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Root Beer Syrup | Make Ahead Mondays

June 25, 2012 by 11 Comments

I am a fizzy drinks gal. My usual preference is for plain or flavoured (but not sweetened seltzer) but I have a deep and abiding love for two kinds of soda: ginger ale and root beer. I love the warm, spicy flavours of both of those. What I don’t adore, however, is the insane amount of sugar in most commercially available sodas.

My dad taught me to make my own ginger ale a few years back and that took care of the need for ginger ale, but until the last couple of weeks, I didn’t have a way to satisfy my root beer cravings without getting a sugar bomb in the process. With the exception of a few boutique brands of root beer (that are very tasty indeed but also pretty pricey), the sugar bomb in those sodas came in the form of high fructose corn syrup. I’m not going to wade into a debate here. Intelligent people disagree (vociferously) on the subject, but in our family we avoid consuming HFCS as much as possible.

I’ve tried making my own root beers from extract kits, but I was always a little disappointed because I like making things from the ground up. Buying a little bottle of some liquid and adding water and sugar just kind of felt like cheating. Yes, I realize I’m a little nuts. But I discovered something. I’m clearly not alone in thinking this way. I discovered Hank Shaw a.k.a. Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. Hank Shaw is, in a nutshell, awesome. I’ve always had a DIY bent, but Hank Shaw? I’m in an analogy frame of mind,  since I just finished up standardized testing with my kids, and I’m thinking that might be the best way to describe him. I am to Hank Shaw as Sandra Lee is to Martha Stewart. Sure, Sandra Lee decorates a table and whips up a cocktail, but Martha felled the tree, built the table, hand-wove the cloth for the decorations, smelted the metal for the silverware, designed and threw her own pottery, raised the animals and vegetables, slaughtered and prepared everything herself AND was a supermodel in the process.  In short, I have MAD respect for Hank Shaw. I have no idea whether his hair is perfectly coifed, but I rather suspect it is.

The point is this; Hank Shaw posted a recipe for homemade root beer syrup that looked like what I’d been seeking for ages. I had some dried burdock root (it grows EVERYWHERE around here, so I’m not sure this gets me my foraging badge), I ordered dried sassafras (because that DOESN’T grow around here), and raided my spice cabinet for the other bits and pieces*, and set to infusing.

*That spell of detective work just might get me the foraging badge after all!

The key to the recipe is a slow infusion (decoction, tisane, what-have-you) of water with the roots and spices. After it simmers a bit, some molasses is added (for both colour and flavour) then you simmer again. Then comes the WHAT?!? portion of the programme: wintergreen. I’m not kidding you. Go pop open a bottle of root beer and sniff. What are you getting? You’re getting the smell of sassafras and wintergreen (although of the two, wintergreen is probably the only one that is actually in commercial root beers any more.) Don’t skip this! And please, you might be tempted, but don’t sub in peppermint. The wintergreen is truly important. If you can’t lay your hands on fresh wintergreen leaves, you can always use wintergreen flavour or extract.*

*This is an affiliate link to Amazon.com.

As soon as the roots and spices started simmering my brain was panting, “Root beer. Root beer. Root beer.” It smells so good while it simmers. It smelled so good, in fact, that I dunked a spoon in to lick it. Um, it was not a great at that point. ‘Twas bitter but I carried on and continued the project. I started it late at night, so I let the cool down/infusion process go overnight. In the morning, I strained, measured, added to the pot with sugar and then simmered again. I dipped my spoon in again, cautiously licked it and holy man. It was good. It was great!

While I like to pour it over ice and top with my beloved plain seltzer for a spicy, rootsy-tootsy root beer beverage, you can also use the syrup to drizzle over your vanilla ice cream for a root beer sundae. On the other hand, you can sweeten your iced tea for a deliciously different sweet tea. Root beer sweet tea. Can I get a heck-yeah from the sweet tea lovers out there?

I’m going to tell you, this is NOT the root beer you get at the store. It just isn’t. It’s real. It has oomph. It has character. It’s not cloyingly sweet (although, if sweet is your thing you can always up the sugar content in the syrup.) When you smell it and taste it there is no doubt in your mind that this is root beer, but this is root beer as it’s meant to be. I’d take a tall glass of this root beer any day over the stuff on the shelves. My husband, who despises soda in general but likes seltzer, loved this root beer. Three of my five kids think this the best root beer they’ve ever had. (One of the remaining two just doesn’t like root beer, so he’s consistent. The other decided to be contrary.)

 

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Root Beer Syrup | Make Ahead Mondays

Root Beer Syrup | Make Ahead Mondays

For the rootin-est, tootin-est root beer you'll ever drink, whip up a batch of this all-natural root beer syrup. It makes grocery store root beers pale in comparison.

This recipe was very gently adapted and used with permission from and grateful thanks to Hank Shaw

Ingredients

  • 6 cups water
  • 3 ounces dried sassafras roots
  • 1/2 ounce dried burdock root
  • 1 teaspoon dried whole coriander seeds
  • 1 whole star anise
  • 1 whole clove
  • 1/4 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
  • 3-4 wintergreen leaves or 2 drops (or 1/8 of a teaspoon) wintergreen flavouring or extract
  • up to 6 cups of sugar (preferably raw, but granulated white sugar can be used.)

Instructions

Put the sassafras and burdock roots, coriander seeds, star anise and clove in a heavy-bottomed 2 quart saucepan that has a tight fitting lid. Pour the water over the top of the roots and spices and bring to a boil over high heat. Drop the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. If it keeps bubbling up and out, vent the lid just a bit.

Add the molasses, stir, replace the lid, and return to a simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the wintergreen flavouring or extract, replace the lid and let the mixture cool to room temperature. (I let mine cool on a cold burner on the stove overnight because I prepared my sassafras infusion late at night.)

Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth, place over a large measuring cup with a pouring spout or a pitcher, and pour the cooled infusion into it to strain. Do not press on the contents, but let the roots rest in the strainer for about 30 minutes before proceeding. While that strains, rinse the pot in which you infused it to get any lingering bits of root or spice out of it.

Measure your sassafras infusion, return it to the rinsed pot and add an equal amount of sugar -by volume- to the pot. For instance, if you have 4 1/2 cups of infusion, add 4 1/2 cups of sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, drop the heat to low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Pour the syrup into canning jars, fix clean, new, two-piece lids on top and store in the refrigerator up to a year.

