Recipe: Need an Emergency Pie? Try This Easy Cherry- Cream Cheese Pie

 

This one was just a "throw-together" pie that turned out really, really well. I have to post about it so I don't forget. 

It all started with a pre-made pie shell that I wanted to use before it was unusable. I like to make my own pie dough & I don't buy pie shells very often, but I was curious about the texture & flavor. It was a Pillsbury frozen crust. (I am always leery of Pillsbury products because some of their products have an unpleasant aftertaste.) Since these were in the freezer section, I thought it might differ from the refrigerated version. They seem to be pretty popular. I remember when Pet was the king of pie shells in this area, but I guess they got out of the pie shell game, or they just don't ship to our area anymore. 

I've never been a fan of canned fruit for pies because most of them have an obscene, insane amount of sugar. So I'm either going to use fresh fruit, frozen, or dehydrated. This time it was frozen cherries. There was one package in the freezer, the organic kind. It was only 10 ounces. 

I thought, well, I can always just make a galette with the filling, but it was such a small amount, I changed my mind. I didn't want to add any other kind of fruit, so I decided to use an 8 ounce package of cream cheese that was also in the freezer. Posipka was the finishing touch. I had some of that in the freezer as well, but it's something you can throw together in minutes, so it's not a big deal if you don't have any on hand. 

Ingredients: 

Homemade pie dough for one 8-9 inch pie, or a store-bought pie shell.  (I'm sure it would be great with a graham cracker or cookie crust too.)

One 10 oz. bag of organic frozen cherries

One 8 oz. pkg. of cream cheese

1/2 c granulated sugar (I used Zulka Mexican Sugar)

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla (I used vanilla paste for this recipe, but regular vanilla is fine)

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Posipka at will! (you'll need sugar, flour, and butter for this)

Method

For the cherries:

Dump cherries in a saucepan, turn the heat on low. When they start to release juice, turn the heat up to medium. Once they have softened, you can mash them with a potato masher as much or as little as you please. 

Add 1/4 c of sugar to the cherries. Stir well. 

Mix the cornstarch with a little water (1/8 c or so) to make a slurry, then pull the cherries off the burner and add the slurry. Stir until combined, then put it back on the burner and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from burner, cover, and set aside to cool. It doesn't have to be completely cool before adding to the pie, but you don't want it too warm either. 

For the cream cheese:

Put the cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave until softened (30 to 60 seconds - do it in increments). You can do this in a pan on the stove if you don't like using, or don't have, a microwave oven. Once is it softened, (it's okay if it's a little "soupy," don't worry about it. Just try to keep soupy to a minimum). Add 1/4 c sugar, mix well. Let it cool slightly (pop it in the fridge for 10 minutes or so). It can be warm, but not too warm, so your egg won't curdle. After cooling, add the vanilla, mix well. Scramble the egg and add to mixture. Mix until well combined. 

Set oven temp to 350ºF. 

Prepare your pie shell, (or remove from package if store bought). 😄

Put the cream cheese mixture in the pie shell, use a rubber spatula, if you have one, to get every bit of it out of the bowl. Spread evenly on bottom of shell. Place in fridge while you prepare your posipka. If you want, you can top with the cherry mixture and either swirl it in, or leave it as is. Just make sure all of the cream cheese is covered if you opt not to swirl. 

For the posipka: 

I just "play it by ear" when I make posipka. Some people melt the butter, but it's better to leave it solid, IMO. That's how my Czech grandma did it too - solid. You have to gauge it depending on the recipe, but if you make too much, don't worry. It freezes nicely for your next dessert. 

I start with 2 Tbsps. butter, straight from the fridge. Add 2 Tbsps. flour & 2 Tbsps. granulated sugar. Then just pretend you are making pie dough and use a manual handheld pastry blender, or a fork. Mash until crumbly. You'll have to add additional flour as needed to get it to the right crumbly state. Sometimes I also end up adding a little more sugar. It's really a personal preference - some people like to make their posipka sweeter, some don't. I like a good balance. Just eyeball the posipka on the pie in the pic, that's what you want it to look like. Crumbles of all different sizes. 

After making the posipka, take out the pie. Add the cherries if you haven't already. Then sprinkle with posipka. Fire at will...or rather...posipka at will! 

Bake for 30-40 minutes, but check at the 30 mark. The dough should look golden by then, your cream cheese will look puffy, and you can test with a knife or toothpick to make sure it is done. Your dough should be okay at that temp without covering the edges, but if your oven runs hot, go ahead and use protection.  

Let it cool on the counter for a while, then put it in the fridge to cool completely. 

It might sound like it takes a long time to prep, but it doesn't. Once the cherries are done, the rest of the prep takes less than 10 minutes (if you have already prepared the pie dough, or have a purchased pie shell).

It's a tasty, quick dessert if you need one for a party or potluck. 

Enjoy!

P.S.) If any part of the instructions are unclear or seem goofy, just let me know and I'll clarify. I do proofread before posting, but sometimes I miss things. 😁

Recipe - Sausage Kolache or Klobasniki: I Don't Care, Just Give Them To Me!

