Update on Fat Toad Farm's Goat's Milk Caramel Sauce

Wow. Oh wow.

I just had my first spoonful of Fat Toad Farm's Vanilla Bean Goat's Milk Caramel sauce and it was absolutely wonderful. Somehow, my mouth started watering while I was eating it - apparently my subconscious was anticipating more! The first second of the first taste, I didn't like it. But after I finished licking the spoon clean like a dog, I decided I didn't like it because I went into this expecting it to taste like caramel sauce, and my taste buds needed a few seconds to figure things out. Once they kicked into high gear, I was able to start describing the flavor.

Traditional caramel sauce is very sweet, sometimes a toothache inducing sugary explosion. This sauce was completely free of the cloying flavor so common in store bought brands. That phantom stale sweetened presence was replaced by a creamy, oh-so-slightly salty richness. I wouldn't say it's "goat-y," but the goat's milk does add a unique savory quality.

This type of sauce is called cajeta - it's a Mexican caramel traditionally made with goat's milk.

I had mine straight from the jar, but it can't possibly taste bad on fruit, ice cream, or even greek yogurt (a suggestion from my friend at Change the Way We Eat)

I highly recommend you give it a try, and please stop back and let me know what you think. 

Goat Milk Caramel? Yes, Please.

What is it about the words Goat Milk Caramel that make me want to get in my car and drive straight to Central Vermont and pick some up? Luckily, they're in stores across the Northeast and they deliver.

Thanks to Food52 for the delicious alert and to Fat Toad Farm for being awesome (and for the photo above). I'm going to grab a jar of this and will report back - if you get there before me, let me know how you like it.

Walnut Rosemary Bread

You can make this. You can totally make this. It does require some work - it's not opening a bag of frozen dinner rolls and putting them in the oven (which I do), but it's not being a pastry chef on Ace of Cakes either. If you know you're going to be home for a few hours with intermittent free time, you can make bread from scratch. Bread's pretty independent - give it some attention when it's little and check in on it once in a while as it grows up.

When I watch little pieces of living yeast turn into a ball of dough, I feel like I'm a bystander to a crazy magic trick. I remember when I was little and first learned that yeast was alive - I couldn't believe it. Recently I taught a cooking class to kindergartners and we made pretzels (recipe below). I tried to really amp up the surprise factor for them. I asked them to all hold out their hands and then I placed a little bit of dry yeast into their outstretched palms. I asked them what it smelled like and what they thought it was. They all thought it smelled weird (true) but couldn't guess what it was. "This is yeast," I told them. Silence. I knew that wouldn't mean much. "It's ALIVE." Total pandemonium. "It's alive????" they all gasped. "Yup, it's alive. It eats sugar just like you do, and it likes being warm. Basically, yeast is happiest when it's eating a candy bar in the pool. When it eats the sugar, it releases bubbles that will make our pretzel dough rise." The kids loved it and could hardly believe their eyes when they saw the little bubbles start popping up in our pretzel dough. I may be a lot older than they are, but I feel the same sense of awe when I watch it happen in my kitchen.

Helpful Hints:

1. Gauging Temperature: Always use a thermometer to make sure your liquids and warming area are the right temperature. If it's too cold, the yeast won't activate and if it's too hot, they'll die - either way, you're not going to get a good end result.

2. What's a warm place? 

a) Try preheating your oven to the lowest possible temperature and then shut it off. After a few minutes, use your thermometer and when the temperature is around 85 degrees, put your covered bowl of dough inside and shut the door. Check on it after 30 minutes. If it needs to be reheated, warm a towel in the dryer and wrap it around your bowl while you preheat and cool the oven again. 

b) Throw some laundry in the dryer. Then place your bowl or baking sheet on top. If your dryer is in a linen closet, put your dough in there and close the door. 