To Make a Root Beer Drink from the Syrup:

Use 1 tablespoon of syrup over ice to 1 cup of plain seltzer water. Stir gently. Enjoy!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/06/25/root-beer-syrup-make-ahead-mondays/

If you want to make a batch or twelve of this but don’t know where to find the ingredients, Amazon.com, as always, can hook you up:

Filed Under: Beverages, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Condiments, Food Preservation, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian

(Classic) Slow-Cooker Cuban Pork | Make Ahead Mondays Highlight

June 11, 2012 by 20 Comments

 

Back in March of 2009, this blogging novice posted a recipe that remains one of the most popular ever here on Foodie With Family. And let me tell you, it deserves every bit of its popularity. Slow-Cooked Cuban Pork is one of those crazy recipes that somehow manages to be dead simple, insanely inexpensive, habit-formingly delicious, almost infinitely customizable, and wickedly versatile. This is the original Foodie With Family unicorn recipe.

A testament to how fabulous this recipe actually is is the fact that so many of you made it even though I split the recipe into two different posts and made you go to two places to print it. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. I was a newbie. So today, for Make Ahead Mondays, I am finally righting my wrong against you all with a bright, shiny, easy printable version of this classic recipe. I’m doing a little roasting two pigs with one post action, too… because in the last several months the readership here has grown explosively AND I LOVE YOU ALL MADLY FOR IT but that means that some of ye who are new around these parts may not have yet seen the Slow-Cooked Cuban Pork and in a wild display of run-on-sentence-ery, I’m here to tell you that you must, must, MUST make one or several.

If the five reasons given above weren’t good enough to convince you to make this at the soonest possible moment, I have a couple more to persuade you.

  1. It makes a massive amount which makes it good for…
  2. FREEZING. I realize I’m type-screaming a lot with the all-caps today, but I’m very excited to share this recipe again.

This is truly Make Ahead Monday friendly. You get a gigantic amount of shredded pork to eat off of and freeze into individual portions. Win/win!

We use leftovers from this recipe for Barbecue Pulled Pork Sliders, Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza, and Hot TexMess among other things. A couple containers of this pork in the freezer is the best guarantee against the “I have no idea what to make for dinner” syndrome.

Over the past three years, I’ve received all sorts of emails from people who have up-sized the Cuban Pork enough to feed a couple hundred people at church suppers, wedding receptions, and down-sized it to feed a singleton or a couple. If you’ve been around here for a while, and you’re one of the many who HAVE tried the recipe, would you tell us how you made it? Did you serve it for a special occasion?  Did you make any changes to it? Add anything to it that you absolutely love? Fill me in!

If you prefer the old posts along with the photo tutorial, they’re still there and here, but I, for one, will be using this brand-spanking new all-in-one, easy-print version below.

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(Classic) Slow-Cooker Cuban Pork | Make Ahead Mondays Highlight

(Classic) Slow-Cooker Cuban Pork | Make Ahead Mondays Highlight

Of all the recipes published here on Foodie With Family over the years, this remains one of the best loved and for good reason. Fragrant, garlicky, moist and yet crispy, this mouth-watering pork is as easy to make as it is wonderful and habit forming. The recipe yields a large amount making it perfect to feed a crowd or freeze for quick meals in the future.

Ingredients

    Step 1:
  • 1 (8-10 pound) bone-in pork shoulder, make sure it fits into your slow-cooker. Cut to fit if necessary.
  • 1/2 cup frozen 100% orange juice concentrate
  • 1/3 cup lime juice (fresh squeezed or bottled)
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 8 whole peeled cloves fresh garlic (or 1 Tablespoon granulated dried garlic)
  • 1 Tablespoon (or more, to taste) ground cumin
  • 1 Tablespoon dry oregano leaves
  • 1 Tablespoon or more fresh ground pepper
  • 2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
  • if available, 2 stems (no leaves, just stems) fresh cilantro
    • Step 2:
  • Slow-cooked pork shoulder, thoroughly chilled
  • Cooking juices from slow-cooked pork shoulder
  • 2 Tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 Tablespoons white wine or cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried mustard powder
  • 2 drops liquid smoke, optional

Instructions

Step 1:

Drizzle the olive oil in the slow-cooker bowl. Place untrimmed pork, fat side down in the bowl then flip fat side up. Toss garlic cloves in around the roast and sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. Use a spoon to dollop the frozen orange juice concentrate over the top of the roast. Pour the lime juice around the edges of the roast, toss on cilantro stems- if using, cover, and turn cooker to ‘HIGH’. Allow to cook for 1 hour, turn the heat to ’LOW’ and continue cooking for another 12 hours or until meat falls apart when prodded with a fork. When the meat is tender, turn off slow cooker and place the slow cooker bowl in the fridge. (If your slow-cooker doesn’t have a removable insert, transfer the contents to a large container with a tight-fitting lid and pop that into the fridge.

Step 2:

Use a spoon to remove the congealed fat from around the pork shoulder. Discard the fat. Transfer pork shoulder to a large cutting board, preferably one with a groove to catch juices. Otherwise, keep the paper towels handy! Let sit while attending to the pan juices.

Pour the cooking juices that surrounded the pork through a fine mesh strainer positioned over a saucepan. Remove and discard any solids left in the strainer. Add the lime juice, vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes, dried mustard powder and liquid smoke to the cooking juices. Whisk until evenly combined and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Allow to boil (while working on shredding the pork) until reduced to about 1/4 of the starting volume. Set aside until pork is fully shredded.

Pull the bone out of the pork and discard. Scrape as much fat as you can from the outside of the pork shoulder. Throw away the fat or give it to your spoiled and lazy dogs. Pull large chunks of the shoulder apart. It should naturally come apart at places where there is additional fat you can remove. Take as much of the fat out as you can without wasting meat.

Using your hands -or two forks- shred the meat into small pieces. When you’ve shredded all the meat, you can leave it as is or chop through it quickly with a knife to ensure that you have small bite-sized pieces. It depends on what you’ll do with the pork. I usually run through it with the knife since I have so many little mouths eating it. When pork is fully shredded (and chopped, if desired) transfer to a 9? x 13? baking dish with sides. Pour the reduced pan juices over the pork and toss. Tightly cover the pan with foil. If you plan on serving it immediately, put into a preheated 350ºF oven and heat for 25 minutes, or until hot all the way through. If you are preparing this ahead of time you can either place the pan directly into the freezer or into the fridge.

