Cherry Pie

In addition to the dressing, I also made a Cherry pie for Thanksgiving.
The crust was pretty easy. I used my favorite The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and found a recipe for Double-Crust Pie Dough. I don't have a food processor that I can use for baking (mine has been tainted with salsa) so I opted to use the hand-mixing method.

Double-Crust Pie Dough

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

8 Tbsp shortening, cut into 1/2 inch pieces and chilled

12 Tbsp unsalted butter, frozen in stick form until very firm

6-8 Tbsp ice water

Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the chilled shortening and press into the flour using a fork. Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater into the flour mixture then cut the mixture together with a pastry cutter or 2 butter knives, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle 6 Tbsp of ice water over the mixture and stir and press the dough together with a stiff rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. Add additional water a Tbsp at a time until it does come together if it doesn't the first time around.

Divide the dough in half and press into 4 inch rounds. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill about 1 hour. 

Let the dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out on a floured surface.

For the lattice top, roll dough out into a 10x13" rectangle and trim the edges with a pizza cutter. Using a pizza cutter and ruler, cut the dough into 1 1/4 inch wide strips that are 13 inches long. Transfer them to a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and freeze them for about 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, line the pie plate with the first rolled out dough and brush with beaten egg white. The dump in 2 cans of cherry pie filing. (Frankly, the stuff is yummy and it would cost considerably more for me to make it from scratch than to use the stuff that is so good I could eat it out of the can.) 

Using the frozen strips of dough lay four parallel strips about 1 inch apart across the top of the pie filling. Weave the remaining strips, one at a time over and under the first four strips. Lift gently so they don't break. 

After strips thaw and soften for a few minutes, trim the over-hanging edges of dough to 1/2 inch with a pair of kitchen sheers or a knife. Tuck the edge under and crimp. Brush the top with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar.

Place the pie on a line baking sheet (just in case it bubbles over) and bake according to the directions on the can of pie filling. I covered the edges with foil to prevent burning and removed the foil in the last few minutes to they could brown.

Thanksgiving

Then Came Thanksgiving:
I can't even begin to express everything that I am thankful for this year. I can tell you that I am unbelievably thankful for such a wonderful family and that we were all able to gather on Thanksgiving and enjoy each others' company. We are all healthy and happy and have so much to be grateful for. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

SO, here is what I had to bring to dinner.
I made the dressing. I read somewhere that it is stuffing when it is cooked inside the bird and dressing when it is cooked outside the bird. So, I made dressing. But, not your normal generic Stove Top stuffing.

First, you take a cup of butter and melt it in a pot. Yes, a cup of butter. Then add a cup of chopped onions, a cup of chopped apples, a cup of chopped celery, a cup of dried cranberries and a cup of chopped walnuts. Let it cook a while until everything softens up and the house smells AMAZING!

Then stir in a whole box (that is 2-6 oz bags) of dressing. Add one whole can of chicken broth. Mix gently, but well. Then spread it out in a greased casserole dish and cover with foil. Bake as directed on the back of the box for stuffing casserole. I believe it says 350 for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until browned on top. Yummy!

(This picture is before I let it brown completely on top.)

Green Bay Packers Cupcakes

I know it has been a while. I have been very busy with Thanksgiving and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I have a few things to post today. I am actually at Starbucks writing this because my wonderful husband maxed out our bandwidth usage for out satellite internet by leaving his computer on all night to upload music. So, I have been unable to use our internet at home with any more speed than dial up. (Terrible for uploading pictures by the way.)


First of all, I made cupcakes! They were for a baby shower although they had nothing to do with the baby and everything to do with the Green Bay Packers. I made red velvet (the same recipe I used for the Star cake), chocolate, vanilla, and spice cake (the same as Jack the Pumpkin King). All of them had buttercream icing, although I added cocoa powder to make it chocolate for the chocolate cupcakes and about 1 1/2 to 2 tsp of cinnamon to a whole batch to make cinnamon buttercream for the spice cakes. Really yummy!

I made marshmallow fondant and added a bit of sifted cocoa powder to it to make the chocolate footballs. After I let them set a little while I added the white royal icing laces. They came out really cute!

They looked like Deviled Eggs until I added the footballs and sprinkles.

Jack the Pumpkin King

Jack the Pumpkin King

I know its been awhile since I have posted anything, but I went on vacation and came back with my back out. However, I was asked on Tuesday to make a cake for my big sister's birthday on Thursday. I spent all day Wednesday creating this really neat cake. I was anxious to share it, but I had to wait until my sister saw it first. Fair warning, this will be a relatively long post, but it is so worth it.
It begins with a spice cake, her favorite. I baked two 9" rounds and a 6" ball. This is the first time I tried the Wilton Bake Even Strips and can I just say that I am in love! You wet them and wrap them around your cake pan. It makes the cake rise and bake completely flat! No leveling required! And, the edges don't get done before the rest of it. They are amazing. OK, enough of a side note. I don't have any step by step pictures of baking the cake because, frankly, I was in a hurry to get to bed.

New Duchess Spice Cake

Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook

2 1/3 cups sifted All-Purpose Flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp salt

1 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup soft shortening

1 cup buttermilk

3 eggs

Sift together the flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Add the brown sugar, shortening and buttermilk. Scrape the sides of the bowl and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Once they are all mixed in, beat an additional 2 minutes.

