Stacey Makes It

Okay, so I didn't expect this to come out so delicious.  I've made a version using low-fat milk, but a co-worker of mine is vegan and recently had dental surgery so I thought this would be a good time to make another entry. It's (almost) vegan because I forgot some vegans don't eat honey.  You can substitute all the sugar / honey for agave nectar or maple sugar or whatever other sugar you want to use. Stacey's (Almost) Vegan Rice Pudding Ingredients 1c coconut milk, organic 2c flax seed milk 2c water 1c short grain rice 2 tsp coconut oil, organic 1/4tsp salt 1/2 tsp cardamom 2 tsp vanilla 3 tbs granulated sugar, organic 3 tbs honey I used this rice if you were curious. Rinse the rice a couple times in a 4 qt stockpot.  Then pour in all the other ingredients.  Originally this recipe was for 1/2 cup of rice and had less liquids, but I ended up putting a whole cup of rice and had to re-adjust.  Here's what it looks like with too much rice, ha...

A good friend of mine came to stay with me for a little while and she brought me some vegan treats she wanted me to re-engineer. Stacey's Raw Vegan Coconut Macaroon Ingredients 1 1/4c organic shredded coconut 3/4c almond meal 1/2 tsp salt 1/2c organic maple syrup 1/4c coconut oil 2 tsp vanilla bean paste Mix the dry ingredients together.  Mix the wet ingredients together and microwave until the coconut oil is liquid.  Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and mix with a fork.  Using a stainless steel scoop (or you can use spoons and form them with your hands), make balls with the mixture. Put the balls on a tray covered in plastic wrap and allow them to dry overnight.  This way the coconut will absorb some of the moisture and be softer. Store macaroons in an airtight container. Yummy! :) Thanks, Vidya.

About once a month, I go with my fiancé to visit his parents.  They are fond of za'atar , so I thought I'd try and make something with the herb mix. I've also been playing with pizza dough a lot since it only requires one rising before use. Stacey's Roasted Garlic Za'atar Twists: Dough 2c bread flour, organic 1-2c unbleached all purpose flour, organic 2 1/4 tsp yeast 1c water 1/2c buttermilk 2 tbs honey 2 tbs olive oil, organic 1 1/2 tsp salt Filling 1/2c-1c roasted garlic, mashed, mixed with olive oil olive oil, organic 1/2c pine nuts Za'atar 1/2c-1c shredded mozzarella Equipment standing mixer rolling pin bread stone - mine is something like this for pizzas, but you can get rectangular / square ones too instead parchment paper cookie sheet Combine the dry ingredients (with only 1 cup of the all purpose flour) in a standing mixer (you can use a big bowl and a hand mixer, or just use your hands if you have the patience and enduranc...

I've been doing a lot of yeast experimenting lately on my waffle questing. In this recipe, I wanted to find out if I could use yeast as a leavener for a sweet cake (not quite like panettone, more like a regular cake and less like a sweet bread).  I have not found out the chemical reason for it yet, but yeast doesn't like having too much sugar and it under-rises.  I read this on another website, but there was no explanation for why.  If I had to guess non-scientifically?  I'd say that since yeast uses the sugar for food, which later makes it expel gas, perhaps having way too much food turns them into gluttons and then they kill themselves overindulging before they ever get to make enough gas.  All you food scientists out there, feel free to correct me and tell me I'm a moron.  :) At least then I'll get my answer. In any case, here was my experiment. Stacey's Chocolate Yeast Cupcake Experiment Ingredients: 1 3/4c unbleached all-purpose flour, organic 1/...

Yes, it's been a long time again.  I'm having trouble adjusting to my new schedule of driving to Cupertino every morning and trying to get in a morning run.  Also, I've been experimenting with waffles and they're not always that great, so I've been embarrassed to blog them. This is a yeast waffle batter that I adapted to make muffins.  I loved how fluffy the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book recipe was coming out, so I decided to see if I could adapt it to make muffins. Stacey's Havarti Dill Yeast Muffin Ingredients  2c all-purpose unbleached flour, organic 1.5 tsp yeast 1 tsp salt 2 tsp dried dill weed 1 3/4c lowfat milk, organic 2 tbs honey (although 1 tbs is probably enough) 1/2c olive oil, organic 2 eggs, lightly beaten 5 oz lite havarti cheese, cut in chunks (but you can use regular) Muffin pan Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Then heat the milk to about 110F using a thermometer or your handy dandy te...