To reheat from chilled:

Place, still covered in foil, in a preheated 350ºF oven for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

To heat from frozen:

Place, still covered in foil, in a preheated 350ºF for 45 minutes, or until heated through.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/06/11/classic-slow-cooker-cuban-pork-make-ahead-mondays-highlight/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Component Foods, kid food, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Creamy Lemon Lime Popsicles (Three Ingredients) | Make Ahead Mondays

June 4, 2012 by 10 Comments

Is school officially out for the summer where you are? We’re on the cusp here. So very close! We just have a couple standardized tests to finish up and it’s FREEDOM for a couple of hazy, lazy (I wish!) months. My kids want that break so badly they can taste it.

The weather is hot and it’s just too hard to sit at the school table without some sort of encouragement. To that end, I’ve been dangling popsicles like carrots to signify the end of the school day. There is nothing quite like a bit of quiescently frozen whatnot to take your mind off of columns of bubbles that have to be filled in ever so completely without going outside the lines. Popsicles take the sting out of the end of the school year.

Did you ever wonder if the person who invented standardized testing forms is the same one who invented ballots in Florida? But I digress. Politically and otherwise.

The popsicles I’m sharing here today hold the number one spot (not to be dislodged by number two pencils) in our home. Lemony and limey, they’re so creamy they almost eat like an ice cream rather than an ice pop. The creaminess comes courtesy of… are you sitting down?… COCONUT MILK and Lemon Lime Curd. That’s right. There’s no cream or milk anywhere near this.  You all know I’m a mega fan of cream, but there is simply no substitute here. There’s something magical about what coconut milk does when its frozen. It doesn’t taste overly coconut-y, in fact, you’re hard pressed to get the coconut flavour at all. It’s very faint. But what it lends is an unctuousness that is unparalleled. The Lemon Lime Curd is obviously the main source for the citrus punch, but gets a little helping hand from an extra splash of lemon juice.

If you’d like to make these vegan (it isn’t already because of the eggs and butter in the Lemon Lime Curd) there is an easy quick fix. Simply use vegan lemon curd (or vegan lemon lime curd) in place of the traditional curd.

In case you’re on the fence about making these thinking, “How could something so easy to make possibly be as good as she says it is?” allow me to share an example. My husband likes food but he believes in the less-is-more approach to food compliments. He does not use superlatives unless a food has earned it. He took a bite of one of these popsicles and his eyes rolled back into his head. He said, “Did you make these up?” When I replied that I had, he said, “These are incredible! Seriously. You have to blog these. Now. Go blog them. People need to make these.”

He has suggested I put things up here on Foodie With Family before, but never with this much enthusiasm. Well, there is one exception, but it’s coming next week. That’s right. I hit it out of the park with The Evil Genius twice in one month. Stay tuned. And in the meantime, whip up a batch of these Creamy Lemon Lime Popsicles. It’ll take no time at all and you’ll look like a superhero.

One batch of the popsicle mix makes quite a few popsicles, but feel free to double or triple the recipe so that you have them on hand all the time. You’re only limited by the amount of moulds and freezer space you have and the number you can eat in a month. Believe me when I tell you you’ll be able to eat more than you think! If you wanted to make these in serious quantities for a kids’ party or similar event, use little disposable paper cups and short, fat wooden popsicle sticks.

In honour of the end of the school year and an undisclosed high school reunion year ending with a zero (ACK!), I’ll close this by saying, “Stay cool! Never change! Love ya like a sister!”

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Creamy Lemon Lime Popsicles (Three Ingredients) | Make Ahead Mondays

Creamy Lemon Lime Popsicles (Three Ingredients) | Make Ahead Mondays

These lemony, limey, bright, 3-ingredient popsicles are so creamy they almost eat like ice cream rather than ice pops. These will take the edge off of the hottest days and are easily converted to being a vegan-friendly recipe by using vegan lemon curd in place of the traditional Lemon Lime Curd.

Ingredients

  • 1 can (13.5 ounces, approximately) full-fat, unsweetened Coconut Milk
  • 1 cup Lemon Lime Curd
  • 1 tablespoon lemon (or lime) juice

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until smooth, about 15 seconds. If you do not have a blender, add to a large mixing bowl and whisk vigorously until smooth. Pour into popsicle moulds, add sticks or handles and freeze 6 hours or until frozen solid. These are best eaten within a month of being made.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/06/04/creamy-lemon-lime-popsicles-three-ingredients-make-ahead-mondays/

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Desserts, Freezer Pleaser, Happy Healthy and Wise, Ice Cream, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Lemon Lime Curd (Easy Blender or Microwave Method) | Make Ahead Mondays

May 28, 2012 by 16 Comments

Many moons ago, when I was the mother of only a couple tiny kids, I had a very scandalous, very obese, very, very big dog named Hambone. Hambone was known for his lightning speed consumption of all food before him, whether it was intended for him or not. There was no food safe around Hambone.

Hambone ate his food. He ate his dog-compatriot’s food. He ate the cat’s food. He ate a pound of butter (still wrapped). He ate crayons, garbage, and -in short- anything that held still long enough for him to figure out how to get it down into his gullet. He was not discerning.

On a cold winter’s day, I laid the kids down for a nap and got to work on the snack I was supposed to bring to Bible study that evening. It was my turn and I decided to bring something indulgent, spectacular, unique… I settled on scones with lemon curd and clotted cream. The clotted cream I bought, the scones I made, and then came the lemon curd… I followed the time-honoured tradition of hand squeezing the citrus.

Lots and lots of citrus.

Then I set to whisking over a double boiler- whisking, whisking, whisking- until the egg yolks and sugar and lemon juice thickened. Then I dropped in the butter bit by bit and whisked even more until each little cube of butter was melted and incorporated. Now, I’ve been me a long time, and I’m consistent, so you may know what is coming next. I was making a quadruple batch. Of course! Why wouldn’t you make a double batch if you’re already going to so much trouble? This means I stood whisking for quite some time. In fact, I whisked my way through all of that precious nap time. My little fellows both woke or set to squawking at the same time… just about when that curd was finished.

