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Posts Tagged ‘Vanilla Sugar’

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on December 4, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Day 4 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!

I’m not a big fan of sugar cookies.

I’m sorry- they just taste a little blah in comparison to any cookie that has chocolate in it!

However, that doesn’t stop me from searching for a sugar cookie recipe that maybe I will like! I found one that I am really happy with! I like the flavor, and I like the texture. Though I think they would be better with a little chocolate or Nutella hidden in the middle!

Just kidding! These are really good just the way they are!

Vanilla Sugar Cookies
Recipe by Baking Illustrated

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/3 cups vanilla sugar, divided (regular sugar will work just fine)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put 1/3 cup sugar in a small bowl, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, 1 cup sugar, and brown sugar. Add in the egg and vanilla bean paste and mix well. Stir in the baking powder and salt. Add in the flour and stir until well combined.

Using a medium-sized ice cream scoop, scoop the dough then roll in the sugar that you set aside. Place the ball on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. (Note: the dough is sticky, so I used food-safe gloves. However, by using an ice cream scoop, you eliminate a good amount of handling the dough- no need to roll it into a ball before rolling it in sugar!) Bake in a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, move the cookies onto cooling racks and let cool completely. Enjoy!

Made with love, not calories!

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Ice Cream Sunday: Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on September 9, 2012 | 1 Comment »

I went back to the basics with this weeks Ice Cream Sunday recipe. Rich vanilla ice cream mixed with homemade chocolate chips!

That’s right, I made my own chocolate chips- and they Are Great (you are supposed to say that in a Tony the Tiger voice- though I guess I should have typed it GRRREAT) Ok, long week, lack of sleep- sorry))!

Anyways, getting back to the homemade chocolate chips. They are so easy to make. Melt some good quality chocolate, add a little bit of oil. Spread it out, freeze it, break it, put it in ice cream! Adding the oil lowers the melting point of the chocolate, so when you eat the ice cream, the chips melt quickly on your tongue!

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Chocolate Chip recipe from Sweet Cream & Sugar Cones

Ice cream:
2 cups half and half
2 cups heavy cream
7 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups vanilla sugar (regular sugar works fine)
1 /2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Chocolate Chips:
4 oz. bar of 60% dark chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

To make the ice cream base:
In a medium-sized saucepan, whisk together the heavy cream and half and half. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring continuously.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, until the mixture is well combined and smooth.

Once the cream mixture comes to a simmer, pour 1/3 of it into the egg yolk mixture and whisk quickly to combine. Repeat this step 2 more times, until all the cream has been incorporated into the egg yolk mixture. Pour this combined mixture back into the saucepan. Over medium-low heat, stirring slowly and continuously, let the mixture come up to 175 degrees (using a candy thermometer). Once the ice cream base has come up to temperature, remove from the heat and strain through a sieve into a heat-safe bowl. Let cool to room temperature and stir in the vanilla bean paste. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

To make the chocolate chips:
Melt the chocolate according to your favorite method (I like the microwave). Once the chocolate is melted, add in the oil and stir well. Spread this mixture thinly and evenly over a cookie sheet that has been lined with silpat or parchment paper. Freeze until hardened (about 20 minutes). Remove from freezer and working quickly, peel up the chocolate and break into small pieces. Return the chips to the freezer until you are ready to add them to the ice cream.

After 4 hours, process the ice cream according to your ice cream machine manufacturers instructions. Once the ice cream is ready, scoop (or pour- the ice cream should be a thick milkshake consistency) into a freezer-safe container, stirring in the chocolate chips. Cover and freeze for 4 hours. Serve and enjoy!

Made with love, not calories!

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Red, White, and Blue Zebra Cake

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 25, 2012 | 3 Comments »

One last patriotic recipe!

Baker’s Royale was the first blog that I had ever seen a Zebra cake (here and here). I thought they were really interesting and I added it to my baking to-do list.

Well, with the 4th of July quickly approaching, I thought making a red, white, and blue zebra cake would be an eye-catching dessert! It is a little bit of work, layering the batter, but I was pleased with the results.

