And it goes like this.

Remember me telling you about the killer omelettes my dad made for me on weekend mornings when I was growing up?  Well, my Mother also had a tradition of making something on weekends: scones and a pot of coffee.  I think each culinary choice accurately depicts their personalities.  Scones make for a lovely morning-they are so delicate and remind me of both my Mother and my time abroad in Europe.  I could not ask for much more. My mom's scones are one of her signature creations and whenever I make scones, I simply follow her recipe (adjusting the choice of dried fruit, nuts or chocolate is encouraged).  The result is a warm, crumbly-but-never-dried-out, four inch piece of heaven that emerges from the oven in the form of a scone.  If I were to make any recipe other than the traditional one, I would almost feel as if I were betraying  someone or something. I usually love experimenting and trying new recipes, but I have remained loyal to the same scone recipe. And then something changed.
Last weekend, I stepped out of my little scone box and tried something new! Can you believe it?  We need to get something straight. This was not because I was tired of my Mom's recipe or because I had made a bad batch.The truth is, someone put in a request for a particular flavor of scones: cherry with an orange glaze.  I did not want to try to modify my mom's recipe, because, in my book that would have been major recipe betrayal, and we wouldn't want that.  I searched high and low for a new recipe that still fell somewhere along the lines of healthy.  I ended up making cranberry orange scones, not quite cherry-orange, but close enough, right?  In addition to trying this new recipe, I did something else very odd.  I baked the scones in the evening so they would be fresh on Monday morning for the special delivery.  The orange zest filled my kitchen with a delightfully fresh scent and left me yearning for summer.  I did not have any orange juice on hand, so I simply made my own, using fresh oranges and my citrus reamer. Although this batch of scones wasn't for me...I would be lying if I said I didn't sample one.  The scones had a slightly different texture than my mom's, but were scrumptious.  I have already added the recipe to my collection.

Cranberry Orange Scones (Taste of Home)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 10 teaspoons sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup cold butter
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup half-and-half cream
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk

• GLAZE (optional):
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 
• 1 tablespoon orange juice 

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 7 teaspoons sugar, orange peel, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs; set aside. In a small bowl, combine the cranberries, orange juice, cream and egg. Add to flour mixture and stir until a soft dough forms.
On a floured surface, gently knead 6-8 times. Pat dough into an 8-in. circle. Cut into 10 wedges. Separate wedges and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with milk; sprinkle with remaining sugar.
Bake at 400° for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack.
Combine glaze ingredients if desired; drizzle over scones.

*When I made the glaze, I used more orange juice and only a few table spoons of sugar.  The scones are already sweet, so I didn't top the scones with glaze.  I put it in a bowl so the consumer could add it if desired.  It kept in the fridge for a few days.

Patricia's Chicken

I have attempted to write this post countless times and just can't make the words come out right.  Nothing I write seems to convey exactly what my heart has to say. But I will give it another shot.
Two weeks ago, a dear friend of our family, Patricia, passed away. She fought a long battle with cancer, two different times.  I refuse to say that she 'lost' her battle with cancer, because Pat fought harder than anyone ever has.  Three years ago, the doctors gave her a few months to live.  Determined that it was not her time to go, she mustered up her strength and in the greatest display of courage I have ever witnessed, she carried on for three more years.  Pat was one of my Mother's most beloved friends and had become a second mother to my both my sister and I.  Pat was the kind of woman that leaves you wondering how anyone could ever be so passionate about life.  She was so kind, in the most genuine way.  It would be appropriate to have her picture in the dictionary next to the words 'kindred spirit.'  The closing sentence of her obituary (I can barely stand to type that word) read "the world could use more people like Pat."  That about sums it up.  She was a beautiful woman, full of life and love which spread to everyone she knew.

When I journeyed home last weekend, I was swallowed up by a void.  Everywhere I looked, I seemed to find something that reminded me of Pat. She played a crucial role in designing my Mom and Kelly's new house-which is a omnipresent reminder in itself.  I can't remember the last time I went home and didn't stop over to enjoy a cup of tea with Patricia or hear her voice on the phone when she called to talk to my Mother.  My heart, along with everyone else's in my family, was a bit heavy.  It's hard to grasp that I will never have another conversation with Pat, get to share my photos or talk about new recipes we have tried.
Pat was talented in so many ways, especially in the kitchen.  She introduced me to Jane Brody's blueberry cobbler and made a wicked fruitcake.  My very own kitchen is full of cake pans, dishes, spatulas and dish towels that I received from Pat.  It seems odd to write about about a woman who had such a large impact on my life in such a small way, on my blog. I hesitated to even write this post. However, Pat read my blog often and shared many recipes with me. In the last email I received from her, she shared a recipe for her favorite cranberry orange chicken.  And so, in honor of Pat and the endless sharing she did with those who surrounded her, I will leave you with this recipe.  It would only be appropriate to follow this dinner with a bowl of Jane Brody's blueberry cobbler.  Do it for Pat.