 

I'm not going to "ding" anyone for not using the proper term for these lovelies: Klobasniki (Klobasnik or Klobasnek for singular). Growing up, we were very fortunate to have access to these very frequently, since my Czech grandmother was such a prolific baker. We knew the proper term but almost always called them "sausage kolache." (Kolach - singular; kolache - plural.) Did we call them kolaches too, instead of kolache? Yes we did. 😄

Anyway, I made a batch not long ago using Eckermann's Sausage (made in New Ulm, Texas), which has been my "go-to" for these for a very long time. Waak's used to be a favorite local sausage, but unfortunately they are not around anymore. 

You can use your favorite sausage for these though. They are just better if you get your sausage from a local purveyor who knows their way around a sausage, if you have one available. 

I cut the sausage into 8 pieces and then cut each piece in half. Initially I was going to make 8 big ones. I decided to go for a smaller size & try to get a better balance of sausage:dough. 

Instead of making dough balls, I rolled out the dough & used a standard size (household) biscuit cutter. But you can use whatever method you like. I did it this way and had some dough left over (which is always fun).

Ingredients:

3 to 3 1/2 c flour (dip, level, pour method)

1 large, room temp egg

1 c milk 

5 Tbsps. butter, melted

3 tsps. instant yeast

3-4 Tbsps. granulated sugar (I only used 3 for this batch - 1 to feed the yeast, and 2 for the dough)

1 tsp. salt (I used Kosher)

1/4 c plain potato flakes (or cook a small potato, mash, & use 1/4 c)

Method: 

You can also mix it in a stand mixer if you like, but I like making the dough with a "minimal kneading" method. 

It's no big secret. I just take advantage of the "autolyse method," where the flour & water are combined and allowed to autolyse before the other ingredients are added. I add all of the ingredients together and then "autolyse." I might get "dinged" for this by others, but I don't care. It works, and I have not had any issues doing it this way. I use the method for regular bread dough as well as kolache dough (with eggs). 

First this though: Always bloom your yeast! It doesn't matter if you're using Active Dry yeast or Instant yeast...always bloom/proof it! It serves more than one purpose. It ensures that your yeast is alive, and that it will dissolve completely into the rest of the ingredients. If you don't bloom it, you might end up with dry yeast granules in your recipe and that just sucks. 

So here's what I do:

Add 1/2 cup milk, yeast, and 1 Tbsp. of sugar together in a bowl. Mix & let rest until it blooms, 5 or 10 minutes. You should warm the milk first if it's straight from fridge. For this batch, I actually used 1/2 c filtered water (room temp) for this batch, and then 1/2 c milk later. You'll know your yeast is working when you get a nice spongy, foam on the surface. 

While you're waiting for the yeast, melt the butter & let it cool slightly. Crack the egg into a bowl & scramble it. 

After the yeast has bloomed, add the rest of the liquid (1/2 milk), the butter, and the egg. Add the flour, 2 Tbsps. sugar, 1 tsp. salt, and the potato flakes. Mix well with a spoon (or a Danish whisk, if you have one). If it seems a little dry, add 2 or 3 Tbsps. water. 

After everything is incorporated, cover and let the dough rest about 20 minutes, then do a series of folds 2 or 3 times. If you have a dough scraper, it makes that job easier. Just pull it up and over, rotate the bowl, pull up and over again, then rotate again, etc. 

Cover & let rest another 20 minutes or so. 

Do a series of folds again. 

Cover and let rest another 20 minutes. 

Do another series of folds. By this time the dough should be just about ready. 

It won't be very sticky & you can handle it without using flour on your hands. If that's the case, then it is ready. Sprinkle a little flour on the board or whatever surface you're using to work with the dough. 

Knead it 2 or 3 times & shape it into a ball. Let it rest 10-15 minutes, then you can roll it out for your cutter or cut it into smaller pieces and roll those into balls.  

I really need to get a decent camera so I can shoot a video of the process. It is a lot easier than trying to explain it. 

This was my result. Now...you can use more dough if you like, but frankly, I like mine with very little dough. They aren't as pretty and round, but the balance is a lot better. More even as far as sausage bite to dough amount. My grandma used to peel the sausage and they are good like that too, but it is more work. 

Now, if I could just get the oven to behave, we'll be in great shape! One of the elements sometimes flakes out on us. Which isn't bad for some dishes that can be rescued, but can pose problems for bread dough or cakes.

Any questions about the recipe...just shoot me line! Happy Eating!

Cinnamon Roll Adventures

 

I finally got a chance to make some cinnamon rolls again. This time, I made them using the recipe from King Arthur Flour's website. The recipe I used included the tangzhong method, in which part of the flour is cooked with milk or water (or both) on the stovetop until it thickens. This method results in softer breads, and helps them to stay fresh a little longer than other methods. I love to use this method for rolls and loaves of bread, so it was no issue to use it for cinnamon rolls. 

The rolls were very good. The dough was very easy to work with after mixing, and especially after the first rise. The only thing I wasn't happy about was the cinnamon, so I embarked on a cinnamon hunt to find some cinnamon that was just a little more potent. I never gave it a lot of thought before because I don't use it that often. Besides cinnamon rolls, I use it in oatmeal once in a while, spice cake, and of course in November for pumpkin pie. 

