Chocolate Dipped Candied Orange Peels

Music-A Tribe Called Quest-Peoples Instinctive Travels and Paths of Rhythm

Good album! everyone should listen to the tribe! I've been listening to a lot of hip hop lately and really digging the fat beats and fat bass sound. and Tribe really gets into that. So just push it along!

Baking-Chocolate Dipped Candied Orange Peels

Pretty easy but long winded candy making experience with these peels. Not much required but lots and lots of waiting around. They taste delicious though! kind of like...adult tasting. If i were a kid i wouldn't like candied orange peels but if i were sophisticated and adult-y i'd like these orange peels. Personally im indifferent on the taste. Good flavor combination! Chocolate and Orange is a good combo.

A beautifully artistic picture taken by Brian Sherman

So not much is required all you need is:
-8.5 oz of orange peels
-1 lb of sugar
-4 fl oz of corn syrup
-12 fl oz of water

So first we cut up the oranges into like 16ths so we got thin slices of peels. we used like 9 oranges so we got a lot of peels. We also got a lot of orange. I was planning on making orange juice with all these oranges but instead i just slowly ate all of them while making the candied peels.

Orange Peels Sliced!

Peeling Oranges!

Oranges

Orange Peels

So you take all them orange peels,put them in a pan and fill the pan with cold water. Afterwards bring the cold water to a boil and then drain. Repeat this 3 more times. This process removes the bitter flavor from the pith.

We did double batches to save time

Afterward combine the water, syrup and sugar in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir it around often to dissolve the sugar and dump the peels in the pot and simmer for about an hour.

Boiling the peels in the sugar mixture

Drying the peels

Then drain and dry the peels on a rack overnight. Melt some semi-sweet chocolate and dip the peels in the chocolate after they are dry! then enjoy!

Final Product!

Final Product off the rack!

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pumpkin Seeds

Music-Black Sheep- Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

I got this album and have been listening to almost nothing but this since. Amazing album with amazing samples behind Dres's smooth rapping. One of the pinnacles of hip hop! If you guys remember that commercial with the cars and the hamsters over this summer the song was off of this album.

Baking-Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pumpkin Seeds

Well this was a rather annoying venture out into the pumpkin world. Brian and I decided to make this pumpkin cheesecake with real pie pumpkins. It was the first time Brian and I worked with real pumpkins before and we soon found out its really annoying to work with pumpkins. So because of being so annoying at the pumpkins we kinda forgot to take pictures of the process... but there still are plenty of before and after pics! sorry!

So I'll first tell you how i prepared the pumpkin; you only need one pumpkin but we had two so we used two.Preheat oven to 350. First cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out all the string and seed. Then spread oil on the cut parts of the pumpkin and also on a baking pan in which you'll be baking the pumpkins in. Put the pumpkin cut side onto the pan and fill up to about 1/2 inch of water. Then put into the oven for a long long long long time! i don't know exactly how long cause we kept taking it out and finding out that it was yet too hard to scoop and stuff. arggh the frustration! we must have spent like two hours taking the pumpkin in and out. like the fast food chain except less delicious. Well after the pumpkin is nice and soft scoop out the meat, mash it up and puree it!

Scoopin' stuff outside the Pumpkin

Cut Pumpkin

Pumpkins in my Pan!(PIMP)

We also make pumpkin seeds by just seperating the seeds out of the stringy stuff, spicing it with some cinnamon and salt and baking it at 350 for some time. we kinda eyeballed this one. its an extra little thing.

Pumpkin Seeds. Salted and Spiced

So while the pumpkin was baking we started on the crust of the cheesecake. For that we needed:

1 cup (100 grams) graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cups (50 grams) finely ground ginger cookies, homemade or store bought

1 tablespoon (15 grams) granulated white sugar

4 - 5 tablespoons (56 - 60 grams) unsalted butter, melted

So just mix all this stuff together and cram it onto a bottom of a spring form pan. I find using the bottom of a flat measuring cup works really really well. refrigerate it while you work on the filling and while your waiting for those god damn pumpkins to soften! 

