For Unto Us An Oven Is Born!

For unto us an oven is given.

Unto us, an oven is born!

And the government shall be upon its shouuuuuulders!

And its name shall be called WONDERFUL!  OOOOOOVEN!!!

And this is where the analogy of my new oven to the Baby Jesus (haps to the bday dude!) ends.

Goodbye Old Oven, we don't miss you at all.

When your oven breaks ...

You feel really sad.

Then you turn off the gas and open the windows so you don't die. 

Then you order Chinese.  And hope your landlord reads your blog and buys you a new oven.

Quick Cast Iron Chicken Wings

At Casi di Fierce, we watch a lot of football.  Plans are made from September to February well in advance.  Saturdays & Sundays = football = chicken wings. (And beer, but that's another story.  But it might explain why these photos are not that focused.)

Eight Down, Five to Go

Hey internet!  How's it going?  I'm good.  I have what some people would refer to as "a tan" (or, others, "normal human coloring").  Thanks, Hawaii!  You were awesome.  You are also good at mai tais, happy hour all the time, Japanese tourists, Louis Vuitton, and sunshine.  In no particular order.  Keep it up!

 Anyway, enough about Hello Kitty-themed buffet restaurants.  Do you remember when I broke my camera, got a new one, said I would blog All The Time and Be Really Good At The Internet, and even made a list to prove it?  That was a long time ago.  

Let's see where we stand on my commitment to you.

Bad Blogger Chili & Cornbread

I am a bad blogger.  Recent C Fierce Life Events that have kept me from Le Blog include but are not limited to:

• Moving apartments.
• A war with the United States Postal Service - "delivering the mail" is not something they do well, let's not even get into this.  However if you need any phone numbers to high-ranking USPS officials just let me know.
• Ninety degree days in October that make me want to do anything BUT turn on the oven.  Last night I had strawberries and sour cream for dinner.  (Trust me: delicious.)
• General lack of effort towards kitchen-related activities.
• Not being able to open up the end of my camera to put the pluggy-inny thingy in it to add photos to my computer because YEAH I work in the IT industry and I'm good at computerz.
• Driving a car.  This might sound strange to our non-DC readers, but it is a Huge Life Change for me.  Stay off the roads.

I know, pathetic.  And inexcusable to our twelve readers (Hi Mom!).  What can I say? I'm a bad blogger.  Sigh.

Here is some chili and cornbread we made yesterday.  

That is queso fresco and avocado on that chili.  (Guess who likes to play with the Hipstamatic iPhone app.  THIS GIRL.  Especially when she can't use her regular camera because she's a dingbat.)

Too Hot To Cook

All this summertime vacationing -- and hosting vacationers! -- has equaled lots of dinners out, in town and away from home, for the Sisters Fierce.  We've had lobster, steak up to our ears, peach cobblers in spades, crabcakes out the wazoo ... you get the point.  And all these amazing dinners mean that sometimes all a girl wants is a simple dinner at home.  And when this particular girl gets home and the hour hand has nudged beyond 8pm, the last thing she want to do is cook. 

I especially do not want to cook, if, at 8pm, the temperature is still hovering near 80 degrees, which is unfortunately highly typical for my fair city.  In fact, in its early days, my town was deemed a "hardship" post for foreign ambassadors due to its swamplike conditions.  Deeeelightful!

Enter C Fierce's Summer Weeknight Dinner to the rescue.

Please ignore my giant thumb.  It's the same size as the raspberry.  That is not normal.

That's crackers, goat cheese, fruit and some honey.  (Sometimes there is balsamic vinegar if I'm feeling extra fancypants!)  I eat this meal, or a variation of it, at least three nights a week.  Especially if no one else is home and I know I'm going to just eat the goat cheese standing in front of the fridge with a spoon so why not put it on a plate in the first place, self.

Oh lord it's even bigger here ... You don't even know how hard it is to type with these things.

C Fierce's Weeknight Summer Dinner
Ingredients
Crackers (as many as you can get out of the cellophane wrapper without them breaking, eat the ones you broke standing over the sink)
Fruit (at least as many pieces/slices of fruit as you have crackers)
Goat cheese (way more than you think is necessary because you know you're going to eat it off the plate anyway)
Honey (a little prep-bowl-full)
Optional: Lemon juice, cracked black pepper, fancy salts, whatever the heck you think tastes good

Method
Put the ingredients on a plate.
Eat them.
The end.

July, where did you go?

So, um ... where have we been?  That's a good question.  We have posts drafted - lots of them!  We promise.  We have all kinds of things to tell you about!  Seriously.  We've been eating lots of good food, some of it stuff we even made.  There are granola bars, and cakes, and homemade juice.  There are cherry pies.  And steak for breakfast.  And and and.