Taking advantage of the cold weather, I set the bowl out to cool, covered with a screen, on a table on the porch. I did what moms do with freshly napped munchkins. I read, I snuggled, I tousled hair, I provided snacks. And then I heard a sound. A clatter. A sound that sounded like THE CLATTER OF A METAL BOWL SKITTERING ON A WOODEN PORCH. Empty. I had forgotten that the notorious Hambone was outside. He had eaten every last bit of my lemon curd from the bowl. It looked as clean as it had when I had taken it from the cupboard. I threw the bowl at the dog, locked the door, sat my sweet kidlets down in front of a Beatrix Potter movie and made another batch. A single one.

The dog was too full even to scratch at the door to be let in, and it’s a darned good thing because I was in no mood to let that beast into our warm abode. I got on the phone with my mom to complain and she said, “Oh no! I wonder if he’s in pain!” I responded, unkindly, that I hoped he was. Big time.

Time passed, Hambone had other memorable transgressions in the kitchen and I learned a few lessons.

  1. Never leave food near a dog under any circumstances. They’re just not built to resist the temptation.
  2. Lemon curd is far easier to make than I ever thought.

That second lesson is the real kicker. I learned that lemon curd does not need to be an exercise in self-flagellation. You need not whisk ’til your arms fall off. It is as easy as a burly blender or a microwave. Of the two methods, I prefer the blender method because you pop everything in, set it to high and walk away until steam billows forth from the top. If you don’t have a sturdily built blender, though, the microwave method is a vast improvement over the French galley-slave approach to lemon curd making.

Once I got the quick-curd methods under my belt, I started playing around a bit with ingredients. My favourite curd (which is really a very unappetizing word for what amounts to creamy citrus custard sauce) these days is a bright, light combination of lemon and lime, using the juice and zest of both citruses. Lemon and lime compliment each other beautifully… Where the lemon is all brightness, the lime has depth. The sugar softens up the sharpness of the citrus while the egg yolk makes the custard creamy. “Mouthwatering” is greatly overused when discussing foods, but there is simply no substitute for it here. Lemon Lime Curd truly makes your mouth water.

Even though you can quickly make curd just about any time using these quick methods, it’s nice to have it on hand ready to go at the smallest inkling of a craving. Lemon Lime curd can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. If you’d like to make it last longer than that, simply freeze for up to a year. Not that it’ll ever last that long.

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Lemon Lime Curd (Easy Blender and Microwave Methods) | Make Ahead Mondays

Lemon Lime Curd (Easy Blender and Microwave Methods) | Make Ahead Mondays

Step away from the double-boiler! Sour lemons and sweet limes come together to be made into the simplest curd ever made. Using your blender or microwave you are just 5 minutes away from a perfect dessert spread that stores for two weeks in the refrigerator or a full year in the freezer! You need never be without this tart, sweet, velvety-smooth dessert maker ever again.

Dollop Lemon Lime Curd on angel food cake or pound cake and top with whipped cream for the ultimate quick dessert. Spoon it over ice cream or on pancakes or waffles. Spread it between cake layers. Or make like me, pucker up and eat it straight from the spoon!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice (I used about 4 lemons and 5 limes.)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 9 egg yolks
  • the zest of 2 lemons and 2 limes (use zest from the lemons and limes you squeezed.)

Instructions

The Blender Method (I use my Vitamix blender . Be sure your blender is well-built enough to run on high speed for 5 or more minutes without burning out the motor!):

Add the citrus juice, sugar, butter and egg yolks to the work carafe of your blender. Fix the lid firmly in place. Start the blender on low and slowly increase the speed until you reach the highest speed. Let the blender run on high until steam is pouring out of the top of the blender. Turn the blender off and -wearing oven mitts- remove the lid carefully. Use an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of the curd. It should be at or above 170°F. (If you don't have an instant read thermometer you can test the readiness with a spoon. Dip a spoon into the hot curd. Carefully draw your finger through it in a line. When the line stays for about 5 seconds before the curd comes back together it is ready.)

*Remember the curd will thicken as it cools!

Stir in the citrus zest and immediately pour into clean jars or heat-proof containers with tight fitting lids. Let cool slightly before storing in the refrigerator. If desired, once the curd has cooled slightly, you can lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming on it. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 1 year!

The Microwave Method:

In a microwave safe bowl that is large enough to comfortably hold all of your ingredients, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until they are smooth. Whisk in the lemon and lime juice and butter until smooth. Microwave on high -uncovered- for 5 minutes, whisking well after each 1 minute mark until you reach 4 minutes. In the last minute, whisk well every 15 seconds, until the mixture has reached at least 170°F on an instant read thermometer. (If you don't have an instant read thermometer you can test the readiness with a spoon. Dip a spoon into the hot curd. Carefully draw your finger through it in a line. When the line stays for about 5 seconds before the curd comes back together it is ready.)

*Remember the curd will thicken as it cools!

Pour the hot curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl to remove any curdled egg bits. Stir in the zest and pour immediately into clean jars or heat-proof containers with tight fitting lids. Let cool slightly before storing in the refrigerator. If desired, once the curd has cooled slightly, you can lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent skin from forming on it. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 1 year!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/28/lemon-lime-curd-easy-blender-or-microwave-method-make-ahead-mondays/

And heads-up. You’ll want to be back here next Tuesday when I show you how to use your Lemon Lime Curd to make THESE:

 

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Desserts, Freezer Pleaser, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lazy Sushi Bowls (a.k.a. Scattered Sushi) | Make Ahead Mondays

May 21, 2012 by 4 Comments

I’m really excited about today’s post. Why? It’s another one of those things I’ve been making for years and I’m just getting around to sharing it with you. I always feel a mixture of thrill and guilt when I share these perennial favourites. Thrill because I’m giving you something we love so much and guilt because it took me so darned long to finally give you the recipe.

And then there’s the fact that this is hardly a recipe at all so much as it is an idea. A formula. A how-to, if you will. It seems like these are always the last things I think to put here because, well, they’re so simple it’s almost embarrassing. Every now and then I pull up short and have to remind myself that it is just those kinds of things that I should be sharing! Good grief! Get with the program, self!