So I gave myself a crash course on cinnamon. I'll have to do a post on cinnamon in the future because I am supposed to be reporting on rolls here. 😆 Since I made these rolls the other day, I have purchased Ceylon cinnamon and Saigon cinnamon for future batches, (which will be in the near future for sure). 

The next batch I'm planning will be made using my grandmother's kolache dough recipe. She used her kolache dough for cinnamon rolls too. Her cinnamon rolls totally rocked! I haven't used her recipe in a while. Last year I made a Keto version of cinnamon rolls and a Swedish version. I think cinnamon rolls should be made more than twice a year, and I am going to get into the habit of making them more often. 

I do recommend the King Arthur recipe. Try it out when you get a chance. Don't be intimidated with the tangzong method. It was weird for me when I first started using it, because I had only cooked flour when making choux pastry in the past. I was just used to using standard bread recipes, so it took a little adapting. I don't use it for all breads, but I do use it pretty frequently now. Click here for the King Arthur cinnamon roll recipe. 

The only thing I changed in the King Arthur recipe was the icing. I didn't use theirs. I made one with cream cheese using 1 stick of butter, 1 brick of cream cheese, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 tsp. of cinnamon, and just a bit of milk or cream, (depending on what thickness you prefer). 

Oh! I almost forgot to mention: KA's recipe doesn't have any sugar. I did add 2 tsps. of sugar, but only to feed the yeast and allow it to bloom before I mixed the dough. 

The cream cheese icing I mentioned above works really well with the KA recipe. The dough isn't sweet, and the brown sugar used for the filling along with the cream cheese icing I mentioned above gave the rolls a very nice balance. They just needed more cinnamon. 😁

Waking Up to Excitement with Tiramisu Cookies

 

I woke up and checked email this morning and found that my recipe for Tiramisu Cookies was chosen to be featured on...wait for it...Delishably.com! 

In the interest of taste buds everywhere, I will get back in the "laboratory" as soon as possible for more sweet experiments. 

This is happening at a time when Texas temps are getting higher, I'm still fighting to catch up with yard work thanks to the unusual rain amounts we experienced last month, and my workload for process serving is increasing by the day. *taking a deep breath*

That's just daytime hours though. There's plenty of time in the wee hours to conduct experiments in the lab! 

Here is a link to the full recipe for my version of Tiramisu Cookies: 

Tiramisu Cookies: The Essence of Tiramisu in Cookie Form

If you make this recipe, drop me a line either here or there to let me know how you like it. If you need any help or troubleshooting with the recipe, let me know! I really need to make a picture tutorial for this one as well as the Bienenstich Cookies. That's on the list too, so keep an eye on this space. I'll get there! 

An Exciting Moment For My Bienenstich Cookie Recipe

 

I was out working one of my jobs when I got some exciting news about my Bienenstich Cookie recipe. I checked my email (while I was parked) and saw that I had an email which informed me that my recipe is being featured at delishably.com. I almost fell out of the car! 

I am still dancing around! 

Click the recipe title below to view it there. I did post about it here, but I didn't post the full recipe here. I posted the full recipe on my hub at Hubpages (because they have such nice tools there to make it easier to post recipes). I wasn't trying to get featured on anything, I was just sharing my recipe. So.....WOW!!!!! What a nice surprise!!!!!!! There goes that "Kitchen Magic" again!!! 

On top of that, before I left, I had a discussion with my Mom about 2 new ideas I had for experiments. I have quite a list, so I'll be dedicating a lot more time to it now. 

They changed the title a bit, and did a few other minor edits, but that's just fine with me! 

So, without further ado, here is the link: 

Bienenstich Cookies: A Beloved Cake Transformed

If you try my recipe, please let me know your thoughts about it, or if you need help with anything. 

Now it is time for me to get back to the lab to conduct more sweet experiments!

Happy Eating! 

Stovetop Chocolate Steam Cake Recipe Review

 

Chocolate Steam Cake

You must try this cake recipe! It's great for those days when you are craving a piece of cake, but don't want a big hassle of dragging out all of your baking tools, and great for warmer weather when you don't want to heat up the kitchen by using your oven. And if you're thinking, "but I could just buy a piece of cake at the deli..." Pfffft!!! Forget about that over-priced nonsense that's overloaded with sugar! 

You don't even need to break out your mixer for this cake if you don't want to. A handheld balloon whisk works fine. 

What Should I Use For A Steamer?

I used an 8 quart stockpot with a reinforced bottom, and we just happened to have a round metal baking rack that fits in the bottom of this pot. We also have a lid that has a built-in steam vent. If you don't have a lid like that, you'll need to loosely cover your stockpot with foil. If you don't have a baking rake that will fit, you can use several balls of wadded up foil, or save up some tuna cans (or cans similar in size to tuna cans, with both ends removed, if possible), and use those instead. Canning rings are too short. You need about 1 1/2-2 inches of water in the bottom of your steaming pot. You might be able to get away with using a shorter pot (such as a 4 quart pot). Next time I make one I'll use one of those and report the results here. 

