Your NEW favorite cake

The Black Walnut cake is a Brown Family tradition.  My grandmother made it for us all the time...and still does when I make it back east for a visit. It was the cake we always requested for birthdays, even the kids!  It was just that good.

Since I don't have Grandma's recipe (she is a dash of this, sprinkle of that kind of cook) I baked up my own version based on Ina Garten's honey vanilla pound cake.  Her cake is pretty darn awesome just the way it is, but the black walnut version?  It's definitely my new favorite.  (Don't tell Grandma)

This cake is so good!  You really need to try it.  Because, really?  Words don't do it justice.  Black Walnuts don't taste like the regular English walnuts most people are used to eating.  They are better.  And in this recipe you use Black Walnut extract and crush your actual black walnuts so you aren't chomping on large hunks of nuts.  This is a great cake for a simple dessert with ice cream and it is also a great breakfast type cake.  Sweet, but not too sweet.  Just delicious.

I think the cat wants some too

Black Walnut Cake, adapted from Ina Garten's honey vanilla pound cake
1/2 cup unsalted butter at cool room temperature (leave it out for about an hour)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons black walnut extract
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup black walnuts, crushed
for the glaze:
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 F.  Grease the bottom of a 9 inch loaf pan with butter and then coat it with flour.

In your mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until it is nice and fluffy.  That will take about 3-4 minutes on medium speed.  Next add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each one before adding the next.  Once they are all incorporated add the extract.  Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl before adding that to the mixer as well, a little at a time, on low speed.  When that is done remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the crushed walnuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake it for about 50-60 minutes.  A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean.

Allow it to cool for 15 minutes before turning it out of the pan.  Let it cool completely on a wire rack.  Once cool mix together the lemon juice and powdered sugar and then pour it over the cake in a back and forth pattern across the top.  Serve and enjoy!

Jalapeno Poppers

I probably haven't had a jalapeno popper in years.  You may not have noticed but we (mostly Alex) have a vendetta against prepared foods here in the 4 Pears household.  So when my husband suggested we have jalapeno poppers with our pizza the other night, I was pretty sure he didn't mean the kind that came out of the box in the freezer section.

Who makes homemade jalapeno poppers?  This girl.  They were awesome and actually quite easy.  The peppers had a bit of a crunch and the creamy filling was delicious.  I may have thought he was crazy, but they came out great and we'll definitely be making them again soon.

Jalapeno Poppers, adapted from Emeril Lagasse
8 large fresh jalapeno peppers
4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup pepper jack (or another spicy) cheese
1/4 teaspoon of Essence (Emeril's spice blend, you can buy it in the grocery store or make it yourself)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus 3 tablespoons, divided
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs (the panko makes these crispy so I wouldn't recommend substituting the regular stuff)

First prepare the filling by mixing the cheeses together in a small bowl.  Set aside.

Next work on cleaning the peppers.  You might want to wear some rubber gloves for this!  If not your hands will be covered in the spicy oils from the peppers and it is hard to get off!!  With a paring knife make a T in each pepper cutting under the stem (but not cutting it off) and then down the length of the pepper.  This creates a nice pocket.

Remove as much of the seeds and ribs as you would like.  I removed most of the seeds and ribs and my pepper were still pretty spicy.  Now stuff the filling into the pocket and squeeze to close them back up.

Heat a deep fryer or pot of vegetable oil to 370 F.  If you are using a pot you'll need to fill it about 1/3 of the way.  

While it is heating make up your batter and breading.  First mix 1/2 cup of flour with the milk and the egg.  Then on a plate combine the 3 tablespoons of flour, the panko and the Essence.

Dip each of the peppers into the batter then carefully coat them with the breading.  Once the oil is ready slide them in (in two batches so you don't crowd them) and fry for 2 minutes.  Remove them from the oil to a plate lined with paper towels and salt them.  Dig in!

Oatmeal Pancakes

The boys eat pancakes just about every day.  They LOVE pancakes.  Between the two of them, most days they eat 3 pancakes and a whole banana for breakfast.  And God forbid Mama doesn't get them onto the trays fast enough, watch out!

When they aren't eating pancakes with veggies in them, they are eating oatmeal pancakes.  These pancakes are almost completely oatmeal.  Two cups of old fashioned oats to just 1/2 cup of flour.  Even so, they are nowhere close to being bland like plain oatmeal.  The buttermilk and melted butter in the batter make these pancakes so so good.  Alex and I love them just as much as the kids do.  This is definitely my favorite pancake recipe. A warning though: these do take some advanced planning. The batter needs to be made at least two hours before you can actually fry up the cakes.  This is necessary in order soften the oatmeal.  I make the batter the night before so it is ready to go first thing in the morning.

