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Impress Friends With Chocolate-Dipped Cinnamon Churros

YumSugar — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 08:00:29 -0800

Several weeks ago, I was invited to a cooking class at Parties That Cook, a company that hosts culinary tutorials and team-building culinary events. After a quick lesson, where chef Bibby Gillignat taught us basic cooking skills, we broke into groups, each one assigned to a different portion of the meal.

My sweetheart and I were assigned to the dessert portion of the meal, where we made another warm, chocolatey dessert: churros, fried Mexican doughnuts, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and dipped in spicy chocolate sauce. It may sound intimidating to make a deep-fried dessert, but it really isn't that hard! Check out all the steps when you read more.

Cinnamon Churros With Hot Chocolate Dipping Sauce
From Parties That Cook

Ingredients

Churros:
6 cups canola oil, for frying  
1 3/4 cups water
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter
 1 teaspoon kosher salt
 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour  
4 large eggs  
1 large egg white
Plastic wrap
Cinnamon-Sugar Topping:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Chocolate Sauce:
 1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk 
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 ounces Mexican chocolate, finely chopped
 1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Prepare batter: In a frying pan, heat the oil to 375°F.
In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil with the butter and salt. Remove from heat.
Add the flour and stir vigorously until incorporated. Using an electric mixer, beat the dough at low speed for 1 minute, just until slightly cooled.
Increase the speed to medium-high and beat in the eggs and egg white, one at a time.
Transfer the dough to a bowl, press a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface and put in the freezer until cooled to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Scoop the dough into a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.
Mix topping: In a bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon.
Fry churros: Set a cooling rack on a sheet pan. Squeeze 4-inch lengths of the dough into the hot oil, cutting them off with a knife. Fry about 6 churros at a time; they expand as they cook. Turn over once or twice, until browned, about 4 minutes.
Drain the churros on the rack for 2 minutes, then dust with the cinnamon sugar.
Make Chocolate Sauce: Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat the cream and milk until small bubbles appear around the edge. Add the chocolates, sugar, vanilla, cayenne and salt. Whisk over low heat until the chocolate is melted. Keep warm over very low heat.
Serve at once with hot chocolate sauce.

Makes 24 churros.

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Yummy Links: From Kelly Choi to Chinese New Year

partysugar — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:45:21 -0800

Meet Kelly Choi, the host of Bravo's upcoming series Top Chef Masters. - Serious Eats
Read Alice Waters's personal letter to Barack Obama. - Gourmet
Learn the difference between cinnamon and nutmeg.- Cookthink
Find out how far your food travels. - The Kitchn
Here's how restaurants are coping with recession. - The Epi-Log
Fight the Winter flu by eating more kale. - Mouthing Off
Ten good-luck foods to enjoy during Chinese New Year. - Chow

Source

Reader Recipe: Apple Butter

YumSugar — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:00:49 -0700

Browsing TeamSugar the other day, I was absolutely taken by a Fall recipe. This apple butter was created by Kitchen Goddess founder, Twinkle, when she wasn't able to locate any apple butter in her adopted homeland, Finland. Since she is a domestic divinity, she took matters into her own hands and came up with an original recipe. I can't get enough of apples, and making apple butter (which doesn't actually include any butter) is the perfect way to use up a surplus of the fruit. Plus, it's a healthy spread alternative to jams and jellies. To get her delicious recipe, read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member Twinkle

Apple Butter
My kitchen

Apple Butter is yet another item you can't find in Finland, so I figured out how to make my own. Makes the house smell amazing too!

Ingredients

5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and sorta chopped
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Peel, core and chop your apples. Don't worry too much about the chopping part because they will cook down and you can blitz them later with a hand mixer. Toss all the ingredients into a heavy pot or slow cooker. Cover and cook on medium high heat for the first hour. Then turn the heat down to low for 8 to 10 hours. Take the cover off, blitz until smooth and turn the heat back up to medium high for another hour or until most of the liquid is gone. Spoon into jars or freezable containers and pop in the fridge or freezer. Enjoy!

* Makes enough to fill 3 to 4 medium size jars.

Ingredients (minus salt)

Toss it in a pot.

Mix it.

Let it simma down nah.

Blitz it.

Eat it.

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Come Party With Me: Baby Shower - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:30:17 -0700

At a baby shower, it's incredibly important to have a nonalcholic specialty drink. That way the mother-to-be can join in the festivities. For Denise's baby shower brunch, I'll offer guests mimosas and spiced pomegranate sparklers.

