everyday-wonders.com

Boutonniere

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-03-10

When I was growing up they only came in blue...

...a bit of interesting folklore and symbolism

In waiting

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-03-07

Juvenescent

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-03-03

Daring Bakers and the Quest for the Perfect Tiramisu

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-02-27

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

The challenge was both interesting and frustrating at the same time. I've tried a few other tiramisu recipes before and wasn't really satisfied with any of them.

When I first saw what our challenge will be this month I was hopeful that this recipe will be it.
However, the closer I looked at the recipe the more I realized it will require quite a bit of tweaking.

I liked the idea of combining zabaglione, pastry cream and mascarpone, but the amounts of sugar each of the components' recipes called for were just mind boggling to me.
I was so blown away by the amounts of sugar that I decided to do the math and see how much sugar actually went into each suggested serving of the tiramisu. The recipe yields six servings with about 1/4 cup of sugar (!) per serving.
Needless to say I was cutting sugar amounts left and right. :)

To make the zabaglione, pastry cream and mascarpone mixture light and airy I've substituted the whipping cream with whipped pasteurized egg whites.

Since I made so many changes to the original recipe, but haven't finalized them all just yet I will hold off on posting the recipe this time around.

Explore

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-02-24

Before the snowpocalypse hit us about 2 weeks ago I was planning on sharing with you this image from the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden.

It went hand in hand with this image and it would have been nice if they went one after the other, but I just couldn't contain myself and not share with you the winter wonderland we got to enjoy for a day and a half. :)

Enveloped

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-02-21

I think this will be the last wintry diptych for now...
Got to save some for those 100F summer days :)

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Light as a feather

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-02-17

It's funny how things work out sometimes..

I went up to Lake Tahoe over the holidays looking for wintry images, but in the end I've found them right in my own backyard... :)

Smitten

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-02-15

I know everyone is probably tired of snow by now and wishing for some warm weather,
but our snow was almost all gone by Saturday afternoon and I just wanted that winter wonderland to last a little bit longer.. even if it's just through the images I was lucky enough to make.

Wondrous

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-02-12

It's amazing how everything can change overnight...

Have a safe and wonderful weekend :)

Conversations

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-02-08

I've had such a hard time picking an image for today's post. There are just way too many images I want to share with you all.

Hopefully it's a sign of more regular and a bit more frequent posts... :)

The site/blog got a minor face-lift and I am super excited about that. I'm sure I'll find something wrong with it in a month or two and another face-lift will be in order then.
It's a never-ending process, but it's a fun process nonetheless. :)

One more thing I wanted to share with you before I go, a link to my formspring - everydaywonders. Ask away! :)

Daring Bakers' Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars with a Twist

Natalie Prikhodko — 2010-01-27

The very first post in a new year is the hardest one to write. It seems it supposed to be deep, meaningful and set the mood for the year to come.
To my frustration I had nothing that would live up to such expectations and I've been procrastinating with the first post of the year for almost a month now.

I had a really nice break over the holidays; I was learning to ski downhill and had no time to reflect on how bad the previous year was and get my hopes up for next year.
I've actually decided to take it slow this year by making just one simple and easy to follow new year's resolution: "no resolutions, just do what needs to be done" and I must say it's been working very well for me thus far. I've been checking off things from my to do list left and right, things that have been on that list for months.
It's invigorating to see some of those things get finally resolved and makes you want to get the rest of them off the list as well.

While I've been busy getting things done and checking them off my list this month's Daring Bakers' challenge wasn't even going to make it to the list at first.
When the 1st of the month rolled in I was pretty disappointed to see graham crackers and graham crackers-based dessert, Nanaimo Bars, as our January challenges. I was on the fence for a good while, but in the end "I don't want to bake this dessert" just wasn't good enough of a reason not to do it and on top of that I was in dire need for some material for a blog post. I needed something that would get me going again.

It was decided, these words:

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

would become a part of my fist post for 2010.

By the time I reached the conclusion that the Daring Bakers' challenge falls into the "what needs to be done" category the third week of January was almost half-way over. With three weeknights to bake and two weekend mornings to photographs there wasn't too much room for error; everything had to go pretty smoothly.
The plan was to make the dough on Wednesday night, roll it out and bake Thursday night and Friday night make the Nanaimo Bars; this way, by Saturday morning I would have something ready for the photo shoot.

Luckily I've had most of the ingredients in my pantry and the only thing I had to do without was vanilla custard powder. I've never seen it being used in recipes before so, I had no idea where I could use the rest if I buy a whole box of it.
The word on the Web is that you can substitute custard powder with cornstarch, but since I'm not a big fan of cornstarch that did not seem like a good idea to me.
So, that's where the twist comes in: I substituted the middle layer entirely by crème anglaise with a tiny bit of gelatin mixed in, just enough to help it keep its shape. For my Nanaimo Bars, I've left off the top layer since I was mainly interested to see if the substitution for the middle layer would work and it did!