Buttermilk Oatmeal Pancakes, adapted from Bon Appetit, August 1999
2 cups old fashioned OR quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk**
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
additional butter for frying

**if you don't have buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar for each cup of milk called for in your recipe.  Stir them together and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Beat eggs slightly and add them, the buttermilk and the vanilla and mix the batter together.  Once the melted butter is slightly cooled, stir that in as well.  The batter will seem very runny, don't worry.  The batter has to sit at least 2 hours so the oats can soften.  I make this the night before, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and just give it a stir before frying up the pancakes in the morning.  By then the batter will be much thicker.  Spoon it on to a hot buttered frying pan or griddle.  Flip the cakes when they begin to bubble and seem cooked on the edges.

Tip!  As I've said in the past...if you want to make a bunch and freeze them, let them cool completely then put them on a parchment paper-lined baking try in a chest freezer for about an hour.  Once frozen you can put them into freezer bags without any danger of them sticking together.  If you don't have a freezer drawer or chest you can stack them with squares of parchment paper in between each cake.

How-To Tuesday! Pizza Dough

Pizza is one of my favorite things to eat.  Like I said yesterday, it is right up there with Cheeseburgers.  But, for me, there is a big difference between good pizza and bad pizza. I'm not a big fan of delivery pizza and frozen pizzas are pretty bad too.  When I lived in Maryland my favorite was Ledo's.  Its a franchise now but my family has been going there since the original opened in 1955- and growing up we ate Ledo's a lot.  Out here in Las Vegas I like Grimaldi's.  They make coal-fired pizza and the toppings are delicious.  But even though a new Grimaldi's just opened up a few minutes from us, we probably won't be eating there anytime soon.  We just don't take the kids out to restaurants very often yet.  We are such wimps. :P

Instead, to calm my pizza cravings, I learned to make pizza dough!  Sure you can buy it at a lot of grocery stores now, but making it from scratch is really easy and very economical.  Pretty tasty too.

Pizza Dough, adapted from Gordon Ramsay Makes It Easy
(makes 2 large pizza crusts)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
4 cups bread flour **
1 Tablespoon olive oil

**If you don't want to by bread flour like me, you can buy wheat gluten to add to all-purpose flour.  Whole Foods sells it.

In a small bowl add the yeast to the warm water.  Stir it in and let it set for about 10 minutes.  You can make this dough in a stand mixer with the dough hook or in a food processor with the dough blade.  Put your flour and the olive oil into either and then turn it on low and add the yeast/water to it as well.  Mix or process until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl and sticks together.  It should be nice and smooth when it is done.  Add a little water or flour as needed to get the right texture.  Once it is done put the dough in an oiled glass bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and allow it to double in size. It shouldn't take more than an hour.

Split the finished dough in half and either freeze the dough or roll it out on a floured surface to the desired size and shape.  I usually make one large pizza and  freeze the other half of the dough for another day.



Find the perfect sauce (I like this one) and the perfect toppings to make your pizza!  For me, good toppings are just as important as good crust and good sauce.  All three parts are essential to a really good pizza. My favorite toppings are sausage, onions, and fresh tomatoes.  Looks and tastes amazing.  ENJOY!

My masterpiece before it went into the oven.

Weekend Recap, and a Look Ahead

Our weekend isn't quite over yet thanks to Labor Day, but it's been great so far. Friday was our five year wedding anniversary!  Instead of going to a fine-dining restaurant and having a night out on the town, as may have befitted such a special day, we opted for a very low-key evening at our favorite local Mexican restaurant.  Bad service and great food as usual.  :) We enjoyed a margarita or two, gambled some money away in the local casino, and just relaxed for a few hours while the babysitter came over and kept an ear on the baby monitor for us.

Saturday we had some professional photos taken of the whole family at a park close by to our home.  I'm really excited to see them, I hope they turned out great!  That evening we made homemade pizza and jalapeno poppers for dinner.  Yes, homemade poppers!  They were awesome!  And so was the pizza.  Pizza is right up there with cheeseburgers in my book.

Sunday I got a new camera, so no pictures today. I have a manual to read!  I'm looking forward to taking some better pictures of the kids and maybe the food pictures will get a little better too.  Photography is something I really need to work on.

Here's what we are sharing with you this week:

Tuesday: Pizza!  Pizza crust, pizza sauce.... both are super simple basics that you can combine with your favorite toppings to make pizza and movie night even better.

Wednesday: Oatmeal Pancakes.  The twins aren't using utensils yet, and the only things they will eat off a spoon I'm in control of is yogurt and applesauce. They used to love oatmeal but then they met pancakes and that love affair has not yet ended.  They love these, but surprisingly they really love oatmeal pancakes too... and so do Mom and Dad. :)

Thursday: Jalapeno Poppers.  Yum.  These are NOTHING like the ones you buy frozen.  They are sooo much better.  Spicy peppers and a creamy filling, this is one awesome appetizer.