Walnut and Rosemary Bread (from Cooking Light)

The Details

Special Tools: whisk, basting brush, thermometer

Ingredients:

2 cups warm 1% low-fat milk (100 - 110 degrees F)

1/4 cup warm water (100 to 110 degrees F)

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

4 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast, or 2 packages (not instant)

5 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, divided

1 cup chopped walnuts

3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon low-fat milk

1 large egg lightly beaten

1. Combine first 5 ingredients (through yeast) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add yeast, stirring with a whisk; let stand 5 minutes.

2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. Add 2 cups flour to yeast mixture, stirring with a whisk. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85 degrees F), free from drafts, 15 minutes

3. Add 2 1/2 cups flour, walnuts, rosemary, and 1 egg, stirring with a whisk. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes), adding enough of the remaining flour (and more if you need to), 1/4 cup at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands. 

4. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover; let rise in a warm place (85 degrees F) free from drafts, 1 hr or until doubled in size (lightly press two fingers down into the dough - if an indentation remains, the dough is ready).

5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

6. Punch the dough down (the best part!) and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide it in half and shape each portion into a round loaf. Place them both on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal. Cover with a cloth and let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

7. Whisk together 1 tablespoon of milk and one egg. Brush over loaves. Make 3 diagonal cuts 1/4-inch deep across the top of each loaf with a sharp knife.

8. Put the pan in the oven and reduce oven temperature to 375 F. Bake 40 minutes or until bottoms of the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Let stand 20 minutes before slicing.

Enjoy with olive oil, humus, or toasted with honey for breakfast. How do you like yours?

Nutrition Facts (from cooking light): A slice that is 1/12 of a loaf contains: 170 calories, 5.4g fat (1.2g saturated fat), 1.3g fiber, 222mg sodium

Walnut Shorties

Hello! I'm sorry I disappeared for so long...I just crawled out from under a pile of grad school papers and tests. All this sunlight is making me squint. This morning I took all of the piles of paper on my kitchen table and put them away because they are just ghosts of assingments past now. When my apartment's clear, so is my head. And when my head is clear, all I want to do is bake something. So in the name of asking for your forgiveness and celebrating crossing many items off my to-do list (yes, an actual yellow legal pad to-do list), I baked walnut shortbread. Because nothing says please keep reading my blog and yay I'm done with my independent study like walnut shortbread.

A lovely visitor asked me if I could start posting the nutrition facts for my recipes. I think that's a terrific idea and I'm going to do my best to get them up. I may not get them up as fast as my posts, but they'll be there. I've decided to only post the nutrition facts for things I cook, not things I bake. I want my blog to focus on healthy meals and decadent desserts, and if you know how unhealthy desserts are, they go from life's simple pleasure to life's guilty pleasure. Let's face it, if you're eating shortbread, you know it's not going to be good for you, especially when you make it yourself and you see the stick of butter getting whirled around with the confectioners sugar.

However, this is for you all - so, if you think I should post nutrition facts for everything, some things, or nothing, let me know! My kitchen's open for a good discussion.

Walnut Shortbread (slightly tweaked and thanks to Martha Stewart Living, March 2010)

Tools: 9" round cake pan; cuisinart or device to get walnuts from chopped to ground; hand beater or stand mixer

Ingredients:

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted 

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for buttering the pan

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325. Pulse walnuts in food processor until finely ground. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in flour and salt.

Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add the walnut mixture in thirds, beating until just combined in between each addition.

Butter a 9-inch round cake pan. Transfer dough to pan. Using a piece of plastic wrap, press the dough evenly into the pan (so it will stick to the pan - not your fingers). Cut dough into wedges using a paring knife or bench scraper. Prick all over with a wooden skewer or fork. (Don't worry about being perfect - it'll rise and blur all of your pretty cuts)

Bake until golden brown and firm in center, 25-35 minutes. Transfer to pan on a wire rack. Recut into shapes (wedges, squares, whatever you'd like) and prick again. Let cool slightly. Dust with confectioners sugar (optional).

Warm Pretzels Say I Love You (and I read Caroline's blog)

Will you be my valentine? 

Skip the food court pretzels and make your own at home in 30 minutes. You can roll them into any shape, top them with olive oil or butter and salt, and eat warm straight from the oven. Since it's valentines day, and I love baking for themes (much more than I love valentines day), I made love knots, hearts, and twisty rings. 