Without further ado, I present to you Lazy Sushi Bowls (also known as Scattered Sushi). This is a riff on the honest-to-goodness, real-deal Chirashizushi (scattered sushi) that is served in various regions of Japan. Chirashizushi is loose sushi rice (cooked rice tossed with seasoned rice vinegar) in a bowl topped with seafood and garnishes. It’s a riff because most of the time, the real thing is served with sashimi (raw fish or seafood) and frankly, I’m way-hay-hay too far from any ocean to feel good about serving any kind of seafood I can buy around here raw. Beyond that, though, is the wacky toppings I prefer on my Lazy Sushi. My method is a very culinarily mixed metaphor. On top of the seasoned sushi rice, I pile Asian Marinated Cucumber Salad (or cubed English cucumbers), Asian Style Pickled Carrots, flaked (canned) Albacore tuna, cubed or sliced ripe avocado, cooked shrimp, sliced green onions, tiny cubes of cream cheese (thanks a million times over to Rebecca’s sister, Jennifer, of Ezra Pound Cake for the brilliant homage to a Philadelphia roll for this idea!), torn seasoned nori (or Furikake), pickled ginger (when we have it), soy sauce, wasabi paste, and toasted sesame seeds. Does this mean you need all of that on hand to make this dish? The answer to that is a most emphatic no! We make these with as many or as few of the ingredients as we have or want.

I mix up a big batch of the Sushi Dressing (and really, it only takes seconds), store it in the refrigerator and then have it on hand for whenever we get the craving for Lazy Sushi (which is a pretty common occurrence.) So maybe I’m stretching the Make Ahead Monday theme a bit,  but I’ve waited so long to share this, I couldn’t wait any longer!

Why do I call it Lazy Sushi when there are so many components? Let me break it down. The rice is cooked, tossed with the dressing and set aside to cool to room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients. If you have some leftover Asian Marinated Cucumber Salad, your cucumber portion is ready and waiting. If not? Roughly chop or cube an English cucumber (seedless cucumber). Their skin is tender, so no need to peel ‘em. How simple is that? Thaw some fully cooked shrimp and remove the tails. If you have Asian Style Pickled Carrots on the shelf, you need only pop open a jar. If not? Shred a carrot on a box grater or use a vegetable peeler to get thin strips. Open and drain a can of Albacore tuna. Halve, pit and slice an avocado. Tear a sheet of nori or pop open your furikake. Wash and slice a couple green onions. Fish your bottle of soy sauce and your tube of wasabi from the back of the refrigerator. Cut some little cubes from a brick of cream cheese. Give everyone a bowl and you are off the hook. Proverbially and colloquially. Stand back and let everyone assemble their own dinner.

Are you ready for the bonuses? Because there’s more. This is good for you! (Especially if you use brown rice.) This makes a killer brown-bag or picnic lunch. Finally, the biggest bonus is that The Evil Genius and I can have bowls piled teeteringly high with every single ingredient our gluttonous little hearts desire while the no veg contingent is content with a bowl of rice topped with a couple shrimp and soy sauce. It’s almost endlessly customizable and as all you parents (or spouses) out there know, the ability to make a dish that everyone can love is worth more than its weight in gold. This is another Unicorn Dish in our household.

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Lazy Sushi Bowls (a.k.a. Scattered Sushi)

Lazy Sushi Bowls (a.k.a. Scattered Sushi)

Lazy Sushi -seasoned sushi rice topped with your favourite sushi toppings- is great for fun family dinners, entertaining (because EVERYONE loves it), movie nights and those hot, steamy summer nights when the mere thought of cooking makes you break into a sweat.

These are also great for picnics and brown-bag lunches. Just store the rice outside of the refrigerator (or cooler) and keep the remaining ingredients chilled. Assemble and eat!

Ingredients

    For the Sushi Dressing:
  • 1 cup plain rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons raw sugar or white granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
    • For each serving of Lazy Sushi:
  • 1/4-1/2 cup uncooked short grain rice (preferably sweet brown rice, but short grain white rice is good, too.)
  • 1 tablespoon Sushi Dressing (see above)
  • Optional:
  • 1/4 of a ripe avocado, (peeled, pitted and cubed), tossed with a little rice vinegar to prevent browning
  • 1/4 cup Sweet and Spicy Asian Style Pickled Carrots or 1/2 of a carrot, grated or peeled into thin strips with a vegetable peeler
  • 1/4 cup Asian Marinated Cucumber Salad or about 2 tablespoons of finely cubed English or seedless cucumbers
  • 1/2 of the contents of a drained can of Albacore tuna, flaked
  • 2-4 pieces of fully cooked shrimp (cleaned with the tails removed)
  • 3-4 small cubes (about 1/4-inch or so) cold cream cheese
  • thinly sliced green onions, to taste
  • wasabi, to taste
  • soy sauce, to taste
  • torn or cut nori (or furikake , to taste
  • toasted sesame seeds, to taste

Instructions

To Make the Sushi Dressing:

Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a microwave safe bowl (or in a small saucepan), heat until very warm and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Pour into a canning jar or other heat proof container with a tight fitting lid and store in the refrigerator for up to one month, using as needed.

To Prepare the Lazy Sushi Bowls:

Cook the rice according to package instructions (I prefer to use my rice cooker.) When the rice is done, turn it into a large-ish mixing bowl, fluff it gently and pour the appropriate amount of Sushi Dressing over the top. Fold the dressing in gently, taking care not to smash the rice. Lay damp paper towels over the surface of the rice to prevent it from drying out and let the rice cool to room temperature.

When the rice is cool, divide among serving bowls and let the diners assemble their own Lazy Sushi.

To Pack for Lunch or a Meal Away from Home:

Pack the rice in a container with a tight fitting lid and a great deal of room between the rice and the top of the container. (This is to accommodate the toppings once added.) Pack the toppings in separate containers, combining those items which need refrigeration (such as the fish, cubed avocados with rice vinegar, cream cheese, etc...) Store the rice outside of the refrigerator (preferably in a cool-but-not-cold, dark place) and the remaining ingredients in the refrigerator (or cooler). Assemble just before eating.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/21/lazy-sushi-bowls-a-k-a-scattered-sushi-make-ahead-mondays/

 

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Fish, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, kid food, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian

Best Buttermilk Pancakes and Make Ahead Mondays Breakfast Highlights

May 14, 2012 by 8 Comments

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and I’m still in a glow-y mood. The boys treated me to a cup of tea in bed (that mercifully stayed in the vessel before reaching my mouth), French toast once I was downstairs, a day full of (mostly) getting along beautifully, and a clean kitchen (for most of the day.) I know this post is coming late in the day, but it’s worth it! I promise.