Pat's Orange Cranberry Chicken

*I left this recipes in the original email form with Pat's notes and comments

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• dash pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup orange juice (I used undiluted frozen concentrated orange juice.  In most recipes (cooking and baking) if it calls for OJ, I'll use the Cascadia Farms Organic frozen concentrate)
• 1/4 cup Cointreau or Grand Marnier (Omitted - didn't have on hand)
• 1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sliced green onion (whoops - I put the green onion in right away and it was fine)
• hot cooked rice or pasta

Preparation:

Wash chicken and pat dry. Put chicken breast halves between sheets of plastic wrap, pound to even thickness. Combine flour, salt, and pepper.  Coat both sides of the chicken breasts with the seasoned flour. In a skillet, melt butter and oil over medium-low heat; brown chicken lightly then remove from heat and set aside. Combine orange juice, Cointreau, and chopped dried cranberries; pour over browned chicken. Cover and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, until chicken is tender and cooked through. Stir in green onions; heat through. Serve chicken with the sauce and hot cooked rice or pasta.
Serves 4.  (or 8 servings for the Rose's)

I'm thinking you could brown the breasts a couple at a time.  When all are done, return to pan in layers with sauce.

What's on my mind? cake.

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about cake.  On Monday, I spent a good part of my morning searching for a bundt cake recipe and continued this search in the evening.  The search continued the next day. There are many other things I could be doing with my time, such as reading the 3 history books due next week or researching the history of preschool in the United States for my 15 page paper.  Instead, researching countless cake recipes has become my priority. And to be honest, I am okay with this. How many times are you a second semester senior in college? Once. And I'm going to celebrate this time by making bundt cake. I think I need to find more things to celebrate by making cake, birthdays just aren't enough.  I have never made a bundt cake during my 22 years of life, but the bundt pan I received from Pat around Christmas was looking awfully lonely on the shelf. I didn't know exactly what type of bundt cake I wanted to bake and was slightly overwhelmed as I came across hundreds of different recipes-chocolate, apple spice, lemon blueberry, vanilla bean with yogurt...I knew the perfect recipe when I saw it: chocolate stout bundt cake.
When I went to the store to purchase a single bottle of stout, I was not successful in finding any single bottles of Guinness.  After a bit of searching, I came across a coffee stout crafted by the New Glarus Brewery.  I couldn't have asked for a better beer to put in a chocolate cake.

Next thing I knew, I was spending a beautiful spring afternoon baking a bundt cake that contained chocolate and stout.  To begin, you heat the required amount of stout and butter on the stove, which makes a very aromatic, foamy mixture.  Then you realize that the recipe doesn't call for the entire bottle of beer, so you enjoy the remaining beer as the sun pours in through your kitchen window.  And then you realize that there is nothing you would rather be doing on a Wednesday, then baking a chocolate bundt cake, drinking a beer and listening to Jack Johnson.  Somethings just work out perfectly.

Back to the cake...its a fairly simple recipe.  I made a few changes to the recipe: I
added 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter; of course this was in addition to the chips in the ganache.  It just didn't seem right not to add some chocolate bits to the batter.  I also had to bake the cake for much longer than suggested, as it was still batter-like after only 35 minutes.  The cake stayed in the over for about 55 minutes.  Lastly, I didn't add instant coffee granules to the ganache because I did not have any on hand.  No loss there-it was heavenly.  The ganache added to the presentation of the cake- it dripped down the sides just a tiny bit until it hardened.  Oh, what a beautiful first bundt cake experience this was.

 

 

  

Chocolate Stout Cake (from smittenkitchen.com)
Adapted from the Barrington Brewery in Great Barrington, MA via Bon Appetit
.
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules
Cake prep:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well; make sure you get in all of the nooks and crannies. (Some people even go so far as to brush the inside of their bundt pans with melted butter–you cannot be too careful!). Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool completely in the pan, then turn cake out onto rack for drizzling ganache. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of cooled cake.

***You can always leave the cake in the pan longer than 10 mintues before inverting onto a cake plate.  This will reduce the chances that the cake will stick to the pan.

Truffles: a rich indulgence

I ventured home this weekend and had a lovely time with my family.  As usual, many hours were spent in the kitchen.  On Saturday morning, my mom and I were discussing my recent trip to Seattle while we sipped on coffee.  Of course I told her about the local chocolatier T and I stumbled upon, and the truffles we indulged in while there. I began inquiring about making homemade truffles and before I knew it we had chocolate melting in a double boiler at 8:45 AM.  Never underestimate the power of my mother.  Within 20 minutes, the truffle filling was chilling in a glass bowl in the refrigerator; which must be done prior to rolling the truffles into small balls.  I was so delighted with this recipe and the variations that could stem from it-that I felt compelled to share it with you.  I cannot wait to experiment with the flavor of the preserves and try different coatings such as ground nuts. I may have gone a bit crazy taking pictures, but the abundance of natural daylight in my Mother's kitchen provides the perfect opportunity for photos!

Ingredients

Adding the cream

Melting the chips in a double boiler

 

Cocoa Powder for dusting

The finished product!

They didn't last long...

Raspberry Truffles: Guittard Chocolate Company
Yield: 20 truffles

1 cup Guittard semisweet chocolate chips (or any gourmet baking chips-we used Ghiradelli)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon rum
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (for coating truffles)

Combine all ingredients except cocoa powder in top of double boiler.  Over low heat, stir constantly until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Chill at least 3 hours or until firm enough to handle.  For into one-inch balls, using a scoop or a teaspoon.  Roll in cocoa until coated; refrigerate until ready to serve.

I put half of the truffles in a box to give to a friend, they are a lovely gift!