It's just that, well, we've been a little busy.  C Fierce went on vacation.

She did some blueberry picking, too, and got her blueberry-picking-butt kicked by KFTF's mom (remember him?) who somehow managed to pick eight pounds of blueberries in four minutes.  (There are rumors out there that she might be taking blueberry-picking-performance-enhancing-drugs, but more on the juice later.)

J Fierce moved.  Twice.  (She has a very bad habit of doing this every ten to twelve months.  She keeps your address book on your toes.)

July, it seems, has gotten away from us.  Don't despair, internet friends (and the ten followers who read us who are not related to us - seriously, who are you people? we love you. Tell your friends about us).  Once the dust settles - and J unpacks, by which time she will be ready to move again - we'll be back on track with all those delicious little posts.

Stay tuned, because we miss you, too. 

Carrot Cake Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing

People of the internet.  Stop whatever it is that you're doing.  Look at this cookie, hovering in the ether.  Don't you want to just reach through your computer screen, grab a hold of that sucker and just devour it?

Yes, I thought so too.

Go get yourself some carrots, a bottle of Maker's Mark, some raisins and a lemon.  You are going to need a few more things but these are a very good start.

Crunchy Granola

Oh, granola.  You are such a fickle creature, aren't you?  Crunchy or chewy.  Bars or ... cereal.  With chocolate or without.  Coconut?  Maybe.  There are as many varieties of granola as there are fish in the sea.  Okay, maybe not that many.  But you get my point.

In college I spent a year overseas and became addicted to an unpronounceable brand of granola that to this day makes my heart swoon.  We bought it from the cheap German warehouse grocery store - and I mean, I bought it by the kilo (if you know your conversions, that's really not that much).  Hunks of dark chocolate lurked throughout and stumbling upon them was a revelation.  I ate it for breakfast, I ate it for dessert.  I ate it for a snack, straight out of the box, anytime, all the time.  This granola?  This shit was GOOD.  And I loved it.

Spinach Salad with Roasted Cherry Tomato Dressing

I have to admit something, internet.  I do not like grapes.  I know this is very wrong of me, that people go ape over grapes, that they are the classic summertime snack.  I just don't like them.  They make my stomach hurt and I think they are blander than a beige painting on a taupe wall.

However.  I love me some cherry tomatoes.  Lest you think this is a bizarre tangent, think for a moment, please, on the size and shape of grapes and cherry tomatoes.  Pretty much the exact same, right?  Yet grapes, in all their spherical glory, really gross me out.  

Now some cherry tomatoes ... oh my.  I cannot imagine a life on this earth without them - I can easily put away a pint in two minutes flat.  Pop pop popping them in my mouth one at a time until they're gone, they are my grapes.  But cherry tomatoes are better than grapes in so many ways - bet you can't make this delicious salad dressing with a pint of grapes, now can you!  Ha!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama Fierce

Have you mailed your mother's day card yet?  Better get to the post office, kiddos!  Your mom is waiting!  And if you forgot, oh boy.  Call up the flower shop immediately.

What better way to celebrate Mother's Day at The Sisters Fierce than to dedicate a post to our fantastic Mama Fierce?  She's obviously influenced us in many ways, not only genetics and the remarkable ability to turn any sentence into a pout.  (Trust us on this one.  Just ask our boyfriends.)

 

Look at those babes! Mama Fierce on the right, and our amazingly gorgeous Grandma Ruth, whom we miss very much, every single day.  And we also wish they had held on to their wardrobes - yes, those are little anchors on Mama Fierce's dress.  Ahoy!

Mama Fierce taught us how to drive stick shift, why you should always always ALWAYS wear earrings (you'll feel naked without them), and many other Very Important Life Lessons.  But since this blog revolves around food, we thought we'd share some of the many tips and tricks Mama Fierce taught us in the kitchen.

1. Confectioner's sugar is not flour.  Mistaking one for the other does not a good broccoli soup make.
2. The electric cooktop is not the best place to leave a cordless phone (or two or twelve).
3. Come to think of it, the microwave is also not really a great spot for a wire-framed basket.  Oops.
4. Don't be afraid to make substitutions. Lasagna will probably be just as good if you realize you don't have enough ricotta so you use cottage cheese instead.  (See #1 when you are curious as to what substitutes well for flour.)
5. Don't be afraid to stay out of the kitchen for an evening or two. Use up your leftovers. We both inherited the penchant for finishing off random small bits of dinners past from Mama Fierce: occasionally skipping a whole meal and replacing it with a snack when you've eaten well all day is just fine. This is called "grazing."
6. Stave off the pre-dinner munchies with a pile of crudites.  We think slicing a bunch of veggies was a diversion tactic meant to keep her four wild, ravenous, hungry children out of her hair. It worked and we ate more veggies. 
7. Does your kitchen stink because you burnt something?  This never happens to us, just so you know. But in case it did... Bring about a cup or so of water to boil on the stove and throw in some cinnamon, cloves, or other aromatic spice.  Let that simmer away for an hour or two and presto chango - stinko gone-o.  
8. Sometimes, simply setting the table does wonders for your mood.  When we were in high school and had free lunches, each and every Wednesday, Mama Fierce would make us lunch at home.  It could have been blue-box-mac-n-cheese or a plain turkey sandwich, but she always set the table.  Flowers from our backyard garden, real napkins and placemats, too.  Taking the time to make things a little nicer is always worth it.  Our mom always makes sure to tell us she loves us, but more importantly, she always takes the time to show us she loves us, too.