Today, for Make Ahead Mondays, the spotlight is on some of our favourite make-ahead-friendly breakfast foods that have been here on Foodie With Family. You all know I’m not functional until I’ve had a cuppa tea or two under my belt. By that, I mean that I’ve consumed it, not worn it… And to complicate things,  I absolutely despise paying mucho bucks for boxes of cereal that last a day or two at most around here. Therefore, the hot and/or homemade breakfast is the preferred method of morning fuel in these parts.  So the equation looks like this: Bleary-Eyed Mom + Hungry Children in the Morning = Creativity. I need food that is made or mostly made to serve them because folks? They’re not patient when it comes to food.

In no particular order, here are some of the greatest hits from our household:

Six Week Bran Cereal Muffins

These muffins are delicious and nutritious, to be sure, but there are two more, equally compelling reasons to make these. 1.) You make the batter and it stores in your refrigerator where you can bake as few as one or as many as you’d like daily for SIX WEEKS. I’m not kidding. Six weeks. How can you beat that? 2.) You can add in whatever stir-ins you like the day you bake. Chocolate chips, apples (dry or fresh), peaches, raisins, nuts, apricots? Yes, yes, yes and infinitely more yeses. Can I hear an Amen? Or at least a yum? Because you’ll rate a bunch of each when you have these for breakfast.

Baked Maple Oatmeal

 

Just look at that, wouldya? That is what oats are supposed to look like… This is as far from the grey, mucilaginous (yes, I said it again), soupy stuff that most people think of as oatmeal. It’s sweet, chewy, almost nutty in flavour, and smells good enough to make you turn inside out in anticipation. I make two huge pans of this unadorned (sans fruits, nuts, etc…) and leave it covered in the refrigerator all week. The kids, when hungry, take a serving sized scoop, heat it in the microwave and then add whatever they prefer. The favourite toppers in our home are frozen blueberries, fresh cream, or my homemade pie filling from the pantry. In my book, that counts as fruit!

Sausage, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches

Are you playing for a more savoury audience? This is the bees-knees… We’re looking at a sausage patty, baked egg and cheese all warm and melty on a toasted English muffin. Even better is the fact that these are pre-made, frozen and ready for action whenever needed. We reheat them, toss on a fistful of arugula or greens (for those who are so inclined) and hot sauce to round everything out. Life is great when these are in the freezer.

Homemade English Muffins

You had to know I was going here. Right? There is no better way to have a Sausage, Egg and Cheese Breakfast sandwich than on a homemade English Muffin. Just look at those nooks and crannies. They’re crying out for butter and jam, too! And added to the fact that these are as easy to make as pie -No, easier than pie!- is the fact that they freeze like a dream after being baked and cooled. Ta da!

Homemade English Muffin Bread

Do those English Muffins still look like a bit too much fuss? I have just the thing for you! English Muffin Bread. And let me tell you, this stuff is habit forming and easy to boot. Each batch makes three large loaves, so eat one, wrap the other two and freeze for those days when you just don’t have time to bake. …While we’re discussing English Muffin Bread, how about something else that you can whip up to keep in the freezer that uses this bread as a base?

Supreme Spinach and Egg Breakfast Sandwiches

You can never have too many eggy type recipes if you ask me. Eggs are nearly the perfect food. Heavy in protein and all sorts of other goodies, they’re just the thing to use to start your day right and keep you full until lunch.  I like to make the Spinach and Egg Breakfast Bake, slice, freeze and then reheat to serve on freshly toasted English Muffin Bread. This also makes a great, hearty after school snack. Whichever time of day you serve it, you’ll be so happy you did!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

This is one of my best successes in mommy-trickery of all time. See that gorgeous, moist, cinnamon swirl? Don’t tell my youngest child, but that’s *gasp* ground up raisins. I’ve had emails from people all over telling me that either they or their kids disliked raisins as a rule, but adored this bread. It’s happy food, my friends. And happily, it freezes very well. A loaf or two of this in the freezer can make the difference between an okay day and a great one. And if you -whoopsie- don’t eat it all before its prime, it makes the most incredible French toast you can possibly imagine- but better.

…And finally!

Best Buttermilk Pancakes

I am willing to bet that most of you -even those who have been with me for a long time- haven’t seen this recipe. Why? Because this comes from one of the first recipes I ever posted here on Foodie With Family in 2008. Wowza. So much has changed between then and now, but one thing has not. We still rely on these pancakes because of their flavour, ease of preparation and the convenience of being able to keep a bucket of this batter ready in the refrigerator for up to three days after mixing it. Double bonus: you can griddle fry all of your pancakes, cool them on a rack, store them in a Gladware container or zipper top bag with wax paper between each layer, and freeze them for even greater convenience. In the morning, grab the desired number of flapjacks and microwave them ’til piping hot. And triple bonus! This recipe is so old, I didn’t even know about printable recipes, so I present to you, today, a printable version of our Best Buttermilk Pancakes. Hooray! Hoorah! Now go forth, and make breakfast!

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Best Buttermilk Pancakes

Fluffy but thin, tangy, delicate Best Buttermilk Pancakes whip up with ease! The batter stores well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but the griddle fried pancakes also freeze well for added convenience.

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
  • 4 cups buttermilk (or 1/4 cup cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice added to 3 3/4 cups with milk, stirred and nuked for 45 seconds)
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2-4 Tablespoons sugar, to taste
  • 1 Tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in your blender and process until smooth. Or you can do as I usually do adding all ingredients to a large pitcher and combining them with my stick blender. It’s the cheater’s way! The batter needs to be smooth. No one likes pockets of dry flour in a pancake! The consistency of the batter when I make it is about that of ketchup because we like thinner pancakes. If you like a fluffier, loftier pancake, you can add a couple tablespoons of flour to the batter, but make sure it’s still pourable!

