaching the tips of the strawberry ring. 
5. Place middle cake layer (or top layer if only doing two layers) on top and press down gently Whipped cream layer should become flush with cake edge. 
6. Repeat with 20 additional strawberry halves, remaining berry mixture, and half of remaining whipped cream.
7. Gently press last cake layer upside down on top. If doing only two layers, go to step 28.
8. Spread remaining whipped cream over top.
9. Decorate with remaining cut strawberries. 
10. Serve, or chill for up to 4 hours.

Triple Layer Guiness Cake (Chocolate Stout Cake) with Bailey's Frosting and Whiskey Ganache

Every St. Patrick's Day, I break out a Guinness recipe. Mostly this is because I'm a dark chocolate person, and Guinness, much like coffee, makes good chocolate take on a darker, slightly more bitter and complex taste. Add to that a sense of satisfaction at boozy cakes, and car bomb cake is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. In the past I've made Car Bomb Cupcakes, but this year I went for the full-on cake, decorated to look like the top of an iconic pint glass. I also did not use Guinness this year, but opted instead for Duck Rabbit Milk Stout. The world of fantastic stouts is too great too always use Guinness, especially with the crazy St. Patrick's day mark up.

I have to admit that I had grand plans to take detailed photos of the stacking and icing of the cake, which I immediately forgot in the moment of icing. These pictures are from day three of this cake's life, after it had been hidden under foil overnight, and thus does not do the cake justice. This is a bummer. But trust me, the icing is not so hard as it seems, as you only need to rough ice this cake. You are making both the chocolate ganache and the Bailey's buttercream, but they use different methods. You don't have to cream the butter for the ganache, and the amounts come out perfectly to ice the center layers and sides in the chocolate ganache and use all of the buttercream for the top of the cake. 

This recipe makes three layers in 8" cake pans, or 2 layers in 9" cake pans. If you are like me and get very anxious about evenly weighing your cake pans/ do not have three cake pans so need to make them in waves, I have found that 2 lbs. for each layer should be about right (1 lbs 15 3/4 oz if you are using large instead of extra large eggs) for an 8" cake. Make sure, if you are making the 9" pan, that your cake pan is at least 2" deep. If you only want to use a single can of Guinness (weighing in a 14.9 oz), you can top off the cake with water or cold coffee (as a substitute for the espresso powder). Or you can enjoy the rest of that smooth 2nd Duck Rabbit milk stout during the cooking of the cake.

Chocolate Milk Stout Cake (Guinness Cake)

Ingredients

Stout Cake
2 cups stout or dark beer, such as Guinness
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups Dutch-process cocoa
4 cups All purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 extra large eggs
8 oz sour cream


Chocolate Whiskey Ganache
1 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 -4 tablespoons whiskey (to taste)
1 teaspoon espresso powder

Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting
 3 to 4 cups confections sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue 

