Recipe Notes: Belgian Spice Cookies (Speculoos)

24 December 2018

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2018

I did not know about this cookie until reading the article in Cook's Illustrated. However, I have eaten a version of the cookie. On Delta Airlines flights passengers are given speculoos under the name Biscoff. It has been a few years since I flew on Delta but I do have a vague recollection of eating, and enjoying, these cookies. 

The hard work is done by a food processor. First, though, the dry ingredients—flour, cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, and salt—were whisked together in a bowl. Turbinado sugar (which I had on hand to top crème brûlée) was processed for 30 seconds. Butter was added and processed to form a rough dough. An egg was added and processed followed by the flour mixture. The dough was transferred to a bowl and gently kneaded with a rubber spatula to bring it together and mix in ingredients the food processor missed. The dough was then placed between two sheets of parchment paper that has been marked with a 10x12-inch rectangle and patted and rolled out to that size. After chilling in the refrigerator for 90 minutes it was cut into pieces about 1¼x3-inches (I used a pizza wheel) and baked on a rimless baking sheet (I used the bottom of my rimmed baking sheets). It took about four hours to make these cookies, omitting cooling but including 2½-hours chilling.

These cookies are very good. They have a great, crunchy texture but are not too hard to bite comfortably. The combination of spices provides a warm flavor that is not dominated by any one of the spices.  They are easy to make even with the fussy steps of rolling and chilling the dough. They are a great snack or dessert for a cool day and they are worth making again. 

Recipe Notes: Baby Carrot Bisque

14 December 2018

Recipe from All Time Best Soups, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 25

Last year I received All Time Best Soups as a gift. I have made several of the soups and most have been really good. I am continuing to go through the book, selecting recipes to try. Homemade soup makes a great meal during the cooler months of the year.

This soup was easy to make and it was ready in just over one hour. It uses baby carrots thus eliminating the need for peeling and chopping. The carrots and chopped onion were cooked in oil in a Dutch oven until softened. Garlic, dry thyme, and dry coriander were added and cooked for about 30 seconds. A mixture of chicken and vegetable broth (made from concentrate) were added and the mixture simmered for about 20 minutes until the carrots were tender. The soup was puréed in a blender, returned to the stove on low heat, and half-and-half was stirred in.

The soup is good. It tastes of carrots, but lacked the sweet taste of carrots, perhaps reflecting the quality of the baby carrots used. While good, the soup is not all that interesting or special, it is pretty plain and basic. With all of the more interesting soups to be made I doubt we will return to this one.

Recipe Notes: Classic Italian Bread

5 November 2018

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 55.

One of my favorite store-bought breads (though the competition to get on that list is not very stiff) is a loaf of Italian sandwich bread. For a mass-produced bread it has a nice flavor, good chewy crumb, and a thin crisp crust. It makes good sandwiches though I detest the fragile cellophane wrapper. Bread Illustrated has a recipe for an Italian loaf. Does it measure up to the mass-produced loaf?

The dry ingredients—flour, yeast, salt—were whisked together in the bowl of the stand mixer. The wet ingredients—mild lager beer, water, extra-virgin olive oil—were whisked together in a measuring cup; beer is the primary liquid. Using low speed and a dough hook, the liquid ingredients were slowly added to the dry. After the ingredients were mixed the speed was increased and the dough kneaded until smooth, elastic, and it cleared the sides of the bowl. It was formed into a ball and rose until doubled. This took 2½ hours on a cool day, a little longer than expected. The dough was shaped (detailed instructions are in the recipe) into a long loaf. It was wet and sticky but easily handled with the aid of a little bench flour. It was moved to a pizza peel (lacking a peel, the bottom of a baking sheet sufficed), and left to rise. The loaf was scored, misted with water, and moved to a pizza stone in a 450° oven and baked until done, about 25 minutes. The loaf was shorter than in the recipe to accommodate the size of our stone. Total time, excluding cooling, was 4 hours 20 minutes, most of which was hands off. 

Classic Italian bread is good, with a nice chewy crumb, thin crisp crust, and gentle tang. It was easy to make with just a few ingredients, simple mixing protocol, and most of the work being done by the stand mixer. It worked well for sandwiches, the main use I have for bread, and toasted well. Why use store bought when it easy to make your own?