You can make them yourself, pile them into a basket and surprise a loved one, bake them with someone special, or do the prep work and let your kids roll the dough into shapes and eat their creations for a snack. Drizzle them with chocolate for a holiday touch!

You don't *need* a kitchen thermometer, but if you have one, use it. You want the water to be between 100-110 degrees Farenheit, otherwise you risk killing the yeast. If you're not using one, just make sure the water isn't too hot. Your body is 98.6 degrees, so 107 degrees isn't actually that hot. If you boiled the water, keep it in the pan and wait about 10 minutes before using it. 

Ingredients:

*1 tbsp. yeast

*1/2 cup warm water

*1 tsp honey

*1-1/3 cup flour

*1 tsp salt

*olive oil or butter to glaze before baking

*rough sea salt or maldon salt for topping the pretzels (fine grain sea salt works too, it's just less crunchy)

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a baking sheet with oil.

2. Combine the yeast with the honey and water in a small bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes until the yeast is puffy and bubbling slightly.

3. Whisk flour and salt together in a medium-sized bowl.

4. When yeast has risen, add to flour mixture and stir until dough forms- just takes a few stirs.

5. Turn dough onto a cutting board and kneed until it's a nice big ball. Tear off giant gumball sized pieces until you have 12 smaller balls.

6. Roll the smaller balls into long snakes and shape into whatever you want.

7. Place on a baking sheet and finish them with oil and salt

8. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the top is slightly golden. Don't over bake because the bottom is going to burn.

9. Let cool for 10 minutes or until you can't stand it anymore.

The USDA's New Food Atlas

This brand new interactive map gives you the inside scoop on our nation's health. Where in the country do people have ready access to a grocery store? What areas are spending a lot of money on fast food? What states have the highest food taxes? What about rates of diabetes and obesity? You can look at the nation or zoom in on each state.

The atlas has 90 indicators of the food environment across three categories. Here are some examples of what you can find:

1) Food Choices: access and proximity to a grocery store, expenditure on fast food

2) Health and Well-Being: diabetes and obesity rates, physical activity levels broken down by age

3) Community Characteristics: recreation and fitness centers, income and poverty

I'd love to know what you think about the atlas tool. Did you learn anything? Did anything surprise you?  Did you find it easy or hard to use?

Tomato White Bean Soup

School's already cancelled for tomorrow! Thank you winter blizzard - I needed a day to catch up on all my work. (So lame, I know).

Since I have a food blog, what do you think is going to be first on my list of things to do tomorrow afternoon? Walk around outside and marvel in the beauty of a snowy New England morning? Maybe. Bundle up, strap on my snow shoes, and take a long trudge through the city? Heck no. I don't even own snow shoes. (Although if I did, that would actually probably be really fun now that I think of it).

Ok, fine, I'm obviously going to cook something. The tomato soup I'm making gets its creamy taste from the white beans. It's hearty without being heavy - perfect for a snow day when you'd like a lunch that will fill you up without putting you back to sleep. 

If you're getting snowed in tomorrow too, check your cupboards or grab these basic ingredients for this warm, healthy lunch. I think it's best served with a roll hot from the oven (check the "healthy" freezer section in your grocery store) and a small side salad. You could try arugula with your favorite vinaigrette and a little shaved parmesan on top. 

Recipe (adapted from Judith Barrett's Saved by Soup)

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, pressed or finely minced (time saver: buy them frozen at your grocery store)

4 cups canned (drained and rinsed) Great Northern beans or other white beans like cannellini

2 cups canned chopped tomatoes, with juices

4 cups vegetable broth

1 fresh or dried sage leaf

salt and pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat the oil in a heavy 4-qt saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion softens (about 3 minutes). Stir in the beans, tomatoes, and sage leaf. Add the broth, and crank the heat to high. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the saucepan, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove and toss the sage leaf.

Using an immersion blender (or transfer and blend in a food processor or blender), puree the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reheat if necessary and stir in parsley right before serving.