So the next objective of our mission is to create the actual filling. For this we needed:

2/3 cup (145 grams) light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 pound (454 grams) cream cheese, room temperature

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup (210 grams) pure pumpkin puree 

if you don't  want to go through all the pumpkin stuff just get canned pumpkin. im sure it won't make too much of a difference.

First beat the Cream Cheese until smooth. then add in the sugar gradually and beat until smooth. Afterward add the eggs one at a time and then finally vanilla, pumpkin puree and spices. The spice is really up to the baker. Brian is crazy for cinnamon and other spices so we added a lot more than what the recipe recommended,maybe 3 times more? idunno we kinda eyeballed it with an eyeball. I kinda liked it more spicy, cause it really went well with the pumpkin and gave the cheesecake a kick. 

Well then we poured the cheesecake filling into a pan and baked at 350 F for like 30 minutes. Then turn it down to 325 and bake for 10-20 more minutes. Bake until the center is kinda jiggly and the sides are nice and set.

While the cheesecake is baking we can make the sour cream topping! for this we needed:

1 cup (240 ml) sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

just whisk them all together and pour it on the cheesecake after it comes out of the oven. rotate the cheesecake so get the topping to spread evenly over the cheesecake. then bake for another 8 minutes or so to let the cheesecake set. Then refrigerate overnight and EAT!

IT CRACKED! OH NO! but its okay i think it adds personality. and character!

Good enough for foodporn? lets hope so!

Apple Cider

Music- Phish- Junta

This band needs no introduction! We press cider to the best!

Baking-Apple Cider

THE PRESS

So we didn't really bake the apple cider. we pressed it with an apple press. its pretty straightforward and there won't be too many words in this post. more pictures cause pictures are awesome! The the press consists of two parts: a giant grinder to grind up apples and a giant press to press the apple bits so that we can squeeze the cider out of em! 4 1/2 bushels of apples turned into 10 gallons of cider! mmmhmmmmm! we are fermenting 5 gallons of it. i'll give you an update on that when its ready.

Ryan Gunther Bishop AKA The Apple Prince turning the press with a broom stick

Me turning the press with a PVC pipe

Catching the liquid gold!

Soren, Ryan and me turning the press

LIQUID GOLD

THREE GALLONS OF LIQUID GOLD

Fried Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Homemade Caramel Sauce

Music: Mount Wittenburg Orca by the Dirty Projectors and Bjork (Sorry Mike, not De La Soul) This album is pretty crazy. It’s a collaboration between the Dirty Projectors and Bjork. The songs mostly sound like ideas of songs that haven’t been finished yet but it’s definitely worth listening to. The Dirty Projectors ladies and Bjork are all super technical singers. Lots of fun.

Baking: Fried Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Homemade Caramel Sauce

We decided to make this recipe because it is incredibly southern and unhealthy, which meant it had a 100% chance of being delicious. It’s kind of like bananas foster but instead of frying bananas you fry banana bread. Unfortunately, we also didn’t light anything on fire. At least not on purpose. As an intense lover of banana bread I was excited for this one.

We started with my standard banana bread recipe, which is memorized at this point.

Dry ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

Wet ingredients:

2 mashed very ripe bananas

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup melted butter

The banana bread batter poised for baking

Fold wet into dry (Don’t over-mix! Never!) Then add as many chocolate chips as you want, which for us was a lot (approximately 1 1/2 cups). I live by the philosophy that there can never be too much chocolate. We poured the batter into a buttered and floured loaf pan and baked it for 55 minutes in a 350-degree oven.

While the banana bread was baking we started on the caramel sauce. Caramel sauce is a little tough to make, mostly because the timing has to be right for everything. We put 1 cup of sugar in a 2 qt. heavy-bottomed saucepan and then placed 6 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup of heavy cream near the stove.