Here are the other tools that come in handy: 

2 mixing bowls

Handheld whisk

Spatula (for bowl scraping - not mandatory, but I'm picky, so I use one)

Kitchen tongs with silicone ends, 2 pairs, if you have them (for easy removal)*

8-9" cake pan or springform pan

Sifter (not mandatory but it does help)

Measuring cups (for liquid & dry measure)

Measuring spoons

Small bowl for egg inspection & egg beating (see "Breaking Bad With Eggs")

The Recipe

1 cup A/P flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 to 1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs (room temperature)

1/4 cooking oil (canola, vegetable, light olive oil, or coconut oil)

1/2 milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. instant coffee (optional) 

Spray release/oil spray (with or without flour)

Water for steaming (as needed)

Instructions

1. Prepare your steamer & start heating the water on high heat.

2. Coat inside of cake pan or springform pan with spray release.** 

3. Sift all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, and whisk them until well combined. 

4. Mix milk, oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl.

5. Beat eggs & add to milk/oil/vanilla mixture. Mix well. 

6. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well. 

7. Pour into cake pan. 

8. Check the water level in the pan. Add more (hot tap water) if needed. Water should be at least at a simmer at this point. 

9. Carefully lower cake pan into pot using tongs. 

10. Cover & steam on medium to high heat for 25-30 minutes. You can check your water level about halfway through the cooking time & add more if needed. I haven't yet had a problem with the water completely evaporating. It might be because we have that lid with the steam vent. I'll use foil next time and report the results here. 

11. Test the cake in the usual manner, (toothpick, slim knife, bamboo skewer), if it comes out clean, it's time to remove the cake. Also note if the cake has pulled away from the sides, that's another "tell." 

12. Remove the cake very carefully using the tongs. Put it on a cake rack to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan. 

13. Frost with your favorite frosting or dust with powdered sugar. It doesn't really need anything extra at all. It's very good just as it is. 

Just One More Thing (or two)

*About those tongs - I only had one pair on hand, so I used a long serving spoon as a wedge on one side of the pan, and the tongs on the other. If you don't have tongs at all, carefully wedge it out using 2 long serving spoons, and grab the edge with a pot holder when it gets high enough to grab. (I'm thinking there might be a 3rd option for a safe removal. I will try it next time and report the results here.)

**If you decide to use a springform pan, cover the bottom with foil, just as you would if you were making a cheesecake in the oven. 

The cake top of the cake will look a little strange because some water drops will be falling on it during steaming. It's just fine. Unless the top of the cake looks VERY wet, then you might need to make some adjustments next time so your foil vents the steam a little better. 

Use your favorite cocoa. I used Hershey's Special Dark cocoa in this recipe. 

Let me know what you think about this cake. Any issues? Just leave me a message in the comment section. 

Here's a pic from an evening when I got a little fancy and frosted the cake with whipped chocolate-cream cheese ganache and golden sugar crystals. 

Kitchen Pet Peeve: Breaking Bad With Eggs

 

Okay, I have an egg.....errr....I mean.....bone to pick with certain folks.

This is a HUGE pet peeve for me. It bugs me to no end. People who break an eggs and dump them directly into a pan or a bowl of ingredients, instead of breaking the eggs into a separate bowl and then adding them to the recipe. 

Don't do it. Just........don't! 

Why? Because...

1.

There could be impurities in the egg, especially fresh, "yard" eggs. Fun little things like blood spots or calcium deposits. We had a hen that had issues with that. The eggs were fine, but there were often calcium deposits inside her eggs. Not fun picking that stuff out. Sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot. She was an Araucana, and I don't know if they are more prone to that or not. She was on the same varied diet as the other hens and we didn't see that happening with the others anywhere near as often. 

2.

You don't really know how old the egg is. It might have been missed and on the verge of rotting. Imagine ruining a recipe (or your breakfast), by breaking an egg like that into a pan. There is a water test that can help determine the age of an egg before you crack it open, but if you get in a hurry and decide not to do the test, you might regret it.* 

3.

Pieces of eggshell might fall into your recipe if you don't break the egg in another bowl first. Imagine serving a lovely piece of cake to each of your guests, and one of them ends up stabbed in the gums from an errant piece of eggshell. Eggshell Roulette. Bad. Very bad. 

4.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention my grandfather's egg story. He was in the AAF (Army Air Force) in WWII. Shortages of some foods were common all over, even for soldiers. But they did have fresh eggs in the mess halls, when they could get them. Sometimes the eggs were fertilized eggs with developing embryos. So they had extra protein with their eggs on occasion. (I have no reason to doubt this story, because people were very careful about food back then. Nothing was wasted. Unlike today, when food waste is rampant.) So, if you're buying eggs from someone who keeps chickens, you might be buying fertilized eggs, unless they keep their roosters separate from the hens. I suppose that's possible, depending on the size of their operation. I just know that we always had a rooster in with our chicken flock, so we could raise more chickens to replace the ones we lost to critters that would break into the chicken yard on occasion. I assume others might do the same. Of course we kept the broody hens and their clutch of eggs separate from the rest of the flock, but it is possible that some people are careless about it. So imagine cracking a raw egg directly into your cake batter and it has a partially developed embryo. 😒

🥚🥚🥚

Think about it though. How much trouble is it, really, to use one extra bowl and crack your eggs into it for inspection before adding to the recipe? No trouble at all. One extra dish to wash. No big deal compared to what could happen otherwise.

