The Daring Bakers December Challenge: Yule Log

OK, I am not a yule log making kind of girl. I am not ashamed of this. Sweet things that take many days to mold and create, that require caramelizing sugar seventeen times- not my thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for eating these sorts of creations. I just don't usually envision myself making them.
Which is why this month's Daring Bakers challenge was so thrilling. After all, this is why I signed on to be a daring baker in the first place, right?
So I eagerly read everyone hints and suggestions, ingesting details about gelatine issues and freezing/melting crises. And of course, I waited until the last minute to make it.
So, yesterday, after days of note taking and repeated ingredients lists, after many trips to various locations for chocolate products, I began my yule log adventure. And while there were no rodent zombies around like last month, I've got to say that this was definitely a day to remember.
Yesterday, that is. Let's get right to it then.

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

This recipe is really, really long. It has many different options for every layer, and frankly the thing made my head spin for a whole month. So I'm going to give you the recipe for the versions that I made, and the whole shebang of the recipe is posted on Hilda's blog, if you'd like to see the scope of it and really weigh all of your options. I went traditional across the board with the exception of the creme brulee insert, which I infused with lavender instead of vanilla. And I did this not because I am obnoxiously crazy about lavender (which I may be), but because in all my travels around the high end locations of Berkshire County, I could not find a single vanilla bean. So there you have it.

There are six elements to this yule log. I will describe them in the order that I made them. The whole process took me twelve hours of doing it at the same time as forty two other things, plus a few more hours today of anxiety and possible heartache.

Lavender Crème Brulée Insert

Preparation time: 15mn + 1h infusing + 1h baking

Equipment: Small saucepan, mixing bowl, baking mold, wax paper

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (115g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
½ cup (115g) whole milk
4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks
0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) granulated sugar
2 T lavender flowers

1. Heat the milk, cream, and lavender to just boiling. Remove from the stove and let the lavender infuse for about 1 hour.
2. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).
3. Pour the lavender-infused milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.
4. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center. A water bath is a good idea here. Note: Although the recipe says one hour, it took mine almost three to set!



5. Let cool and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm up and facilitate the final assembly.

The next step is the Praline Feuillete. It's pretty straight forward except for the fact that the ingredients are totally impossible to find. Many daring bakers made their own lace crepes or substituted with rice crispies, but I had a faint memory of seeing gavottes some time in my long history, and I figured it out- Harney and Sons tea shop! So I of course had to bundle my family into the car, have a scones and jam break:


and shell out $7.50 for these really amazing little french crunchy things that they give out with your bill at the tea shop.


Although this is not what is called for in the recipe, these particular gavottes were chocolate coated. I wasn't sure how that what go, but I figured with all of this chocolate, a little extra would be fine.
I know, $7.50 for this. Although this is not my way, I have no regrets on this one. If you can find these little beauties, buy them, buy them right away. Eat them before a recipe compells you to crush them.

I also couldn't find any praline. This was the advice offered to me by Tartelette:
"For easy praline: 1/2 cup sugar brought to a caramel with 2 Tb water and poured over 1/2 cup of nuts. Chop - break - hammer until fine".
I used almonds and this worked really well, and was very satisfying to make, as my kids have been on vacation from school for a week and a half and hitting anything inanimate with a hammer is a good way to prevent myself from hollering at them.

Ingredients for the Praline Feuillete:
3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate
1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) butter
2 Tbsp (1 oz / 30g) praline
2.1oz (60g) lace crepes(gavottes) or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.

2. Add the praline and the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate.

3. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.


Give the spoon to your dishwasher as payment for all his hard work.

The next step is Dark Chocolate Mousse. Next time (yeah right), I'll make double the mousse, because I really didn't have enough in the end.

Equipment: stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment, thermometer, double boiler or equivalent, spatula

Note: You will see that a Pate a Bombe is mentioned in this recipe. A Pate a Bombe is a term used for egg yolks beaten with a sugar syrup, then aerated. It is the base used for many mousse and buttercream recipes. It makes mousses and buttercreams more stable, particularly if they are to be frozen, so that they do not melt as quickly or collapse under the weight of heavier items such as the crème brulee insert.