Pour into prepared pans (I used Pam for baking). This is where I wrapped my pans with the amazing bake even strips. Bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool on a wire rack.

Cinnamon Sugar Cream Cheese Filling

http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Cinnamon-Sugar-Cream-Cheese-Filling 

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese softened

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup milk

In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese first (I didn't, it get lumpy). Then add the rest of the ingredients and beat with a mixer until well blended. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. 

Basic Buttercream Frosting

http://www.chsugar.com/recipes/recipedisplay.asp?RecipeId=Va1015200120234  

I modified this recipe to make more volume without the extra butter that melts easily.

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup softened butter

2/3 cup shortening

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer. To make black icing I mixed in a little cocoa powder with the black gel coloring to get a deep black.

Marshmallow Fondant

http://www.easy-cake-ideas.com/marshmallow-fondant.html  

There is a good tutorial video on here too.

16 oz mini marshmallows

3 Tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

2 lbs powdered sugar

Crisco Shortening

Heavily grease a large microwave safe bowl, the bowl of an electric mixer and the dough hook that goes with it.

Melt the marshmallows with water in the microwave on high for about a minute to a minute and a half until melted. Stir until smooth and stir in vanilla.

Reserve about 1/4 cup powdered sugar and sift the rest of it into the greased mixing bowl. Pour in the marshmallow mixture and begin mixing until a dough forms. If it is still sticky add the remaining powdered sugar. Beat until the dough is soft and smooth. Pull it out of the bowl and knead on a greased surface with greased hands. Knead in color if you want. Knead about 5 minutes until smooth and wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for about 1 to 2 hours. When ready to use roll out on a very lightly powdered sugared surface.

To assemble, place a small amount of icing on a cake board to glue the bottom layer of the 9" round in place. Then I put small strips of parchment just under the edges of the cake to keep the icing from making a mess all over the place. (Saw it on Semi-homemade, loved it.) Spread the Cinnamon Sugar Cream Cheese Filling on top of the bottom layer. Gently stack the second round on top. Apply a crumb coat (thin layer of icing to keep the crumbs from showing in the final layer of icing). Chill the cake until icing is set. Then apply a thicker layer of buttercream until there is about a 1/4" of icing.

See - Nice clean edges!

Chill the iced cake to set the icing. 

The 6" round. This was a great buy. It is the Wilton Sports Ball Pan. I should have filled it with less cake batter because it overflowed (thank goodness for the cookie sheet underneath). When it is done and cooled in the pan, level the cake with a sharp serrated knife, using the lip of the pan as a guide. This way the two halves will fit together smoothly. Remove from the pans and continue to cool on a wire rack. I covered them with a clean dish cloth and left them over night. It seemed to make the rounds more sturdy and less fragile. Slice a small piece of cake off the bottom of one of the halves so that it sits flat on the counter. Apply filling to the base layer and stack the second round on top. I placed 2 skewers into the cake to hold the two halves where I want them while I applied the crumb coat. I set the whole thing (on waxed paper on a cutting board) in the freezer for about 20 minutes. I wanted it good and set before I moved on. Carefully remove the skewers and apply another layer of white buttercream. I read somewhere, of course after I was done with this project, that you can take a paper towel and lay it over your semi-set buttercream to smooth and marks with your hands. Unfortunately I did not do this.

I made orange pumpkins out of the orange fondant and white skulls and mini Jacks out of the white. For the pumpkins, form a ball and then make ridges in it with a fondant too or any straight edge. Then I used a point to make a small indentation in the top to kind of bring all the ridges together and make a place for the stem. I formed round balls for the mini Jacks and sort of an oblong shape with slight indentations for the skulls. I set them on waxed paper and left them out in the open to allow them to dry out a little.

The tools I used are here.

Moving back to the base cake. I made black buttercream and piped a broken fence all around the cake using a #4 tip. The I piped shells along the bottom edge of the cake. 

I carefully covered the round with white rolled fondant. Note that I said carefully, but definitely not perfectly. I cut a wooden dowel to about 8" and stuck it through the 9" cake all the way to the cake board. The I carefully placed Jack's head on the dowel to stabilize him so he didn't slide around the cake.

I piped another black shell border around the base of Jack's head. The I piped green buttercream stems onto the pumpkins and black royal icing faces on the skulls and mini Jacks. (The royal icing was left from a cookie project.) I arranged the pumpkins and skulls/jacks around the base of the cake and the top of the cake around Jack. I then piped green vines on and around the pumpkins, as well as small leaves. I wrote Happy Birthday on it in white buttercream.

I drew a pair of eyes, a nose and a small smile on some waxed paper and then piped royal icing on the opposite side of the waxed paper and filled it in with flood icing. Then I sprinkled on edible confetti (black). This had to set all night to completely dry. I also made some bats to add to the side.

The next day, after the royal icing was completely set, I carefully peeled them off the waxed paper. I used the waxed paper to trace the eyes, nose and mouth onto the fondant head with a rounded fondant tool. Then using an exacto knife, I cut out the shapes and removed them. Once again using the rounded tool, I carefully pushed the edges of the cavities outward and smoothed them over until the eyes, nose and mouth would fit in the vacant holes. The final product? Amazing!