INTRODUCTION

Every weekend, I love to prep meals for the week that are both easy and healthy.  This is one of the simplest and most delicious recipes that I have come up with, because it does not require you to cook any of the ingredients!!

YIELD 

This recipe will fill about 6 standard Pyrex to-go containers.  Easy to store and to heat up later!

INGREDIENTS

All of these ingredients come pre-cooked from Traders Joe's, so the prep and cleanup are extremely simple.  

• 2 x Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Butter and Sage 
• 2 x Trader Joe's Organic Vodka Sauce
• 2 x Trader Joe's Grilled Chicken Strips
• 1 x Trader Joe's Petite Peas
• 1 x Trader Joe's Frozen Corn
• 1 x Trader Joe's Grilled Peppers and Onions
• Optional:  1 x Trader Joe's Frozen Grilled Asparagus

DIRECTIONS

Not too many directions to dictate for this recipe, just refer to the pictures above to see how everything comes together.  Store in the refrigerator or in the freezer and reheat.  

Reheat from the Refrigerator:  Remove the plastic top, and cover the dish with a layer of plastic wrap; leave a small hole to vent.  Microwave on Medium power for 3 minutes, remove and stir the ingredients together.  Place the dish back in the microwave and heat on High Power for at least 1 minute; remove from microwave and check it.  Heat until steam comes from the top and all of the ingredients have been adequately warmed through (maybe another minute or so).  

Reheat from the Freezer:  Remove the plastic top, and cover the dish with a layer of plastic wrap; leave a small hole to vent.  Microwave on Medium power for 5 minutes, remove and stir the ingredients together.  Place the dish back in the microwave and heat on High Power for at least 1 minute.  Heat until steam comes from the top and all of the ingredients have been adequately warmed through (maybe another minute or so).  

ENJOY!

INTRODUCTION:  MYSTERY BAKING CHALLENGE 2018 # 2

My second Mystery Technical Baking Challenge of 2018 proved to be a delicious one, Cream Puffs!  Since I am such a huge fan of Pistachio in general,  I thought I would try and make a pistachio cream to fill my cream puffs; I was very much surprised at how nicely they turned out!  

I drew my inspiration from the one and only Martha Stewart, check out her recipe below which has a helpful video.  Link Below.  

YIELD
The recipe below will yield about 28 slightly larger than bite size cream puffs.   Each of the cream recipes below will fill about 14 cream puffs, so if you want to fill all the cream puffs with one cream, then double the recipe.  

INGREDIENTS 
CREAM PUFF PASTRY / DOUGH

• 1/2 Cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, Cut Into Pieces
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Sugar 
• 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Water
• 5 Large Eggs

ORANGE VANILLA CREAM

• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Freshly Grated Orange Zest
• 1/4 Cup Plus 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Large Egg Yolks
• 3 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour

PISTACHIO CREAM

• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• ~50 Dry Roasted Pistachios, (de-shelled and slap chopped into a relatively fine powder)
• 1/4 Cup Plus 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 2 Large Egg Yolks
• 3 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
• 2 Drops of Green Food Coloring
  

DIRECTIONS

PREPARE TO BAKE

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
   

MAKE THE DOUGH

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the butter, sugar, salt and 1 cup water. Bring the contents of the pot to boil and then quickly stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Continue to stir until a film forms on the bottom of the pan, about 2 - 3 minutes.
   
2. When the dough is done cooking, remove it from the heat and transfer the dough to a bowl to cool down a little for about 3 minutes. Once the dough has cooled off a little, add 4 eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon to entirely incorporate each egg after each addition.

FORM AND BAKE THE CREAM PUFFS

1. Transfer the pastry dough to a large pastry bag fitted with a 5/8-inch plain tip. Pipe 1.5 inch rounds onto each prepared pan; I piped in a spiral pattern, and completed about 3 spirals for each cream puff.  If any "peaks" form in the dough, place your finger in a cup of water and gently pat down each peak to ensure that the cream puffs rise evenly.
   
2. Mix 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon water together to make an egg wash and brush the tops of each cream puff with it. 
   
3. Place the trays of cream puffs in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the puffs are golden brown. The puffs can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 day, or kept in the refrigerator for 2 -3 days.  
   
4. Each pastry will have a flat bottom that you can poke and fill with cream.  See the directions below to see how to make the cream!

FLAVOR THE CREAM  

1. First we are going to infuse our milk with the flavors from the orange zest or the pistachios.  Bring the milk, vanilla extract, and orange zest (or pistachios) to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat. Cover the pan and let the mixture steep for about 20 minutes. 
   
2. After 20 minutes, strain your mixture to remove any large pieces of orange zest / pistachio.  Return the strained mixture back into the pot.  
   

THICKEN UP THE CREAM

1. Now we are going to make our "thickening" mixture:  Place the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a hand mixer). Beat the ingredients on high speed until they are pale (almost white) and fluffy, or for about 2 minutes; then add the flour and mix until everything is incorporated.
   
2. With the mixer on low speed, add about 1/2 cup of your steeped / flavored milk to the mixing bowl and mix; the mixture should become liquid / "soupy" like.
   
3. Pour the contents of the flavored milk and egg yolk mixture from the mixing bowl back into the sauce pan; whisk to combine.
   
4. Heat the cream over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture boils and becomes about as thick as mashed potatoes, about 4 minutes. Once thick enough, remove the cream and put it into an ice-water bath  (fill the sink with a little bit of cold water and put a bowl in it, put the cream in that bowl to make a makeshift ice bath) or put it in the refrigerator to cool it down.

FILL THE CREAM PUFFS

1. Once the cream is cool, put it into a pastry bag with a ~ 1/4 inch tip.  Pipe the cream into the bottom of each cream puff.  You'll feel the cream puff "inflate" and will notice cream come out the bottom once it is full.  

   



ENJOY!  The cream puffs are likely best enjoyed fresh, but they can last for 2 -3 days if you store them in the fridge.  

https://www.marthastewart.com/1113097/classic-cream-puffs 

https://www.marthastewart.com/1155053/orange-vanilla-pastry-cream

INTRODUCTION:  MYSTERY BAKING CHALLENGE 2018

Given my love of Baking, and because I've spent a lot of time this winter break watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix, I have decided to establish my own sort of mystery “technical” baking challenge each week.  
While I do bake fairly often for my students, I often tend to bake tried and true recipes that are easy to scale for my typically larger classes of 40 or more students.  As a result, I feel as though I’ve gotten into a baking rut.  To keep things fresh and expand my baking skills, I have assembled a jar with tons of random baking recipes that I have never tried before like Peppermint Bark, Apple Pie, Cream Puffs, and many more exciting challenges.  Each week, I plan to draw one recipe from the jar at random and attempt to make it!

For my first ever baking challenge, I drew Pretzels!  I was a little relieved that I started off with a seemingly manageable challenge, rather than one of the more complicated bakes I've put in the jar.  This was the first time I have ever used yeast, and I am here to tell you that it was pretty easy and satisfying to bake pretzels!  
I drew my inspiration from Sally's Baking Addiction Recipe "30 Minute Homemade Soft Pretzels Recipe" .  Link Below.  

YIELD
The recipe below yield 10 average sized pretzels.  If you wanted you could probably make the pretzels smaller, or roll them into tiny pretzel knots or sticks.  

INGREDIENTS 
PRETZEL DOUGH

• 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) lukewarm water 
• 1 packet active dry or instant yeast (2.5 teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon (8g) granulated white sugar
• ~3.75 cups (480g) all-purpose flour and some extra for your work surface 
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 Tablespoons Melted Butter

PRETZEL BATH

• 4.5 Cups Water
• 1/4 cup Baking Soda (4 Tablespoons)

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS AND FLAVORS

• ~3 Tablespoons of Orange Zest
  • I added grated orange peel to my dough to give it a bit more flavor.  With the amount of zest above, the pretzels had just a small hint of refreshing orange.  If you wanted them to be more "orangey" I'd recommend doing an extra tablespoon of zest.  
• Cinnamon Sugar Coating
  • Melted Butter from above
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon (or to taste)

DIRECTIONS

1. PREPARE TO BAKE
   Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.
2. MAKE THE DOUGH
   In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water.
   Stir with a spoon for about 1 minute or until the yeast is fairly mixed.  Some lumps / clusters of yeast will remain, that is totally fine. 
   Add the salt and sugar to the bowl; stir until fairly combined.
   Slowly add 3 cups of flour, about 1 cup at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough is thick.
   Add 3/4 cup more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. If it is still sticky, add up to 1/2 cup more.
   Poke the dough with your finger - if it bounces back, it is ready to knead.
3. KNEAD THE DOUGH
   Toss the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it into the shape of a ball for about 3 minutes.   
   With a sharp knife, cut ball of dough into 10 smaller segments and roll them into balls.
   This measurement does not have to be exact use as much or little dough for each pretzel as you wish.
4. SHAPE THE PRETZELS
   Roll each smaller ball of dough into a rope or snake! 
   Place your hands in the middle and slowly roll it forward and backward, while also slowly pushing / moving your hands outward toward the edges of your snake; once your hands reach the end of the snake that you have rolled, place them back in the middle and repeat the process; do this until you have achieved the length of dough that you are looking for.My ropes were about 25 inches long.
   
   Once you have your long rope, take the ends and form the rope into a circle with a small "x" at the top.  Take both ends of the x and twist / rotate just the top part of the dough.  Take the twisted x and fold it onto the bottom part of the circle you have formed.  See the above photos for a better visual! 
5. GIVE THE PRETZELS A BATH
   While this step is not technically mandatory, you should totally do this!  I took a 10 inch frying pan and mixed together 4.5 cups of water and 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) of baking soda together and brought the mixture to a boil; once it boils, set the stove to low and keep the mixture at a simmer. 
   
   Using a slotted spatula, place each pretzel into the boiling water for 20-30 seconds and "shimmy" it around a bit to get it evenly coated. If you do it for too long your pretzel may end up tasting like baking soda and have a metallic type of taste. 
   
   Lift each pretzel out of the water and allow as much of the excess water to drip off.  Place the pretzel onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the pretzels. 
   
   If you choose to skip this step, the pretzels will bake fine and taste alright but will not have that classic pretzel look; doing this process ensures that the pretzels get that classic brown exterior and taste better.  
   
   
6. BAKE THE PRETZELS

          In a small bowl, beat an egg and pour it into a shallow bowl. Use a small brush to gently coat the pretzels on the baking sheet in a layer              of eggwash.  If you don't have a brush, dunk the pretzels into the egg wash and put them back onto the baking sheet.  
          
          Bake the pretzels for 10 minutes at 425 F degrees.  At the ten minute mark, remove the pretzels from the oven and coast them in a layer            of melted butter, I again used my brush to do this.  Put the pretzels back in the oven and bake them for five more minutes.  
     7. DECORATE THE PRETZELS
          Remove the pretzels from the oven and allow them to cool.  

          CINNAMON SUGAR PRETZELS
          In a 1 quart re-sealable plastic bag, mix together 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 Teaspoon of cinnamon; shake to mix it together.  Coat each                    pretzel in a thin layer of melted butter, drop it into the bag of cinnamon sugar, seal the bag and shake to coat the pretzel.  As you                       remove the pretzel from the bag, give it a little shake to remove any excess cinnamon sugar that may not have stuck.  Enjoy!    

          MILK CHOCOLATE PRETZELS
          Disclaimer:  I probably could have done this part better, my chocolate ended up being a little runny.  Take a small pot and fill it about                  halfway with water, bring it to a simmer.  Place a glass or metal bowl to rest on top of the pot. Place about 1/2 cup of milk chocolate                    chips into the bowl and melt.  Add a little bit of milk or butter if your chips are to solid.  Use a small spoon to drizzle chocolate on the                  pretzels.  


ENJOY!  The pretzels are best enjoyed when they are fresh and warm and out of the oven.  If you have leftover pretzels, pop them into the microwave for about 10 seconds or so to get them soft and warm again.  Apparently you can freeze the pretzel dough or the cooked pretzels and keep them in an airtight container for about 2 - 3 months. 

​https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/12/25/30-minute-whole-wheat-pretzels/  ​