bacon bread

i'm unable these days to really take on any big cooking projects, due to exhaustion from school. anything that requires more than an hour is pretty much out of the question right now, unless i don't have to babysit it - making chicken stock comes to mind. in the past few months i've either split any slightly involved projects over multiple days, or more likely, i just haven't thought about them seriously at all.

i've been thinking about this bread, though, and talking it up enough since it came out in bon appetit a few months ago that i finally decided to make it. that is, a week ago i decided to make it, while shopping for dinner with mary. i made the bacon-onion-dried pear mix actually about 10 days ago (maybe i shouldn't be telling you this, but there you go). and i had bought the dried pears about 3 weeks before that. so this bread has been in the works for a while.

i finally went to look at the recipe on epicurious, only to find that the reviews were less than stellar - people complained that the bread was dry and bland. multiple people offered suggestions for substitutions, which i duly noted. i mean, if you're going to go to all the trouble of procuring bacon, cheddar and dried pears, all at the same time, it better be good, right? beyond the rarity of all of those stars aligning (the only place at which i have found dried pears is arax, where we happened to stop by after brunch at delux town diner one day), there's the expense of the ingredients.

i was determined to ensure that this bread was neither dry nor bland, so i made quite a few alterations to the original recipe, none of them based in the science that is probably well documented in on food and cooking. first, i replaced the olive oil with melted butter - this was suggested by a few of the reviews, and i agreed, as i have often found that olive oil-based cakes are oddly on the dry side. to bolster any lingering dryness issues, i increased the milk to a 1/2 cup and added a stonyfield container's worth of yogurt (it was fruit on the bottom, so i added everything except the fruit jam). i threw in a bit of extra cheese - i got an 8-oz brick of cabot seriously sharp, and threw in the ounce and a half i had left of an extra-sharp brick. to balance the savory ingredients, i added a little dark brown sugar. i used rosemary instead of sage, because that is what we had on hand when i was making dinner with mary - you must make sure that it is very fresh, so it's still soft. i increased the amount of pears and threw in some onions for good measure.

the result is a long list of ingredients, but i promise you that it's worth it. this bread comes out a crusty golden brown at the edges and on top from the cheese - a slightly flaky, browned cheese type of golden brown. the crumb is very moist and soft - you might not need all of the yogurt - but holds up well to the "fill." i imagine that it would taste good toasted, since the edges will get even crustier. and, quite honestly, this bread is more than the sum of its parts - i had tasted the dried pears they tasted a bit vinegary to me, but that just meant that they go well with the bacon. typically i use whole foods maple-cured bacon, but this time i got niman ranch bacon because it was slightly cheaper. i hate to encourage the crazy yuppie foodies who insist on everything organic from a farmer whose name they know, but the niman bacon is actually better than the whole foods stuff - its flavor just permeates whatever you put it in. i think it was even better in this bread than it was when we ate some after cooking it. do make sure that you use a good thick-cut bacon when you make this, as opposed to a typical thin-cut supermarket bacon.

p.s. i know you would all love to see photos - because, face it, we're all much more likely to make something if we can see what it can and should look like. when i get my life back, consider it a done deal that there will be more photos.

bacon-cheddar-pear bread
1 3/4c flour
1/2t salt
1/4t pepper
1/4c dark brown sugar
1T baking powder
1 c cheddar, grated, plus 1/2c cheddar, in 1/4" cubes (8 to 10 oz)
3 eggs
1/3c yogurt
1/2c whole milk
1/2c butter, melted and cooled to room temp
8 oz bacon
1c diced dried pears
1/2c onions, diced
1/2t fresh rosemary, chopped fine
1/4t dried thyme (optional)

1. heat a large skillet on medium; cut the bacon slices in half and cook until crispy, 15-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the bacon. remove from pan with tongs and drain on paper towels. pour off all of the fat except 1 tablespoon and add the onions, rosemary, and dried pears. while the onion mixture is cooking, cut into small pieces with kitchen shears or a knife, then add back into the onion mixture. cook until onions are cooked all the way through and transfer to a bowl to cool. (this step can be done in advance; cover the bowl and refrigerate until using, within a week.)