Melted sugar about to boil and become delicious caramel

We put the pan of sugar over heat and whisked it until the sugar melted and eventually boiled. When the sugar boils, you put the butter in and stir it once it’s melted. Then you take it off the heat and pour in the heavy cream. The mixture will bubble up a lot, and you keep stirring it until it becomes smooth. Voila! Caramel!

Mike slicing the warm bread with loving kindness

Once it was done, we took the banana bread out of the oven, and then hungrily watched it cool. Once it had cooled off a bit (probably not long enough but we were hungry and excited) we cut 1-inch slices and heat up some (a lot) of butter in a pan. Probably like 2 tablespoons of butter. This r amount ecipe is all about butter, like chocolate, you can never have too much. This is where it gets delicious. We lovingly set the slices of banana bread in the pan of butter and fried them like pancakes until they got a little brown. Finally we served the bread with ice cream drizzled with a substantial of caramel sauce.

The finished product

Let the devouring ensue! Everyone in the room was very happy with this one, it was gone within minutes.

Puff Pastry Apple Tart

Music- Nick Drake- Pink Moon


This album is short, sweet and amazing. Nick Drake really should be the head figure of folk music not Dylan.  i really don't have much to say for this album except that every song is amazing.


Baking-Puff Pastry Apple Tarts

Its the season of Math, Science and all that is Engineering so i haven't been baking as much. Apologies to the Baking gods. Have pity on these poor old bones!
So this is like puff pastry with apricot glaze and apples sprinkled on top of it. Its not quite a tart...but that is what the book refers to it as so that's what im going to put as the title. anyhow the end result is yummy delicious. I used Cortland apples for this but im sure many other varieties of apples will work fine too. Granny Smiths would be fine im guessin'

Guest Chef Rachel Perlman rolling out laminated dough

So this isn't very complicated once you've made the puff pastry dough. The hard part is making the puff pastry dough (or laminated dough as the Culinary Institute of America refers to it as). So instead of going through all the trouble of rewriting instructions on how to make laminated dough im just going to refer to you (the reader) to my post on Cherry Half Pockets (two posts ago behind the ketchup). There I shall will show you the glory of layering butter with dough. There your life will forever change and you will see things anew! it'll also be delicious if you eat it. So please refer to Cherry Half Pockets to find out more about making laminated dough and tri folds and four folds and stuff.

Make about 10 oz of laminated dough

So after you'll just need:
1)Brown Sugar
2)Cinnamon
3)1 or 2 Diced and peeled apples
4) 4 Sliced and Peeled Apples 
5) Apricot Jam

So after you've done all the four folds and all the dough and stuff just roll it out into a thin circular shape.  Spread a thin layer of Apricot Jam over the dough and then spread the diced apples over. After arrange the sliced apples fanning from the outside inward and then sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and then bake at 400 for 20 minutes and your good!

After Apricot Glaze Sprinkle Diced Apples

Sliced Apple Time!

CINNAMON AND SUGAR TIME!

Baked Apple Puff Pastry Tart

A Slice.

Homemade Jalapeno Ketchup

Music- Billy Bragg- Back to Basics

A very bare boned album with just a singer and an electric guitar. Fast paced, poppy, very simple and kinda like folk punk. Songs are very short, no longer than 3-4 minutes and a lot are around the 2-3 minute length.  Took me a bit to get use to this guy but i think his pretty cool. Billy Bragg. what a cool name too huh? its actually why i started listening to him. His singing is also very thickly English i think. i could be wrong but im sure his from somewhere around that part of Earth.

i looooove you! i am the milkman! of human kindness! i will leave an extra pint!

Baking- Homemade Jalapeno Ketchup

So this is a pretty straight forward easy recipe. Now why did i make ketchup? well ketchup isn't exactly a baked good but its pretty delicious. The fact of the matter is that not many people give ketchup appreciation or attention. Its taken for granted and its quality is ignored. If you go to a supermarket there is a high quality and low quality everything. except ketchup! There is expensive sea salt, quality pepper, and even super fancy mustard! but nobody bothers with ketchup! people use so much more ketchup than mustard and there are so many more brands of mustard than ketchup. All of which have different flavors and tastes. Ketchup from different companies all kinda taste the same.

