Blake Makes

(Blake Bakes) The Reuben sandwich is a thing of pure beauty; rye bread, beautiful corn beef, glorious melted cheese and thousand island dressing. I know, no sauerkraut is practically sacrilegious but I can’t stomach the stuff. It’s all thrown together and preferably pressed on a panini maker.

Unlike many people, I wasn’t introduced to this beautiful sandwich until my twenties. My future mother-in-law asked me if I minded having them for dinner one night, and was in horror when I said I had no idea what this ‘Reuben’ she spoke of was. So began my love affair with the Reuben.

I came across a mention of Reuben calzones awhile back, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. Today was the day I finally decided to get down to business and toss the recipe together.

I went to the store and purchased all the ingredients necessary to make them. I cheated this time and used fresh dough from the Publix bakery. I won’t do this again as the dough was tough and would not roll out properly, it ended up giving me very thick breading and a smaller calzone. I normally use the Peter Reinhart dough recipe.

What you need for the filling:

• 1/2 pound sliced corned beef
• 1/4 pound provolone cheese
• Thousand island dressing
• Pizza dough

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cut dough into 2 even pieces, 4 if you want smaller calzones. Roll out into a circle to about 1/4 inch thickness.

Spread about 2 teaspoons of thousand island dressing in the center of the dough. Place a piece of provolone cheese on top of the mixture and top with 3 to 4 slices of corned beef. Finish off the pile with another slice of provolone cheese. Fold dough over the filling and pinch the edges shut, making sure nothing can leak out. Follow the same instructions for the remaining dough.

Place on baking sheet and slice 2 to 3 holes in the top of the dough so that steam may release.

Place the calzones in the oven for 15 minutes. You should have some provolone cheese left over, remove the calzones from the oven and top each calzone with half a slice of provolone. Return to the oven for 5 to 10 more minutes; keep an eye out for the dough to turn a nice golden brown color.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes then slice in half.

I found that I needed more dressing as some leaked out during baking so I poured some into the open cavity that formed when I cut the calzone in half.

Lexi is just dipping her foot into the culinary world and has a passion for baking. A few dozen failed experiments later and here she is finally making food that people love. She is based in Tampa, alongside her loving fiance and spends her non-baking free time supporting him in his music career. She also loves videogames, movies and reading. You can read about the current events in her life at Lexib0t.com.

Carmella Lanni-Giardina, is the female half of The Food Duo, a blog started in March 2008 with her husband, Carlo. While growing up in New York City, her South Carolinian mother was the baker of her family with her specialties involving traditional Low Country and Southern desserts with fruit and/or nuts. Now, that her mom has retired from work and baking, Carmella has stepped up to become the baker for her now larger family, often experimenting and making treats for everyone to enjoy – many being sugar-free variations.

I have to admit that when I first saw Paula Deen on TV a few years ago, she annoyed the heck out of me. She was hosting a Food Network BBQ challenge, and Carlo and I couldn’t believe how country she was with what I had deemed a maniacal laugh. I couldn’t even watch the whole show.

Then, one day a few months later, I decided to give her another chance by watching her cooking show. She was awesome, even reminding me of my aunt, Gertrude, with her sassy humour. Watching her put dishes together was like watching my grandma, aunts and mom (all of who are from the Charleston, SC area, while Paula’s from Savannah, GA) cook in the kitchen. Maybe it was the Southern gentle approach and charmful gentileness. I don’t know, but I quickly became a fan.

With it being the Memorial Day weekend and our plans going bust, my mom suggested we have a bit of an indoor barbecue the next couple days. I wanted to make a few desserts, and some a cobbler came to mind. I was going to go for a blackberry one, but peach sounded more appropriate. I actually hadn’t had peach cobbler since my mom made one a few years back.

So back to Paula. I found her recipe on the Food Network site, and just had to try it. I was sure it would be good, but this was another recipe where I got to test it against mom’s (She’s one helluva baker).

As usual, variations were done so we all could enjoy it. I used 2 cups of fresh white peaches, and 2 cups of fresh yellow peaches. I replaced the sugar with Splenda Baking Blend.

I also made self-rising flour (see recipe after cobbler), since I only had unbleached all-purpose flour. I also incorporated cinnamon into the peach mixture, and sprinkles some on top before placing the cobbler in the oven.

While it was baking, I must say our home smelled DEEEEEEEEEEEEE-VINE. Yes, it’s THAT good that I had to go the Deee-Lite route with the description. Carlo and I couldn’t wait to cut, well spoon, into it. When we did, it tasted even better than its smelled. After our few bites, Carlo called my mom who was over in about 5 minutes to try not one, but TWO pieces. Then, someone mentioned ice cream, and we ran out to get some vanilla “no sugar added” ice cream.

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Carrie began baking cookies on her own at the tender age of ten. Her passion for baking has only grown from there. She is a newly wed quickly approaching her first anniversary and has recently started her own photography business. Although Carrie loves baking both savory and sweet, sweet treats are definitely her specialty.

Visit Carrie’s blog.

For my first submission as a Blake Baker, I decided to use a recipe all my own. Maybe show off my cookie baking skills a bit? This cookie is just divine, even better than I thought it would be. Watch out though! They are rich!

Ingredients:

• 1C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 C granulated sugar (I use organic/F-T)*
• 1/2 C light brown sugar
• 1 Tbs pure vanilla extract (I use organic/F-T)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 scant tsp salt (I use fine sea salt)
• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur organic)
• 1 C white chocolate chips
• 1 C unsweetened coconut flakes (I use organic)

1/2 C dried cranberries, a.k.a. craisins (I use organic)

Getting Ready: Preheat oven to 350°F, and line a cookie sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

The Recipe:

1. Using a stand or a hand mixer, mix the butter and eggs together. The mixture will be chunky. That’s fine. Add both the sugars and mix until ingredients are combined.
2. Add the baking soda, vanilla, and salt. Mix at a medium speed.
3. Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time mixing just until combined after each 1/2 cup. (This means you will add flour then mix 5 times.) This helps ensure that the flour is mixed in and also prevents it from flying all over the place as you mix, since you are only adding a bit at a time. The dough will be very thick at this point.
4. Mix in coconut flakes. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chips (by hand or on very low speed).

Drop by spoonful onto lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 350° F for 12-14 minutes, until the cookies begin show a light golden brown color. Cool on a rack then transfer to an air tight container to store. Enjoy by the handful with your beverage of choice!

Tip: Cookies will stay moist longer if stored with a piece of bread.

*On Using Organic/Fair-Trade Sugar: The sugar I buy has rather large granules and is brownish in color. If I am going to bake with it, I run it through my blender first. This creates a smaller granule and a fluffier cookie. (After running it through the blender, it will turn white and resemble the granulated sugar many of us are used to.)

Holly is the proud Mama of two sweet boys (almost 5 years old and one 7 months) who both enjoy hanging out in the kitchen and sneaking naps and tastes of what is being made. She has been baking and cooking since she was seven years old and has always enjoyed feeding others. Holly’s favorite shows to watch with the boys include Ratatoullie and Good Eats – both requests from her oldest kiddo. (More after post)

Tarte Noire. Even the name of this simple chocolate tart evokes a sense of wonder and mystery. Simple, everyday ingredients of flour, sugar, salt, butter, and egg yolk combine into a buttery, sweet crust that is the absolute perfect foil for the filling made of only chocolate, cream, and more butter.

The whole experience of making this kept reminding me of old black and white movies – like something you would serve at a wrap party in old Hollywood, maybe for Casablanca. This dessert is so simple to make using everyday kitchen staples (at least in my kitchen anyway there must always be chocolate). Here though the ingredients elevate each other to something that is nothing short of cosmic perfection. This tart is exactly that.

As soon as I got my copy of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours I read through all the recipes, but I just kept coming back to this one. It sounded like the most perfect and sublime combination of the buttery crust and the smooth, creamy center. Dorie herself describes this as “one of the most sophisticated tarts in a Parisian pastry chef’s repertoire, it is also the simplest – and the darkest, sleekest and chicest too.” For obvious reasons I was intrigued – but I kept putting off making it until I had chocolate that I thought would be “worthy” of a recipe with such a reputation.

For my debut as a Blake Baker here on Blake Makes I knew that I had to make this dessert to share with everyone because it reminded me of Blake’s hometown of New Orleans. I haven’t made it to New Orleans yet, but this tart reminds me exactly of what New Orleans has always meant to me. Special, mysterious, intriguing and decadent. The planets and stars all aligned and I was lucky enough to win some of the Amano Chocolate, made here in Utah and hand-crafted with care and passion, from none other than Blake. Obviously, I’m not one to argue with fate since all signs were whispering to me to make this (and eat it for breakfast – oh, alright, and lunch too).

Dorie suggests that when making this tart, which is the “exemplar of understated elegance” that you must use only the very finest chocolate that you enjoy “eating out of hand” since what you will taste is the flavors of the chocolate itself. The Amano Chocolate showed beautifully in the Tarte Noire, though not as dark as perhaps some other chocolates would have shown, but the flavors were incredible and the chocolate was rich and pure with a beautiful reddish-brown color.

Here’s the recipe. Don’t wait as long too make this as I did, but get yourself some really good chocolate. As Dorie suggests in the recipe “purists” will not want to serve this with anything on it or distracting from the flavor. I am a purist so I followed her guidance and let me tell you, this just doesn’t even need anything else but a fork – and perhaps some privacy while you savor your slice (oh, fine, the whole thing then – but, seriously, try to pace yourself).