This is one of the things that always drove me nuts on cooking shows. I don't watch those much anymore, but I do watch food videos on social media sometimes, and I find myself bracing for the addition of eggs. 

"Oh, but it looks so cool when I can break an egg open with one hand to add to the recipe," they might be thinking. Well, it will still look cool if it's done over an empty dish. No excuses! 

Here's a little summary...

Photo by: Alex Loup

NO!

Photo by Jordane Mathieu

NO!

Photo by Michelle Henderson

NO!

Photo by Klaus Nielsen

So in conclusion, if you are "Breaking Bad with Eggs," please break that bad habit!

🥚🥚🥚

*The Egg Test

I mentioned this test above, and in case any reader might not be aware of this tip, this is it. (Just remember, this test is in addition to your egg safety check, not "in lieu of."):

You just need a small glass bowl, or a cup wide enough to fit an egg when it's on its side. Fill it with room temperature water (or just directly from the tap), then put the egg in. If it stands up on its end, it is still okay to use. If it floats between the bottom and the top, it might be okay. If it floats all the way to the top, don't use it. 

If you are still uncertain, break the egg on a plate and look at the yolk. Fresh eggs have yolks that "stand up," and the white sits close to the yolk. Older eggs have yolks that don't look as tall and firm, and the whites are runnier. If you see that the yolk is flat or almost flat and the yolk is extremely watery, forget about it! It's no good. Run away from that runny egg! 

Kitchen Tip for Pepperoni Lovers

 

Pepperoni, a classic topping we know so well. I still love it on occasion. What I don't love is the excess oil. I have been using paper towels to remove it on take-out pizzas (and frozen pizzas) for years. 

At some point back in the 90s, when I used to make homemade pizza for the kids on a regular basis, I started thinking about ways to remove some of the oil in the pepperoni before baking the pizza. 

There are two different ways I do this. One is simply layering the pepperoni slices on a plate and popping it in the microwave, then heating it for short intervals until the pepperoni releases enough oil to satisfy me. 

That method is acceptable, but I like the stovetop method better, because you have more control over the process. Just use a frying pan, (any will do the job), and toss your pepperoni in over low to medium heat. The slices don't have to be precisely lined up in one layer for this. Just toss in a handful, (or more if you're having a big pizza bash), and toss them around occasionally until they change color and the oil is released. Then pull them out and drain on paper towels. 

How long you want to do that is up to you. The pepperoni will be crispier after you bake the pizza, so monitor your oil-release level. After you've done it a couple of times you'll learn what your desired level of oil removal is. 

I have also used this method and made pepperoni "sprinkles" to add to pizzas (after baking the pizzas), salads, sandwiches, and other dishes that benefit from a sprinkling of crispy pepperoni. I just leach enough oil from the pepperoni until it is crunchy, then drain and chop it up when cooled. 

If you're a total pepperoni fiend you can make a double-pepperoni pizza and use the pepperoni sprinkles along with the familiar Parmesan cheese & red pepper flakes to finish off the pizza after baking. Pepperoni Heaven! (Just keep a large supply of antacids around as a sub for after-dinner mints. 😉)

You can use the same methods on cubed pepperoni. It won't make pizza into a health food, but at least it will remove a lot of fat without compromising the flavor. 

If you have any questions, just drop me a line in the comments. 

*Note:  Images are Public Domain

No attribution required.

What About Those Poppy Seeds?

Buchta

I grew up loving poppy seed. My Czech grandmother made kolache on a regular basis and we all clamored for the yummy poppy seed kolache. Sometimes she would make them open-face with posipka, but most often she enclosed them in the dough and made a poppy seed roll, and brushed them with butter when they came out of the oven. Once in a while she would glaze them with a simple glaze, but they didn't need any adornments. They were good just as they were. 

That wasn't the only time she used poppy seed. She also made buchta, which is a giant poppy seed roll. It was usually consumed in less than 24 hours. Lemon poppy seed cake was another favorite. She made that one in a bundt pan and glazed it with a lemon glaze. 

She was a purist about her poppy seed filling, and that rubbed off on me. No canned poppy seed. Never, never, never. No way, no how. She had a grinder and would grind it herself, and if we were around we'd help her grind it. Then she would make the filling on the stovetop. 

Sometimes we would try someone else's kolache, but they just couldn't hold a candle to Nan's, and most of the time they were filled with canned filling. The canned version was terrible--too sweet and tasted "canny." I could always tell when someone used the canned filling, and it was always a disappointment. That hasn't changed. There have been no improvements to the canned version after all these years. 

I'm very fortunate because I have her dedicated poppy seed grinder in my possession and that is what I use when I make poppy seed filling. 

Nan's poppy seed grinder,
made in...you guessed it,
Czechoslovakia! 