Ingredients:
2.5 sheets gelatin or 5g / 1 + 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
1.5 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp (10g) glucose or thick corn syrup (I used honey... I tried to make my own glucose syrup, and this is what happened:
That sugar's never coming out. Oh, man did we try. I had to throw away my favorite little glass container.
Back to the ingredients....
0.5 oz (15g) water
50g egg yolks (about 3 medium)
6.2 oz (175g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1.5 cups (350g) heavy cream (35% fat content)

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water. (If using powdered gelatin, follow the directions on the package.)
2. Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in colour (approximately 5 minutes until almost white).
2a. Cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F (118°C). If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature.
2b. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer.
2c. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.
3. In a double boiler or equivalent, heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
4. Whip the remainder of the cream until stiff.
5. Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatin, mixing well. Let the gelatin and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in ½ cup (100g) of WHIPPED cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe.

6. Add in the rest of the WHIPPED cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.
Refridgerate for at least an hour.

The next step is the Dacquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake)

This is a great substance. I would double or triple the recipe because you will snack on it as tensely assemble your log.

Preparation time: 10 mn + 15 mn for baking

Equipment: 2 mixing bowls, hand or stand mixer with whisk attachment, spatula, baking pan such as a 10”x15” jelly-roll pan, parchment paper

Note: You can use the Dacquoise for the bottom of your Yule Log only, or as bottom and top layers, or if using a Yule log mold (half-pipe) to line your entire mold with the biscuit. Take care to spread the Dacquoise accordingly. Try to bake the Dacquoise the same day you assemble the log to keep it as moist as possible.

Ingredients:
2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) almond meal
1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) confectioner’s sugar
2Tbsp (15g) all-purpose flour
3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) about 3 medium egg whites
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar

1. Finely mix the almond meal and the confectioner's sugar. (If you have a mixer, you can use it by pulsing the ingredients together for no longer than 30 seconds).
2. Sift the flour into the mix.
3. Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff.
4. Pour the almond meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula.
5. Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it.
6. Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape (circle, long strip etc...) and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm).
7. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes (depends on your oven), until golden.
8. Let cool and cut to the desired shape.
OK, at this point, hopefully your Creme Brulee insert has been long baked and frozen, your mousse is nice and chilly, and your praline feuillete is cold and ready to be cut. Also, hopefully your children have gone to bed and you've brought out the liquor, because that will help if you're into that sort of thing.
If the stars are lined up for you, you're going to start your assembly.

1) Line your mold or pan, whatever its shape, with rhodoid OR plastic film. Rhodoid will give you a smoother shape but you may have a hard time using it depending on the kind of mold you’re using. If you have a silkscreener in the family, steal some of his transparencies for this step.

2A) Cut the Dacquoise into a shape fitting your mold and set it in there. If you are using an actual Yule mold which is in the shape of a half-pipe, you want the Dacquoise to cover the entire half-pipe portion of the mold.
3A) Pipe one third of the Mousse component on the Dacquoise.
4A) Take the Creme Brulee Insert out of the freezer at the last minute and set on top of the mousse. Press down gently to slightly ensconce it in the mousse.

5A) Pipe second third of the Mousse component around and on top of the Creme Brulee Insert.
6A) Cut the Praline/Crisp Insert to a size slightly smaller than your mold so that it can be surrounded by mousse. Lay it on top of the mousse you just piped into the mold.
Note: At the recommendation of some of the daring bakers, I broke up this layer so that the log would be easier to cut in the end.


7A) Pipe the last third of the Mousse component on top of the Praline Insert.
Note: I did not have enough mousse for this process, hence my end result was not so sleek because it didn't fill up the mold.

8A) Freeze for a few hours to set. Take out of the freezer.

Now you have to make your ganache.

Equipment: pan, whisk. If you have plunging mixer (a vertical hand mixer used to make soups and other liquids), it comes in handy.

Note: Because the ganache hardens as it cools, you should make it right before you intend to use it to facilitate piping it onto the log during assembly. Please be careful when caramelizing the sugar and then adding the cream. It may splatter and boil.

Ingredients:
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp/ 135g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
5 oz (135g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened

1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).
2. While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.
3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.

