It's Just A Phase

I've realized recently that I bake in phases.  Two winters ago was the Winter of the Scone. I was studying in Germany, and that year was the first time I had had a real kitchen of my own. After some misadventures brought on by German baking powder used in American recipes, I decided I needed some proper German cook books. The first one I bought was in a sale bin for €3 and is called Lecker! Schokolade, which translates rather enthusiastically to Delicious! Chocolate. How could I resist?

Somewhat unexpectedly, the one recipe I honed in on was for scones. They were actually more biscuit-y than anything else, but what I really loved was how versatile they were.  I could mix in any kind of fruits, nuts, chocolates, extracts, booze, tea, (the list goes on) that I liked. I could frost them or not, make just three or a whole damn tin, serve them hot or cold, plain or not, and all I really needed was flour, butter, milk, and a bit of baking powder.

Shokoscones (conversions are approximate)

Preheat oven to 200˚c (425˚f)
Cut together 225g (1 cup) flour, 2 TL backing powder (1 tsp American baking powder), 60g (4 Tbsp) butter
Add 50g (1/4 cup) of any fruits, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.
Mix in 150ml (1/2 cup) milk and work into a dough
Flatten dough into a square about 1 inch thick and cut into nine smaller squares.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes

the fruity, frosted, "whole damn tin" variety

they even worked beautifully for strawberry shortcake

Last winter was the pie winter. This might have started up around Thanksgiving, since I was especially happy to be home for my favorite holiday, or it might have been inspired by one of my housemates who is particularly fond of pie. Either way, I found a King Arthur Flour crust recipe I liked, and went to town.

My favorite part about making pie is the fun you can have with the top crust. I had gotten bored of simply cutting slits and don't usually have the patience for anything like a lattice, so instead I started using cookie cutters. And while I'm all for a traditional, all-American apple pie, I think it's just so much more fun to add in dragons or elephants or viking helmets. Gives it that extra little something:

Triceratops pie

This winter hasn't settled down on any particular item yet, but the theme so far seems to be let's-see-what-kind-of-fun-things-can-happen-when-we-put-eggs-in-the-oven.

The first iteration came on a very cold day when I was craving popovers, but realized we had nothing even vaguely resembling a popover pan in the house. I was going to settle for something denser and not quite as exciting, but instead came across a recipe from my dad's college roommate titled "bismarks." Now, I've always thought of bismarks as a sort of sugary donut-like contraption with jam and whipped cream, so I wasn't entirely sure what to make of this recipe since it essentially is just popover batter cooked in a cast iron skillet. But regardless of semantics, it was delicious - somewhere between a popover and fried dough, sweet and light and perfectly crisped around the edges with just a little bit of saltiness to make the whole thing go zing. Normally I would have taken a picture, but my judgement got a bit clouded by how good it smelled..

"Bismarks"

Preheat oven to 475˚
Melt 2 Tbsp butter in cast iron pan in oven, being careful not to burn
Beat together 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, and 1/2 cup flour
Pour into pan and cook 10 minutes
Serve with lemon juice/maple syrup/honey/jam/whatever your heart desires

Eggs-in-the-oven Part 2 came along when I finally found a popover pan. I had high hopes here, but have actually been running into some trouble. Between less than precise oven controls and only having whole wheat flour for a while, they haven't quite been puffing up as much as I'd like. These little darlings are still a work in progress, but I'm enjoying the ride.

Part 3 of the egg bonanza only came along yesterday. I was procrastinating taking out the recycling, and somehow got it into my head that the best was to do this would be to try making souffle. After a bit of poking about, I found this recipe for orange souffle baked right in the orange skins. I had two blood oranges sitting in the fruit bowl (well, fruit colander really), and since, once again, I found myself without the traditionally necessary baking ware, I decided to give it a go.

After making a complete mess of my kitchen, I stuck the oranges in the oven, set my timer, and continued to procrastinate taking the recycling out by cleaning up the cooking explosion I had just created. My hopes weren't particularly high, since I had heard so many souffle horror stories. I'm not entirely sure what it means for a souffle to fall, but I was fairly certain I was about to find out.

20 minutes later, I opened up the oven and was amazed to find that they actually looked halfway decent.

And then I had a bite. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was completely blown away. Light, airy, steaming inside, crisp and caramelized on top, laced through with a gorgeous wisp of orange, and quite literally melting in my mouth. Yikes. I immediately ate both.

Between hashing out my popover struggles and making lots more souffle (my roommate and I agree that this calls for a dinner party), I should have plenty to keep me busy this winter. Maybe I'll even splurge on an oven light so I can actually see how hot the damn thing is without letting any of the heat escape. Or would that be making things too easy? Either way I think I'm in for a delicious adventure.