The Year’s Best Baking Book…

By Pat Tanner

…for holiday gift giving and receiving, at least in my opinion, is Karen DeMasco’s “The Craft of Baking.” Although she is an award-winning restaurant pastry chef who honed her craft at Tom Colicchio’s Craft, Craftbar, and ‘wichcraft, the recipes in this book are eminently reproducible. They are true to DeMasco’s style, which combines home-baked appeal with modern restaurant sophistication.

Exhibit one: Apple Fritters with Caramel Ice Cream and Apple Caramel Sauce
Exhibit two: Pine Nut Tart with Rosemary Cream
Exhibit three: Carrot Cupcakes with Mascarpone Cream Filling

I could go on – the beautifully photographed book contains hundreds of equally tempting muffins, scones, quick breads, doughnuts, cookies, brownies, candies, tarts, pies, cobblers, crisps, cakes, cupcakes, custards, puddings, ice creams, sorbets, fruit compotes, and sauces. And it’s hard to go wrong, since every technique and instruction is painstakingly elaborated.

Each season’s bounty is given its due, from spring’s Fresh Strawberry Tart with Lemon Cream to summer’s Sour Cherry Turnovers to fall’s Concord Grape & Pear Crisp with Marcona Almond Strudel. Wintertime and holiday favorites include chocolate babka, homemade truffles, marshmallows in lemon, mocha, and coconut varieties, and steamed toffee pudding (steamed in the oven).

Below is a recipe to get you started on your holiday baking. Please heed the instruction to use a large saucepan, since the hot, molten sugar mixture will rise and bubble.

GRANDMA RANKIN’S CASHEW BRITTLE
From “The Craft of Baking” by Karen DeMasco & Mindy Fox (Clarkson Potter, 2009)

Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1-1/2 cups (12 ounces) salted roasted cashews

Lightly coat a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

Combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup, and 1/2 cup water in a large saucepan. Stir together so that all of the sugar is wet. Cook the mixture over high heat without stirring until it turns a dark amber color, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Carefully whisk in the baking soda, followed by the salt; the caramel will rise and bubble. Using a wooden or metal spoon, fold in the cashews. Pour the brittle onto the prepared baking sheet, and using the back of the spoon, spread it out into a layer about 1/2 inch thick. Let it cool completely. Break the brittle into bite-size pieces, using a mallet or the back of a heavy knife.

The brittle can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Makes 1-3/4 pounds.

Visions of Gingerbread

By Pat Tanner

Every year I have the same fantasy: that I will finally make a perfect gingerbread house. This never happens. I’ve come to the conclusion that what it takes are equal parts baking expertise, artistic flair, and engineering acumen. I come up short on at least two of these.

If you’re like me, don’t despair! I’ve found the perfect solution. And if you’re not like me, I encourage you to show off your skills while competing for some pretty nifty prizes. First, the solution.

At last summer’s Fancy Food Show I came across Virginia-based Gingerhaus Baking Kits, which even I cannot mess up. The genius is that you bake the pieces on a cardboard template – an armature, if you will - that includes tabs. You mix the dough (included in the kit and developed with the King Arthur Flour people), cut out the flat panels, flip them over, and bake. The kits include royal icing mix and decorations, and you apply them to the baked flat panels, and then assemble via the tabs. I’m partial to the deluxe house, which resembles a Bavarian town hall, but the smaller chalet is awfully cute. The big kit comes with panels for trees and gingerbread boys and girls as well. Decorations include peppermint sticks, peppermints, and candy hearts, but you can be creative and add your own. (That much should be doable, right?)

An all-natural version of the chalet kit is carried by the Whole Foods chain. Standard Gingerhaus kits are available at surlatable.com and kingarthurflour.com, but the best price I could find for the full-sized house is at amazon.com. [$19.95]

Once you’ve made your house - whether using a kit or your own ingenuity – you can enter it into the 5th annual contest taking place this Saturday (Nov. 28) at Grounds for Sculpture, as part of their Lights On! celebration. There are four categories: child, family, adult, and visitor’s choice. The gingerbread house drop-off period is up to 3 p.m. that day and winners will be announced at 4:30. The judges are Grounds for Sculpture staff and yours truly. Prizes include free memberships to Grounds for Sculpture (GFS), gift certificates to the museum shop, tickets to upcoming concerts, and GFS t-shirts, calendars, and mugs. Grounds for Sculpture is located at 18 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton. To view the official rules and for more information about all the other activities surrounding the Lights On! celebration, which runs from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. that day, visit groundsforsculpture.org.

Time to Get Your Hands Doughy

By Brianne Harrison

With money tight, gas expensive, and new salmonella scares cropping up every month, it seems, more and more people are going back to growing, making, and preserving their own food. The New York Times recently devoted a considerable amount of space to a story about the recent renaissance of canning and preserving—skills that, until recently, were mostly associated with the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Unsurprisingly, classes have begun cropping up to help modern-day foodies rediscover these skills. A Toute Heure in Cranford, a restaurant devoted to the “locavore” ideals, has started up its own Cooks’ Classes, which are hands-on and designed to help modern-day cooks learn skills like preserving and baking that they can use in their home kitchens. Coming up on June 8 is a class on bread. Bread making is often unfairly thought to be extremely difficult and time-consuming. Yes, it does take several hours to make bread, but most of those hours don’t involve the chef at all. Knead the dough, and leave it to rise for two hours while you run your errands, take the kids to soccer practice, or watch a movie. And the kneading process itself is a great stress relief—something most of us could use these days!

A Toute Heure’s class will cover the basics of breadmaking, and participants will create their own “mother” dough starter and experiment with flavorings and dough types. Everyone will leave with recipes they can try at home. Not bad for a two-hour class.