So, here’s looking at you, kid. Read the rest of this entry »

(Blake Bakes) Like Katie, the warm weather has me dreaming of fresh fruits. I know apples and apple crumbles are more for the cooler months of Fall, so I added some raspberries to the mix… and let me tell you, it was fantabulous. Yes, I said fantabulous. Fantastic & fabulous all in the same bowl. The tartness of the apples, the bite of the raspberries and the sweetness of the sugar blend together perfectly. Pardon me while I grab another bowl… 

Apple-Raspberry Crumble

• 1-1/4 c brown sugar, packed
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 5 large Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored, cut into chunks
• 1 c frozen raspberries, thawed
• 1/2 c old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 2-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp butter, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a medium-sized baking dish with non-stick spray (I used a heart-shape Le Creuset dish – probably 4×8).

In a large bowl, mix ¾ c brown sugar, 1 tbsp flour and ½ tsp cinnamon. Add sliced apples and raspberries; toss to coat. Spoon into baking dish. In a medium bowl, mix together oats, ½ c flour, 2 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp nutmeg, salt and ½ c brown sugar. Mix in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over apple/raspberry mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until topping is lightly browned.

I’m a 20-something Native Texan & TCU alumna who enjoys spending time with my family & friends. I love cooking and baking new dishes and desserts… with a little shopping, TCU football and collecting Longaberger on the side. (Jessica’s blog)

(A Blake Bakes post) Let it be known that I am not a fan of lemons. I don’t even care for the super-sweet summery lemonade. Now, with that officially out there for all of you to judge, I must share a secret. I like Nigella Lawson’s subtle lemon essence in her Mother-in-law’s Madeira Cake (from her book How To Be A Domestic Goddess). It’s basically a lovely butter loaf cake with the purest lemon flavor. Sadly this cake is Madeira free. Sorry folks, maybe next time.

I thank you, Nigella, for opening my eyes to the possibility of a lemon being something I actually like enough to share! The batter for this cake is like nothing I’ve seen before. It really is more like the consistency of nice fluffy icing. I had my doubts when I started smoothing out the blob of batter in the pan. After an hour of wondering if I wrote down a recipe for icing instead of cake I opened the oven door to find a perfectly done buttery rich cake. Just for me! I hope you try this one. It really surprised me.

Nigella Lawson’s Mother-in-law’s Madeira Cake

The Recipe:

• 1 cup softened unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar (plus about 2 tablespoons for sprinkling)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cup self-rising cake flour (I couldn’t find this so I substituted self-rising flour)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

To Make:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 and prepare a 9×5 loaf pan (I sprayed some nonstick spray and lined it with parchment paper- another first for me).
2. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, add the lemon zest.
3. Add the eggs one at a time with a teaspoon of flour after each addition.
4. Gently mix in the rest of the flour followed by the lemon juice.
5. Pour the batter into prepared pan.
6. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons sugar on top of smoothed out batter.
7. Bake about 1 hour or until a test stick comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan before turning out. (good luck with waiting till it’s cool to get a taste)

Vickie is a full-time pharmacy technician at a veteran’s hospital. She is currently pursuing her RN degree. She is also a self-proclaimed cookbook addict. Somewhere in between work and school she manages to bake… and spend time with her husband. He may not understand all of her passions but definitely puts up with them and nurtures her through the endless frustrations that come with being obsessed. What a good man.

Meet (Blake Baker) Paula. Growing up in a large family of 5 children, all girls, some of my earliest memories are of sitting on the counter and watching my mom cook or bake. While I was in college, my mom started catering. I would drive home on week-ends and help with events. After graduating with a degree in Elementary Education, I taught for several years but continued helping mom with catering jobs. I soon realized that my true passion was for food and cooking…(continued after the post).

The cupcake bug, has it bitten you yet? It’s gotten me good and I’ve got cupcake fever! I can’t look at a cake recipe anymore without trying to figure out how I could turn it into a cupcake. I’m not sure what makes cupcakes so appealing.

Maybe the appeal is that cupcakes are your own individual cake, or maybe it’s just that cupcakes are cute. Surfing through the food blog sphere I see that I’m not the only one that’s caught the fever. Recently, I even came across mini meatloaves baked in a muffin pan and topped with mashed potato “frosting”. Okay so I’m not quite ready to start experimenting with meat, but cake recipes are fair game.

When I came across this recipe from Bon Appétit for Banana Layer Cake with Caramel Cream, delirious with cupcake fever, I immediately wanted to make it into a cupcake. I liked the cake recipe and didn’t think I’d have a problem making it into cupcakes. I decided to go a different way with the frosting and make a traditional buttercream with a caramel drizzle. The caramel and banana sounded like a match made in heaven to me. All that was missing was chocolate, so I decided to throw some chocolate chips into the cake batter.