The concoction is made with a cinnamon-spiced pomegranate juice and sparkling water. Do take the time to make the garnish - frozen whole cranberries - because it's a lovely addition to the drink.

Also have an assortment of juice, coffee, and tea on hand. To get the refreshing recipe to the sparkling mocktail, read more.

Spiced Pomegranate Sparkler
From Whole Living

Ingredients

1 cup pomegranate juice
1 stick cinnamon
2 cups sparkling mineral water
Frozen whole cranberries

Directions

In a small saucepan, heat pomegranate juice to near boiling, add cinnamon stick, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely, at least 1 hour. Remove cinnamon stick.
Divide the spiced juice between 2 tall glasses; add 1 cup sparkling mineral water to each glass. Stir, add ice, and serve with a garnish of frozen cranberries.

Makes 2 drinks.

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Reader Recipe: Monkey Bread

YumSugar — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:00:28 -0700

I swooned when I came across Phasekitty's pictures of her mother's monkey bread. Eating this treat reminds me of hanging out with friends and family. There's nothing better than catching up on good conversation while picking apart pieces of the gooey bread. The best part? Licking the cinnamon sugar off your fingers.
Besides being a great breakfast, dessert, snack, and gift, monkey bread is great to make with kids. To get Phasekitty's family recipe, read more.

Submitted by TeamSugar member Phasekitty

Monkey Bread
My mom.

When I was young my mom and I used to make this together on special occasions like Christmas morning and my birthday. It's amazing and perfect for breakfast or dessert. I was inspired to make it after SPM posted Paula Deen's take on it recently. It's very basic and super easy to make.

Ingredients

4 cans refrigerated biscuits
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup) (extra stick of butter optional)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

You can also add nuts or raisins or anything really, but I like mine pure and simple.

Directions
Cast 'o characters

Grease a bundt pan well. Combine the white sugar and cinnamon in a ziploc bag. Open and separate your refrigerated biscuits and cut them into halves, then roll them into balls of dough. Put the dough balls in the bag of cinnamon and sugar and shake well to coat. Arrange them in layers around the bundt pan. If you're using any raisins or nuts, you can sprinkle them in between layers. If you have leftover cinnamon/sugar mix, set it aside. When you're done, they should look something similar to this:

I don't have a bundt pan, but I still suggest using one as more goo will be contained and won't spill out like a lot of mine did. No one likes wasted goo!

Put the brown sugar and butter in a small saucepan over medium to high heat. Stir until it's all incorporated, then let it boil for about a minute or so. Pour this ooey gooey liquid into your bundt pan all over them dough balls:

Right about now I'm wishing I had a bundt pan.

Toss it into the oven and bake it for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mmm, we're getting there....

Let cool for about 10 minutes, then flip it over onto a large plate. Let it sit flipped over for a few minutes to let all the ooey gooey goodness drip down. Now this part is optional, but if you like extra goo (and who doesn't like extra goo?) take that leftover cinnamon and sugar mix and put it into a saucepan with a stick of butter. Let it incorporate and boil for a minute or so and then pour it onto the final product.

Before the extra goo...

After extra goo...

I only used 1/2 a stick of butter for my extra goo and it didn't turn out as well - it carmelized a little bit on top - so don't be a doofus like me, toss that whole stick in there!

Oh man...

Pull apart with your fingers and chow down! This is really fun for kids. Careful, it's sticky!!

NOM!

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Yummy Link: Apple Cinnamon Madeleines

partysugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:15:51 -0800

I recently found a random madeleine pan in my cupboard. It reminded me that I promised a friend I would make her madeleines over a year ago! I was looking for a recipe when I came across this one for delicious looking apple and cinnamon madeleines. - Milk and Cookies

No Snickering at the Snickerdoodles

YumSugar — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:14:00 -0700

Earlier this week, I gave you guys a recipe for a cookie full of Snickers candies, which is what I dreamt of every time folks would mention snickerdoodles. Well, a few of you wrote in to ask exactly what a snickerdoodle was. Simply put, a snickerdoodle is a type of soft sugar cookie, dusted with cinnamon and sugar. They're usually a little crunchy on top, and soft and chewy in the middle.

Some folks think the name comes from the corruption of the German word schneckennudeln - a type of cinnamon-dusted sweet roll - but no one is really sure. No matter where its name comes from, it's definitely a cookie worth trying, and one to keep in your cookie repertoire. For a classic recipe, read more

Snickerdoodles
From Betty Crocker
Image Source

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400ºF.
Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, the butter, shortening and eggs in large bowl. Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
(Total time will vary; cook or bake time is per batch.)