9A) Pipe the Ganache Insert onto the frozen mousse leaving a slight eidge so that ganache doesn’t seep out when you set the Dacquoise on top.

10A) Close with the last strip of Dacquoise.


Freeze until the next day.

OK, so now you are almost there, and you're feeling pretty good about the last twelve hours, and then you start to look at some of the Daring Baker posts coming up, and oh man, these are some of the loveliest cakes you have come across. And as you are admiring the work of your fellow daring bakers, you start to think, I'm not a pastry chef! What am I doing here and what is this mess that I have created! (Oh wait, I think I might be talking about me here) But then I stop right there, because damn it all to hell if I'm not daring enough to spend twelve hours on one cake, and to carmelize sugar wrong four times in one day! This is bravery if I ever saw it. So I put down the leftover dacquoise in one hand and praline in the other (because wouldn't they just taste so good together at 11:30 pm?) and I go to bed, ready for the artistic challenge that awaits me in the morning.

And once the breakfast dishes are done, I'm ready to start the Dark Chocolate Icing.
I doubled this recipe and that was a really good idea.

Preparation time: 25 minutes (10mn if you don’t count softening the gelatin)

Equipment: Small bowl, small saucepan

Note: Because the icing gelifies quickly, you should make it at the last minute.
For other gelatin equivalencies or gelatin to agar-agar equivalencies, look at the notes for the mousse component.

Ingredients:
4g / ½ Tbsp powdered gelatin or 2 sheets gelatin
¼ cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)
2.1 oz (5 Tbsp / 60g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (50g) water
1/3 cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder


1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.
2. Boil the rest of the ingredients and cook an additional 3 minutes after boiling.
3. Add gelatin to the chocolate mixture. Mix well.
4. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.

Unmold the cake/log/whatever and set on a wire rack over a shallow pan.

Cover the cake with the icing.

Let set. Return to the freezer.
You may decorate your cake however you wish. The decorations can be set in the icing after it sets but before you return the cake to the freezer or you may attach them on top using extra ganache or leftover mousse, etc...
Transfer to the refrigerator no longer than ½ hour before serving as it may start to melt quickly depending on the elements you chose.

And that's the end of it. Because I am married to a snowflake maker, he designed some nice snowflakes which sort of worked on top if you look closely. This will come back out tomorrow for our New Year's extradanaire party, and I have high hopes for the eating experience.
So am I a pastry chef? A yule log maker? Still, not really, and no. But I am so daring!

EPILOGUE: New Year's Eve

Finally time to eat the thing! Mid-party, we decided to try the snowflake effect one more time...

And this time you can even tell that they are snowflakes! (Isn't Joey such an artist with paper crafts?) We cut into the log...

And then we ate it! And man was it good. The response was altogether favorable, and thank god, because I think I would have started to cry in the middle of the party had any one thought it was less than life changing. All of that time in the kitchen has made me a little sensitive, I guess. But the yule log is done, and we're on to a new year!

Soup of the Week: Cauliflower Chick Pea

Okay, I'm a little complainy. Last night at the end of a very delicious fireside evening, I turned off the light, and dreamily walked into a chair. We'd had many family members over for dinner and the chair was not supposed to be there. And I am not supposed to walk through dark rooms, as I am prone to hurting myself in certain situations. So the chair and I are both at fault.
I have hurt my toes many times in my life, but never like this. So after the morning in the ER, I'm stuck on the couch waiting to heal.
Joey's being a major trooper and the kids are trying to take care of me, which means that they are bringing me beverages and jumping on my foot by mistake.
So in honor of my mood, I'm giving you a good soup for grumpy nights. A little of this, a little of that, and voila you have soup that all will eat. Save it for a night you really need it.