Okay, I know how I said I hate beer bread , but it turned out to be a lie.  Beer bread is lightning fast compared to regular yeast bread and it's also yummy.  But, my food-loving friends, there is a little secret to making yummy beer bread that doesn't taste like salty cake.  Shhh... it's bread flour. Bread flour makes beer bread chewy and delicious.  Here is my new favorite recipe that I've finagled through a myriad of experimenting. Stacey's Cheddar Onion Beer Bread Ingredients 2c bread flour, organic 1c whole wheat flour, organic 1 tbs baking powder 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbs sugar, organic 1 tsp dried dill 4.5 oz cheddar cheese, shredded or cubed small 12 oz beer (I use the cheap Simple Times stuff from Trader Joe's) 2 tbs olive oil, organic 2/3c onions sauteed/caramelized in 2 tbs butter (2 small yellow onions, or 1 large) Loaf pan First, chop the onions and caramel them in the butter and then set them aside.  Then preheat the oven to 375F. ...

So, these muffins were an experiment with olive oil.  Really I wanted to call them olive oil muffins, but even though I used EVOO, you could barely, if at all, taste it.  I suppose that means it was a success?  Perhaps if I want to showcase the olive oil more, I should use more of it, but this was really a test to see if I could start baking desserty type stuff with olive oil versus other types of cooking oils. Olive oil smells and tastes a little nutty to me, so I thought almond meal might go well with that flavor.  Then I happened to have some overripe bananas, so that's how that happened.  And everything tastes good with chocolate chips. I guess if I wanted to give them the title they deserve it would be... Stacey's Banana Chocolate Chip Almond Olive Oil Muffin Ingredients 1 1/2c unbleached white flour, organic 1/2c brown rice flour, organic 1c almond meal/flour 2/3c granulated sugar, organic 1 tbs baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/4 t...

I know, it's been a really long time.  In my defense, I work for Yahoo! and things have been weird so I've been doing a lot more work type stuff.  But, this Memorial Day weekend, I've been visiting a lot of family and friends and have been making some goodies. I decided to use the chocolate cake recipe from Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate and edit it into cupcakes.  So here's my version: Stacey's That Chocolate Cupcake with Strawberry Fan Ingredients: 2c granulated sugar, organic 1c unbleached white flour, organic 3/4c whole wheat flour, organic 3/4c dagoba unsweetened cocoa powder, organic 1 tsp salt 1.5 tsp baking powder 1.5 tsp baking soda 2 eggs 1/2 c sunflower oil, organic 1 c lowfat milk, organic 1/4c boiling water Frosting / Ganache Ingredients: 6 oz heavy cream, organic 1c granulated sugar, organic 1 tsp vanilla bean paste 5 oz Scharffen-Berger 99% unsweetened chocolate 1 stick unsalted butter,...

Since I started writing a lot, I haven't had a lot of time to cook, and so I've started defaulting to making all sorts of rice crispy treats because they only take 15-20 minutes to complete.  This is my new favorite recipe for rice crispy treats. Stacey's Minty Chocolate Rice Crispy Treat Ingredients: 1/3c peppermint candies, crushed (I used candy canes) 2 tbs butter, organic 2c marshmallows, plain 1-2c chocolate mint marshmallows (if you can't find these, just substitute regular marshmallows)  4c cereal (I use a mix of rice crispies and corn flakes from TJ's) 1/2c-1c chocolate chips (I used a mix of milk and semisweet, but you can use whatever you like) 5-6 drops peppermint oil 4-qt. pot 11 cup pyrex baking dish, or an 8x8" baking dish, oiled I even took process pictures for you - I haven't taken these in a long time.  So, I found these marshmallows and I felt like using them in something where they became melted and unrecogniza...

