Baked Churros

I have been wanting to make churros since I indulged in them (ahem, for breakfast) practically every day on our trip to the Dominican Republic. Not only did I have them as my "breakfast dessert," but I would dip them in a bit of nutella or syrup. (as if a fried churro wasn't enough indulgence before I had even hit 9:00 a.m.).

So, I had hopes of making this a more healthy treat and sought out a recipe for baked churros. And, here we go.

I wasn't sure how this experiment would go, but I was pleasantly surprised. I researched the appropriate pastry tip to use and while my churros were not perfect (a bit squiggly), they turned out pretty good for a first timer. I used Ateco pastry tip #847 with a pastry bag.  The batter/dough was quite easy to make. I filled my pastry bag, piped it on my Silpat and trimmed off the end.

They baked quite nicely and got golden brown after about 10-15 minutes of baking.

While they were still a bit warm, we rolled them in the cinnamon-sugar mix. 

We enjoyed them nice and warm after we rolled them in the cinnamon sugar mix.  However, the next day, we enjoyed them even more with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and a drizzle of caramel. There I go being over indulgent again. 

Recipe for Baked Churros:

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 C. water

2 T. brown sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/3 C. butter

1 C. all-purpose flour

2 eggs

1/2 t. vanilla extract

1/4 C. sugar

1 t. ground cinnamon 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray or use Silpats. 

In a medium pot, combine water, brown sugar, salt and butter and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add flour, stirring with a large wooden spoon until well blended.

In a small bowl, combine the egg and vanilla extract. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until completely incorporated. 

Spoon the dough into a pastry bag with a large star tip (I used Ateco #847). It's easiest to spoon it in if your pastry bag is inserted into a large glass.

Pipe dough onto the baking sheet in 4-inch strips and trim them with kitchen scissors. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let them cool slightly. 

Mix cinnamon and sugar in a shallow dish and coat the churros while they are still warm. 

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Creme Brulee

I gave my husband a choice of desserts for a Father's day treat and he chose creme brulee. I've wanted to make it for a while anyway and it's also one of my favorites. It's such a simple yet elegant dessert, but I have to admit that I haven't made it from scratch for some time. I guess I've just found it easy to get the creme brulee mix from the store when I was in a pinch for a dinner party dessert, but never again. I think there was a time several years ago when I didn't have as much patience and did not temper the eggs slowly enough where I ended up with a curdled creme. So, I took a deep breath, gathered the finest ingredients, researched recipes and tried again.

Don't worry - this cream is not burnt or dirty...it's vanilla. Instead of using a recipe that called for vanilla extract, I used a recipe with vanilla bean. I chose to use Madagascar vanilla beans that I got from a local gourmet food store. I scraped the vanilla bean seeds and added the vanilla bean itself and the seeds to the cream to bring to a boil.

While the cream became infused with fresh vanilla, I prepared the egg yolks and sugar.

The vanilla cream was SLOWLY added to the egg yolks to temper them so as to not cook them and end up with scrambled eggs.

This final mixture was added into my ramekins of various shapes and sizes and I baked them in a water bath with the water filled part way up the ramekins. They were placed in the oven VERY carefully so as to not get any water in the custard!

They cooked very nicely and I love the tiny specks of vanilla in the custard.

I added more sugar to the top and placed them under the broiler on high to burn the sugar and make that lovely crunchy sugar crust. I garnished it with a sliced strawberry and a dollop of fresh whipped cream. I had several extras which I wrapped with saran and foil to freeze. When I'm in a pinch for a dessert now, I can just thaw those, top them with the sugar and broil for dessert instead of using a mix!

Cookie of the Month - Peanut Butter

Starting this month, I'm going to make at least one cookie to feature each month. Some of them I may have made previously (but can't resist making again) or I will try a different variation or some completely new cookie recipe that I've never attempted previously. This past weekend I made peanut butter cookies because we had a craving for something sweet at my mum's and happened to have all the ingredients to make these, including just enough peanut butter. Peanut butter cookies with the classic criss-cross pattern with the fork is something I always remember my mum making growing up. The cookies my mum would typically make from time to time were chocolate chip, peanut butter, no-bake and oatmeal with raisins, chocolate chips and coconut. So, while we visited after dinner, I made the peanut butter cookie dough, rolled balls of dough in sugar and flattened them with the criss-cross pattern to bake. The pattern didn't hold well with this recipe and that may be due to the fact that we used margarine instead of butter as it was all we had on hand. However, they were the perfect consistency and sure satisfied our sweet tooth with a cold glass of milk.

The Best Autumn Bread

Several years ago, I found an apple bread recipe to try when I had a bunch of extra apples in the fall. We instantly loved it and it has turned out to be a family favorite. In fact, I recently cut up extra apples so I could make it for my brother this weekend as he's the one that always requests it. The recipe makes two large loaves and I often times make one large loaf and two mini ones so I can send them home with people. It always reminds me of autumn and is the best with a cup of hot cider or tea. Sugar and spice and everything nice!