2. grease two 5"x9" loaf pans and line with parchment paper. preheat oven to 350F. in a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, dark brown sugar, and baking powder, stirring with a fork and breaking up any lumps of brown sugar. add grated and cubed cheeses and stir with a fork or your hands to mix completely, making sure that the cheese doesn't clump together.

3. in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs until well. add whole milk and yogurt and whisk until combined. to add the butter, pour in a slow stream into the egg-milk mixture while whisking. add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until completely combined. the batter will be on the wet side. add the bacon-onion mixture and thyme (if using) and stir until thoroughly combined.

4. using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake 45-55 minutes, until golden brown on top and a tester comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it (make sure to test in the batter, not in a piece of cheese or pear). serve immediately, or toast the next day.

[makes 2 loaves, about 15-20 slices]

artificial drink mix gone...right?

so i found these cookies on photograzing: apple-cider cookies with caramel inside. the photo looks amazing - a ribbon of caramel stretching lusciously between two halves of a cookie - and i'm thinking to myself, a stuffed cookie like a caramel-filled truffle? no awkward compression and repositioning of cookie filling as happens with sandwich cookies? sold.

that is, until i looked more closely at the recipe and found that all of the important flavor components come from artificial, processed sources. the cider flavor comes from cider drink mix, and the caramels are just kraft caramels from the candy aisle. typically, i would attempt to replace these ingredients with non-artificial stuff, but, well, i wanted these cookies. what do you replace apple cider drink mix with, anyway? you can't replace it with reduced apple cider, because it throws off the balance of wet and dry ingredients, and i unfortunately don't have a deyhydrator with which to make apple cider powder.

i held off for about a week before their siren call necessitated a trip to the supermarket for artificially flavored sugar products. i made the cookies, and, well, they were pretty awesome. so now i guess i need to figure out how to make them without the processed sugar. in the meantime, here's the original recipe.


caramel-filled apple cider cookies
2 sticks butter
1c granulated sugar (i used what i had on hand, 1/3c white sugar and 2/3c brown sugar)
1t salt
1 7.4-oz box of alpine cider drink mix (original, not sugar free)
2 eggs
1t vanilla
1t baking soda
1/2t baking powder
3c flour
1 14-oz bag kraft caramels

1. in a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, salt, and drink mix (yep, the whole box).

2. add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until incorporated. add the baking soda and powder and beat until incorporated.

3. fold in the flour with a spatula. cover and chill the dough for about an hour.

4. unwrap 36 of the caramels. take about a tablespoon of dough and flatten it out enough to wrap one of the caramels in it. roll the ball of dough in your hands to make sure the caramel is sealed in, then place on a cookie sheet. bake 12 cookies to a sheet, for about 10-12 minutes - until the rims are just turning golden brown. let cool completely before removing from the cookie sheet. you can line the cookie sheet with foil and slide the foil off to keep making more cookies.

note: the caramel will still be soft and melty when right out of the oven. the caramel will stiffen up as the cookies cool - to rewarm, nuke the cookies for about five seconds in the microwave, or set over a hot mug of tea or coffee.

[makes 36 large cookies]

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p.s. i have been tinkering with the pumpkin pie-tart recipe, specifically with the filling, so look out for a new version of the recipe soon.

when a pie is not a pie

for the past several months, i've been taking friday evenings off - it's the end of the week, and i'm really feeling the sleep deprivation for that particular week. plus, i work the weekends, so essentially friday nights are my weekend. usually i find myself making dinner with mary, though at this point we're fairly notorious for not actually eating until 10pm or later. by the time mary gets out of work and to central, it's 7:30, and then we invariably go food shopping; we start cooking around 8:30 or 9...you get the point.