Its always those brand names like Heinz that you would accompany on your fancy burger with your fancy mustard and your fancy meat and fancy buns. there is no fancy ketchup! and ketchup is one of the most commonly used condiments in America. So im going to make fancy ketchup. well i guess its not that fancy but at least its homemade.

So this is pretty easy. get 4 pounds of tomatoes (like 5 big tomatoes). chop them up and throw them into the pot and simmer em' down for about 15 minutes. Then drain off the excess liquid in the ketchup and throw in 1 celery stick, half an onion, half a pepper, and 4 jalapenos all chopped up and whatnot. simmer this until the mixture goes down to like half its volume (about 1- 1 1/2 hours) and then add in:

1. Half a cup of sugar
2. Half a cup of apple cider vinegar
3. 1 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon
4.  1 1/2 teaspoon of Dry Mustard
5. 1 teaspoon of Salt

and then boil for another hour or so. Puree in a blender or something. Then stick it in a container and chill it until you wanna eat it. This recipe creates a very very sweet ketchup which is a plus for some things and a negative for others. If you wanna make it taste more vinegary like regular ketchup then just add more vinegar. same for spiciness.

Just the Tomatoes.

Tomatoes boiled down and other veggies added

Boiled down even more. I think this is also with the spices and what not. this is like after an hour.

simmered down even more. about 2 hours?

This is the Ketchup.

See companies like Heinz have ketchup making competitions but those competitions require you to make the ketchup using Heinz ketchup. Then your not really making a ketchup your just kinda flavoring a ketchup that has already been made. And that sucks. people should make their own ketchup if they enter a competition for making ketchup.

So apparently Ketchup was invented by the Chinese and whats originally made with pickled fish and spices. Apparently ketchup doesn't have to be made from tomatoes! it can be made with blueberries, bananas, cherries and many other things! like pickled fish.

Peach Cobbler

Music-The Presidents of the USA-The Presidents of the USA

I thought this album would be fit for Peach Cobbler. Cause peaches come from a can and they were put there by a man!

Baking-Peach Cobbler

MILLIONS OF PEACHES! PEACHES FOR ME!

Now this is a simple yet delicious recipe half of which will be dedicated to make Bishops Peach Cobbler Ice Cream. Lets get down to cobbling. Okay so the first step would be to make the dough. Dough isn't that hard.

226 g of All Purpose Flour
2.3 g of Salt
75 g of Chilled Butter and Chilled Shortening both cut into small chunks
80 mL of Cold Water

So combine Flour and salt, then mix together chilled butter and shortening into the flour and salt until pea zie nuggets form in the mix. Then add water all at once and continue to mix until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for like 30 minutes. Now you gotta make sure the butter and shortening is cold or else it will melt while you are mixing! and that is bad news cause then your dough is ganna be soft and nasty instead of nice and crisp.

Now its time for the Peach part of the formula. This is easy just cut enough peaches to fill up a 13 x 9 in. pan. Yea i wasn't super specific with this one i just kinda eye balled it. with a ball and an eye. Anyway cut the peaches into slices and then in a bowl mix in 175 g of sugar and 54 g of cornstarch and it should turn into a nice semi viscous peach mix. yes i used the word viscous. then pour the peaches into the 9 by 13, roll our the dough to cover the pan and bake at like 350 until the crust lightly browns about 30 minutes? i wasn't really paying attention to the time rather i paid attention to the brownyness of the dough.

Peaches with Sugar and Cornstarch

ALL MIXED UP IN THE MOMENT!

Poured into the Pan

Clothed and Covered

BAKED OUT OF ITS MIND!

MILLIONS OF PEACHES! PEACHES FOR FREE!