Friday:  Black Walnut Cake.  Most kids love chocolate cake growing up, but those kids never had my Grandma's Black Walnut Cake.  Whether you like nuts or not, this cake is worth trying.  I've never met anyone who didn't love it.

Alright, seems like a good week to come.  Since I don't have any pictures I'll leave you with this video.  Baby laughter can't be beat.  (PS. AJ is the one laughing but I call the poor kid Squirm all the time.)

Challah

I've never been very good at making French Toast.  It always came out too eggy tasting...or maybe not eggy enough.  It was always just mediocre and nothing to write home about.  And then I discovered this:

Challah.  A rich bread, eggy and dense, somewhat sweet and very delicious. Perfect for making french toast.

Although I was a bit afraid of making bread without the aid of my trusty bread machine, when I saw this recipe a while back on a blog I follow, think liz, I decided to go for it.  It came out perfectly the first time, and every time since.  It truly is an easy bread to make as long as you are sticking around the house for a few hours.  It may be easy, but it isn't quick.  Luckily it really is worth the time.

Challah Bread, adapted from Joan Nathan via think liz
3/4 tablespoon of active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp plus 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
4 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of your mixer, stir your yeast and sugar into 3/4 cup of lukewarm water.  Using the whisk attachment whisk in the oil, 2 eggs (one at a time), and the rest of the sugar and salt.  Switch the whisk attachment out for the dough hook and gradually add the flour mixing at a medium-low speed until the dough comes together.  Turn the speed up to medium to "knead" the dough until it is smooth.

Put the dough into a large glass bowl that has been lightly rubbed with oil and cover it with plastic wrap.  Let the dough rise in a warm area for about an hour or until it has doubled in size.  Once doubled, punch the dough down, recover it, and then allow it to rise once again for about 30 minutes.

After the time is up turn the dough out of the bowl and divide it into 3 equal balls.  Roll each ball out to about  12 inches long.  Pinch the tops of the strands together and then braid them.  When you get to the ends, tuck them under the loaf.

Put the braided dough onto an oiled baking sheet and brush the top with the remaining beaten egg.   Let the dough rise on the sheet for one more hour.  After the rise, brush the dough with the egg once more before putting it into an oven preheated to 375 F.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is nice and golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Enjoy your french toast! :)

Grilling for Labor Day

Is it against the law in the United States to NOT grill out on Labor Day?  Kind of feels like it. Labor Day is a holiday for enjoying the last bit of summer, and Summer = Grilling.  So grill something!  Can I suggest burgers?

I am a HUGE fan of burgers.  I ate vegetarian for three years while in my 20's and it was the craving for cheeseburgers that finally made me give it up.

Yummy.

Burgers are the go-to grilling item but they don't need to be boring or bland. When most of us want to make up some burgers we  head to the meat section at the grocery store and grab some ground beef.  80/20 makes a good burger....grass-fed beef is pretty great...but the best burger we've made came from ground brisket.  Upon Tyler Florence's advice, Alex and I tossed 2 lbs of beef brisket, cut into chunks, into the meat grinder.  What?  You don't have a meat grinder?  Shocking.  Well, in that case, ask the butcher to grind it for you.  Most grocery stores will; they definitely will at Whole Foods.   And believe me, its worth asking for.  A little ground brisket, some salt and pepper, and a few awesome toppings and you will have yourself an amazing burger to celebrate Labor Day.

Cheese Burgers, adapted from Tyler Florence
2 pounds beef brisket, ground
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 slices of Swiss Cheese (or any other favorite cheese!)
1 large sweet onion, sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 large tomato

Before you start on the burgers, get your toppings ready.  Slice the tomato and season the slices with salt and pepper and set them aside.  It is amazing what a little salt and pepper do to a tomato.  Now to caramelize the onions.  In a large frying pan melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the onions to the pan and allow them to cook very slowly, about 20 minutes. They will be soft and golden brown and incredibly sweet!

Once the onions are almost done fire up the grill.  Season the ground meat with salt and pepper and mix them in with your hands.  Now form the meat into 4 patties.  To keep them flat on top while they are cooking, create an indentation in the middle of each patty.   Put the burgers on the hot grill and cook for about 5 minutes per side for medium.  About a minute before they are done, top them with cheese.

Make sure to put your finished burgers on great tasting buns and top them with a slice of tomato and some of the onions.  I like a bit of mayo on my burger too. :)  The addition of the ripe seasoned tomato and the sweet onions to a very juicy burger is unbelievably good.  So enjoy it!  And enjoy the long weekend.