Heat your griddle or frying pan until water sizzles on it and carefully butter or oil the surface. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the hot pan for each pancake, leaving room for it to expand. You can flip the cake when the bubbles that show up on the top pop and don’t fill back in. The second side will cook much faster than the first side, so DO NOT WALK AWAY!

Serve hot! To really ease the morning time crunch, you can also cool these off on a wire rack, stack them separated by waxed paper, and seal in a bag in the freezer for up to a month. To reheat, remove desired number of flapjacks from the freezer to a plate and microwave for about 30 seconds-1 minute, depending on strength of microwave.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/14/best-buttermilk-pancakes-and-make-ahead-mondays-breakfast-highlights/

 

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Comfort Food, Component Foods, Eggs, Freezer Pleaser, Happy Healthy and Wise, Make Ahead Mondays, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

No-Knead Whole-Wheat Semolina Pizza Dough | Make Ahead Mondays

May 7, 2012 by 20 Comments

I’m about to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. I declare this week to be pizza week.

I’ve run a handful of pizza recipes (this, this, this and this) but I’ve never gone deep into pizza territory in this space. This -to put it mildly- is nuts. Why? Because I am certifiably obsessed with pizza. I love pizza truly, madly and deeply. It is my happy food. I’m not talking about cardboard take out pizzas (although I’ll eat those, too.) I am talking about homemade pizza whether it’s thin and crispy, thick pan pizza, or anything in between.

Way back when The Evil Genius and I were first wed, we went on our first of many food kicks. We had a collective hankering for a pizza fresh from the oven with a thin, crispy and chewy crust. We bought a pizza stone and peel, researched recipes, and ate pizza nearly every night for a month. We were thrilled with our results, but there was always one little piece that didn’t quite meet our expectations: that crust.

Good golly. Who knew that a little piece of dough could create such frustration? We tried stiffer dough, slacker dough, dough made from various flours, enriched dough, plain dough, new dough and aged dough. It seemed like no matter what, it just wasn’t exactly what we had pictured.

The years passed and we still loved homemade pizza infinitely better than takeout*. We liked our crust and put aside our quest for crust perfection while we were busy with our five baby boys. About a year ago, though, the pizza crust bug bit again. I decided to go a direction I had never gone with my dough.

*I like a variety of ingredients on my pizza. Sometimes I like ham, sometimes bacon, sometimes artichoke hearts, pineapple, roast beef, provolone, crusts rubbed with garlic, extra char on the crusts, caramelized onions, anchovies, shaved asparagus, bleu cheese, barbecue sauce, shredded chicken, a combination of those things or something else entirely. Aside from the fact that our local pizzeria just doesn’t carry half of those, I’m a little to embarrassed to order the world’s most high maintenance pizza, and I’m too cheap to pay for it. I’d far rather make twice as much at home for the same price and preserve my dignity.

I weighed flours and ingredients as I dumped them into my dough bucket and stirred. I let it rise and fall, got my oven screaming hot, sprinkled flour over the surface of the dough, pulled off a piece the size of an orange, rolled it out*, transferred it to the peel, topped it and baked it.

*This may horrify some pizza purists and hand-tossing devotees, but the truth is simple. I prefer to roll out my pizza crusts. I like a relatively uniform shape and whenever I toss the dough, I end up with amoeba shaped pizzas. While that’s not a terrible thing, it’s a little harder to evenly cut it. Yes, I am a control freak. We’ve already covered that. Feel free to hand-stretch or toss your crusts. My rolling pin and I will happily carry on doing what we’re doing.

I moved the pizza to the cutting board, let it rest for a couple of minutes then sliced it. Unlike the usual approach to pizza night, where I call everyone to grab pizza and settle in at the table, I slid over into the corner of the kitchen where no one can see me unless they come all the way into the room and took a bite. Oh yes. This was the crust I’d wanted all those years. Crackly crisp on the outside but chewy on the inside, slight bits of char here and there, sturdy enough to hold the toppings I love, but delicate, too. Oh yes. This was pizza love. I served the pizza to my family without telling my husband what I had changed.

He took a bite and looked at me. “This crust! This is the crust! What did you do? This is perfect!”

So here’s the skinny. Today, for Make Ahead Mondays, I am giving you the crust recipe in handy-dandy printable form. Get a batch of this mixed up and into your refrigerator, because this week, we make pizza, and lots of it.

Those of you with good memories may recognize this recipe as being very similar to one I’ve posted before. It’s true, I did! The only difference between the previously posted recipe and the one being posted today is the presence of white whole wheat flour in today’s version. There’s something about that white whole wheat that perfects what was an already good dough. This is the dough that fulfilled the pizza crust fantasy. This is crust upon which dreams are built.

Is it hyperbole? I’ll let you be the judge.

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No-Knead Whole-Wheat Semolina Pizza Dough | Make Ahead Mondays

Prep Time: 10 minutes

No-Knead Whole-Wheat Semolina Pizza Dough | Make Ahead Mondays

This is our favourite pizza crust. The easy to mix and work with dough yields a crispy and chewy, flavourful crust that holds up to anything you put on it. Thankfully, the large batch keeps well for up to 10 days in the refrigerator. For longer storage, divide into individual sized portions in oiled zipper top bags and freeze for up to 3 months.

Ingredients

  • 5 1/2 cups room temperature water
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons instant yeast
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar (raw or granulated)
  • 4 cups (1 pound 1 ounce by weight) white whole wheat flour
  • 7 cups (1 pounds, 14 3/4 ounces by weight) all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups (11 ounces by weight) semolina flour

Instructions

Mix the yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water in a 12 quart capacity bucket. (This recipe can be halved if you do not have a large enough container.)

Stir in the flour until no dry pockets remain. You do not have to knead it, but I find the easiest way to have it thoroughly mixed is to wet one hand and forearm and use that one to mix it in completely.

Cover lightly (Do not put a lid on tight. Trust me.) and let rest at room temperature until the dough has doubled and collapsed. (Or at least until dough is very, very puffy.) This takes a less than 2 hours in warm weather and more than 2 hours in cool or cold temperatures.

You can use the dough immediately. If you have leftovers, you can store them in the container, lightly covered (again, do not use a tight lid!) for up to 10 days. If you need to store the dough beyond that time, divide into individual pizza sized servings. Freeze in re-sealable plastic bags that have about a teaspoon of olive oil smeared around inside each for up to 3 months.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/07/no-knead-whole-wheat-semolina-pizza-dough-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Component Foods, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

April 30, 2012 by 6 Comments

 

My husband turned eleventy one on Saturday.

