Plugra is a European style butter that really does make a difference in your baking. I have used it for years, especially for the French pastries and baked goods that I do. It is basically butter with less water so that you have a higher fat content.  Why is that good? Your recipes will be lighter, richer, and more tender.

The only complaint that I have about Plugra is that it isn’t organic. I love using it, and I love the results I get with it. It does cost a little more than regular butter but if you are doing something really special it is worth it. The Plugra Home Page has a bunch of recipes, information, and hints for using the product. Here are some of my favorites:

• Warm Soft Center Bittersweet Chocolate Cake
• Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Foam
• Coffee Seared Steaks
• Mascarpone Stuffed Challah French Toast
• Torta al Cioccolato

Nope, the company did NOT send me Plugra, nor did they buy advertising. I really like this stuff and I think that if you haven’t used it you should try it.

image: marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

I am not sure the foodies are genetically different from other people. I have a hunch that it has to do with many things but that eating a variety of foods while you are growing up is a good start, although not the only piece to the puzzle. My mom did not like to cook and we had a variation of one of three or four meals every night. I was not allowed in the kitchen because I was messy. My kids hardly ever have eaten the same thing twice. They all have helped and do help in the kitchen and are exposed to a variety of tastes and textures, as well as cultures through the food we eat. Kyrie is an expressive foodie. You can see it on her when she eats. She is a picky eater, not that she refuses to eat something but she won’t eat more than a few bites of anything that isn’t to her liking. Yesterday she had a hot fudge sundae. Apparently it hit the spot:

Is that not the picture of a true foodie? I just love that picture!

Anyway. So, if you want to be a little more experimental here are the basics I think you should have. Everyone is going to have different ideas, of course, so take what you like and add what you like! These are not in any particular order or priority.

1. Smoked Salt- This adds a layer of flavor that makes a difference in many foods. I have heard you can smoke it yourself but I haven’t done that yet.
2. Chipotle Granules- I get the Archer Farms ones at Target. These are not canned but are dried chipotle in a tiny dice. You find them in the spices section. Adds smoky spicy heat.
3. Several kinds of cinnamon- Head over to Penzey’s and choose a couple of the varietal cinnamons.
4. Wasabi- A Japanese horseradish, wasabi comes in paste and powdered form. I prefer the powdered and you can add it to so many things for an intense heat. It doesn’t burn your tongue so much, but like horseradish, it clears your sinuses. Wasabi Mayo is a fantastic dip for raw snap peas, and one of my new addictions.
5. Turbinado sugar- even if you aren’t interested in the health benefits, turbinado sugar is a nice, large crystal that adds texture when sprinkled on cookies. It melts down beautifully for creme brulees, and it is wonderful sprinkled over the crust of breads before baking.
6. Fleur de Sel- a flaked sea salt, Fleur de Sel adds unique flavor to all kinds of things, including caramels and truffles.
7. A good balsamic vinegar, preferably one in white and one dark. Don’t be afraid to pay a little more for this than you would normally…it is worth it.
8. Local honey, raw and in as many flavors as is available in your area.
9. Culinary lavender buds
10. Rose water
11. Lavender, Violet, Rose, and Elderberry Monin Syrups make wonderful flavorings and additions to Italian sodas, cakes, pies, custards, ice creams, and anything else…
12. Loose leaf Earl Grey Tea, another great flavoring ingredient
13. Pink, white, green, red, and black peppercorns…but not mixed
14. Five spice powder
15. Garam masala
16. Walnut oil
17. Smoked sesame oil
18. Jalapeno jelly
19. Bottled Key lime juice
20. Agave
21. Gluten (to help bread rise)
22. A variety of flours: rye, graham, whole wheat, teff, etc…
23. A variety of fresh peppers: anaheim, poblano, jalapeno,bonnet, serrano…
24. Artichokes, canned or fozen
25. Fontina cheese
26. Smoked Gouda, Edam cheeses
27. Whole milk buttermilk
28. Truffle infused oil
29. Kosher salt (should just be in everyone’s pantry)
30. Wheat berries for pilafs and such
31. Peanut oil- do not use anything else ever for frying! I use peanut oil for almost everything.
32. Several varieties of olives
33. Macadamia nuts
34. Pignoli (pine nuts)
35. Fresh rosemary
36. Fresh sage
37. Fresh lemongrass
38. Finishing salt
39. Heirloom tomatoes
40. Heirloom potatoes: rose, purple, etc
41. Orzo, and any other pasta that you haven’t tried. Try flavored pastas, whole grain pastas, etc.
42. Fresh fennel
43. The organic baby leaf salads: herbs, mixed greens, etc.
44. Seeds for sprouting. There are a ton of different kinds.
45. Ice Cream salt
46. Edible gold flake
47. Edible glitter/metallic sprinkles
48. Fondant
49. Vanilla pods
50. Cardamom

image:maryeaudet

Post from: Baking Delights

I love making Christmas cookies but get tired of making the same ones year after year. My family likes tradition and by the time they are two most of my kids can tell you what should be on the cookie plate for each holiday, what dishes should be on the table, and if I forget or try to do something different, you can bet I hear about it.