1/4 cup Baileys - 1 airplane bottle's worth, plus more to taste

Additional milk or cream for blending if necessary.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
2. Cut three round parchment paper circles that fit neatly in the bottom of 3 8" cake pans or 2 9" cake pans.
3. Grease and flour three 8" or two 9" cake pans, and line them with the parchment paper circles.
4. For the cake: Place the stout, espresso powder and butter in a large, heavy saucepan, and heat until the butter melts.
5. Remove the pan from the heat, and add the cocoa powder.
6. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and shiny. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
7. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.
8. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer, beat together the eggs, vanilla and sour cream on medium for about a minute.
9. Add the stout-cocoa mixture, mixing to combine.Use a batter guard if you have one.
10. Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time and mix together at slow speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and mix again for 1 minute. 
11.  Divide the batter equally among the prepared pans. (See above for weighing hints.) Drop the pan a couple times against the top of the counter to even out batter and let any air bubbles escape prior to baking.
12. Bake the layers for 35-38 minutes for 8" pans, or 45 to 50 minutes for 9" pans, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. 
13. Remove the cakes from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes before turning the cakes out of their pans and returning to the rack to finish cooling completely before frosting. If you are reusing a cake pan, wait an additional 10 minutes for the empty pan to cool before rinsing and re-greasing. 
14. For the whiskey ganache: Place the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl along with the espresso powder if using.
15. Bring the cream to a simmer in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan, stirring frequently and watching to make sure not to scald the cream.
16. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until the mixture is completely smooth and melted. The mixture will start out looking almost a little separated before chocolate melts and blends. 
17. Stir in the whiskey and vanilla. Refrigerate until the icing is spreadable, stirring occasionally, about an hour and a half. If you do not stir the edges will get overly stiff and have to be reincorporated during assembly.
18.  For the Bailey's Irish Buttercream: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.
19. When the frosting looks thick enough to spread or thicker, drizzle in the Baileys (or cream if you are doing the non-alcoholic option) and whip it until combined and frosting is correct texture. 
20. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar. Adjust for taste and desired degree of alcohol.
21. To assemble: If all of your cakes are rather domed, trim one cake layer to have a flat top, if necessary.
22. Place the layer upside down on a serving plate or cake stand. Spread 1/3 of the chocolate whiskey icing over just the top of the layer, starting with a large mound of icing in the middle of the cake, and moving your spreader around in a circular motion to spread icing all the way to the edges of the layer. Don't worry if it spills over the edges of the cake a little, you'll get to fix that later.
23. Top with another cake layer, top side down, and repeat the process. If you baked three layers, add that one also.
24. Use the remaining frosting to cover the sides of the cake. You can gently press the layers closer together if the stacking feels a little iffy, but be very careful to keep the cake straight. To clean up your mess on the edge of the serving plate, using a paper towel dipped in water to carefully remove any chocolate.
25. Top the top layer of the cake with a generous layer of the Bailey's buttercream frosting, making sure that the edge of the Bailey's covers the top of the edge of whiskey ganache. 
26. Store in fridge until ready to serve. Remember that the top layer of buttercream will not stiffen as much as the ganache will.
    

Cranberry Cheddar Gougeres

A gougere is a French pastry that is light, airy, and deliciously cheesy. Essentially, it is a cheese puff the way a cheese puff should be. If you have never experienced the delight of biting into a piping hot gougere and have the steam from the oven explode in your mouth or had an entire room consumed by the smell of cheesy goodness cooking in the oven, I insist you stop whatever you are doing and find yourself a gougere to eat, unless what you are doing is making gougeres, in which case, you are on the right track.  

There are many variations on a gougere (which is classically made with gruyere cheese or sometimes other French cheeses), but all of them are based on the idea of a light, airy cheese pastry made with a pot au choux dough, which is a cooked dough that uses moisture instead of a rising agent (like yeast) to rise. All of which makes it sound very fancy and much more difficult than it is.

Usually, you see gougeres in small bite size balls (each 1-2 bites), but when we were in Burgundy recently, TK and I were frequently served much larger almost biscuit sized gougeres that were equally light and delicious.We will get to those later, but for now, here are some of the regular bite sized gougeres in a fun recipe from the New York Times website that adds a little holiday cheer to this classic (and thus made it a perfect addition to our Holiday Party line-up), while speeding it up along the edges for a quick and easy treat. Obviously, cheddar is not particularly French, nor are cranberries, but delicious is delicious. The dough looks marvelously festive before baking with little red cranberry flecks, the cheese kinda takes over the show during baking and the cranberry taste is a relatively subtle sweet note in the dough. Because these are tiny, they don't necessarily require the piping that larger gougeres may need to get that distinctly spiral. Obviously, piping doesn't HURT the recipe, but it can be a mess when all you need is a teaspoon scoop.