Okay, not really… He turned forty six, but to hear the guy talk, he sounds like he thinks he’s butter scraped over too much bread.  Don’t feel too badly for him, though. He is the only person I’ve ever known in my life who -when asked how old he is- rounds up by a year or two. Somehow or another, he combines this funny aging complex with a playful personality. When we were dating, he once insisted, “I may be eight years older than you, but I’ll always, ALWAYS be WAY more immature than you are!” He meant it.

This is the dad who does back flips off of the swings when he goes to the playground with the kids (giving me a heart attack in the process.) This is the husband who panics over the thought of picking out a gift for me, yet still pulls off the coolest gifts ever*. This is the guy who lost track of time while photo-documenting the entire process of a snake eating a frog in the side yard, thus missing a family picnic. This is the man who loves cartoons (Looney Tunes is top of the heap), anime, Laurel and Hardy, playing guitar and drums and piano and bass and, and, and… This is my guy.

*Knowing how much I love dance, he scored two tickets to a limited showing of a touring traditional Chinese dance troupe.  It required a trip to the city (he would probably rather have dental work done), going out to dinner (he’d prefer hitting his thumb with a hammer), and dressing up (he would rather let the eight year old drive the family van than dress up.) He got some serious husband points for that present.

…And whether he’s turning eleventy one or forty six, I am going to try to make him a birthday feast that will make him borderline weepy with joy. This year was my year to earn points. I made a dinner comprised of his favourite dishes of all time and capped it off with the dessert that makes him clap his hands and laugh with anticipation. I’ll be spending this week sharing my Evil Genius’s birthday feast. We’re going to start not at the beginning, but rather at the end of the meal, because it is the most perfectly perfect fit ever for Make Ahead Mondays. We’re going Cream Puffy! Actually, we’re going down Profiterole Lane, but let’s start with the cream puffs.

Cream Puffs are another of those marvelous children of pâte à choux or choux paste. I’ve already told you a little of my love for choux paste, but I have much, much more to share with you, and THIS is one of my favourites. In this case, you nix the cheese and Dijon mustard and let the choux paste stand on its own. Oh man, let me tell you, you’re going to make like my husband here and clap and laugh when you see this coming.

Profiteroles are the happy result of splitting a largely hollow cream puff in half and filling it with sweet, creamy filling. HOLLER! In this case, we’re filling our profiteroles with ice cream and then drizzling warm hot fudge sauce over the whole thing. Then we drizzle the hot fudge sauce directly into our mouths. I mean, really. This is Grandma Val’s hot fudge sauce that I’m using. I’m no fool.

That all sounds awesome already, right? Would you like me to make it even more awesome? ‘Cause I can. And I will. It is more awesome because you can whip up that choux paste, pipe it out into the shapes you want and freeze them. Then you can have cream puffs and profiteroles any old time you want. You don’t have to thaw the dough or anything prior to baking. You just pop them on a lined pan and bake. The only concession you have to make for baking them from frozen is that you add five minutes to the cooking time. That’s do-able, right?

That’s TOTALLY do-able. Make yourself some cream puffs. Make someone happy. Then make some  profiteroles and make someone ecstatic.

 

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Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

Cream Puffs and Profiteroles | Make Ahead Mondays

Did you know you can freeze cream puff dough (choux paste) and bake cream puffs from the frozen dough any time you want? It's true. Bake them up and fill those crispy, brown, mostly-hollow poufs with your favourite ice cream then drizzle with warmed hot fudge sauce as the ultimate reward for having a well-stocked freezer. Happiness is a warm cream puff with cold ice cream!

Ingredients

    For the Cream Puffs:
  • 1 stick (4 ounces by weight) butter
  • 1 cup (8 ounces by weight) water
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/4 cups (5 1/4 ounces by weight) all purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs (preferably at room temperature)
    • For the Profiteroles:
  • Ice cream
  • Hot Fudge Sauce

Instructions

To Make the Cream Puffs:

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet (or two) with silpats or parchment paper.

Bring the water, butter and salt to a rapid boil in a heavy-bottomed, 2 quart capacity saucepan over high heat. Remove the pan from the burner and add all the flour at once. Stir strongly until the flour is completely wet. Return the pan to medium high heat and continue stirring strongly until a light film forms over the bottom of the pan and the dough is smooth and soft and forms a ball when stirred. Remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (or to a large, heat-proof mixing bowl if a stand mixer is unavailable.) Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. After the final egg is added, beat on high for at least 2 minutes, but not more than 4. (If beating by hand, you can count this as a large part of your daily workout. Beat it into submission!)

You must pipe or scoop out your cream puff dough immediately, but there are two options for after you portion them out. Either way, begin by using a pastry bag with a large plain tip or spoons to portion the dough into 16 equally sized rounds on the prepared pan(s). I use a pastry bag to pipe circles, piping in smaller toward the top. Traditionally, you tap down the little peaks that form, but my kids like to bite those off, so I leave them. Alternatively, you could use two large tablespoons portion it out, using one spoon to scrape the dough from the other over the pan.

At this point you can put the pan directly into the freezer, transferring the cream puffs to a resealable zipper top bag or freezer safe container with a tight fitting lid for up to 3 months.

~or~

To Bake the Cream Puffs:

(If preparing from frozen, simply add 5 minutes to the baking time at the end.) Place pan in the oven, bake for 15 minutes. Do not open that door! After 15 minutes, lower the heat to 375°F and cook for an additional 15 minutes. When the time is up, turn off the oven and stick the handle of a wooden spoon in between the body of the stove and the door to hold it open just a little and let the cream puffs cool in the oven like that for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. You can serve them immediately or cool to room temperature.

To Make Profiteroles:

Break open a cream puff at the midline (much like a muffin). Place the bottom on a plate, put a good sized scoop of ice cream on the base, add the top part of the cream puff and drizzle with warmed hot fudge sauce.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/04/30/cream-puffs-and-profiteroles-make-ahead-mondays/

Filed Under: Component Foods, Desserts, Freezer Pleaser, Holiday Food, Ice Cream, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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