i've had a craving for pumpkin pie ever since fall really arrived - there's just something so festive and seasonal about it. we never really ate pie growing up - cheesecake was our MO - and so now i love all kinds of pies: pumpkin, pecan, chocolate, custard, cream. and of course the best kind of pie is leftover pie - leftover pie for breakfast the next day.

anyway, i didn't have the energy to make a regular pie crust by hand, so we did a cookie crust with my favorite gingersnaps. i often find that cookie crumb crusts are too insubstantial, and lack structure, falling apart at the mere proximity of a fork; instead, i made the pie in a tart pan, which had the unintended consequence of making this pie technically a tart. and in doing so, it unintentionally made it into a faux upscale sort of thing - a yuppie move if i ever saw one. it seems odd that a pie can become something totally different just by changing its shape a little bit - the difference was highlighted all the more by the strong associations i have between the nostalgia of pumpkin pie and its tradtional shape. it really begs the question of whether this pie is still a pie, even though it's in a slightly different shape. i would say that there are fundamental differences between pies and tarts - pies are often more robust and homey, whereas tarts are more delicate and finessed. pies are all about functionality as a flavor delivery system, whereas tarts are more about presentation and display. i guess a pie topped with meringue has quite a bit of drama to it, especially when it's slightly bruleed on its exterior with a butane torch, but there's nothing like a tart for an OCD person to obsess over the arrangement of pieces of fruit. my verdict is probably that even though this pie is shaped like a tart, its filling doesn't really change from one shape to the other, so really it's still a pie.

despite the yuppie factor, this pie/tart is pretty excellent. out of sheer laziness i made the recipe on the back of the can - usually i use a cream-and-egg-based recipe from saveur - and upped the spices and ginger in particular. this pie is a bit on the sweet side, so a glass of cold milk or unsweetened whipped cream would be great accompaniments.

gingered pumpkin tart

for the crust

3 boxes of anna's gingersnaps

1 to 1 1/4 sticks butter

1 egg white (optional)

for the filling

1 can pumpkin

scant 1c sugar

1 1/2t ground ginger

1/2t freshly ground nutmeg

1 1/2 to 2t cinnamon

2T crystallized ginger, minced fine

pinch kosher salt

2 eggs

1 12-oz can evaporated milk

1. preheat the oven to 350F. place the gingersnaps in the bowl of a food processor, coarsely breaking them up with your fingers as you take them out of the box. pulse until the cookies are completely ground up. (alternatively, put them in a large, heavy-duty ziploc bag and crush the cookies with a rolling pin or other heavy/solid implement - a wine bottle would be good, a drinking glass less so.) add the butter and pulse until the crumbs are saturated and slightly wet looking.

2. press the mixture into an 11-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and bake for 20 minutes or so, until the crust has browned a little bit. you may want to use pie weights to keep the crust in place, as it may slip down the tart pan a little bit. if it does, though, you can also just press the crust back into place when you take it out of the oven (which i did, and recommend doing, anyway). let the crust cool while you make the filling. if you want the crust to stay crispier when you bake the filling into it, you can beat the egg white until foamy and brush the foam onto the crust right after you take the crust out (but after you reform it if necessary), while it's still hot. the egg white will dry as the crust cools and seal it against the filling.

3. in a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and sugar. add the spices, salt, and crystallized ginger and whisk to combine. whisk in the eggs one at a time, then slowly whisk in the evaporated milk. pour the filling into the crust and bake until the center is just set, about 45 minutes. you may have too much filling - just put the extra into a ramekin and bake alongside the tart. let the tart cool fully - you can eat it while it's hot if you're desperate for pie (just wait 15 minutes), but i think it's better when it has cooled and set.