I must say I had a ton of fun with graham crackers, both baking and styling, and from now on I am a huge fan of the homemade graham crackers. As to Nanaimo Bars, I think they are just too much of a hassle, but I'm glad I've at least tried to make them.

For Graham Crackers I've used the recipe from 101 Cookbooks and the recipe for Nanaimo Bars as I've made them is just below.

Nanaimo Bars with a Twist

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer:
- 2 oz unsalted butter
- 2 Tblsp vanilla sugar
- 3 Tblsp unsweetened cocoa
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tblsp Graham Crackers crumbs
- 1/4 cup almonds, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup coconut, shredded, unsweetened
Middle Layer:
- 1 1/4 cup whole milk
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 Tblsp caster sugar
- 5 g powdered gelatin
Top Layer:
- 2 oz semi-sweet chocolate
- 1 Tblsp unsalted butter

Directions:

Bottom Layer:
- Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in a double boiler.
- Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat.
- Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut.
- Press firmly into an ungreased pan, covering the bottom of the pan completely.
Middle Layer:
- Pour the milk into a double boiler and heat slowly until almost boiling; take off the heat.
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until pale yellow. Gradually whisk in the hot milk and then strain back into the pan.
- Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly for 10-20 minutes until the custard is thick enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon.
- Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let it stand for 5-10 minutes. Heat gently, stirring until dissolved. Add into the custard and stir well.
- Spread the custard over bottom layer and chill until it sets.
Top Layer:
- Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool.
- Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Daring Bakers and the Gingerbread Village

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-12-28

I love the winter holiday season; there is something magical about this season filled with lights, the feeling of anticipation and holiday traditions.

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Since I already had plans to travel this holiday season I knew I would be really pressed for time to complete the challenge and the accompanying post, but I was so excited about the challenge that I just could not pass it by. I just had to try it all out for myself.

Rather than make one large gingerbread house I decided to make a couple miniature houses so, I could try out all kinds of decorating techniques with royal icing. What started as a couple of miniature gingerbread houses very quickly turned into a whole village with snow-covered spruces.

I had a pretty hard time finding molasses at the local stores, maybe it had something to do with the fact that I had no idea what exactly I was looking for, so I just substituted the molasses with honey and since the honey made the dough already sweet enough I've decided not to put any of the brown sugar in.
I figured the royal icing on the house panels will more than make up in sweetness for all that brown sugar.

I used 1/2 of the amounts listed in the original recipe and found the dough to be too dry. It was so dry that it barely came together into a ball and after a night of chilling it in the refrigerator there was no way it was going to roll out without adding extra liquid to it.

Even though I used only 1/2 of the amounts in the recipe I had quite a bit of dough left after making the houses and spruces for the village so, from the dough leftovers I've made a few gingerbread house facades and a handful of gingerbread cookies.

I really enjoyed this challenge and come next holiday season at least the gingerbread house facades will definitely make an encore appearance in my house.

Spicy Gingerbread Dough

source: Good Housekeeping

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream or whipping cream
1 1/4 cups molasses
9 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground ginger

Directions:

In very large bowl, with wire whisk (or with an electric mixer), beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger. With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.
Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.
Grease and flour large cookie sheets
Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform thickness.)
Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.
Preheat oven to 300F
Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.
Chill for 10 minutes before baking if the dough seems really soft after you cut it. This will discourage too much spreading/warping of the shapes you cut.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not overbake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.
Remove cookie sheet from oven. While house pieces are still warm, place poster-board patterns on top and use them as guides to trim shapes to match if necessary. Cool pieces completely before attempting to assemble the house.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.

Note: I've substituted the large egg white with 3 Tbsp pasteurized liquid egg whites.

Caramel Syrup

Ingredients:

30g sugar
15ml water ( 1 Tbsp )

Directions:

Place sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer till thickened and light brown. Use immediately.

Note: Since caramel syrup hardens pretty quickly, I've found that using just a little bit of sugar at a time (30g) to make the syrup leads to best results and little sugar wastage.

Season's Greetings!

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-12-24

Just wanted to wish everyone happy and safe holidays :)

I sure hope for safe and warm holidays myself.
I've decided to go all out this season and learn how to ski. The last time I put some skis on was almost 20 years ago and those were cross-country skis too.
So keeping my fingers crossed for some beginners luck. :))

If you have some pointers on skiing/shooting in cold weather or you're doing something out of the ordinary this holiday season and would love to share, leave a comment.

Autumn Radiance

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-12-13

It's been a while...