Of course she's also imparted to us some absolutely killer recipes.  We drool just thinking about Mama Fierce's famous summer strawberry pie - and her Texas sheetcake is just absurd. Stay tuned this week for those recipes.  We can't wait to share them with you, and in case she thought we forgot ...

Happy Mother's Day to the greatest mom on earth.  We love you Mama Fierce!

Farmers Market Breakfast

Springtime in DC is a treacherous time.  Will it be humid?  Rainy?  Ninety nine degrees out or 52?  How many tourists will I need to push down the escalators on the metro?  Three minutes into my morning commute today I immediately regretted not wearing tights.  Yes, the weather forecast says it will be 72, but when it's 43 degrees at 7:45am, my legs, they are a-shiverin.

However, with the springtime weather ups and downs comes some forms of sunshine: produce!  At the farmers markets!  Certainly, it is glorious.  There is really nothing that makes a weekend as lovely as a morning walk down to the bustling market, scoping out the vendors, doing some good people watching ... and of course, picking up fresh produce.

Homemade Bagels

Goodness gracious.  We've had this post in the queue for what, oh, four weeks now - we know, we know, we already apologized, but the last month has been a bit ... involved.  So.  Now that we have that out of the way for good, MOVING ON.  Don't these look lovely?

That's J Fierce's poppyseed bagel on the left, and C Fierce's onion garlic salt bagel on the right.  We spent a few days together hanging out at J Fierce's, eating a lot of dried sour cherries, making mango/pineapple/strawberry/mint salsa (it's probably still in the fridge somewhere because someone *ahem ahem C Fierce* got a leeetle carried away with chopping the pineapple), grilling steak, eating the best fried chicken in town, drinking beer out of mason jars ... and didn't even have any fights!  Nope, no bar fights!  And no fights with each other, either, which, in itself, is an amazing feat.  (Ask J Fierce about the time she refused to speak to C Fierce and Little Brother Fierce for the entire duration of a flight, layover, and subsequent flight.  ALL OVER A STUPID FOUNTAIN SODA.  WEIRD I THINK MY CAPS LOCKS KEY GOT STUCK.)

ANYWAY back to the bagels.  Some were cuter than others ...

Lemony Apple Spice Muffins

Question and Answer Time, Internet!  

Q.  Where in the world have the Sisters Fierce BEEN all this time?
A.  Hunting on the Serengeti.  Floating around the world in a hot air balloon in ninety days.  Suffering with a broken stove/oven combo and waiting for the landlords to replace it.   Starting a new job and re-learning how most jobs work ... i.e. having interesting fun work to do during work time instead of blogging.  (OOPS.)

Q. What is a cupcake without frosting?  
A.  A muffin.

Q. Who wants a cupcake without frosting?  
A.  NOBODY.  Not the Sisters Fierce, no sir.

However, a few Sundays ago I found myself scrounging the pantry for something, anything, to bring to a potluck cookout.  The weather?  Rainy.  The mood?  Cozy.  The pantry?  Nearly empty.  Quickly rifling through the cupboards and a half a dozen cookbooks, I came to a winning solution.  Shredded apples, a touch of lemon and spice, and a happy little muffin was born, no frosting necessary.  Enjoy the recipe after the jump.

Irish Fix #2: Pistachio Praline Bars

Did you SEE the Irish-flag inspired apricots from J Fierce on Monday, people?!  In my best Chandler Bing voice, could they BE any cuter???  We've been busy thinking up good "green" treats for you, internet, and we hope you like them.

If you're up for a little more of a challenge this St Patty's Day, you should try these pistachio praline bars.  Do not be afraid of making these.  Do not let "candy making" scare you away.  All you need is a little self-restraint.  You'll need self-restraint in Not Stirring The Boiling Sugar For Ten Minutes, and a little more self-restraint in Not Eating The Entire Tray In Ten Minutes Flat After You Finish.

