Entries Tagged as 'Fearless Fridays'

Fearless Friday #25

November 6th, 2009 2 Comments

Heather says:
Guess what! Chiiiiiiiicken butt.

Sorry, my two year old has been saying that all week and it’s stuck in my head. It’s already Friday again, how does that happen? It’s a good thing I was ahead of the game by being fearless on Sunday when I played hostess to a large group. Everyone knew when I sent out the invite that chaos would reign supreme and the point of the gathering was to keep me from drowning in leftovers. There were kids zooming around hopped up in a post-Halloween sugar frenzy and at one point, every inch of counter space was in use.

MessyTurkeyDayI need to publicly thank Heidi, Eugene & Yaenette, and Don D. Lewis for all their help. From scut work to picture taking without your help it wouldn’t have turned out half so well.  For me, the biggest part of this Fearless Friday was delegating. I’m sort of a perfectionist -Seriously!- and I have this weird idea that if I don’t do it, it’s not going to turn out. This is patently false and something I’m working on. If you browse this gallery you’ll see many of the upcoming pictures for this month’s Countdown to Turkey Day, as well as what I mean when I say it looks like my kitchen exploded. Also, somewhere in those pictures and I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the staged (albeit gorgeous) magazine style ones, you’ll see that Don captured exactly how envision Thanksgiving.

fearless-fridaysFearless Friday is about pushing our boundaries in the kitchen. Whether it’s trying out a new recipe, technique, or trying a new food. I invite you to share what you’ve tried, whether it was a success or not. Share your link if you have a blog or tell us about it in the comments below.

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Toaster Pastries: Fearless Friday #24

October 30th, 2009 14 Comments

Heather says:

Does anyone ever notice how Thursday just seems to sneak up on a person? I mind my own business, but it seems to happen every seven days or so. This week I managed to squeeze in a quick Fearless Friday. I decided to try out making a homemade version of PopTarts™. Guess what? They are fabulous, absolutely butt ugly, but fabulous. I think with practice and tweaking the technique I’ll figure out how to make them pretty, but I don’t really care if they ever get there.

fearless-fridays1Fearless Fridays are a chance for cooks of any skill level to push their boundaries in the kitchen. We all have boundaries, whether it’s a food we don’t care for or a skill we’ve never attempted. Anyone is welcome to join in this carnival by sharing a link to their latest attempt at fearlessness (it doesn’t have to be from today, the carnival just runs on Fridays). This series isn’t about perfection, it’s about trying something new and knowing that sometimes we fail. So don’t worry, we want to hear about the flops just as much as the successful attempts. If you don’t have a blog, please share your adventure in the comments.

-Ugly- Toaster Pastries

There's room to grow here

There's room to grow here

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour + extra for dusting
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 6 TBSP room temperature coconut oil -I avoid shortening whenever possible, but you can use an equal amount here-
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • Egg wash = 1 egg + a few tsp cold water + beaten
  • Filling = your favorite jam

Tools:

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and kosher salt.

Use two forks, your clean hands, or a pastry blender to work the 6 TBSPs of coconut oil into the flour mixture. Keep working it in until thoroughly blended. Add the milk and use a spoon or spatula to mix thoroughly.  The dough will be very soft and a little sticky. That’s normal.

Generously sprinkle your work area with flour and turn the dough out of the bowl.

Knead dough

Have you ever tried taking pictures one handed while kneading? That's an adventure.

Knead the dough 10 – 15 times. To do so:

  1. push the ball of dough with the heel of your hand
  2. grasp the edge of the dough with your fingers
  3. fold the dough over
  4. turn 90 degrees
  5. repeat

Divide the dough in half. Next time I make this, I’m going to wrap it and let it chill in the refrigerator while the oven preheats to 350F and I hunt down my rolling pin. -One would think it would be in the drawer where it’s supposed to be, but no, not ever.-

Roll 1/2 the dough into a narrow strip about 1/8th inch thick. Try to keep the rectangle somewhere between 3 – 4″ on the short side.

I managed to do that with the second half of the dough.

Once you have a rectangle, use a butter knife to cut it into smaller rectangles of approximately the same size. Shoot for an even number.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or just grease a baking sheet.

Transfer half the rectangles to the sheet.

dollop of jamGrab your favorite jam, use a clean fork to give it a good stir, this makes it easier to spread. Add a generous dollop of jam to the center of each rectangle already on the baking sheet. (The blackberry was great, the peach was lovely, but the pastry where I mixed the two was divine.) Spread the jam as evenly as possible, but leave about 1/2 inch from the sides to prevent leaking during baking.

Beat the egg with the 2 – 3 tsps of water in a small bowl to create your egg wash. Use a pastry brush or your fingers to line the edges of the jam laden pastries. Carefully transfer the other rectangles from your work area and use a fork to crimp the edges.  Poke each pastry a few times with the fork to create vents.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350F. They will be very pale, but done. Transfer the pastries to a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight container.

Toast just as you would any other toaster pastry. Enjoy the fact that you know every ingredient that created these ugly little marvesl.

In the future, I will be experimenting with the jam to pastry ratio and I will lightly sprinkle the tops with a coarse sugar before baking.

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Fearless Friday 10/23

October 23rd, 2009 No Comments

Heather says:

I feel like a schmuck. I host Fearless Friday and here I am with no entry. There is a bug circulating my house and a big event this weekend, I’ve been bailing on evening activities and crawling into bed as soon as possible, trying to fight it. I think it’s working.

Fearless Fridays are a weekly carnival where I ask participants to have shown some form of kitchen bravery. The point of the exercise isn’t an expectation of a culinary masterpiece, it’s simply a challenge to step outside their usual boundaries. For new cooks it may be recreating a Hamburger Helper style meal without the seasoning packet. For experienced cooks, it may be a new ingredient or technique. The only rule is I ask participants to share both the good and the bad. Not every meal is a success and it’s encouraging to read of other people’s failures. Sometimes though, a mistake in the kitchen is nothing but serendipity in the making.

Share your Fearless Friday entry in the McKlinky or in the comments.

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Fearless Friday #22

October 9th, 2009 5 Comments

Heather says:

I could offer a bunch of excuses as to why I didn’t get around to anything fearless in the kitchen this week, but I did go to that audition on Sunday. It may not seem like it online, but I’m a very shy person. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years  forcing myself to be less reserved even though it isn’t easy. My good friend who has been helping me put together some video content for this site is exceedingly patient with me. A few times he has even left the camera rolling and left the room just so I could be less self-conscious about flubbing the lines. So, while I didn’t push any culinary boundaries this week, but I tried to be fearless.

Were you fearless this week? If you have a blog, link to your post* through the McKlinky, if not, feel free to share in the comments:

*Spam links will be deleted.

On a random, unrelated topic, sometimes I receive questions through the Facebook fan page. I like questions, but if they are time sensitive the most successful way to catch my attention is either through an email to helpme@home-ec101.com or by tweeting it @heathersolos. Now, this doesn’t mean I’ll be staying up until midnight just waiting to solve a culinary crisis.

Lastly, don’t forget the cookbook giveaway ends tonight.

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Fearless Friday #20, A Flop

October 2nd, 2009 23 Comments

Heather says:

I have a friend who is looking for a dairy free, soy free cake. What a perfect Fearless Friday adventure, recipe books and sites are being scoured. Recipes are being scanned with a suspicious eye for obscure ingredients or funky textures. I won’t send a novice cook out to buy expensive ingredients they may only use once.

fearless-fridaysI have mentioned it many times in the past, but I am not a pastry chef. I worked my way up in my restaurant career and desserts were either brought in or one person came in after all the distractions had wandered home. Fearless Fridays are all about pushing our culinary boundaries. Whether it’s trying a new recipe, technique, ingredient, or simply committing to cooking at home, anyone can participate.

Genoise

It looks pretty, but meh.

After doing some research I found a genoise cake. As you might guess, it is a French recipe with no butter or milk. All of the moisture comes from the eggs. Remember the saying “fat equals flavor?” There just wasn’t enough fat to carry the chocolate flavor I wanted for my friend. I did like the texture of the cake, so perhaps I should have stayed with the white version. This one would work well as a carrier for a rich chocolate frosting, but I couldn’t recommend that to my friend. So next week, the search continues.

Second lesson, try not to start these projects at 9:30 on Thursday. It leads to a late night which means a grumpy morning.

Egg dimpleBonus, I did finally manage to get a decent picture of myself cracking an egg. This is something I’ve been trying to accomplish for a couple of years. It’s not easy to operate my camera left handed and not smash the egg to bits.

Tell me, Home Eccers, were you fearless this week? Feel free to share a link to your blog post in the McKlinky below or share your story in the comments.

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