Cauliflower Chick Pea Soup
4 cups chicken stock (or veg if that's the way you go)
1 lb of cauliflower, cut into florets
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 cups cooked chick peas

Put everything into a pot, let simmer for 20- 30 minutes. Put your hand blender in the pot and blend till super smooth.
Add:
1 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper to taste

Lavender Fleur de sel caramels

OK, I have to admit a few things here. I'm a little bit done with food. I've been cooking some, eating a lot, and I'm starting not to feel so hungry. I've got a bunch more cooking to do this week though, so I'm working on getting my appetite back.
My children, however, are having no problem with their appetites. They are asking for food constantly. And they are so fixated on sweets that I'm starting to become a genius with the bribes. So much so that sometimes they really don't make any sense.
Example: Last night Sadie says, "Mom, can I have more asparagus?"
And I snap back, "Not until you finish your rice."
OK, who exactly is this person speaking out of my mouth? And why is she withholding vegetables to prove a point? And exactly what point is that?
Yes, I am losing it for good.
Anyway, I made some caramels. I don't really like caramels, but these are pretty good and they make pretty gifts. This is a recipe from the illustrious Alice Medrich, with my lavender obsession mixed in. It was definitely my most successful caramel experience yet, with the exception of the cutting step. The things just shattered under the knife, as you can see below in the photo.





Lavender Fleur de Sel Caramels
adapted from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert

Ingredients
1 cup golden syrup (NOT corn syrup, you can get this in most higher end grocery stores)
2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt, preferably fleur de sel
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons lavender flowers
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

Equipment
A 9-inch square baking pan
Candy thermometer

Procedure

Add the lavender to the cream and let sit.


Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F.


Meanwhile, put the lavender and cream in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream, pouring it through a strainer to separate the lavender; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.


Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Sprinkle the fleur de sel onto both sides of the sheet, pressing it into the caramel.

Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

Chocolate Blocks with ginger and cranberries

Are you feeling gift stress? I suggest that you channel this into baking and sweet making. The sweets will be fabulous gifts, and eating them will ease your stress as well. The whole thing is pretty cost effective and you can be sure that your gifts won't go unused.

We're on our second snowstorm in 3 days. The kids are going crazy, my husband is compulsively crafting, and I'm popping out sweets faster than I can pack them. So this will be the first of a few recipes I'll pass along. Get ready.

These are Chocolate Blocks. The originally recipe for these babies come to me through Orangette, who in turn had gotten it from Gourmet Magazine. You can find the original recipe here, but my version changed the insides a bit.

Some of you reading this will be receiving these from me over the next week. Forgive me for ruining the surprise, but trust me- you'll want the recipe as soon as you eat one.
Oh, and this one wins the super easy award. Have fun with it....

1 1/4 lb of good quality chocolate, bittersweet
2/3 cup candied ginger, cut into little pieces
2/3 cup dried cranberries
1 1/3 cup almonds, chopped small
good quality sea salt
vegetable oil, for greasing

Line a 9x9 baking pan with foil and grease it lightly with vegetable oil.
In a double boiler or metal bowl over a pot with a few inches of water, melt the chocolate at a medium temperature. The water should just be simmering. Stir until the chocolate is smooth. Stir in the fruit and nuts.


Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared pan. Smooth with a spatula and sprinkle the whole thing with sea salt.

Cover lightly and put it in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
Pop it out of the pan and cut into squares.


These can be stored in the fridge for two weeks, layered with wax paper between them. This recipe makes about 60 blocks.

Roasted Garlic, Onion, and Potato Galette

Have you heard of this thing called a galette? I know that it is old news to some, but this is pretty new to me. A galette is basically a rustic tart, and you can put anything in it. I mean it, the world is your oyster. Make a pie crust, roll it out. Put stuff on it, fold the crust over, and bake. And impress. And wow. And enjoy.


This little beauty has roasted garlic, onions, potatoes and farmers cheese, but really once you get the format, go wild. Your kids will call it pizza, but you will have the joy of saying that you made galette.

The Dough (use what you like, but this specific pie crust alchemy is Deborah Madison's Galette Dough):

2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
12 T cold butter, cut into pieces
1/3-1/2 c ice water

Combine the flour and salt. With two knives or a pastry blender, cut in half of the butter till you get a nice, crumbly consistency. Stir in the rest of the small butter chunks. Add the ice water a little bit at a time, tossing with your fingers or a fork to stop adding water the moment the dough holds together. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in wax paper. Refridgerate for at least an hour.

For the Filling:
1 head of garlic, outside skins removed
1 large onion sliced
2-3 potatoes, peeled and sliced
8 oz soft cheese such as farmer's or chevre
salt and pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Roast the garlic:
Take of the outer skin. Wrap in aluminum foil with the top open. Pour olive oil over the garlic.