This recipe makes a large cake so you’ll get about 24 cupcakes. Reading through the recipe it sounded more complicated than it actually was. If you get all your ingredients prepped ahead, the cake batter comes together pretty quickly.

For those of you who’ve already been bitten by the bug, here’s one more cupcake make. As for everyone else, don’t blame me if you start wanting to make all your cakes into cupcakes!

Banana Cake (Bon Appétit January 2006 [adapted])

Cake Recipe:

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (generous) fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups sugar, divided
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 2 small ripe bananas, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch cubes (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 cup chocolate chips tossed in flour.
• Small amount of rum to brush on tops of cupcakes when cooled

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Yay! The 16 people (below the picture) are about to ’sauce’ it up! Thanks, Chef Bradley, for sharing your amazing creations with us! If you want to play (and get some free food), make sure you’re sooper and keep reading Blake Makes. There’s another giveaway coming soon!

Lo Carb Lean Mean BBQ Sauce

1. Lexi
2. Nina
3. Columbus Foodie
4. Carrie

Lean Mean BBQ Sauce

1. Sarah
2. Laurie
3. Kelly
4. Gretchen

Sweet Zing BBQ Sauce

1. Lindsey
2. Sarah
3. Allison
4. April

Lean Mean Ketchup

1. Paula
2. Carrie
3. Carrie
4. Amy

Congrats, winners! We can’t wait to see what you think (and what you make)!

..and now, anyone in the mood for a float? Stay tuned!

After Blake and I graduated from college we took a trip around the U.K., and spent a few days in Edinburgh, Scotland. While wandering around the city, we popped into a cookbook shop that contained an unusually large amount of Two-Fat Ladies paraphernalia (Remember them?– the two English fat ladies who drowned everything in butter and lard and then took a spin on their vintage motorbike). We found out we were in Clarissa Dickson Wright’s shop (the one in the sidecar), and we had the privilege to meet her.

It was interesting to say the least– she told us of her swimming adventures in the North Sea (she got caught in a riptide) and informed us of a handy way to get out of quicksand (still not sure why she told us this, but I had a feeling she once had an unfortunate quicksand experience). We then bought some cookbooks, had them autographed, and walked her to her unbelievably tiny Saab.

We bought our Two Fat Ladies cookbooks back in 2003, but I’d never used them until just recently. I looked for a recipe that did not use a tub of Crisco, and decided to make scones because they were so very English.

They turned out surprisingly well for a self-proclaimed non-baker. I made plain scones so I could use the strawberry-chocolate spread that we picked up at the Farmer’s Market, but you can also fill them with fruit or make them savory. Blake finished off all the scones for breakfast the morning I made them, so I’d say they were pretty good.

Recipe courtesy of Two Fat Ladies Gastronomic Adventures (With Motorbike and Sidecar)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup self-rising flour
• small pinch of salt
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 cups milk, fresh or sour

Directions:

• Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until it all resembles crumbs. Mix in the milk. Form a soft dough with a palette knife. Knead lightly on a floured board, then pat out into a round 3/4 inch thick. Cut into rounds with a cutter or small cup.
• Place on a greased and floured baking tray and brush with milk. Bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 7-10 minutes until well risen and brown. Cool on a rack but eat when still warm, with lots of butter, clotted cream and jam.

Variations:

• Sweet scones: add 1/4 cup caster sugar to dry ingredients.
• Fruit scones: add 1/4 cup dried fruit and 2 TB caster sugar.
• Savory scones: Add 6 TB finely grated hard cheese and 1 tsp dry mustard or 1/4 cup chopped olives or what you fancy.

(Blake Bakes) And now for Blake Baker, Katie.

With the delightful warm weather here now all I’ve been able to think of lately is my favorite summer time dessert: fruit pies. I mean really, what says love better than a fresh fruit pie? That’s right — Nothin’! Well, okay…a portable version of a fruit pie might just be better. That’s where the hand pie comes in.

A distant, better looking cousin of the turnover, the hand pie houses it’s own portion of delicious fruit filling and top and bottom crust all in handy compact size. Perfect for sharing. Perfect for casual entertaining. And in my case, perfect for bribing a dozen middle-schoolers into listening to me while I teach them Confirmation prep at church. Haha. With these little beauties I’ll have no problem.

A sweet pie dough is used. With the addition of lemon and a bit of vanilla you can use less sugar and still get the same sweet taste to the dough. The sugar in the filling has been cut down considerably to provide a nice contrast between the sweet, flaky dough and the slightly tart juicy bite of the filling. A delicious treat for any pie lover. Especially for breakfast…

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