[serves about 10]

breakin' in the bundt

a couple weeks ago, i fell in love. i don't normally go for non-classic bundt pans because they are usually too complicated. why would i want a sunflower-, rose-, or sandcastle-shaped bundt pan? that the cake isn't a standard layer cake is already enough for me, without unnecessary bells and whistles.

but i saw this bundt pan - the "heritage" by williams sonoma - and couldn't resist. as you can see in the photo, it's not the classic bundt, but it's not an overly complicated one either. well, i took one look at it, and added to my shopping cart online. yeah, i considered for about 10 seconds before i bought that baby.

i can't usually afford things at williams sonoma, unless i'm at their outlet, or i'm buying a spatula. this pan wasn't too much more than i would pay at a nice kitchen store, and i'm fully prepared to say that it was worth it. my classic bundt also has a classic nonstick coating, which has stood up well over the past four or so years that i've had it - not that i make bundt cakes frequently. the pan has probably seen use maybe 10-15 times. but this new bundt pan has a pretty amazing nonstick coating - it's a proprietary williams sonoma one, so that the pan is kind of golden-gray. when i made a cake in this bundt for the first time, i waited about 30 seconds to turn the cake out on a plate, and the "whoosh" that a cake makes when it comes out of the pan was immediate and perfect. i will have to try a few of my very unforgiving bundt recipes to check the coating comprehensively, but this cake bodes well.

unfortunately, you have to cut across the swirl pattern to serve it, but you do at least get some oohs and aahs when you bring it out, so make the most of it!

and on to the cake - this is a rum-vanilla pound cake. it's not technically a pound cake with respect to the technique - it is much easier and much more forgiving - but it has the texture of one. it's very bad for you - tons of eggs, sugar, and butter, fortified with lots of baking powder - but it's quite good. i think i would adjust the sugar, and have done so in the recipe i've included below - i decreased it by a third cup, in case you want to make it with the full balance of sugar. there is a small possibility that you may get less of a caramelized crust on your cake, but i think that possibility is pretty small. i also made quite a lot of rum syrup, which was on the rummier side than the sugary side. rum-soaked means rum-soaked, people. i used the 8-year aged rum by bacardi, which is pretty good for a big brand.

as for aesthetics - i grabbed this recipe from a blog i came across, and the cake on that blog was rather pale. i saw another version of this cake on another blog that was fully caramelized, so i was confident that it would be ok when i made it - i think this is from dorie greenspan's book. this cake has a dense, but soft crumb, a bit wet from the eggs, and an almost crispy-chewy crust from the high amount of sugar. the caramelized crust is really quite pretty, so it's perfect for showing off a bundt cake.

rum-soaked vanilla pound cake

2 2/3c flour

2 1/2t baking powder

1/2t salt

2c sugar

6 eggs

1 vanilla bean, or 2t vanilla extract (really, go for the beans on this one - the little flecks in the cake are quite pretty)

2/3c whole milk

3T rum

15T butter, melted and cooled

1. preheat oven to 350F. generously butter a 12-cup bundt pan, or a 10-cup bundt plus a few cupcakes.

2. sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. in another bowl, whisk together the eggs, then add the sugar and whisk until completely incorporated. split the vanilla bean and scrape out the beans, then add to the egg-sugar mixture. you may have to use a spoon or spatula to separate the beans a bit, but as you whisk, they will evenly distribute through the mixture. add the milk and rum, and whisk to combine.

3. add the wet ingredients to the dry, and slowly whisk to combine completely (no lumps). add the butter and fold in with a spatula.

4. pour batter into the pan and bake 45-60 minutes. mine was done after about 45 minutes, but i was also using a 10-cup bundt, not a 12-cup. while the cake is baking, make the rum syrup. combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium until the mixture boils. remove and stir in the rum, and let cool. i ended up using the syrup and then just brushing rum straight onto the cake because i didn't think it had enough rum in it. i think i probably used an extra quarter cup of rum.

5. when the cake is done, remove from oven and let sit for about a minute, then turn the pan over onto a large plate. if you want, poke the cake all over with a thin skewer (i never do this because i think the cake isn't as pretty) and then brush with the rum syrup. let cool completely, then cover.

[serves 10-12]

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p.s. i am aware that there are problems with the recipe index...i will fix this, but am slammed at school right now so probably it won't get fixed until end of nov or mid dec. sorry!