Toasted Oat Shortbread Cookies

Is there anyone out there who doesn't just love a good dinner party?  No?  I didn't think so.  A few weekends ago some friends got together for dinner, drinks and some very impromptu nineties-pop-hip-hop-karaoke.  (Okay, it wasn't karaoke in the sense that we actually had microphones, or speakers, or those tvs with the words on the screen.  A remote-control-substitute-for-the-mic does just fine when you really need to belt out some Mariah, BoyzIIMen, TLC, or maybe even some Ace of Base.  Or some All4One.  I won't judge.  Nor will I post any of those photos on this blog.)

Spinach Mascarpone Dip

You may have caught on to the Sisters Fierce trait that is loving food in miniature.  It's true, food is always better when it's little.  For Christmas, J Fierce gave me six mini brioche tins and six mini bread loaf pans (which brings the total I own to 14, which is completely and utterly normal).  Last year she gave me a set of mini cookie cutters and a mini whisk keychain which is quite possibly the cutest thing in the world (outside of a weiner dog in a hot dog outfit).  


This fascination with making baked goods small doesn't stop there.  Each year on our birthdays we end up getting each other things like Le Creuset ramekins.  You know the ones - tomato or pepper shaped?  Last year J Fierce received an artichoke.  A few years back she gave me a little garlic one, and this year I received a Staub pumpkin.  What can I say, we're easy to please.  Well, easy to please when it comes to buying gifts for one another that involve food items.  Other than that, a little tougher.

Here is some delicious spinach dip in the pumpkin.  SERIOUSLY isn't that CUTE.  Almost as cute as these guys.  Okay I promise, I'm done.  Moving on!

The Best Banana Bread Ever

There is someone in my house who buys bananas like they are going out of style.  I don't understand it.  There's no rule that says you must purchase the entire bunch - the grocery store police won't arrest you if you buy AN banana or TWO bananas.  Yet the bananas continue to appear.  What's a girl to do with all these very ripe bananas?


Banana bread.  Duh.  But to get specific - this is the best banana bread.  I don't want to go too far in calling it ... healthy ... but it's wholesome in all the right ways.  Meaning, you won't eat it and think "boy this is healthy" which everyone knows is code for "this tastes like crap but I guess I'm supposed to like it because it's good for me."  You wouldn't even need to convince someone to eat it for health benefits.  It's delicious on its own merit.  It's sweetened by honey and a hint of vanilla, and has a gorgeous crumb that doesn't fall apart when you take a bite.  People, banana bread is not cornbread.  It should not be crumbly, okay?


I adapted this from a very basic recipe that I had written down on an index card a few years ago.  With some tweaks along the way, this recipe has morphed into The Best Banana Bread Ever.  It makes two loaves, is easily halved, and even easier MINI-SIZED!!!  This time around, it yielded one regular loaf and six mini-loaves (with chocolate chips).  Yes, I own 14 mini bread loaf pans.  What are you going to do about it, huh?  


The Best Banana Bread EVER


Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
2 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (optional, but why wouldn't you?)


Method
Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease two 9 x 5 in loaf pans (or 12 mini-loaf pans because they are way cuter and easier to give to friends).


In a large bowl, whisk together flours, wheat germ, salt and baking soda.  In a medium bowl, combine bananas, vegetable oil, honey, eggs, egg whites, and vanilla extract.


Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.  Add the banana mixture and stir until just combined.  (Do not overbeat or the bread will be heavy.  This is especially important because of the whole wheat flour and wheat germ - be nice to the gluten!)  Stir in the chocolate chips if using.  Pour batter into prepared pans.


For two standard loaves, bake 60 minutes.  (I know, it sounds like a long time, but start checking for doneness at 45 minutes with a toothpick.)  For mini loaves, start checking at 25 minutes.  Your house is going to smell SO DANG GOOD.


Cool on wire rack.  Enjoy plain or with butter or with cream cheese or with oh crap I am so hungry now.

Operation: Cheeseburger

Imagine, if you will, that you're relaxing on the couch on a snowy Sunday afternoon. Flipping through the channels, your heart rate is rising as you get way too involved in the men's Nordic combined Olympic race. COME ON AMERICA!  You need to watch something a little less involved. Hmmm, what's on Food Network? Three hours of that Mark-McGrath-from-Sugar-Ray-only-bloated guy? Sign me up, yes, I will watch six episodes of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, moving only to adjust my sweatpants. Yes, I will crave cheeseburgers like the deserts miss the rain.

So this, dear readers, is what led us to Operation: Cheeseburger. Too much Guy Fieri can do that to a person. We scoured the food mags and blogs for the best recipes - ketchup, mayo, brioche buns and burgers were on the horizon. And good lord was it delicious. I would suggest you skip the step that involved grinding the meat from sirloin and strip steak. Fun, but slightly unnecessary and extremely time-consuming, but it makes for a nice photo, doesn't it?