December has come and we've got our first snow this season. It only lasted for a few hours, but it was nice.

Daring Bakers' Banana-Mascarpone Cannoli, Site Update and Holiday Sale

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-11-27

It's that time of the month again ... Daring Bakers' time...

But before I tell you all about the deliciously crispy cannoli I wanted to mention a few other bits that have been going on around here.

First and foremost the website got a face lift. I would probably go as far as saying it got a new face all together. I was going for that bright and airy feel where imagery is all that matters so, if you are getting the updates through the RSS feed do drop by the site and let me know what you think.

In other news... it's Black Friday and the Holiday Sale is on its way in the shop. I will be retiring some of the prints currently in the shop so, if you've been eying a print or two get them before they're all gone.

And now that we have all the announcements off the way we can get back to the story behind the crisp, banana-mascarpone filled cannoli...

I must admit that I, frustrated by the last DB challenge, felt a little relief when I opened the Daring Kitchen's forum and saw the following words: "Sorry all, we're not baking this month...". In my head I was already making plans for the free weekends I will have due to the absence of DB challenge this month.
"Yay!" I thought to myself and kept on reading, curious to find out why is it we're not baking this month. My initial "Yay!" pretty quickly turned into "Oh, no!" when I read that not only there will be a DB challenge this month, but we will be frying cannoli. What an unexpected turn of events!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Two potential obstacles to completing the challenge were the lack of cannoli forms, since I've never had the pleasure of making cannoli before, and the deep-frying of the shells.
The latter was resolved pretty quickly with the suggestion by our hostess to bake them rather than deep fry them, but what to do about the cannoli forms on such a short notice without spending a fortune?
Four cannoli forms at Sur la Table were going for $12 which is definitely the quickest way to get them, but if you're planning to bake more than 4 cannoli at a time it will cost you a pretty penny.

After a little research I found out that before the stainless steel forms came about wooden dowels were used to make the cannoli and that's what I decided to use as my cannoli forms.

A short trip to my local Home Depot and $13 later I was holding in my hands 18(!) 6-inch dowels which required a bit of sanding, cleaning, and seasoning. Seasoning was quite amusing; it's not often you get to deep-fry some wooden sticks.
Once the wooden dowels were well seasoned I was all set and ready to make some cannoli.

The recipe was simple enough to follow and I've actually used 1/4 of the amounts listed in the original recipe for each type of cannolo I've made. The hardest part was rolling that dough out. Apparently when you roll this dough out you get an unbelievable core workout that could not be even compared to the one you get from your regular visits to the gym. I had sore muscles for about 2 days after I've baked the cannoli and I only had 1/2 of the dough to roll out.
I made a few ingredients substitutions: regular sugar became vanilla sugar and white wine vinegar became red wine vinegar, just because I had those ingredients already in my pantry.
For the filling I've made my own mascarpone and ricotta cheese and instead of mixing in the traditional ingredients I decided to add a ripe banana, hence - banana-mascarpone filling.

The chocolate cannoli were definitely my favorites. I loved how the kitchen smelled when I was making and rolling out the chocolate dough; just heavenly. I think the next time around I will be making only chocolate cannoli.

Lidisano's Cannoli

makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli

Prep Times:

Dough - 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.
Filling - 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)
Frying - 1-2 minutes per cannoli
Assemble - 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:

Cannoli shells
Cannoli filling
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc. for garnish
Confectioners' sugar

Assemble the Cannoli:

When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it's messier and will take longer.
Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner's sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.

Note: The equivalents from this recipe were prepared using this conversion site

Cannoli Shells

Ingredients:

2 cups (250 grams/16 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 liters) vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.
Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8" thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch - small/medium; 4-inch - medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it's shrunk a little.
Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them oiled). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.
In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375F (190C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.
Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.
Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.
Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Note: If you want a chocolate dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough.

Cannoli Filling

Ingredients:

2 lbs (approx. 3.5 cups/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups cup (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner's sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 tablespoons (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 tablespoons (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 tablespoons (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios

Directions:

Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.
In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and stir in chocolate, zest and nuts. Chill until firm.(The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

Note: If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.

Under a spell

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-11-24

I hope you've been enjoying these images and won't mind me posting another one...

Serenity

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-11-15

Where the heart is...

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-11-08

Tender touch

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-11-03

I had so many things I wanted to write about, but when the time came to sit down, pick the image and and write the post to go along.. all those things did not matter anymore..

So just enjoy the image... and I'll keep those thoughts for twitter.. :)

Daring Bakers' Macaron Disaster

Natalie Prikhodko — 2009-10-28

The macarons were a disaster and now I'm late with the post... I guess this just wasn't my month...

The 2009 October Daring Bakers' challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming's The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.