This is a food processor recipe, which is both awesome, convenient, and makes it difficult to make more than one batch at a time, unless you are willing to rock multiple food processors which frankly I am not. For the record, you can make this recipe by hand. You have to finely chop the cranberries by hand in the beginning and then stir until your arm can't stir anymore and then stir some more to incorporate the eggs, cranberry, and cheese later, but it can be done. But why would you take a recipe that has given you the gift of a food processor and then not use it? In addition, this is a freezer-friendly recipe. You can make these a week before your party and just heat them up right before you are ready to serve. You won't get the same intense cheese smell filling your house at reheating (only a moderate cheese smell filling your house), but they will still taste delicious and you'll still be able to serve them piping hot with a simple ten minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Cranberry Cheddar Gougeres

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 3 ounces unsalted butter (6 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sifted flour
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar

Preparation

1. Turn on food processor and finely chop cranberries by dropping them in through feed tube. Remove cranberries, but don’t bother cleaning bits clinging to the bowl, as they'll end up back in bowl eventually. 
2. Place 1 cup water in a 2-quart saucepan. Add butter and salt, bring to a simmer and cook just until butter melts. 
3. Remove from heat and add flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon.
4. Return saucepan to medium to medium high heat and cook dough, stirring constantly, about a minute or two until the dough forms a ball and does not stick to the sides of the saucepan.
5. Transfer dough to food processor.
6. Heat oven to 425 degrees.
7. Turn on food processor and add 1 egg to the dough. As soon as it’s completely incorporated, add another, and continue adding eggs 1 at a time until you have used 4.
8. Add chopped cranberries and Cheddar and pulse to blend.
9. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silpat if available. Drop heaping teaspoons of batter, in mounds about 1 inch across, on baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between them.
10. Dipping your fingertips in cold water, gently press down any peaks or tips to the mounds of dough so that the dough is flat and will form a clean circular puff.
11. Beat remaining egg. Brush tops of mounds with egg, taking care not to let any drip down the sides.If after your first batch you find the coloring to be overly dark or slightly burned, you can wait to brush the egg until 7 minutes in to the first fifteen minutes of cooking (or whenever the first time you rotate baking sheets is).
12. Bake 15 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned, rotating baking sheets halfway between cooking.
13. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until well browned and again rotating baking sheets halfway.
14. Shut off oven, open oven door a few inches and leave gougères another 15 minutes before removing them. If you are serving them immediately, serve right away, they do not need any time to cool and are best hot.
15. Before making your next round, wait ten minutes for baking sheets to cool, replace parchment paper, and repeat process.If you are making these ahead of time, move gougeres to cooling racks. When completely cooled, the gougères can be transferred to a heavy plastic bag and frozen. Reheat them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

The Perfectly Nutty Brigsten's Pecan Pie with Bourbon Whipped Cream

I am not a fan of Pecan Pie. I think it is too sweet, and weirdly also bitter. I'm also not a huge fan of the almost jell-o like consistency the filling can reach. It's just not my thing, and not my choice of holiday pies. Pumpkin pie really is the reigning monarch of Thanksgiving pies. So it's a little strange that one of the pies I make the most frequently and is most coveted by TK is my pecan pie. It's my exception pecan pie. I like to say I dislike all pecan pies, except for this one which is delicious and perfect in every way. It focuses on the delicious nutty flavor and nothing else. No mouthful of sweet. No orange. Just deep roasted nut flavor.

This recipe comes from my favorite restaurant in New Orleans, Brigsten's. Obviously. Where but New Orleans could convince me not only to re-examine the pecan pie, but to embrace it? And where else would finding out that a restaurant published a couple of recipes online cause me to get so excited I had to make them all immediately? Turns out, the first secret to a great pecan pie is the same one I have long applied to most of my pinenut recipes- always toast your nuts, and the deeper and darker you toast them, the richer and rounder your flavors. This recipe dark roasts its pecans, then grinds them up into a paste of roasted pecan that is added to the curd to soften the corn syrup, add texture, and generally take this pie to another level. The second secret is a flaky crust.

Pie crusts and I have a troubled history. How to make a good pie crust is so deceptively simple from the offset, but so fraught with danger and errors in the implementation. The trick to getting a crust nice and flaky is to only mix the dough enough that you can still see swirls and spots of raw butter. Those little butter spots will become little air pockets that flake out the crust and give it its rich buttery goodness. The trick is getting your dough to where it needs to be without having to overwork your dough and lose the flaky texture. And the way to make that happen is to keep everything as cold as possible throughout the pie making process. Anything I can do to keep my ingredients cold, I do without hesitation, including Brigsten's trick which is to freeze the butter, then grate the frozen stick through a box grater. I take it further and put the flour and butter mixture back in the freezer to refreeze prior to working together, but either way, the grating goes a long way towards minimizing the amount of time you need to handle the dough. Likewise, if at ANY point you feel like your dough is getting too warm, stop what you are doing, return the dough and/or tools to the freezer, give it a twenty minute rest, then come back to it.