One thing I never had to worry about, (in fact, I never even heard about until years later), was the issue with the opiate content in poppy seeds. My grandfather and one of my uncles were both engineers with the Santa Fe railroad, and I remember that my uncle wouldn't eat poppy seed kolache unless he was on vacation. (Of course, the rest of us weren't bothered by this because there were more for us.) If he ate poppy seed, it might show up in a drug test. I don't really know when they started doing drug tests, but I don't think they  became standard until after my grandfather retired, or maybe shortly before then. I could be wrong, though, since it wasn't something I had to worry about personally. (Except for the extra kolache factor, that is.)  

I wanted to address it on this blog because I think some people might think that poppy seed will make you high if you eat enough of it. The poppy seeds themselves do contain a tiny bit of opium, but the majority comes from the sap in the pods which house the seeds. There is a chance that the poppy seeds will come in contact with the sap when they're harvested, but the poppy seeds that are available for purchase are normally washed before they go on the market. Still...traces of opiate might remain on the seeds after they're cleaned, and there's also the minute amount that the seeds themselves contain, but it is nothing to worry about.  

In the past, anyone who worked for a company that required regular blood tests could end up with a pink slip. Luckily, the federal government raised the acceptable level from .3 micrograms to 2 micrograms, so it's not really as much of an issue now. Just to be on the safe side though, if you have to have a drug test and have consumed anything with poppy seed, mention it to the tester. 

As far as getting high? No. You would have to consume an insane amount of poppy seeds for that to happen. Many pounds. You won't get a buzz from eating a poppy seed kolach. Well, maybe a sugar buzz, but that's it. 

There are some great articles in Google Scholar that discuss the opiate content of poppy seeds and information related to that if you are interested in learning more. 

I started thinking about poppy seeds because it is about time to make some kolache again. I don't make them nearly as often as my grandma did. I also like to make Mohnkuchen (German Poppy Seed Cake), which has a layer of poppy seed...a "mother lode" of a layer about an inch thick or more. (Still not enough to get a buzz, but the point of eating poppy seed is to enjoy the wonderful flavor. If you need a buzz, break out the wine. I don't know what wine pairs with poppy seed desserts though. You're on your own with that.) 

Thinking about that led me to thinking about some poppy seed loaded treats I made a few years ago. I brought them to a party, and believe it or not, there were leftovers. Leftovers? The poppy seed kolache and the Mohnkuchen were barely touched, but the other kolache were consumed. Hmm. It didn't occur to me at the time that no one wanted to eat the poppy seed because of the rumor of the buzz. It did hurt my feelings a bit. I spent a lot of time and love making the kolache and the Mohnkuchen, so when it was largely ignored, it hurt my heart. It was really my fault because I should have remembered that the attendees were people who eschewed alcohol, so I should have known. It didn't cross my mind though, because I never viewed poppy seeds as drugs or thought about them in that way at all, except for my uncle's drug tests. But there was a bright side. Leftovers! More for the true poppy seed kolache hounds. 

Here is a pic of a Mohnkuchen at a different party. This Mohnkuchen was consumed. 

So rest easy, Poppy Seed Lovers. You can enjoy your favorite poppy seed treats without fear. Be sure to hit me up for all your poppy seed needs, if you're local. Here is a fancier version of poppy seed kolache for your viewing pleasure:

Poppy Seed Kolache Deluxe

Hummingbird Cake - Taste the Fruity Fusion

 Who loves Hummingbird Cake? 

I remember that this particular cake made a lot of appearances in many different places when I was growing up. I remember that it would show up at the county fair when we worked at the "Chuckwagon Cafe," (operated at that time by Jody Mazac). People would bring cakes in and we'd slice them up and put them in the cake safe to sell during the day. So I would have a piece now and again. Cake sampling! Perks of that job were great! Giant vats of "old timey" bbq sauce made by Eddie Lux's parents (the kind almost everyone used to make that's so hard to find now, unless you make it); Sausage (they usually boiled it, but the brisket was totally legit...and delicious!); steam table with side orders; loaves and loves of bread to soak up that great sauce; BBQ sandwiches...it was a great place to be during the fair, even with all of the clean up when the day was done. We worked really long hours, 6am through 8 or 9pm, but it was temporary, so it was easy to recover once the fair was over. 

This cake was also a frequent visitor at potlucks. My grandma used to make it now and then too. I've even made it at least a couple of times. So...great cake! But...sugar overload!! Even back in the day when calories weren't an issue, it was still too sweet. 

So this time, I made a tweaked version, and baked it in a 9x13 pan because it needed to travel out of town. You can totally get away with omitting some sugar in a cake. It is great for crumb structure, but there's no need to go overboard. I also omitted a great deal of the oil that's called for in the recipe. Guess what? It was still wonderfully moist. I'm posting the recipe now before I forget. And please do make note of the frosting recipe. I tweaked that too, and it was totally bomb! 

Hummingbird Cake

Ingredients: 

3 cups AP flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar (I prefer Zulka, it's minimally processed & no bone char is used)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp. Kosher salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

3 large eggs (at room temperature), beaten

3/4 cup light olive oil (coconut or vegetable oil will also work)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. rum (optional)

1 8 oz. can of crushed pineapple with juice

2 cups chopped ripe bananas 

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (but toasting is optional)

Method: 

(You can use a mixer, but it's not necessary. I used a Danish whisk, but a regular whisk would work fine too.)