My friend asked me to make something St. Patrick's Dayish for today even though St. Patrick's Day was Saturday. Stacey's Bailey's Brownies Ingredients: 1 stick unsalted butter, organic 2 oz unsweetened 99% chocolate, Scharffen-Berger 1c sugar, organic 1/3c brown sugar, organic 2 eggs 1/4c Bailey's Irish Creme Liqueur 2/3c unbleached white flour, organic 1 tbs whole wheat flour, organic (you can use regular flour) 1/4c cocoa powder, organic, Dagoba 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/3c semisweet chocolate chips, Guittard Stacey's Bailey's Ganache Ingredients: 3/4c mix of 64% dark / 38% milk Guittard couverture chocolate Organic Heavy Cream (enough to cover the chocolate in a measuring cup - probably 1/3c?) 1/4c Bailey's Irish Creme Liqueur 9x9" baking pan or cake pan, lined with foil and buttered Preheat oven to 350F.  Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate together.  Then add the sugars, eggs and 1/4c liqueur.  Mix the d...

I finally had some time to make more cold-process soap.  Hooray! I intended on making 4 lbs at once, but then since I'm so smart, I didn't realize until I measured all the oils / fats that it wouldn't all fit in my soaping pot.  I ended up having to remeasure out half of it once it was all melted and make two separate batches.  So, instead of having to figure out that all this stuff doesn't fit in a 4-qt stockpot like I did, here is the halved recipe for 2 lbs. Here are the soap qualities. Soap Bar Quality Suggested Range Your Recipe Hardness 29 - 54 44 Cleansing 12 - 22 16 Conditioning 44 - 69 53 Bubbly 14 - 46 30 Creamy 16 - 48 43 Iodine 41 - 70 57 INS 136 - 165 147 I always aim to make sure conditioning is fairly high up.  I won't go through all the process steps again since it's the same as the M...

So, one of my boyfriend's co-workers "can't eat anything that comes from a cow," meaning no milk products.  I'd think that would mean no dairy, but he can eat eggs.  Anyway, he likes brownies and I thought I'd try and come up with a brownie recipe. Stacey's Cow-Free Brownie Ingredients: 1/4c coconut oil, organic 3/4c cooking oil 3 eggs, organic 1 oz 99% unsweetened chocolate (Scharffen-Berger) 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 2c sugar, organic 1c unbleached white flour, organic 2/3c unsweetened cocoa powder, organic (Dagoba) 3/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking powder 1c semi-sweet chocolate chips (make sure there are no milk products in here) Preheat the oven to 350F. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave with the unsweetened chocolate.  Add the cooking oil and mix.  Add the eggs and vanilla bean paste and whisk with a fork. Then mix in the sugar. I wish I mixed all the rest of the dry ingredients separately and then put it in, but I didn't - I threw ...

I wanted to make some cupcakes for my grandfather's 96th birthday this weekend so I made these. I was more interested in the frosting so I just made the Yellow Cupcake recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book . I did a half batch and used lowfat milk instead. Stacey's Altered Yellow Cupcake Ingredients: 1 1/3c unbleached white flour, organic 2 tbs cornstarch 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 stick softened butter, unsalted, organic 3/4 + 2 tbs sugar, organic 2 eggs, organic 2 tsp vanilla bean paste 3/4c lowfat (2% milk), organic 15 cupcake liners cupcake pan Preheat the oven to 350F. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer until fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, then the vanilla. Beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the milk. Beat in 1/2 of the remaining flour, then the rest of the milk.  Beat in the last portion of the flour mixture.  Using a cupcake scooper or spoons, fill the cupcake liners in the pan about 2/3 full.  Bake cupcakes f...

I started experimenting with chocolate mixtures in truffles and this is my new favorite.  And of course, since it's Valentine's Day, I had to put some hearts on them.  It's prettier to do once you dip in white chocolate, but really you can dip these truffles in any type of chocolate.  I did. :)  I dipped them in milk, white, and dark.  Dark and milk are my favorites, but I have to say white chocolate is the prettiest. Stacey's 2:1 Dark / Milk Heart Truffle Ingredients: 16 oz 64% Guittard dark chocolate couverture 8 oz 38% Guittard milk chocolate couverture 11.2 oz heavy cream, organic 3 oz glucose 1.5 oz (3 tbs) unsalted butter, organic, softened White 31% / milk 38% Guittard chocolate couverture for dipping The thing I love most about these truffle recipes is that you can make the whole thing only using a microwave. First I measured out all the chocolate in my 4qt pyrex mixing bowl and then put the cream and glucose in a 16 oz pyrex measuring cup. ...