I can add to the basic stuff but never, never take away and do something different.

The problem is that when I add something new it becomes part of the repertoire, and must be served year after year after year after year….

These are a twist on traditional kiss cookies. I wanted something…oh..I don’t know, softer and gentler. Something festive in a more subdued way. With all of the different Hershey’s Kiss flavors these days it is pretty easy to come up with a totally new combination.

I used the cherry filled Hershey’s Kisses and flavored the dough with rose and almond. This is a fantastic combination, very subtle and yet it captures your attention like the softest whisper. They would work well for Valentine’s Day as well. You could even tint the dough to make it pink.

Almond and rose is a classic combination. Rose flavoring was particularly popular during the Victorian era and to me these would fit beautifully at a Victorian Christmas Tea.

Give them a try, see what you think. Rosewater is available at many health food and gourmet food shops. It isn’t very expensive at all and once you start working with it you will find more and more recipes to add it to.

Cherry Almond Kiss Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter

1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond

1 tsp. rosewater (or more to taste)

1 tsp baking powder

2 ¾ cup flour

Colored sugar for rolling

36 unwrapped cherry chocolate kisses

Preheat the oven to 375

Mix the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix in well. Add flavorings.

Mix together the flour and baking powder. Stir into the creamed mixture.

You may need to chill this for a few minutes if the dough seems too sticky.

Roll heaping teaspoonfuls of dough into a ball. Roll in sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on a silpat lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes, or until cookies are puffed and soft, but done.

Remove from the oven and, working quickly, gently push a kiss into the center of each cookie. Let cool completely.

Image(c) 2008 Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

I don’t usually post alot of videos.  Probably the main reason is that I want you to think I am funny and like me…not the really cool person in the video.  However, in this case the really cool person in the video is Chonda Pierce..and when I get my own PBS cooking show I am having her come on as a guest.

Please, if you have anything in your mouth, swallow it.  If there is anything that can be knocked over, move it.  This is serious comedy.   Don’t try this at home.

Gourmet Desserts

Post from: Baking Delights

I am pushed for time this morning…so I am going to speed link without much chatter.   Thanks to everyone who sent me links!

Ezra Poundcake-Almost Fudge Gateau 

Tartelette-Chocolate and Caramel 

Culinary in the Country-Banana Whoopie Pies 

My Kitchen Snippets- Churros 

I Shot the Chef-Chocolate Semifroddo 

Fotocuisine-New Mexico Chile Three Mac and Cheese 

More Than Burnt Toast-Portuguese Custard Tarts

The Kitchen Sink-Chocolate Espresso Cake with Bailey’s Buttercream

Baking And Books-Coffee Glazed Chocolate Chip Scones 

Thyme for Food- Vanilla Cognac  Bread 

Have a great weekend, y’all!

Image:MaryeAudet 

Post from: Baking Delights

I have realized that my Saturday Surfing can get a bit redundant when it is both Kettle and Cup and Baking Delights…Sort of visualize me using an eclair to surf on a wave of coffee and you will have it!

No whining from me today. I have coffee. So…Let’s go.

First, and foremost, Tartlette has been having a Donut Event. I posted these and these on Apron Strings for the event but I guess she got something like ONE HUNDRED entries! That is a lot of donuts…Check it out on her blog and Peabody’s blog since they have divvied up the entries. You better take some coffee with you. Seriously.

If you don’t have a sugar overdose yet, Valli has posted Kahlua Fudge Brownies. Sigh. I love you Valli.

Inge creates Frangipane Tarts Right after I leave Valli’s house I am “pond jumping” to stay with Inge for a few days.

Stephanie from A Whisk and a Spoon created an awesome looking brown sugar apple cheesecake with the Tuesdays with Dorie crowd…I need to join them one of these days, if they will let me.

Marie makes Portuguese Custard Tartlets on her blog.  Thy look delicious, and I will never get time to try all this good stuff.

Carla has a Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf on Chocolate Moosey that you can almost smell through the monitor.

I have never seen this, or thought of it but Wendy, from Barefoot in the Kitchen, creates a quick pizza crust with baking powder as the leaven. WOW!

Jenn at Chocolate Shavings makes  these Mini Carrot Cupcakes with Mascarpone and Lime Icing.