Set oven to 350° & coat 9x13 pan with cooking spray. 

1. Sift flour into mixing bowl. Add sugars, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well. 

2. Add the oil to your beaten eggs & mix until incorporated, then add to flour mixer & mix until just combined. (Don't worry if it seems thick, the pineapple & its juice will take care of that.)

3. Add crushed pineapple & juice; vanilla; and rum. Mix until incorporated. 

4. Fold in bananas & nuts. 

5. Pour into prepared 9x13 pan. 

6. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes. If you bake a lot, you know your oven, so adjust as necessary. Test middle with toothpick or thin knife after about 25 minutes. If it comes out clean, take out the cake. Also check to see if cake has pulled away from the sides. That's another good "tell." 

7. Let cool completely before frosting. 

8. Garnish  with additional toasted nuts, if desired. 

You can also use this recipe for 3 9" layers or even cupcakes, if you prefer. 25 to 30 minutes for the layers, 15-18 minutes for cupcakes. 

Totally Bomb Frosting Recipe! 💣

Ingredients:

12 oz. white chocolate chips (I actually used Ghirardelli baking chips in this recipe. The bag is 11 oz. and they do not contain any cocoa butter, but they will still work. If you can find chips with actual cocoa butter in them in your area, well...even better.)

4 oz. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. rum

2 Tbsps. unsalted butter, cubed

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, room temperature (the brick kind, not the whipped version)

Method:

1. Make ganache. (You can use a bain marie if you like. I made this one using a 1200w microwave.)

2. Pour cream into microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 30-45 seconds. 

3. Add chips to bowl & stir a bit, then set aside for a few minutes. After the wait, continue mixing. Microwave another 10 seconds if necessary to make sure chips are melting. If it seems grainy, add more cream in small increments until it is smooth (you might need to hit it once of twice more with the microwave). 

4. Once the chips are completely melted and starting to look glossy, add in the butter a couple of cubes at a time & stir until well incorporated. It's okay to place in microwave for 10 seconds if needed. 

5. Add vanilla & rum & stir until well combined. 

6. Place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the ganache & put it in the refrigerator until completely cooled. It's fine if it hardened. I actually did mine the night before I made the frosting, but overnight refrigeration isn't necessary.  

7. Take the ganache out of the fridge & let rest on countertop for 30 minutes to an hour. 

8. Using a spoon, stir the ganache & scrape the sides to make it easier for the mixer. If you have a stand mixer, just scrape it into the stand mixer's bowl. 

9. Whip the ganache until light & fluffy. Add cream cheese in 3 portions, whipping well after each.

10. Try not to eat it all before you get it on the cake. 😆

Just One More Thing...

*Some like to use a 50/50 ratio for ganache when making whipped ganache. That's fine if you're planning to use it to pour ganache on a dessert, or to use for dipping other yummy things like cream puffs, but stick to 1:3 for this ganache. (1 part cream, 3 parts chocolate.) This way you won't have to add anything else in to thicken the ganache, like powdered sugar. This version was smooth, creamy, and divine! I didn't try to use it for piping since I was making a 9x13, so I can't speak to that. I will do a test on that in the future.  

Shout-Out to Zulka! Keep Rockin' It! 

Chèvre Kolache with Brandied Apricots

The latest recipe experiment. Chèvre Kolache with Brandied Apricots, garnished with Flaxseed Pocipke.

 I now pronounce them good and GONE!

I will post the details on these yummy pastries later. 

Chèvre Kolache

On the Rise

A Bunch to Munch

Rolls to Kill and Die for...

Quick, dreamy, "I could eat eight of them in one sitting" rolls...

These took less than two hours: including prep time, proofing and baking. Damn they were good! Rose like a dream, too. No problems at all...except that it was hard to stop eating them. Just like the old slogan from Lay's potato chips: "No one can eat just one!"

These were baked on my grandmother's old sheet pan, too.

See? Told you that thing was good luck! ;) 

Rolls to Kill & Die for

Fun Food, Fast Preparation

Here's a little something I whipped up that turned out to be interesting visually, so I decided it needed to be on the blog.

The taste was excellent, too.

Story is: I had some leftover spaghetti sauce that I made for us the other day. I didn't feel like eating pasta, but wanted to have more of a pizza-type dish instead. But not pizza. I also had some of that delicious rolled mozzarella left over, (the one with prosciutto & basil). 

So...I just needed some bread. French bread or baguettes. I didn't feel like baking any of those and driving to Katy was out. Wal-Mart was definitely out. That left the local grocery store, which is where I buy the majority of food items between trips to H.E.B. and other good stores in Katy & Houston. Support your local merchants!

Okay, the grocery store, Bill's, used to have a bakery but after they moved back to their old location a few years ago, they didn't have the room or the equipment. They purchase baked goods from a bakery in Houston. The items from this bakery are okay. I don't buy them that often. When I decided on this little endeavor, the baguettes that were available were in horrendous shape. They were under-baked and had weird looking spots on them, as if something was dripped into the baguette pans before the dough went in. So those baguettes were out.