I bought a pastry scraper for the sole purpose of assisting with the creation of pie crusts, but you don't need one, particularly if you are rolling out your dough between two sheets of parchment paper. If when you try and pull the flattened dough it starts to stick, return the parchment paper sandwiched dough to the fridge to chill for fifteen minutes, then try again. If using a pastry scraper, keep scraper in the freezer when not immediately using. Slide under the dough to cut it away, being very careful not to stretch the crust. Do not stretch the dough to fit the pan or as you are lifting the pan. Any stretching done to the dough will shrink back down as the pie bakes. You can use leftover dough to fill any cracks or holes in the crust, again being careful not to stretch out the dough.


Brigsten's Pecan Pie

For the dough:

1 cup all-purpose white flour
½ teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
 ¼ cup ice water

For the filling:

½ cup darkly roasted pecans, ground
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
 1 cup medium pecan pieces
 
Bourbon Brown Sugar Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream 
1/2 cup sour cream 
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 
1/8 teaspoon table salt 
2 teaspoons bourbon

 

Instructions

 

For the Dough-

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree.
2. Place butter, rolling pin, pastry scraper, pastry cutter (if using) in freezer until moments before you are ready to use.
3. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. 
4. Once butter is ice cold and hard but not quite frozen, use the large holes of a hand grater, grate the butter into the mixing bowl with the flour mixture. If your fingers warm the butter, place bowl in freezer for fifteen minutes before continuing.
5. Lightly blend the butter and flour mixture with your fingertips until the texture is like coarse cornmeal. Be careful not to overwork the dough.
6. Add the ice water and blend until incorporated, moving as fast as possible. Swirls or spots of butter are not a problem and will resolve themselves during cooking and will result in a flaky crust.
7. Form the dough into a ball and blend until thoroughly incorporated. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for forty five minutes.
8. Place dough between two sheets of parchment paper or on a well floured countertop. Roll out the dough, adding flour as necessary and working as quickly as possible, to 1/8-inch thick. If dough starts to get too warm, stop, move disc of dough in parchment paper to fridge for fifteen minutes, then remove and continue rolling.
9. Remove top layer of parchment paper if using. Place an 8 ½ inch pie pan face down on the dough and cut the dough to fit the pan, leaving a border of about 1 1/2 inch.
10. Line the pan with the dough while removing second layer of parchment paper with a pastry scraper if necessary, being sure not to stretch the dough. trim the edges, and fill in any gaps with leftover dough and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use (at least one hour).

For the Filling-

1.  Toast pecans in dry skillet or roast on baking sheet until darkly colored and fragrant.
2. Grind pecans using either a morter and pestle, a coffee grinder, or a small food processor.
3. In an electric mixer with the wire whisk attachment, add the eggs and beat on high speed until frothy, about 1 minute. 
4. Add the sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla, salt, and ground roasted pecans.
5.  Beat on medium speed until well blended. 
6. Stir in the pecan pieces with a rubber spatula.
7. Pour the filling into the pie shell. 
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 
9. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake until the filling is browned on top and the crust is light golden brown.  20 - 30 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and cool at room temperature for 1 hour before serving. Serves 6-8.

 

For the Whipped Cream-

1. In bowl of standing mixer or with hand mixer, whisk heavy cream, sour cream, brown sugar, and salt until combined. 
2. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 4 hours or up to 24, stirring once or twice during chilling to ensure that sugar dissolves.
3. When ready to serve, add bourbon and beat mixture with whisk attachment at medium speed until small bubbles form around edges, about 40 seconds. 
4. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until fluffy or starts to form soft peaks and doubled in volume, about 1 minute longer. 
5. Serve.