O.k. guys, I am heading out for birthday stuff.  Have a great weekend and be blessed.

Post from: Baking Delights

We had friends celebrating their anniversary one day and the hubby’s birthday the next, and I volunteered to make the surprise birthday cake. Unlike Anita though, I had to put things off ’til the last minute because of other things that came up that week. NOT a good thing at all. What I SHOULD have done was change gears at the last minute and picked a different recipe, but since I already had all the ingredients, I thought I’d give it a try anyway. Big mistake. The cakes turned out great, but I couldn’t wait for them to come to room temperature before slicing in half, and cut them while they were still slightly warm. Then I had to go run for an emergency errand, and left them hurriedly, so by the time I came back, they had dried out a bit. Sigh…. but talk about disaster-in-the-making. When I got back, I only had a couple of hours left to complete the task, so I tried to cook dinner WHILE preparing the cake. Now the way my kitchen is set up, I do my baking tasks on one side of the peninsula and cooking tasks on the other. (We’d like to remodel at some point but for now this is what I have to work with . )

The chocolate cream came out perfectly. It was time to make the white chocolate cream. I turned on the mixer to whip the cream while filling a pot of water for pasta on the other side. Took 15 seconds to turn off the faucet and put the pot on the stove, went back to my mixer and found that the cream was more than halfway to becoming butter. I was ready to cry. I had used up all the cream so I couldn’t even try to salvage it (usually done by adding a little bit more unwhipped to try and get it back to the right texture). And there was no time to run to the store again and get more ingredients. I eventually frosted the cake with it. Then took a last look, glanced at the clock, decided that I still had 20 minutes to run to the bakery and get a nice one for them. There was just no way I could hoist this disaster on a couple celebrating their 10th anniversary! Fortunately, as I said, this was to be a surprise birthday cake, so the couple was none the wiser and enjoyed their store-bought cake very much, thank you.

Fast forward 4 days later. The cake is still in the freezer, and 16-yo daughter is having a little get together with friends, but the question of what to serve for dessert was still open. Daughter and friend had the brilliant idea of serving the cake, perhaps with a raspberry sauce if the first bite determined it to be necessary.

As it turns out, the cake was delicious, especially the chocolate cream filling, which would make any fruity red sauce superfluous. We sliced it up, served it up to guests who gobbled it down happily, and I was left with this last piece to celebrate last-minute decisions that somehow work.

The Last Bite — but if you really want to see how it should look like, hurry on over to Anita’s blog or get yourself a copy of

No. You cannot hurry baking, just like you can’t hurry love. Over and over again this is the lesson I’m being taught. You’d think by now I would have learned this. But that’s also the great thing about it. The pretty, yummy results are always a triumph, but even the disasters have enough going for them to make you want to do it all over again. And I will… one of these days. Dorie’s book will join the ranks of dog-eared, butter-marked baking tomes on my shelf yet.

Post from: Baking Delights

Another try at that starter. This time to make baguettes. The shaping would have worked well had I a proper peel. As it was I was limited by the 13″ cutting board I used. The starter also was weaker, because I hadn’t refreshed it in a couple of weeks at least. The tang was less noticeable, though the bread itself was still nicely holey. I’m also not too happy with the crust, I think the previous one’s was better. I don’t know if it’s my steaming technique or spraying or the dough itself. Any ideas?

Post from: Baking Delights

Smooth as a baby’s bottom

Yes, it’s alive!! More than double the original volume!

My mini-baguettes. Next time I’ll try longer. Also need to work on my shaping, but I’m happy with the way those slashes opened up!

Nicer color and blistering on the boules. They were nearer the top of the oven and no rack on top so more heat circulation, compared to the baguettes. A little too brown though I think.

Requisite crumb photo. Would love to get more holes next time, but I daresay, it’s not all bad for a first-timer.

I asked my kids if this means we’ll never have to go to Panera again. Aisa says, as long as you make the French Onion soup also. That should be easy enough:)

Should I be christening my starter “Cincinnati sourdough”?

Post from: Baking Delights

Sourdough experimentation continues. That liquid that you see at the top, apparently, is something called hooch. Nothing to worry about, doesn’t mean my starter’s dead.

More information about sourdoughs and hooch here:

Caring for Your Starter
How sourdough bread works
Sourdough Starter as Ecological Model
The Zen of Sourdough
Bethany’s Sourdough Saga
Breadchick’s Yeast Beast
Tips for a Healthy Starter

I fed it again, and it bubbled up soon after. Waited 6 hours then put it back on the fridge. It’s got hooch in there again — so I guess it’s hungry again? I’ll feed it tomorrow.

Post from: Baking Delights