Next best thing? At Bill's, that would be: Alexia's Garlic Baguettes. These baguettes are really, really good. They are partially baked and you do the rest at home. Bill's started carrying these...let's see....last year? The year before? It wasn't terribly long ago.

First, they had single baguettes. I noticed that they were almost always low on these when I went through the frozen section while shopping. Now they have double packs of this bread, plus some Alexia Dinner Rolls (the whole grain version). Good! Maybe we'll see even more Alexia products at Bill's in the future!

Back to the original story:

Of course the garlic baguettes already have garlic and butter, but I thought they would be okay for some pizza action. I opened the package and one of the loaves was broken in half. Dang it! I was going to cut them lengthwise, even though they are partially cut into slices.

Okay, so I ended up with two slices and four sections cut lengthwise. No problemo, Ahnuld.

Added "pizza" sauce and a slice of the mozzarella roll on each piece, then popped them into the oven until the cheese melted pretty good.

So here is the result. With the Superbowl coming up and all, I figured, enh...why not post it? It's a fast, fun food for a party, even when it's not Superbowl time. It looks impressive and it's really easy to make. It only took.....(how many paragraphs now?)....a little bit of yakking on my part to finally get to the point. Ha ha!

I suggest doing this next time instead of wasting money on frozen pizzas or frozen french bread pizzas. Those things have a LOT of crap in them, and frankly, they aren't really that good, even the more expensive brands. And yeah, pizza delivery. Convenient, but not all places have French bread pizza and really, there's a lot of junky-monkey crap in those products as well. Make it yourself whenever you can! You'll be eating less junk (chemicals, etc.) and have more flavor, even if you use a bottled sauce (as long as it doesn't have a lot of junk in it).

Okay, I will shut up now. Here is the photo of the baguette pizza:

Baguette Pizza

Blueberry Cookies

Blueberry Cookies

Blueberry Frosting

Garnished with Dried Blueberries

Need I say more? 

Dr. Frazier-stein's experiment was a success! It's alive...........ALIVE!! <<<(Pop-culture reference for horror movie fans.)

Click HERE for this yummy recipe! 

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Blueberry Cookies

Mac-n-Cheese=Good. Mac-n-Three Cheese=BETTER!

This batch has Tillamook Cheddar, Muenster and Parmesan. Too much is never enough! My recommendation: Use a combination of cheeses whenever you make mac-n-cheese. Beats boxed crap full of chemicals EVERY time, even if you just use one type of cheese.

Vatrushky Night...Fun with Food!

A Lovely Vatrushka

Vatrushky, (the plural of vatrushka, much like kolache is the plural of kolach), are Russian cheese tarts that are savory instead of sweet. These tarts are very popular in the Ukraine and often served with dishes such as borscht.

I was doodling around one night, looking in a cookbook when I ran across a recipe for vatrushky. Had to try it out, of course.

The recipe called for cottage cheese which had to be drained for a few hours. For those interested, I used the entire tub of cottage cheese (16 ounces), and ended up with 2/3 of a cup of cottage cheese swill. (Which would have been great to use in another recipe, but alas! I didn't save it.)

These tarts are rolled out by hand but if you have some of those nifty mini-tart pans, those would do, too. Heck, you could get away with using a pie pan and just making one big one. But in the interest of making them the traditional way, I rolled them out.

These tarts are gooooood. The dough is superb. I think that it would be great in place of regular pie dough to make pies. I'm telling you, this is the closest recipe I've had where the dough tasted like communion wafers. If it was rolled thin enough, it would almost be spot on.

Anyhoo, I'm sure it was the sour cream in the recipe that made the dough so heavenly. Here's a link to a good vatrushky recipe if you're interested: Ukrainian Classic Kitchen. This is not the same recipe I used when I made my vatrushky, but it's close enough for a handshake.

Please enjoy my pictorial vatrushky adventure:

Roll out the dough: 4" circles

Crimp the sides

Add the filling

Glaze the whole tart with egg wash

The finished vatrushka!!

Happy Eating, Boys & Girls! :) 



Peaches 'n' Cream Pie

I love it in the laboratory and this pie was cobbled together on the fly with leftover dough and leftover pastry cream. I guess it should have been a cobbler instead, ha ha ha!

I didn't have quite enough dough to make a fancy, fluted crust for the edges so I studded the crust with some ground pecans. It didn't need a long baking time so the pecans were perfectly safe without one of those crust protectors.

The peaches were organic frozen peaches poached in organic peach preserves + their own juices. No other sugar was needed. Trust me on this! This particlar jar of peach preserves is very lovely but the preserves are so sweet they knock you right on your butt! We've been searching for alternative uses for these insanely sweet preserves besides using them for glazing fruit. I even added some to the leftover pastry cream (mixing well).

So I guess this is a "Frankenstein" pie...but we'll call it a "Frazier-stein" pie. Because...well, why not? Making things fun in the kitchen always brings great results! I know that there are people who are nervous in the kitchen and afraid of messing up but you just have to relax and have fun. Get in "THE ZONE." That's when you'll kick some serious butt! :)

Peaches-n-Cream Pie