Homemade mayonnaise comes together in approximately 32 seconds. People, do this. Your life will never be the same. I am not even going to make the recipe hard: Put two egg yolks, juice from a half a lemon and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse for about ten seconds. Then add in a steady stream of 3/4 cup of vegetable or canola oil (don't use olive oil, it's way too overpowering) while you run the FoodPro (what, that's what Kevin on Iron Chef calls it) for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides, try not to eat it straight from the bowl, adding salt and pepper to taste.

DONE. That was easy, right? I'm telling you, it is so delicious and so worth it. What is equally delicious is homemade ketchup. It takes a LOT longer than the mayo but it is so rustic and flavorful. I'm not saying I'm throwing away my Heinz 57 anytime soon, but the homemade ketchup is killer. Check out the recipe after the jump.

So, you've got your burgers, your mayo and your ketchup made ... unless you are J Fierce, you need a bun for this bad boy. (It's true - she eats a cheeseburger sans bun, knife and fork, like a wackadoo.) Do not be afraid of making these cheeseburger buns. They are so easy and So.Very.Very.Good. Light and fluffy, but sturdy enough to hold up a big juicy burger with all the toppings, these burger buns are worth the time. And what, you're just watching Guy Fieri and his bad facial hair all afternoon, get yourself in the kitchen and get these going.

Toppings and sides are up to you - personally, my preference is a slather of mayo and ketchup on the top bun, followed by a good melty cheese like Havarti or Gouda, caramelized onions and bacon. If you're like KFTF, you will put the lettuce and any other toppings (such as disgusting pickles, ew I just barfed on my keyboard) between the burger and the bottom bun to maximize potential. Sides, as you can see in the above photo, involve more onions and baby red potatoes. I am not going to lie, these were roasted in bacon fat. No, I do not weight 400 pounds, but at times I wonder how in the world I don't.

Do with your burger what you will, but pretty please, make it homemade. Recipes after the jump (did you see how I did that like a real live blogger?  So proud).

Snow Storm Survival: Bake Some Bread (UPDATED with photos and two bad puns!)

Updated with my own photo of my street from Sunday (pre-blizzard-part-two)!  (Please note the height of the snowdrift in relation to the cross-walk push button.  That is not an optical illusion, internet.)

Being good Midwestern girls, the Sisters Fierce are well-prepared for snow storms.  Growing up, we lived two doors up the street from a Methodist church with a huge parking lot.  Any time it snowed, we spend countless hours with the Brothers Fierce and assorted neighborhood kids playing in the parking lot.  "Playing in the snow in the parking lot" in print doesn't really sound like as much fun - or as safe, really - as it was.  (Don't worry, the parking lot was plowed, so there were always massive snowdrifts just begging for sledding.)  So play in the snow in the parking lot we did - building tunnels, igloos, snow forts ... we played outside until we were so cold we couldn't feel our fingers and toes.  We survived snow like any good kids would.


Fast forward to The Great Snowpocalypse of 2010 of the Eastern Shoreboard and you will find the Sisters Fierce surviving just as we did as kids.  Now, that doesn't mean you will find C Fierce building a fort on the middle of Connecticut Avenue in Washington, DC.  You won't find J Fierce running around with mismatched gloves in the nearest parking lot she can find.  Nope, what do the Sisters Fierce do when it snows?


We bake.  


Saturday morning I awoke to nearly two feet of snow blanketing the streets.  Leafing through my Williams Sonoma: Baking book, I took on the bread recipe that involved the longest rises.  What else was I going to do?  Run a mile or something?  (HA HA HA.  You know I don't RUN.  Unless I am being chased by a bear or a cyborg.  But not for FUN.)

Two loaves of beer bread, I got caraway-d away with one.  Get it?  There are caraway seeds.  Sorry.  You're sadly nodding if you've already met my father.  Next time you see him ask him what he calls a guy with no arms and no legs hanging on the wall.

Scandinavian Beer Bread is the perfect snow day recipe.  You probably have all of the ingredients in your fridge already - what, you don't have a can of dark stout beer?  Any dark beer will do.  And you get to drink the rest of it while you wait.  It says so right in the recipe.  The beer adds a deep flavor to the bread, taking it above and beyond a typical rye loaf.  In fact, I'd even substitute more whole wheat flour next time to really give it an earthy sweetness.  This bread is best right out of the oven, even better with a good hearty schmear of butter.
 
I put together a quick herb butter with some chives, thyme, salt and pepper, because I was bored and because I freaking LOVE butter.  Don't be afraid of adding herbs or other spices to butter - just get it to room temperature, chop up whatever you have on hand, and mix it together using a fork.  When everything's combined, get out a piece of plastic wrap.  Put the herb butter in the middle of the plastic wrap and roll it into a log.  Then put that baby in the fridge.  Unwrap it when company comes over and holy hannah they'd think you are the second coming of Martha.


When the snow continued its assault on the region, leaving me - and hundreds of thousands of other good little federal worker bees - at home for the past, oh, nine hundred days, I got busy with other recipes.  In order to stretch out my blog posts, stay tuned for a Very Detailed Post On How C Fierce Conquered Brioche And It Only Took Eight Hours But What Else Can You Do WHEN IT'S SNOWED EIGHT HUNDRED FEET IN THE PAST FOUR HOURS.  AND YOU CAN'T GET YOUR PHOTOS UPLOADED BECAUSE THE CORD IS AT YOUR OFFICE and so I'm really sorry about that.
Anyway - Happy Snow Day/Week/February.  Stay warm and bake bread!


Scandinavian Beer Bread
from Williams Sonoma: Baking


Ingredients
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 cup dark beer, warmed to 110 F
1 tsp salt
2 cups rye flour
3 - 3 1/3 cups unbleached bread flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup dark corn syrup (and before you get all mean on me, anti-corn syrup people, please, this makes two loaves of bread, 18-20 slices each, so a quarter cup of evil dark corn syrup means about a sniff in each loaf so get over it. end rant.)
1 egg white, well beaten

Method
In a large bowl (in the bowl of your stand mixer is best), dissolve the yeast into the lukewarm water and let stand until bubbles start to rise, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the beer, rye flour, and one cup of the bread flour.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour. 

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter.  Stir in the corn syrup and let cool to lukewarm (110 F), then add to the flour mixture.  Gradually store in 1 1.2 cups more bread flour to make a stiff but workable dough.  Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.


Knead by hand or with a dough hook, adding bread flour as needed.  Knead by hand until smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes; knead by hook until the dough is not sticky and pulls cleanly from the bowl sides, about 10 minutes.  Form the dough into a ball and place in a clean, greased bowl, turning to coat all sides.  Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 60-70 minutes.  (My "warm place" when baking bread involves turning on the oven to 200 F, shutting every door and window, and letting the dough rise in a bowl covered loosely with greased plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel over it, sitting on top of the now-warmed stove.  Every house is different so just figure out where it works best in yours.)


Dust a baking sheet with flour.  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and press flat.  Cut in half and form each half into a ball, stretching the sides down and under, then flatten slightly.  Place on the prepared baking sheet.  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled, 45-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Brush the loaves with the egg white mixture.  Bake until browned and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottoms, 35-40 minutes.  (If you have a teeny oven like me, you will need to rotate the baking sheet halfway through to ensure even browning.)  Wrap in kitchen towels to promote a soft crust and place on a wire rack to cool.


Yield: 2 14-oz loaves

Orange-Grand Marnier Chiffon Cake

Those of you who know me in person, and not just on the internet - hey followers who aren't related to us! We love you! - know that I have a THING for baking cakes. Big cakes. Triple layer cakes. Cakes that serve 20 people. Cakes cakes cakes. The thing is, I can't really indulge in baking ginormo cakes all the time - there are only two of us in the Fierce household and it's not really healthy to keep layer cakes on hand.

When any birthday rolls around, I immediately head to my go-to-celebration-cake-bible: Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes. This book is truly a stellar collection of beautiful, tasty, very-tall cakes. So yes, I did make my own birthday cake. Granted, I brought it to work to share with my fellow birthday colleagues. Apparently we're awash in Aquarians. (And yes, these photos were taken in my office conference room, so please, it's not my fault the lighting is so bad. Just pretend I am as good a photographer as J Fierce, okay?)

I followed the recipe word-for-word except for one wee thing: the white chocolate frosting. I personally cannot stand white chocolate. Might as well eat a crayon. I attempted it for this one, and did the filling and crumb-coat the night before, leaving the rest of the frosting overnight to set up. And set up it did NOT - I think, perhaps because I started this cake at eight pm and it was around midnight when I got to the frosting, and yes, this is what I do instead of go to happy hour. The nastypants white chocolate was too hot when I folded in the whipped cream, leaving the frosting grainy. There was no way I was covering the cake in three cups full o'nastiness (J Fierce notes that she has asked her sister to consult a thesaurus the next time she uses two variations on the word nasty so close together). So I just did a quick whipped cream with a couple of generous splashes of GM instead and topped the cake with white chocolate curls. Some people like eating crayons, I guess.