Lenox Almond Biscotti (Basic Biscotti)

Almond Biscotti is a delicious and complex cookie perfect for dunking in coffee and serving either with breakfast, tea, or as a dessert with either ice cream or coffee. The almond scent and taste takes a plain shortbread style cookie and elevates it to the level of Italian dolci, ie, one of the best things ever. Biscotti is one of those things that for a very long time I labeled as "to be bought, not made". This was because I made the following (false) assumptions: a) I would have to make a large batch that I would never be able to finish and b) that it was too difficult to make. On point a, biscotti is meant to be dry and absorbent. It might almost be better after sitting out for a day, which is when the crunchiness that you associate with biscotti really sets in. This recipe lasts for about a week. I can't give you an exact total because I have always finished all the cookies within a week and they have always been delicious and not a hint stale. On the latter point, it is also surprisingly simple to make, once you get over your intimidation factor and the number of times it needs to go in the oven.

The dough is sticky and wet, a little surprising for what you think of as a dry, crumbly cookie. The thicker you make your logs, the flatter and wider your finished biscotti will be. So if you want a more domed biscotti, make your log taller and a little smaller. The log will spread a surprising amount, so be sure and place a solid amount of distance between the two. If you have problems with the logs touching during baking, as I did in these pictures, simply use a pastry scraper or a long serrated knife to separate the two logs along the seam or as close as you can get to it immediately after taking the logs out of the oven to cool. The smell of almond will fill your entire kitchen when making these, which both reassures you that you are on the right track and let's everyone else know that you mean business in the kitchen. Don't worry, we are delicious, the cookies tell you, right when you are trying to figure out what "starts to turn light golden" means. (The answer is right when the edges and tops just start to pick up a slight hint of color, but before the bottoms are thoroughly golden). The almond taste, while decidedly present, is a bit more delicate than its cooking nose would have you think. More of a subtle note than a hit you over the head nutty flavor.

This is your basic almond biscotti. From here, you can dunk half of it in melted chocolate (milk, white or dark chocolate) or vary it up in unlimited manners, including Crystallized Ginger with Orange Zest Biscotti, recipe to come soon, or Pistachio and Cranberry Biscotti, but this is your building block recipe, one of the first recipes I made from Dorie Greenspan's Baking, From My Home to Yours cookbook, adapted slightly because the oven I am using tends to run a little cool (if your oven runs hot, simply take five minutes off the cook time), and because I am not overly fond of the gritty texture of corn meal. This cookbook is wonderful if you are looking for a baking Bible. All the recipes are easy to vary according to taste but still create a sophisticated product on its own. For a dinner party these are great to prepare the day before for coffee at the end.

Lenox Almond Biscotti 

Cooking time: 40 Minutes Active, 1 1/2 hours Inactive
Makes about 30 cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
3/4 cup sliced almonds, blanched or unblanched

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
2. Optional: Run corn meal through a food processor for 30 seconds.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the cornmeal and whisk again to blend.
3. Using a hand mixer in a large bowl (or a standing mixer with a paddle attachment if you have it), beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth.
4. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy.
5. Beat in the almond extract.
6. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You'll have a soft, stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters.
7. Scrape down the bowl, toss in the almonds and mix with a rubber spatula just to blend.
8. Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula or scraper, work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven.
9. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet. The logs will spread during cooking, so make sure there is a solid amount of space between them.
10. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating once, or until the logs are just becoming lightly golden on top but still soft and springy to the touch.
11. If the two logs have starting touching, use a pastry scraper or long serrated knife to quickly separate the logs.
11. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.
12. If you turned off the oven, bring it back up to 350 degrees F.
13. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a pastry scraper or a long serrated knife, trim the ends and cut the logs into 3/4-inch-thick slices.
14. Return the slices to the baking sheet — this time standing them up like a marching band — and slide the sheet back into the oven. If you are concerned about even baking, rotate the thicker and less baked slices with the more golden slices on the pan prior to re-baking.

15. Bake the biscotti for another 20 minutes, or until they are golden and firm. Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature.