Doughnuts For Lisa and Helen

Doughnuts For Lisa and Helen

This is my personal recipe for making doughnuts I call them Faery Doughnuts and even though they are fryed in vegetable shortening they are not greasy.

Ingredients:

Dough:

800 gr all pourpose flour.

12 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk.

50 gr instant yeast. (I used 20 gr this time).

1 egg.

50 gr margarine.

1 2/3 cups water.

1 teaspoon salt.

1 teaspoon baking powder.

Vegetable shortening (Crisco) to fry, do not use oil.

Icing:

12 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk.

3 tablespoons vegetable shortening (crisco).

1 -175 gr dark chocolate bar.

Directions.

1- Mix the water, margarine, sugar, salt, egg, sweetened condensed milk, and yeast.

2- Gradually add the flour mixing with a wooden spoon and when it is difficult to continues with the spoon place the dough on the table a nd add the rest of the flour kneading very well.

3-Roll the dough until is is about 1 cm thick and cut your doughnuts.

4- Let the doughnuts rest covered for about one hour or ubtil the doble in size.

5- Fry them in hot vegetable shortening until they are brown.

Icing:

1- Cut the chocolate and mix it with the rest of the ingredients.

2- Over low fire melt the chocolate.

3-Invert the doughnuts over the chocolate to coat them and sprinle with your favorite topping, I used coconut, carnaval and toasted sliced almonds

Queues to Buy milk in Venezuela.

Queues to Buy milk in Venezuela.

This morning my mom and i had to stay in line to buy milk, the army and a new branch of the state oil company PDVSA, called PDVAL sold two kilograms of milk per person according to them they will supply food because they just realized about the lack of food in the country...Can you believe? For the Venezuelans is a lack of the right policy. I took these pics with my cell phone when the guard was not watching, the first pic is the line behind us and the second one is in front of us...you can see people calling their relatives and friends to "give the news". Fortunately the queue moved so fast it took us about twenty minutes to buy the milk

Lemon Meringue Pie

My second Daring Bakers Challenge

Lemons from our backyard

The Beehive (for Mikey)

Can you see like caramel drops over the meringue?
How did it happen?

mmm tangy tangy

Crust before and after


Pie before and after

The Original Recipe

Lemon Meringue Pie

(from "Wanda's Pie in the Sky" by Wanda Beaver)
Host: Jen (Canadian Baker)
Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:

3/4 cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces

2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar

1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt

1/3 cup (80 mL) ice water

For the Filling:

2 cups (475 mL) water

1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (120 mL) cornstarch

5 egg yolks, beaten

1/4 cup (60 mL) butter

3/4 cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

For the Meringue:

5 egg whites, room temperature

1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar

1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt

1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract

3/4 cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

To Make the Crust:

Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt.Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

To Make the Filling:

Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

To Make the Meringue:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

Cupcakes for Mike

Cupcakes for Mike

My nephew likes cupcakes we made these (he helped me), to take to preschool

Ingredients:
3 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup salted butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoonsa vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
1- Preheat oven to 350°F. or 180 °C. put the cupcakes liners into the cupcake pan.
2- Sift together flour and baking powder ; set aside.
3- Cream sugar, and butter together until light.
4- Add eggs one at a time then add vanilla to creamed mixture and beat 1 minute.
5- Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition Continue beating one minute.
6- Pour into prepared cupcake pan.
7- Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8- Cool 10 minutes on rack; remove and cool completely before decorating.

For the Icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar.
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice.
1/2 teaspoon orange essence.
Directions:
Combine all ingredients and spread over the cupcakes

My sister's Birthday Cake

Gina's Birthday Cake.

On January 13TH was my sister's birthday and I made this cake, I thought about a Black Forest Cake, so I bought all the ingredients, and believe me it was a pain because in Venezuela the supermakets are empty no flour, no white sugar, butter, good quality oil, eggs among others...thanks God I have some Chinese friends (supermaket ownwers) that sold me some of the ingredients that is why I could "collect" them, but to my surprice the day before my sister's birthday, she told us in a very vague way (as she did not wanted to propose a particular cake or as she was not thinking about her birthday cake) "mmm I feel like eating Saint Honoré Cake like the one in the cookbook", GOSH! what do I do now? well i made a "blend" between the two cakes. and this is the result. I'll post the recipe soon.

Crocodile Bread

Crocodile Bread

(Caimán de Pan)

This is a sweet bread daddy used to make for us when we were children, i don't remenber it because i was a baby but my mom, brother and sisiter do, My father an italian man from abruzzo, arrived in Venezuela at age 19 and was (and is) beloved by all the ones who knew him, passed away on september 8th 2004. I made this bread for my three years old nephew Michele as a reward for beeing a good boy at school ( the adaptation process to school is difficult ) just as my dad did when he wanted to surprise us and draw a big smile on our faces, of course his were bigger and surely very beautiful and delicious, He also made dolls and other creatures, although he was the best baker in the world mine is delicious too and I used my own formula, I hope he is proud

No Knead Bread

I made It. No knead Bread.

These loaves were delicious and the outside was crispy, the best part I did not need to knead any dough :) and the resul was perfect. Here is the recipe taken from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

"Published: November 8, 2006
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.
1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.
Yield: One 1½-pound loaf."

and voilà: