Peanut Butter

I have been making peanut butter at home for about three years now. After Whole Foods came into our neighborhood, we fell in love with the fresh ground honey roasted peanut butter that you pay an arm and a leg for but grind it right there in the store.

It didn't take long for us to try it at home. The result was just beautiful. Slightly bumpy (a food processor can't get grind it completely smooth), fresh smelling, never separating into that oily goop like the natural stuff you buy in the store, and slightly sweetened because we still use the honey roasted peanuts.

When I mention that I make my own peanut butter, people get that glazed look on their face. You know that look: The "Oh. You're one of THOSE weirdos who sew their own clothes and raise their own chickens and don't use deodorant and sing songs around a guitar instead of watching Make Me a Supermodel like the rest of us" look. Well, I would raise my own chickens if I could, but I'm really liking Salome and the hot guy from England and I hope one of them takes it all.

The thing is, it is so.damn.easy and cheap for that matter, it doesn't make sense not to make it anymore. It lasts forever and it tastes so much better! And it takes approximately 8 minutes to make. I timed it.

So, I'm sharing my peanut butter strategy with all of you. I encourage you to run out right now and try it.

First, get yourself a big ole can of honey roasted peanuts. You can use plain roasted peanuts, but DO NOT use dry roasted. I'm not sure why, but they are not as oily and do not develop the butter texture. No matter how long I ground them, I ended up with just crumbly peanuts. I now go to one of those wholesale stores and just buy a case of the huge tubs of peanuts so we don't have to worry about running out.

Add those peanuts to your food processor, about 1/2 to 3/4 the way up the bowl.

Next, start the processing/chopping of those peanuts. At first, your peanuts will look like, well, chopped peanuts.

Keep the processor running. At the next stage, your peanuts will start to clump together. They are starting to extrude oil, and you'll notice that there are little clumps at the bottom of the processor, and it may even clump around the top. This is a good time to get a spoon and start breaking it up a bit. Keep processing.

The next stage is when the peanut butter is really starting to come together. There will be some areas that look like peanut butter, but it's still really chunky. Stir it up a bit again, and keep processing.

About another minute or so into the processing, and it's really going to start looking like peanut butter. You're going to look at it, taste it, and cry out with pure joy and consider all the things you could do with this sticky elixer from the gods. But don't stop now. The picture below really looks like peanut butter, but I strongly encourage you to keep processing for about 2 more minutes. If you stop now, the peanut butter may firm up substantially in the fridge (which is where I keep it, just to be safe) making it nearly impossible to spread on that squishy white bread your child so desires. Trust me. Let it go. Stir it up again. Process for about another 2 minutes.

Finally, your peanut butter should look like this:

See how it's no longer holding a line? You may think it looks a little runny, but once it is away from the heat of the food processor, it will firm up. It's done now.

Finally, give a taste to your child who has been begging for some peanut butter since you started making it.

And there you have it. I was told as a child that eating peanut butter alone was one of the most dangerous things you could do since the Heimlich doesn't work on peanut butter. So please don't turn me in to Child Services.

I got my arm caught in the freezer, and that's why I haven't written.

Unfortunately, I wish this wasn't true. But I did get my arm caught in the freezer when I was alone in the house. I had about 10 minutes to contemplate whether the spaghetti sauce or the caponata would go best with my arm (as clearly gnawing it off was the only alternative) before I managed to rip it out. Quite painfully, I might add.

Otherwise, things have been busy these last few weeks. The Marvelous Miss Thing is in her third week of first grade. She's exhausted, all the time. She has also started ballet, much to my relief, as I am hoping it will alleviate some of the random pirouettes we've had in the house and school over the past year.

I am in the process of preparing for candy season. As I am officially an LLC now, I am in business. Summer is too hot for candy without a climate controlled area (which mine is not), and who wanted to eat melted chocolate, so I am just starting to ramp up now.

Today, I made chocolate chip cookie dough truffles and some buckeyes to start taking with me to various places. Free candy always intrigues people.

Cruising...

A part of the reason for our relocation was to get closer to our little hobby - sailing. Our boat is now only 20 minutes away from our house.

This will be the second year for our boat-neighborhood cruise. Three families, three boats, almost ten days on the lake. Three of those days at the amusement park. Hopefully the weather will be nice. Much rum is consumed. Much ice cream is consumed. For me, much fudge is consumed. I love fudge.