An upcoming class in July will cover pastry making, and the younger members of your family can check out the kids’ class and farm tour in August. Kids will learn where their food comes from and how a farm works and will help prepare a healthy meal that will be served family style at the end of the class. They, too, will walk away with recipes and ideas for cooking with locally sourced vegetables.

For registration information, contact A Toute Heure, 908.276.6600, atouteheure.com

French Toast: It's What's for Dinner

By Pat Tanner

I grew up one of seven children in a working-class Roman Catholic family. That meant that (1) we observed the Lenten restrictions on eating meat and (2) money was always tight. These two onerous-sounding facts came to mean, much to my childish delight, that at this time of year we often had pancakes or French toast for dinner. It is a tradition I still maintain even though my religious practices and my circumstances have changed substantially.

This version of French toast is my latest, greatest find. Not only is it delicious and simple to make, it relieves the cook from having to be at the stove flipping and serving individual pieces. It is equally good for breakfast, brunch, or dinner. I can’t recall ever eating pancakes or French toast for lunch, but I suspect that works, too.

MARBLED FRENCH-TOAST MUFFINS WITH PECANS AND APPLE BUTTER
Source: Georgia Pecan Commission
Makes 8 Muffins

16 slices cinnamon raisin bread
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
8 tablespoons prepared apple butter
Confectioners’ sugar
Maple syrup
Whipped cream (optional)

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line eight 3-inch muffin pan cups with large foil muffin cup liners.

2. Tear bread into small bite-size pieces. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk, and salt until blended. Add bread pieces and toss well to moisten evenly. Sprinkle brown sugar and pecans over all and toss again lightly to distribute.

3. Spoon some of bread mixture into bottom of each lined muffin cup, filling each cup about 1/3 full. Spoon 1/2 tablespoon apple butter on top of each. Spoon another portion of bread mixture on top to fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full. Spoon remaining 1/2 tablespoon apple butter on top of each and finish with remaining bread mixture; mound it to generously fill each cup. Lightly press down on mixture in each muffin cup to pack firmly.

4. Bake muffins 20 minutes or until firm, golden brown, and slightly springy in the center. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar and serve warm or at room temperature with maple syrup and, if desired, a dollop of whipped cream. (Note: muffin cup liners can be removed easily if muffins are cooled to room temperature.)

Top Chef Tips

By Pat Tanner

In a recent e-letter from The Frog & The Peach in New Brunswick, executive chef Bruce Lefebvre offered this advice: “Bake cookies at 300 degrees despite what the recipe says, so that the center is cooked but the outside does not get too dark.” That prompted me to query other chefs for rules they flout. Mark Valenza, chef-owner of Za, a small, eclectic BYOB in Pennington, took my request in a slightly different direction, much to my delight, offering these top ten tips:

* SALT ALL FRIED FOOD Remember: like the potato chip, all fried foods are simply grease-and-salt delivery devices. Don’t ever serve me grease without my salt.

* IF YOU’VE NEVER MADE IT BEFORE try it out on the very young or the very old first. They’ll tell you the truth.

* WINE If it’s over ten years old, chances are you own a very expensive bottle of vinegar. Please don’t make your friends and family drink it. Admit its shortcomings and move on to the next bottle.

* VEGETABLES are marvelous, colorful, unique taste treats. Stop overcooking them.

* IF YOU’RE A RACHAEL RAY FAN C’mon, you already know how to eat cheap. Check out some old Julia Child shows and learn how to dine well.

* COOKING CLOTHES Get yourself a chef’s jacket; it will save your good sweater from grease stains and instill culinary confidence. No cute slogans printed on your jacket like “Kiss the Chef,” or “Grill Guy” - that will defeat the purpose.

* WHEN IN DOUBT add bacon.

* BONES Leave them in! Why do so many of us have an aversion to bones? We all know what we are eating, don’t we? Use bones; bones make food taste better.
* IF YOU HAVE VEGETARIAN OR VEGAN FRIENDS Serve them crudités. If they still insult the food you slaved over and like to eat, remember: it’s just that they’re hungry.

* DINING OUT Always dine at chef-owned BYOBs. The food is always better and you can save a lot of coin on wine and alcohol. Okay, so that was a little self-serving.

Naturally Delicious, Naturally Nora

by Pat Tanner

Ever read the ingredients list on a box of cake mix? “Natural” is not a word it conjures. On the other hand, no one is more skeptical than I when it comes to “all-natural” versions of what should be deliciously decadent convenience foods. Which is why I hesitated before agreeing to sample the mini-cupcake that a perfectly nice couple was proffering at last summer’s Fancy Food Show in New York.

Nora Schultz of Princeton and her husband, Steve, assured me that their all-natural cake and frosting mixes taste as good as homemade. The Schultzes left the corporate world (she, Campbell’s Soup; he, Colgate Palmolive) in order to launch the Naturally Nora line of five cake mixes and four frostings, all made without artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives, and no hydrogenated oils. Plus, all are certified kosher.

Clearly, I wouldn’t be telling you all this if my test cupcake of “Cookie Cookie” (yellow cake embedded with bits of chocolate cookie) with Cheerful Chocolate frosting hadn’t been scrumptious.

Fun flavors like Surprising Stars and Alot’a Dots make them perfect for kids’ parties – especially if your kid has certain allergies. The mixes themselves do not contain dairy, nuts, or soy – although some sort of milk product is added during home preparation. (Vanilla soymilk and some margarines are nondairy alternatives.)

Naturally Nora mixes are available at Whole Foods markets in Princeton and Marlton, at 26 Acme stores in NJ, online at amazon.com, and in nine other states and DC. For more info visit naturallynora.com. E-mail Nora there for details on how your school’s PTO can receive a donation of Naturally Nora products for a school bake sale.