So - enough about baking it; how did it taste? I have to say. It was pretty darn delicious. This chiffon cake, with no butter and merely 1/4 cup of oil, has a delicate spongy-crumb texture which pairs perfectly with the orangey Grand Marnier syrup and orange zest. Baking the cake the night before serving really allows the syrup to sink in to the cake, getting everyone nicely acquainted in the flavor department. Please, take a moment to observe the diagram below to see the Flavor Distribution Departments. Happy Birthday to Me, Indeed.

Orange-Grand Marnier Cake: makes a 9-inch triple-layer cake; serves 16-20

Ingredients

1 3/4 c cake flour

1 1/2 c sugar (divided)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c neutral vegetable oil, such as canola, soybean or vegetable blend

8 eggs, separated

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tbsp grated orange zest

1/3 c water

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Grand Mariner Syrup (recipe follows)

Orange-Grand Marnier Frosting (recipe follows, if you like eating crayons)

Candied orange peel and/or white chocolate shavings for decoration

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the bottoms of three 9-inch round cake pans with parchment or waxed paper but do not grease the pans.

2. Sift the flour, 1 cup of the sugar, the baking soda and salt into a large bowl; stir to blend. Whisk in the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, orange zest and water under well blended.

3. Put the egg whites in a clean large mixer bowl with the cream of tartar and, using the whip attachment of an electric mixer, beat until frothy. Slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and whip until soft peaks form. Do not overbeat or the cake will be dry.

4. Add one-fourth of the beaten whites to the cake batter and fold them in to lighten the batter. Gently fold in the remaining whites just until no streams remain. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

5. Bake the cake layers for 16 - 18 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in the pans. Run a blunt knife around the rim of each cake to release the edges, invert onto a wire rack, and carefully peel off the paper liners.

6. To assemble your cake, place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate, flat side up. Using a brush, generously moisten the top of the layer with 1/4 c of the Grand Marnier Syrup; then spread 1 cup of the Orange-Grand Marnier Frosting evenly over it. Repeat with the second layer and more syrup and frosting. Top off with the third layer, flat side up. Brush with the last of the syrup and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Garnish with candied orange peel and white chocolate shavings.

Grand Marnier Syrup

1/4 c sugar

1/2 c water

1/4 c Grand Marnier

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup is reduced to 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat. Let cool completely, then stir in the Grand Marnier.

Orange-Grand Marnier Frosting

6 oz fine-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 1/2 c heavy cream

2 tablespoons Grand Mariner

1 tbsp grated orange zest

1. In a medium heatproof bowl, melt the white chocolate with 1/2 cup of the heavy cream over barely simmering water. Stir until smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in the Grand Marnier and orange zest.

2. In a large chilled bowl with chilled beaters, whip the remaining 2 cups cream until almost completely stiff. Add the whipped cream to the white chocolate mixture and gently fold it in.

Alternate idea: don't waste your money on white chocolate and instead just get your bowl and beaters nice and cold (pop them in the freezer for ten minutes or so), and whip a pint of heavy cream with a few healthy tablespoons of sugar and a couple of glugs of GM. Trust me on this one.

Peanut Butter Cookies

If you're anything like The Sisters Fierce, you grew up with the belief that mixed nuts are a very important part of life.  "It's not a party unless there are mixed nuts!"  (Ten points to the first commenter who knows who said this, and Dad you can't play.)  Canisters upon canisters tucked away in cabinets, those little tins of scrumptious-ness were always on hand - cashews, macadamia, brazil nuts, almonds, maybe some hazelnuts - or heaven help us some pecans! - if you're feeling extra fancy.  And always, always always always, peanuts.  The lowly peanut, always the last remaining little nuts in those salty mixes.  They always get picked over, left alone after the more attractive nuts get gobbled up.

Be silent no more, little peanut!  You're the star of the Mixed Nut Brigade once we get you into these cookies.  Containing a double dose of peanutty punch, these cookies are heavenly.  The batter? Delicious.  The aroma as they're baking in the oven?  Perfumes your entire one-bedroom-apartment.  (If you have a Real House the delicious scent may be confined to your kitchen.)  The taste?  Crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle.  In short, these cookies make the peanut shine.

The best way to make these cookies is to enjoy a federal holiday, watching hours of HGTV reruns, and experimenting with cookie sizes with a girlfriend who happens to be an excellent Crosshatcher Of Peanut Butter Cookies.  If you can't fit all that into your schedule ... sucks to be you, I guess.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted ever-so-slightly from the America's Test Kitchen Monster Cookbook

2 ½ c. flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
½ lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. extra-crunchy peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. roasted salted peanuts, finely ground in food processor


Adjust oven rack to low-center position. Heat oven to 350°. Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper.


Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in medium bowl, set aside.