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52 Weeks of Baking: Pear and Apple Pie Crumble

YumSugar — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:01:31 -0700

This week I decided to brave it out, and put my excuses - small kitchen, no room in the freezer, no pastry blender, etc. - aside and bake a pie. My friend Becky had some ripe pears off of her tree, and I still had a few of the apples from geeksugar. So with fresh produce in hand, and a few recipes at my fingertips I decided to roll out some dough and make a pie.

Things were not so great. I'll admit it now, I'm not great with pastry crust. Pie eludes me and while I successfully managed to create a bottom crust, the upper crust was difficult and not easy to work with - I should have put it back in the freezer first. After ruining what was left of the dough, I went into panic mode until I remembered I didn't need a top crust and could make a crumble instead. So I whipped up a few ingredients and sprinkled the crumble on top.

Overall it ended up being a delightful pie - the pears and apples really play nicely together - and when paired with a scoop of ice cream, it was absolutely heavenly. Oh and I know it doesn't quite look like a slice of pie, but like I said, pie eludes me...

To check out the recipe I used, read more

Apple and Pear Pie
Crust from Jessica Appelgren's Huckleberry Peace Pie, Filling adapted from Diana's Desserts, and Crumble mixture from YumSugar

Crust
[Note: I cut this in half and used a crumble topping instead.]
2 cups butter
2-2/3 cups flour
1 cup water
1 tsp. salt

Chill the butter in the freezer for 10 minutes so that’s it’s really cold.
Pour the flour over the butter on a large work surface, covering the butter so that it won’t stick to your rolling pin.
Roll the butter out flat, collect the mixture with a scraper, and re-roll it two or three times.
Make a hole in the middle of the mixture and add the water and salt, cutting the liquid into the mix with the scraper until you have a workable dough.
Roll the dough out flat one more time, cut it in half, and place in the freezer.

Filling
1/4 cup golden brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 - 1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
5 firm but ripe pears, peeled, cored and sliced
4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 tbsp of lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, stir together the filling ingredients, mixing till well-combined.

Crumble Topping
1/2 cup flour
1/2 stick butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup golden brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the butter and flour with the fork until it is textured like breadcrumbs.
Add sugars and cinnamon to mixture and mix well.
If it is too dry, use the leftover liquid from the apple/pear mixture to help.

Assemble

Roll one piece of pie crust into a 12-inch round and gently lay it into the pie pan.
Spoon in filling. Do not add all of the extra liquid.
Evenly put the crumble mixture over the apples.
Bake pie in a preheated 425°F oven for 15 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for an additional 45 minutes or until the top is brown and filling is bubbly.
Remove from oven to cooling rack, and let cool completely before serving.

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There's Vanilla in That Water

YumSugar — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:39:52 -0800

The Pacific Northwest just got a little bit sweeter. At least, the Puget Sound did. After weeks of holiday baking and eating, Researchers at the University of Washington are stating that the Puget Sound is now being flavored by cinnamon and vanilla.

Keil and UW researcher Jacquelyn Neibauer's weekly tests of treated sewage sent into the sound from the West Point treatment plant in Magnolia showed cinnamon, vanilla and artificial vanilla levels rose between Nov. 14 and Dec. 9, with the biggest spike right after Thanksgiving.

Using benchmarks from a published scientific study, they were able to estimate that people in Seattle and a few outlying areas served by the sewage plant scarfed down the daily equivalent of about 160,000 butter- or chocolate-chip-type cookies and about 80,000 cookies containing cinnamon during the Thanksgiving weekend.

So far, there's no evidence that the abundance of vanilla is taking its toll on any sea creatures, but who's to say that it won't. Does this mean that vanilla salmon will be the new hot trend in 2007? I suppose if all of the coffee that made its way to the Puget Sound had little effect on the fish, hopefully vanilla won't either.

Source

Taste Test: Brown Sugar Cinnamon Ritz Crackers

YumSugar — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:15:15 -0800

With holiday parties looming on the horizon, I've had killer apps and hors d'oeuvres in the back of my mind. Since no party is complete without a meat, cheese, and crackers platter, it's only appropriate that Nabisco has come out with a new variety of Ritz cracker, Brown Sugar Cinnamon, that's sure to be popular come Christmastime. Ritz crackers were an after-school pastime for me growing up, so I couldn't wait to try the new flavor. Did it live up to its highly-regarded name? Find out when you read more.