Photo courtesy of Nick

Red, White, and Blue Zebra Cake
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour
Prep time: 40 minutes     Bake time: 40+ 60 minutes

2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups vanilla sugar
9 large eggs, separated
4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
Red and Blue food gel coloring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 10-cup bundt pan* by greasing and flouring. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg yolks, one at a time, and incorporate well. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they become stiff peaks. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla bean paste. Set aside (there seems to be a pattern here!).

Going back to the butter/sugar mixture, stir in 1/3 of the milk mixture, followed by 1/3 of the flour mixture. Repeat this 2 more times (ending with the last of the flour mixture). Stir in 1/3 of the egg whites (this will help lighten the dough), then fold in the remaining egg whites. Note: don’t fold the egg whites in completely- there can still be some streaks, as you are going to be stirring the batter a little more once you add in the food coloring.

Put 2 cups of batter in a small bowl and add a few drops of red gel food coloring. Stir to combine. Repeat this step, however, using the blue gel food coloring in the 2nd bowl. Go back to the main batter bowl and make sure the egg whites are fully incorporated.

In order to make the zebra pattern, I used 3 ice cream scoops. 2 medium scoops (1 for red, 1 for blue) and a large scoop (for the main batter- white). Start with a scoop of red batter, followed by a scoop of white. A scoop of blue batter comes next, followed by another scoop of white. Now it’s back to red and we repeat this pattern. Note: the reason for doing red/white/blue/white, is to try to keep the blue and red batters from mixing and forming purple once it bakes! After every 4 scoops, gently shake the bundt pan in order to get the batter to spread out. Repeat this until you have used up all the batter, or until your bundt pan is 3/4 of the way full*. Bake in a preheated oven for 40-60 minutes, depending on how full your bundt pan is. Once a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, invert the cake onto a platter and let cool completely. Enjoy!

*Note: I did not want to over-fill my bundt pan, so I had left-over batter. I ended up using both a bundt pan and a loaf pan. Both ended up baking for 40 minutes for me. If you put all your batter in the bundt pan, your baking time will be longer than 40 minutes.

Bundt pan

Loaf pan

Photo courtesy of Nick

Made with love, not calories!

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Daring Bakers’: Nazook

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on April 29, 2012 | 2 Comments »

Remember Friday’s recipe for Armenian Nutmeg Cake? Well, this recipe was the 2nd recipe option for the Daring Bakers’ challenge. We were given 2 recipes, but only required to make and post one of them.

Well, I was intrigued by both recipes, so I made them both!

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

According to the information Jason gave us, vanilla scented nazook is the most common, so that is the filling I made. To help bring out the vanilla flavor, I used vanilla bean paste and vanilla sugar (but pure vanilla extract and regular sugar will work just as well!).

Nazook
Makes: 40 pieces
Prep time: 4 hours (1 hour active, 3 hours resting)     Bake time: 30 minutes

Pastry Dough:
3 cups flour, sifted
1 packet active dry yeast
1 cup sour cream
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Filling:
1 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups vanilla sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

Egg wash:
1 egg, lightly beaten

Make the pastry dough:
In a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, combine the flour and dry yeast. stir to combine. Add in the sour cream and butter and mix on low speed until it is well combined. Switch to the dough hook attachment and continue mixing until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl (you may need to add a little more flour). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours (I left mine overnight).

Make the filling:
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, vanilla sugar, butter, and the vanilla bean paste. Using a fork or a pastry cutter, combine until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Set aside.

To make the nazook:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into 4 even pieces. On a lightly floured surface, roll one of the pieces into a ball, then roll out into a large oval or rectangle. Roll the dough until it is thin, but not transparent (it doesn’t have to be an exact size). Spread 1/4 of the filling on top of the dough, making sure to leave 1/4 inch around the edges. Starting from one of the long sides, begin rolling the dough- making sure the filling stays evenly distributed. Once the dough has been rolled, place it seem side down and flatten it slightly with the palm of your hand. Brush the top of the pastry with the egg wash, then with a sharp knife (or pizza cutter) slice the roll into 10 even pieces. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, leaving about an inch between each pastry.

Repeat with the remaining 3 sections of dough. Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Enjoy!

Note: This is a subtle vanilla-flavored pastry. Feel free to add spices or finely chopped nuts to the filling!

Made with love, not calories!

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