Put into a small oven proof dish and roast until it gets soft and starts to explode a bit, about 30 minutes. In the mean time, toss the potatoes and onions in olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread on a baking sheet and roast until they start to brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Take your dough out of the fridge and roll it out. Spread the cheese on the dough, leaving a few inches on the edge. Layer the roasted potatoes, onions, and smooshed garlic cloves that you have squeezed out of their skins on top of the cheese. Sprinkle with some good olive oil.


Now here is the fun part. Fold the dough over the filling, like this:


Lower the oven to 400 degrees, put your galette on a pizza stone or baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until your crust goes golden.

Let it cool for a few minutes before you cut it, then enjoy. De-lish....

Soup of the Week: Chicken Soup with Dumplings

So there are these nights when I have usually had the day to myself and things are going pretty well. I've gotten dinner out before everyone has turned into hungry monsters and usually there are candles. And my husband gets water for everyone and beams at me across the table. And these are the nights where the kids put the napkins out when I ask them to, and when they say (get ready for this) Thank you mom for this beautiful dinner. Yes, it's rare, but these nights come around every so often. And usually they coincide with the presence of chicken soup and dumplings. Because if there is one thing that you can be sure of, it is that kids+dumplings=happy.



So I know that we've all got our chicken soup recipes, but I find that chicken soup is all too often missing dumplings, so here's my very own chicken soup:

1 chicken of any size, washed
quite a bit of water
1 large onion, diced
8 cloves of garlic, diced
3 ribs of celery, cut in 1/2 inch slices
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized chunks
2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled and diced tiny
the juice of two lemons
lots of salt
a little bit of fresh pepper

And for the dumplings, from The Joy of Cooking

1/4 c soft butter
1 egg
1 c all purpose flour
6 T milk
1/2 t salt

Put the chicken in a large pot and just cover with water. Bring to a boil, skim off the scuzz, turn down the heat, and cover. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or whenever the chicken is close to looking like it is going to fall apart. Carefully remove the chicken with a couple of large utensils and let it cool a bit in a mixing bowl.
Add all of the chopped vegetables to the broth. Let them cook at a bubbling simmer for at lease twenty minutes.
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and egg until fairly smooth. Stir in the flour and the salt. Slowly add the milk, and stir to combine. The mixture will be wet and lumpy.
Bring the soup up to a low boil. Using a teaspoon, drop scoops of the batter into the boiling soup.
Remove all of the meat from the chicken in bite sized pieces. When all of the dumplings are floating at the top of the soup, lower the heat. Add the chicken. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Light candles.

Fancy Thirty

Today I am thirty, and although I thought I would be at work today, instead I am home in an ice storm and therefore able to share my birthday here a little bit. I've been thinking lately about how much I like small things that make me feel fancy. We live on a very limited budget, and I think that keeping these little luxuries around helps me to be quite content with our income level. Yes, my dirty little secret is that I really like fancy things. There it's out. And I'm not alone, right? So here are a few of those little fancies....


Cloth napkins. Cheap. Pretty. Good for the environment. We have a lot of them, and we use them at every meal. And my kids think that paper napkins are strange. And voila, I have raised fancy, eco-conscious kids.

Olive oil in a glass bottle. Just makes me feel like a good cook to look at it. And if you can fill it with decent olive oil, even better.

Pinchable salt. Good coarse salt in a little bowl that you have to put your fingers in to. Sanitary? No. Fancy? Oh yes.


And because we are in an ice storm, I'll finish with my favorite today. Tea in a little glass. It may burn your fingers a bit, but just to look at the glass is so satisfying. So I know that it's my birthday but why don't you go treat yourself. Grab a juice glass, fill it with tea, and feel the fanciness....

Raw Milk Yogurt

I've been making yogurt for about a year now, and I thinking I'm ready to put the system down on paper (or screen if you will). This is my yogurt maker.

It is a Eurocuisine YM100. You can buy it from Amazon. It costs about forty bucks, and trust me it's definitely worth the ten bucks extra (over the thirty dollar YM80) for the automatic timer. I also suggest the you shell out the extra twenty bucks for a set of extra jars. Otherwise you have to wait for all the yogurt to be eaten in order to make your next batch. You also need a candy thermometer.