Either by hand or with electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes with electric mixer, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary. Beat in peanut butter until fully incorporated, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gently stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture. Add ground peanuts, stir gently until just incorporated.  Resist the temptation to eat the batter by the spoonful.


Working with generous 2 tablespoons each time, roll dough into 2 inch balls. Place balls on parchment-lined cookie sheet, leaving 2 ½ inches between each ball. Press each dough ball twice with dinner fork dipped in cold water to make crosshatched design. Bake until cookies are puffed and slightly brown along the edges (but not on top--they will look slightly underbaked) about 10-12 minutes.

Rasberry "Breakfast" Bars

Santa was very good to me this year, leaving numerous cookbooks under the tree.  I'm so excited to try them all out, but it's a bit overwhelming.

There's the massive (it's in a binder! with tabs! I love it!) America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook: Heavy Duty Edition.  This bad boy has more than 1,200 recipes.  And photos and tips and tricks and it's just like watching the show ... except reading.  So I guess it's a little different than TV.  There's a subscription to Cook's Illustrated, which is mind-bogglingly smart.  There's a cupcakes/cakes/cookies/standard-issue-baking-porn book.  Including KFTF's haul, we now own copies of everything the fantastico Jose Andres has ever written, it seems.  And I'd be remiss not to mention volumes written by KFTF's original hero (the AB cookbook) and his latest hero (David Chang's Momofuku).  We are STACKED with cookbooks. 

And then.  There is a glorious new baking book from KFTF's sister - hey girl! - called Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.  Written by the duo behind their eponymous bakery in Brooklyn, this book is chock full of unusual recipes (a root beer float cake? with root beer chocolate ganache? yes please!) as well as riffs on the classics (Hostess Snoball cupcakes, without all the chemicals that make them, well, Hostess).  The guys even include some great drink recipes I'm looking forward to making.  Don't count on me to blog any of the drinks, though.  You read what happened with the salt-crusted-beef-tenderloin-and-one-too-many.  We will not be attempting that again.

While thumbing through all these glorious books, I had to decide which recipe would win the "first of the year" prize.  These rasberry bars were the surefire winner: quick to assemble, your house smells amazing when they're in the oven, and you can take all of them to the office to share (unlike cakes, pies, and crumbles, which disappear sliver by sliver in the fridge).  And ahem if you're reading this at work, HEY PUT THE BLOG DOWN.  GET BACK TO BUSINESS PEOPLE.  And YES I am OUT of the bars, you scavengers ate them all yesterday.

I should note that I was out of dark brown sugar.  Blasphemy, I know - what kind of a food blogger do I think I am?  HOWEVER!  Having recently picked up some honey powder during a trip to a Korean grocery store out in the suburbs, I decided to "pull an Elaine" (sorry Mama Fierce) and substitute the honey powder for the brown sugar.  It worked like a charm, and gave the bars a deeper, more mellow sweetness, than the superdupersweet brown sugar would have done.  It should be noted that the honey powder doesn't caramelize like a normal sugar.  If you don't have honey powder, you can buy it online at many "natural food" shops.  It's lumped in with the agave nectar/powder crowd as a sugar substitute.  If you are interested, TheKitchn has an interesting conversation about honey powder here.

Using a pizza cutter is my favorite way to slice brownies, bars, even pizza, oddly enough.  I line up my bench scraper which has a nifty ruler on the side, mark out my slices (this recipe yields 18 2x2 1/2" bars) and presto! Perfect!


Enough talk.  Get in your kitchen, please, and make these.  Enjoy your cookbooks and magazines and recipes and the New Year. 


Love,
C Fierce

Raspberry Crumb Breakfast Bars
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

For the crust and crumb:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (or honey powder, if you are me)
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

For the raspberry filling:
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pound raspberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Make the crust and crumb: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch glass or light-colored metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up the two short sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.

Put the flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until combined. Add the butter and pulse until loose crumbs form.

Reserve 1 1/2 cup of the mixture and set aside. Pour the rest of the mixture into the prepared pan and use your hands or the back of a large wooden spoon to push the crust into an even layer at the bottom of the pan. The crust should touch the sides of the pan. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes (it took almost 20 minutes for me - I think it had to do with using the honey powder as it didn't brown as quickly as normal brown sugar would). Transfer to a wire rack and let the crust cool. Keep the oven on while you make the raspberry filling.

Make the raspberry filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and flour together. Add the raspberries, lemon juice and butter and use your hands to toss gently until the raspberries are evenly coated.

Assemble and bake the bars: Spread the raspberry filling evenly on top of the cooled crust. Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture evenly on top of the filling.  Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan every 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the filling starts to bubble around the edges.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then cut into squares and serve. The bars can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to two days (if you can make them last that long, that is).