One of the largest challenges for this trip is mapping out the food. There are meals that you can only eat on the boat (because you're sailing someplace). There are days when you have no power (we have a gas stove, but no microwave when we are without shore power). And our fridge is small, so you have to consider packing one or two coolers for ten days. We use dry ice, but after 10 days in even the most well insulated coolers, it's gone too. You also can't always count on grilling - we don't have a grill on the boat, and some places do not encourage grilling at the docks. Plus, hamburgers and hot dogs get old after 10 days.

I am currently in the plans for what food stuffs to bring. I like to bring meals that are frozen but can defrost over a couple days. This serves two purposes - they last longer, and they act as an ice pack. I also tend to bring a lot of snacks - they are easy, and you don't always want a big meal. Lots of appetizers.

Some of the ideas I am tossing around to bring with us - gazpacho, sesame noodles with tofu, chicken wraps (pre-made, frozen and then thawed), pizza (this worked great when we are under power - we have a toaster oven), smoked salmon and beef jerky (already currently being brined). I made some caponata last year, and I loved it, although no one else ate it. I may make that again though. I'm hoping to get a batch of red pepper jelly made too.

The harder part for me is the sweets. I like to have a sweet nibble around. Last year I brought toffee covered crackers. I need some ideas of for travel friendly sweets.

I am officially in business.

On the same day that I won Best Dissertation for my section in the college (seriously! How crazy is that! My first question to my advisor was "didn't anyone else graduate this year besides me?"), my small business license for my very non-academic company arrived. Somehow I think the cash prize I was awarded was supposed to go toward funding additional research, not funding liability insurance for my candy company.

Bunny Cake

While I would probably fall into that generic pick-up line "spiritual but not religious," I do love a good holiday feast. More on the rest of the feast later, but one request this year was for an easter cake. The Marvelous Miss Thing had been prowling around Andersons admiring the half spheres of shortening-laden sugar all week. Egg cakes and bunny cakes called her name. I promised her a cake for easter (as if we need any more sugar in this house right now).

So above is a quick hustling together of an easter cake. I didn't have much time as I have other things on the menu, but he'll do. I made the frosting with a heavy whipped cream base, which although makes for a creamy and soft frosting, also means it's a bitch to frost with, especially with a chocolate cake. It's hard to tell, but I used my ball mold, so inside is a mountain of almond-flavored whipped cream. Some leftover fondant from another party makes the mouth, nose and teeth. Mr. H really emphatically believed that the bunny needed more anatomically correct eyes, but I told him to shove off, I had a turkey to deep fry and fennel to ponder.

Just for kicks, I'm going to submit the cake for the easter cake IMBB (is my blog burning?) at A Slice of Cherry Pie. Not one of my best cakes, but after nibbling on it for several days, it was super tasty.

Cakes cakes cakes...

I love to create cakes. I'm no Chef Duff or anything, but I love to play around with different textures and possibilities.

I try to take pictures of my cakes as well.

Now that I'm at home, I have less opportunity (or excuse) to make a crazy cake, so I'm just going to reflect on some previous ones.

If you click on the picture, I have added notes to the Flickr image, if you are so inclined.

The King Cake

Our neighbors (and close friends) in C-bus throw a huge New Year's Eve party every year. Every year has a theme, selected around June. About three years ago, the theme was Mardi Gras. Wendy wanted a King Cake. I didn't know what one way, but I volunteered to make it.

A king cake is not really a cake at all, but rather an enriched bread (meaning sweetened, with eggs and butter), and then you may have a filling in it.

Historically, my understanding is the king cake is only served between the holiday of Epiphany (or 12th Night) and Fat Tuesday. It is shaped in a oval and covered in colored sugar: purple, green and gold. Inside the bread a trinket, traditionally a baby or an almond or bean is inserted. Whoever finds the trinket gets to bring the next king cake or throw the next party.

I'm not going to pretend that I that I'm an expert on the history or culture, because I live in the midwest and we don't really do the whole mardi gras thing.

Since that first one, I average about 6 or 7 each year. Mr. H loves them ("It's like a giant cheese danish!"), and they are a fun and impressive looking. I have tried a variety of fillings, from a plain cinnamon, to praline, and Mr. H's favorite, the cream cheese filling. I have made the cake with white icing and colored sugar, or as shown above with colored icing and colored sugar (I love the brightness of the frosting).