Many people make yogurt with nothing but a mason jar and a wood stove, but I just never could make that happen, and frankly, I'm a little in love with my yogurt maker.

OK, now you have your supplies. For one batch of yogurt, this is what you will need:

4 1/4 cups of milk (I use raw milk, but use what you like)
6 oz. plain fatty yogurt (more on this later)
4 T nonfat dry milk powder

So let's talk about these ingredients. Because I have access to some pretty wicked awesome raw milk, this is what I use. And the method that I will lay out for you is different from the one that comes in your yogurt maker instructions, because I don't want to heat it so much that I will kill all the good things in the raw milk. If you are using raw milk, you've already made this decision and you know all the things like how you should be absolutely sure of the perfection and cleanliness of the farm, etc., etc, so I won't go into that. This method, however, will also work with pasteurized milk, so don't stress it if that is what you want to use.
As for the yogurt in the recipe, this is your starter. If you buy a little thing of yogurt, you can use it as a starter, and then you can use one of that batch as your next starter. This is as far as you can go with it. So one little cup of yogurt will get you two cycles of starter. I have found that the absolute best starter is full fat Greek yogurt. It makes a huge difference.
You also need nonfat dry milk. Organic valley makes a decent one, or sometimes you can find it in the bulk section at the health food store. If you're going to use the low heat method that I set out here, you must include dry milk or else your yogurt will be runny. If you don't mind runny yogurt, by all means leave it out.

So here's the process. Heat your milk at a low temperature until it hits 110 degrees. This happens pretty quickly, so I'd stick close to the stove.


Empty your starter yogurt into a mixing bowl or large measuring cup. Add about 1c of warm milk, and the 4 T of dry milk. Whisk until fairly smooth. Don't worry if there are a few lumps.


Add this mixture back into the rest of the warm milk. Whisk until slightly frothy.

Pour entire mixture into a large measuring cup for easy pouring. Fill jars up to the top.


Leave the lids of the containers off, but put the lid of the machine on. Set the timer for eleven hours. Put the machine somewhere where it won't be nudged or disturbed.

After the eleven hours are up, put the lids on the jars and put them into the fridge. The yogurt will be ready in two hours.

A note on flavors: My experience has been that with homemade yogurt, it is best to make it plain. When more variables get introduced into the situation, the cultures can get a little screwy and sometimes even up and die on you. So make it plain, and then add yummy things to it afterwards.

Thanks!: Potatoes with Horseradish and Cream

I really love to cook, but sometimes I really love it even more when people cook for me. My family lives at a pretty amazing place called Gould Farm, and we tend to head over there for Thanksgiving most of the time. Thanksgiving, in its perfect ratio of gratitude and food is one of my favorite holidays, and the farm is an excellent place to feel thankful and to eat a lot. They raise a bunch of turkeys in preparation for this day, and I think that the turkeys must even be thankful to be part of such a celebration.

There were some pretty amazing culinary moments in this meal. The green beans had a perfect amount of crunch that makes you want to eat them with your fingers.

Of course no matter what kind of divine revelation is on their plates, my children will only eat bread.

The real star star of this show, next to the oldest member of the community holding the youngest (Roma, 98, holding Sonja, 7 weeks)

was the roasted potatoes with horseradish and cream. I know that to put these two events in the same category may seem odd, but once you try these potatoes you will understand. Both the combinations of Roma and Sonja and Potatoes and Horseradish will bring tears of joy to your eyes.

This recipe comes from the most talented Flavio Lichtenthal, and Sierra of the kitchen team executed the recipe beautifully. Sierra gave me an approximate recipe- this is one that you can play with and I think it will just be good no matter what you do. So here goes:

Cut the potatoes into bite-sized chunks, toss in olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Roast them in a 375 degree oven until they are done. We all have our own opinions on this one- just taste to make sure.

Make the sauce- for every 1 cup of heavy cream, use 1/2 T of dijon mustard and 1/2 T of horseradish. Season with salt and pepper and add a splash of soy sauce.
Toss the roasted potatoes in the sauce. Bring out the tissues. Give thanks.