Saturday, July 28, 2012

Flour's Sticky Buns


I have really enjoyed being home these past few weeks. I have been baking and cooking up a storm. To accompany these activities I have also enrolled in Denton Bootcamp to help even out all of this eating. So yesterday, I was on a bike ride with DD, and we were deciding what we wanted for breakfast today. She decided that she wanted sticky buns. We made the brioche last night and we got up around 7:30am and finished the buns. We made the warm goo and rolled them up with sugar and pecan goodness. Currently they are in the oven baking. I have made these once before and they were delicious! I am waiting for them to come out so I can grab a picture and put this post up! The recipe is from Flour Bakery + Cafe in Boston. I have been to the Flour Bakery at their South End location but unfortunately they were already sold out of the sticky buns before I got there. So I've never had one of theirs to compare. If you find yourself in Boston check out one of their three locations or try the recipe here. Enjoy!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Blueberry Cheesecake



A few nights ago for dessert we enjoyed a delicious blueberry cheesecake! This is my all time favorite cheesecake recipe because it has about half the amount of cream cheese as the other recipes. I also like this one because you can make a variety of different fruit toppings. Last week we made a blackberry, raspberry combination for the top, and tonight I decided to try blueberries. It is all depends upon what you have on hand or prefer.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Crust
12 oz Vanilla Wafers
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 t vanilla

Filling
24 oz cream cheese (3 packages)
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream

Topping
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 T water
1 T cornstarch

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place vanilla wafers and nuts in a food processor. Pulse until crumbs form. Add melted butter and vanilla until combined. Pout into 10-inch springform pan and press crumbs into the bottom. The crumbs should come up the sides of the pan.

In a stand mixer, combine the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. Add sour cream and mix again. Whip until no lumps are visible. Pour mixture into the crust and bake for 1 hour. Turn off oven and allow cheesecake to sit in the oven for an additional 30 minutes with the door open.

For the topping. Add the berries, sugar and water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Then mix cornstarch and a small amount of water until dissolved. Add this to the mixture and bring to a boil for at least a minute. Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Pour over cheesecake and place the pan in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours before serving.

Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Blueberry Peach Crumb Pie


The farmers markets have been filled with delicious peaches and blueberries this summer! I have enjoyed eating and baking with both of them! I did a variation on the blueberry crumb pie and added peaches and used dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar for the crumb topping. The picture above is before I put the crumb topping on. Delicious! I think next time I might experiment and add some rum to the peach mixture! I've been reading a lot of recipes with that combination and I think it might add some jazz to this pie! I can't wait!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Chocolate Fallen Cake


In celebration of a close friends new job opportunity I decided to make a cake to share with her over a bottle of my favorite moscato, Santero Moscato d'Asti. It is very sweet and bubbly, perfect for desserts! This recipe for chocolate fallen cake is very easy to make, doesn't require a lot of ingredients and can be served with vanilla ice cream. I would recommend making this as a quick dessert that would please any chocolate lover! The texture is meant to be oozing out of the center when the cake is cut. If this does not happen then the cake is too dry for this recipe. Enjoy!

Chocolate Fallen Cake

8 T unsalted butter
8 ounces semisweet chocolate
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 T flour

Preheat oven to 375F. Generously butter and dust an eight inch springform pan with cocoa powder. 
Melt butter and semisweet chocolate together in the microwave or a double boiler. Once smooth, 
remove from heat. 

In a stand mixer, combine eggs, yolk, sugar, salt, vanilla. Beat on the highest speed until thick and pale and the volume has tripled. The mixture is done when it falls away from attachment in a smooth stream. Scape the egg mixture over the melted chocolate and fold to combine. 

Pour into your pan and bake for 27-30 minutes. The cake will look puffed with a thin top crust. Carefully remove from oven and run a knife around the outside of the cake to separate it from the pan. Cool cake for 15 minutes before serving.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Blueberry Crumb Pie

I would like to sincerely apologize for my lack of presence on Together Cooking recently. After returning from Colorado I was extremely busy with moving back to school and returning to the the life of being a student. My basic day is breakfast, work, lunch, class, class, class, dinner, class, work out, homework, sleep. I promise that now that I am back to my regular routine I will be back blogging and sharing my culinary adventures with my friends and readers. I am planning on putting up some Colorado leftover posts and some new posts as well. To start this off I would like to share with you a recipe for Blueberry Crumble Pie. I decided to make this after dinner one night for dessert. If you would like to make this pie I would recommend making it ahead of serving it so that it cools to room temperature which allows the pie to set up. Otherwise you will have a liquidy mess of blueberry all over your plate. Enjoy!

Blueberry Crumble Pie

Pie Dough:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup butter
5 T cold water
dash salt

Cut the butter into chunks and combine with the flour and salt. Add cold water until the dough forms a ball. Roll out and place in pie dish. Place the rolled out dough in the freezer for 20 minutes before adding the filling and the crumb topping.

Filling:
4 cups blueberries
1 T lemon juice
3/4 cups sugar
3 T cornstarch
1/2 t lemon zest
1/4 t salt

Place the blueberries in a large bowl with lemon juice. In a separate bowl combine sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and salt. Add to berries mixture and stir. Set aside.

Crumb Topping:
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup butter, melted

Combine the dry ingredients then stir in melted butter. Remove crust from freezer. Add blueberries. Add crumb mixture. Place in 375F oven for 45 minutes. Until the berries start to bubble. Remove and let sit until room temperature before serving. Enjoy!