Seriously, what is not to like about summer…well besides the 107 degree heat? Cooking out is the best! I must admit that Marc likes the gas grill and I miss the taste of good old fashioned charcoal in my burgers but still, there is just something about eating a hamburger that has been cooked out of doors that is amazing.

My dad used to brush hamburgers with a little honey. I can’t seem to replicate that flavor and he never told me how he did it, what he mixed, how much…sigh. It is a flavor that is lost to me forever, everywhere but my mind.

These hamburgers with coffee chipotle rub are a great substitute though!

This is super easy, and lends a smoky, complex flavor to meat. I used it on hamburgers and everyone loved them. It gave the burgers a nice crust and a fantastic flavor. You can adjust the amount of chipotle for the amount of heat that you want. Do remember that chipotle continues to get hotter the longer it sits. The rub needs to flavor the meat for about an hour before grilling, but if you wait much after that your burgers may be a little more spicy than you like.

This calls for turbinado sugar because it melts in heat and adds a nice texture to the exterior of the burger. You can use plain or brown sugar if you like. It will change the final product.

Remember that the different roasts of coffee will give you different results in the flavor of the meat.

Coffee Chipotle Rub

• 1/4 cup finely ground coffee
• 2  teaspoons ground chipotle pepper
• 1/4 cup smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tbs garlic powder

Mix together and rub on meat. Allow to stand an hour before grilling. You can store excess in a cool, dry place…not the fridge!

image:marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

It was a landslide. Then I just needed to figure out how I wanted to do it. I wanted a delicate coffee flavor that revealed itself in layers, chocolate but just a hint..and a little cinnamon. I would have loved to put orange peel in it but didn’t have any.

Looking through all the cake recipes I have from all of my vintage and new cookbooks PLUS the family recipes hand written on scraps of aging paper I was overwhelmed with the variety. And none of them had liquid added, and I wanted to use coffee not coffee powder. Finally I found Dorie Greenspan’s Rum Drenched Vanilla Cakes in the Baking From My Home to Yours book…it had many of the components that I was looking for so I decided to base the formula for the cake off of that one.

Smart move.

The cakes (for yes, there were two) came out fragrant and moist, with a tender even crumb.  They smelled like coffee, but the coffee flavor was not overpowering. It was just what I was looking for. I sprinkled one with grated chocolate and covered one in a thin bittersweet ganache. Both were good..just depends on what you are in the mood for.

Although we had ours plain I would suggest a scoop of coffee ice cream over the top of a slice, followed by some hot fudge.

Also, as I said, I would add the grated zest from 1/2 a large orange. I didn’t have one but I will get one next time.

Cappuccino Pound Cake

• 2 2/3 cup all purpose (organic) flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2  cups sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 6 large eggs
• 1/3 cup strong espresso
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 lb unsalted Plugra, or regular butter (Plugra will make this richer), melted and cooled

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Grease and flour two loaf pans
3. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together
4. Whisk sugar and eggs until light.
5. Mix in vanilla (and orange peel if using)
6. Beat in the espresso and the cream
7. Add the flour mixture gently
8. Fold in the melted butter
9. Pour into the pans and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it tests done

Meanwhile….

Espresso Syrup

• 1/4 cup strong espresso
• 1/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Bring to a boil, stirring and boil for one minute.
2. Cool

Remove the cakes from the oven and cool for five minutes. Remove from pans and poke holes in the cakes with a meat fork. Put back in pans and pour the syrup evenly over the cakes. Allow the cakes to soak up the syrup before removing from pans.

Garnish with chocolate shavings or bittersweet chocolate ganache.
images:marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

O.k..not that I don’t like to eat it, I do. But not as much as I like creating a perfect flavor. The thrill for me is in the challenge, not in the eating. I think I am like that with everything. I like the challenge of accomplishing something but after that? Meh.

This coffee ice cream was, quite possibly, the best we have ever had. The flavor was perfect latte, with a super creamy mouthfeel, rich and smooth. Since the coffee IS the flavor start out with something good. I used both coffee beans AND  JazzyBirdCoffee frozen espressos for a perfect, intense flavor.You can use ALL JazzyBird in this if you like..I just don’t have much left so I am hoarding.

Jazzy Coffee Bean Ice Cream

• 4 cups of heavy cream
• 2 cups of half and half cream (light cream/pouring cream)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup coarsely ground coffee beans
• 1 JazzyBird Espresso Shot

1. Heat 2 cups heavy cream to a simmer. Remove from heat and add coffee beans.
2. Allow to steep for 20 minutes, depending on how strong you like your coffee.
3. Strain the cream through a strainer.
4. Whisk in half and half, Jazzy, sugar, and vanilla.
5. Beat remaining cream to soft peaks and fold in to  coffee mixture.
6. Freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.
7. about  one half gallon

image:marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

My week has gotten away from me.  Personally, I would like to go back to start over again, starting with about 5 a.m. Monday morning.

Why?

Because that was the time I was at Panera Bread in Cedar Hill, Texas gnoshing on all sorts of amazing food, slurping coffee in my brand new coffee cup and chatting with Jason Russel (Gen, Mgr.), Stan Sears (comedian Bakery Training Specialist), and Krista Moberg (Marketing).  And I had a blast.

These people LOVE their jobs, and to me that says a lot about Panera.

Now, the deal was that I was going up there to live blog yesterday morning but we had ice and everything was shut down.  This is Texas, land of ice-o-phobia.  A half inch of snow will close schools.  To be honest, though, this was not a half inch of snow, it was pure ice and I wan’t driving 20 miles in it. Nope.

So I missed out on that but have plans to reschedule, I will let you know.  I do have several coffee cups and coupons to give away.

Anyway.  I had planned on doing a sort of photo-diary of Monday morning.  There was a lot about Panera that I didn’t know even though I had been there alot.

I did review their coffees on Kettle and Cup.

First of all, I am a bread freak.  I will admit to the occasional foray into high protien dieting to lose a few pounds quickly but good bread is the holy grail to me.  I have been baking bread since 1974 when I taught myself how to do it.  There are few types I haven’t tried (yet) and, while I am not the master at it that many people are, I know a bit about it.  I loved the soup and sandwiches at Panera but it never occured to me to go there to buy bread when I did not have time to bake it…DUH.

Stan has about ten years on me in the bread baking department.  Not only was he friendly and funny but he shared his knowledge easily and naturally.  I did not know that the reason that bread is scored is because back in the day of community ovens it helped the various bakers know whose bread was whose.  How cool is that?

Stan talked as he deftly made various cuts in the numerous styles of breads that he was getting ready for the ovens.  A cinnamon and raisin loaf was topped with cinnamon and sugar mixed with sugar crystals.  The crystals add a nice crunch to the topping, and they looked alot like turbinado sugar.  I asked him about the cinnamon that they used and he said he thought it was Ceylon Cinnamon.

Marye: So how does someone become a baker for Panera? Do they need culinary school?

Stan: No, we train our bakers.  They train for 5 weeks.  The fifth week they have to go through an entire baking without help.  They have to get a certain amount of points to become a baker.  And then, every month they are evaluated.  They have to keep their points up.

Marye: How does the baking work?

Stan: The bakers come in at 11:00 p.m. or so.  They bake until 6:00 a.m.  The dough is made locally in Grand Prairie (that is for us, each bakery has a nearby place where the dough is actually mixed.) and then transported to the individual stores every morning.  The dough proofs for the day and then is baked fresh that night.  Nothing is frozen.

Marye: And then, at the end of the day, what happens to the left over bread?

Stan: Panera donates nearly everything, I would say that 95% or more of the unsold bread and other items goes to the various food banks and local food pantries.

Cherry Danish

That theme seems to run through Panera’s mission.  Jason Russell, the general manager, said basically the same thing, and added: Panera believes in giving back to the community.  Really giving back not just taking.  We get involved in fund raising events and donate to other things as well.  If someone has a charitable event going on they just need to come and talk to me.  We will see what we can do to be involved.

At that point the three of them began to relate various stories of Panera’s involvement in community.

Individual sized Pineapple Bundt Cake

Individual sized Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake

Then Jason began to bring out plates of food. Oh. My. Gosh.

Pecan Braid

First it was the pecan braid.  An individual pastry of laminated dough, filled with a ground pecan and cinnamon filling, buttery light, and topped with a donut like glaze and half a pecan.

I took one bite and I don’t know what kind of look I got on my face (ecstasy perhaps?) but Stan grinned and said, “we use plugra in that.”

Uh ..yeah.

Before I had that finished another plate appeared in front of me.  This time it was a Ciabatta Breakfast sandwich with applewood smoked bacon, free range eggs, and aged Vermont white cheddar.

“All natural” I was told by someone…had I not been in a dreamy state of Nirvana at that moment I could probably tell you who.  Alas, I can’t.  The ciabatta was fresh and chewy, with perfect grill marks.  The bacon was crisp and cooked and the cheese was salty cheddar perfection.  I allowed myself two bites and then the next plate appeared.  I could certainly get used to that!

Cheddar and Jalapeno Bagel

Artichoke Spinach Souffle in Croissant

Stan looked at the plate. “That is our new cheddar and jalapeno bagel.  ”

Krista: Aren’t we introducing a new breakfast sandwich or something on that?

Jason:Yep.  Next month, I think.

Their conversation sort of buzzed because I was tasting the bagel.  Chewy.  Perfect texture.  Spicy but not hot and ….

Stan: They have salsa swirled though them.  We steam the bagels.  We don;t have the room to boil them but steaming does the same thing.  They are never frozen.

I have been to New York.  I have lived on the Northeast coast.  This was a bagel.  The right size, not too big, not too tiny.

The next plate held an artichoke and spinach souffle in a croissant crust. Rich, creamy, warm perfection.  Stan told me that the day bakers make these every 1 1/2 hours so that they will be fresh.  The croissant was the perfect light crust to the souffle.  It was brilliant.

I ended with a cup of organic yogurt and pecan granola with strawberries. That was incredible.  I had a couple of bites and brought the rest home to the youngest three, Sean, Nick, and of course, Chef Kyrie.  They licked the plates.

A baguette, loaf of raisin bread, and other items came home with me.  My kids thought that Christmas had come again.

Panera Bread Bakery and Cafes have free wifi.  Their coffee is better than..you know whose.  And the food served is fresh, really fresh.  If you have read Kettle and Cup much you know that I have been less than enthusiastic about Starbucks pastries.

All of their items are all natural.  They use organic when feasible.  For example, I did some checking on the coffee roaster they use.  VERY ethical.  The coffee beans are not certified organic but only because there is a non-certified organic fertilizer used as well as a fungicide.  The coffee is fair trade and ethically grown.

Kudos to Panera.  I was impressed.  I will definitely be blogging from there when I need a break from my kitchen…and I will be buying bread from there when I am pushed for time.  I loved it.

Dallas area readers, I will let you know when I am going to be live blogging over there, so we can set up the giveaway.  If you could, just leave a comment and let me know that someone from this area reads?

Many thanks to Stan, Jason, Krista, and the rest of the Panera crew.  I had a blast. 

Images:marye audet

Post from: Baking Delights

I have something to tell y’all.

What do I like almost as much as baking and cooking? Coffee and Tea! I just launched a new blog all about coffee and tea, and everything that has to do with coffee and tea…as well as some amazing egg nog recipes that I just didn’t feel right about posting on a cooking blog!

Baking Delights and the new blog, Kettle and Cup, will compliment eachother and you will often find me referencing things there from here and vice versa.

Everyone that knows me IRL knows that Marc and I have a coffee and tea habit that keeps the economy running smoothly. We have a roaster in town that makes a custom blend/roast for us that is uniquely ours. We also have a custom flavored tea. Now how addicted is THAT?

Isn’t the title banner so cool? It really represents what I want Kettle and Cup to feel like…a chat in a farmhouse kitchen over a cup of coffee (or tea).

So….come on over…there are a few little glitches to work out..but as soon as I can I am posting about a really cool giveaway over there…sort of as a Grand Opening.

Post from: Baking Delights

This is also a moist and chewy brownie so be careful not to overbake. Take it out of the oven when slightly underdone and let cool for the best results.

Espresso & Cream Brownies

1 c Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa

3 sticks unsalted butter

1/3 c ground coffee beans (leave them coarse if you want a little crunch)

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/4 c sugar

5 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 c flour

Melt butter. Whisk in cocoa and coffee until smooth. Cool. Mix sugar and eggs until lemon colored. Add chocolate mixture and vanilla. Add flour quickly, stirring just to mix. Pour into a greased 13x 9″ pan and bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Leave slightly underdone in the middle and cool thoroughly.

Glaze:

Cream 1/4 c melted butter,1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 c confectioners sugar and 1/4 c hazelnut creamer until smooth. Add cream as needed for consistancy. Spread on brownies while slightly warm. This make one 13×9″ pan..YOU will have to decide how many servings that is!

Post from: Baking Delights