Last night, friends threw a Mardi Gras party in honor of the upcoming Fat Tuesday celebration. I brought a King Cake, and I finally think it was my best baby-hiding job ever. Mr. H couldn't find it after it was decorated. The best thing about being the one to make it is that you never have to worry about getting the baby.

The recipe I most frequently use is based on Emeril's recipe, although any enriched bread dough works just fine.

King Cake with cream cheese filling

First, the dough

2 packages dry active yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter, melted
3 eggs plus 2 yolks
1 cup warm milk 4 to 5 cups regular flour
2 teaspoons salt
A dash of grated nutmeg

Combine the yeast, sugar, and milk. Let proof for 15 to 30 minutes. Add butter, and egg yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, and mix until combined. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and nutmeg. Add this mixture an batches to the yeast mixture.

Mix on low speed until it lightly comes together, then increase the speed to medium and beat until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl, forms a ball, and climbs slightly up the dough hook. Dough will be smooth but loose - it's not as firm as some other doughs, and it may be just a bit sticky. Coat the dough with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl and turn it to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, set in a warm, draft-free place, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Next, make the filling

16 oz cream cheese (two packs, although I usually use about 1 and half pack), softened
1 cup powdered sugar
Splash vanilla extract
Splash almond extract

Mix well.

Now, fill the dough...

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll the dough out to about 30 inches long and 6 inches in diameter. Spread the cream cheese filling across the center of the dough. Bring the two long edges together and seal all sides completely. Using your hands shape the dough into a long cylinder and place on a greased baking sheet, seam side down. Shape the dough into a ring. You can put an empty can covered in aluminum foil and well greased the center of the ring to keep the definition and shape of the cake.

Let the dough rise again - about 45 minutes, until doubled.

Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes. It will be golden brown. Let cool.

Once cooled, you can frost the cake. I like to use a powdered sugar glaze that has been flavored with a little rum and cream.

Travel-friendly sweets...

This weekend, the family and three other couples packed up cars, and traveled over 4 hours to the snowy north for a long weekend ski trip. We rented a room with a full kitchen, because although we didn't really want to spend time cooking, we did not want to be captive to the hotel restaurants. It ended up working out brilliantly. I brought lasagna, french onion soup (with my handy kitchen torch to melt the cheese), two batches of monkey bread, and much more.

To be honest, I hadn't been skiing in about 10 years, so I was a little concerned about the possible success rate of this adventure. There was a water park for the kids, an outdoor pool that was heated so you could have the snow in your hair and a warm adult beverage in your hand and be perfectly at ease.

One of my extras for the trip were these cookies. I feared going the whole weekend without a sweet-chocolate nibble. Graham crackers or butter crackers are topped with nuts and chocolate and then lacquered in caramel-toffee. I used to make these with graham crackers (and H believes that if we are running low on toffee, the graham crackers are better), but I like the butter-salt contrast with the butter crackers. H thinks the butter crackers are good, as long as they are completely covered in toffee. Graham crackers are better when you are running low on toffee supplies because they have a little sweetness to them.

While these cookies look simple, they are addicting, as noted by my book club who also got some of these cookies.

Now, this is one of those recipes I eyeball, so forgive my vagueness. It all depends on what you like. I like my crackers with about 4-5 chocolate chips and cashews or almonds. I've also used macademia nuts. My husband prefers that every space has a nut and chocolate chip on it (the above was one of my husband's). We frequently spend more time arranging the toppings than anything else.

Toffee Cracker Cookies

Enough graham crackers / buttery rectangle crackers to fill a large cookie sheet. (usually about a 1/2 a box). I make mine on a half sheet pan. While you're at it, preheat the over to about 375.

Put a layer of aluminum foil down in the cookie sheet, and put the crackers down in a single layer (no overlaps, but as tight as you can. Break some into smaller pieces as needed).

Sprinkle the crackers with nuts and chocolate chips.

Next, make the toffee:

equal parts brown sugar and butter (no substitutions - suck it up). For 1 cookie sheet, I use about a 1/2 cup cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter.

Slowly, bring the butter and the sugar to a boil. Let the toffee boil for about 3-5 minutes. The sugar should be completely disolved, and it should be a coherent glob of brown stuff.

Pour this over the crackers and nuts.

Bake in the over for about 12-15 minutes. Peak at it about 10 minutes. You want the toffee to be clearly boiling over the crackers, but not burning. Take it out too early, and it may be a bit chewy (but still tasty).