Witchy Kitchen

Tag: vanilla

  • Princess Peach Cakes

    Princess Peach Cakes

    This month’s Fandom Foodies theme is #MarioMonth, hosted by Lvl.1 Chef. There are so many cute and creative recipes this month inspired by our favorite brick-busting, turtle-tossing, tanooki-suited Italian plumber!

    I had an idea to remix Swedish princess cakes (prinsesstårta) into something a little peachier. Full-size and layered felt a little daunting, so I took a cue from My Name is Yeh and made mini ones – very cute and much less fussy! I made a vanilla cake spread with a lovely peachy compote, then topped with vanilla whipped cream and marzipan – little cakes fit for a princess!

    I also used this as an opportunity to try making marzipan; The Daring Gourmet has a detailed recipe, and as promised, it was really easy to make. Mine did crack a little as I lay it over the cakes – I read some tricks afterwards about how to avoid this, such as not over-kneading and drying out the marzipan, rolling it thin enough so it doesn’t pull, greasing your work surface with Crisco instead of powdered sugar. Regardless, I think they came out super adorable if not super profesh – hey, I can bring the competence, but if you’re looking for expertise, sorry, that princess is in another castle!

    Princess Peach Cakes

    For the cake

    Recipe from Martha Stewart, I chose this spongy one because it has no butter so stays soft when chilled

    • 1 cup flour
    • pinch of salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    • 4 eggs, separated
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 3 tablespoons boiling water
    • 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

    Line a 9×13 pan with parchment. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Beat together egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in water and vanilla bean scrapings. Add dry ingredients and mix in with a spatula until just combined. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Pour into pan and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes. Cool, remove from pan and wrap in plastic and freeze for at least an hour and up to overnight.

    For the cardamom peach compote

    • 10 ounces frozen peach slices (you can use fresh if in season
    • 4 tablespoons sugar
    • seeds of 3 cardamom pods

    Combine peaches, sugar, and cardamom in a sauce pan and heat on medium heat, stirring occasionally and smashing gently with a wooden spoon, until peaches are thick and mostly broken down (leave some intact for texture). Chill in the fridge.

    For the vanilla whipped cream

    • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
    • 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

    Whip together until stiff peaks form

    For the marzipan

    • 1 3/4 cups almond meal
    • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
    • 2 teaspoons almond extract
    • 1 teaspoon rose water
    • 1 egg white

    In a food processor, pulse together almon meal and powdered sugar. Add almond extract, rose water, and egg white and combine until a dough forms. Turn it out onto a surface dusted with powdered sugar and knead just a bit until it balls together. You can add food coloring to decorate.

    To assemble the cakes

    Cut six 3-inch circles from the sheet cake (save the scraps to dunk in coffee). Spread each with peach compote, and pipe whipped cream on top. Roll out the marzipan to a thin, even layer (I did mine in two batches), and cut 5 inch circles (I used a bowl). Form over the tops of the cakes. Decorate with artsy craftsy marzipan crowns.

  • Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

    Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

    I saw and loved the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In for the first time around the time it came out in 2008, but just recently read the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist. These are the August picks for Coffee and Casseroles’ Night Bleeds Book and Movie Club!

    The movie is very good, but as is to be expected, the book adds layers to Eli and Oskar, both to their characters (Oskar is even more of a little shit in the book and Eli even more beautifully tragic) and to their dark friendship. There’s also interesting story around Virginia and Jocke; their plot points are hit in the movie, but there is a lot of detail in the book that is either very sweet or sickly fascinating.

    the-dark-friendship-of-oskar-and-eli-in-let-the-right-one-in-472549

    In the book, Oskar’s mom is a single parent, lonely, relishing his misery and becoming resentful when he makes a friend. Often in the evenings they watch television together and have cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, a ritual he falls out of when he starts spending more time with Eli. Although in the book these are the Cinnamon Rolls of Gross Codependency, in life these cinnamon rolls are delicious.

    Swedish cinnamon rolls aren’t much different than American style, the key enhancement being lovely, fragrant cardamom in the dough – a favorite spice of Scandinavians dating back to 860AD when the Vikings ravaged Constantinople! Heating milk with vanilla bean and cardamom on the stove made the kitchen smell heavenly.

    I adapted Marcus Samuelsson’s recipe — and when I say adapted, I mean I used whole cardamom instead of ground because that’s what I had, and I rolled them out to the wrong length and width because oops — but will actually make a few more tweaks when I make them again (which I will because they were delicious). The dough was actually a little stiffer than it was meant to be even though I added the least amount of flour, and the cinnamon mixture was way too thin and seeped out of the dough, so next time I’ll make it thicker. These kind of differences I usually chalk up to atmosphere or personal incompetence or whatever, so I’ll give you recommendations for humid American South, but you may also wish to check out the original recipe.

    Swedish Cinnamon Rolls

    Adapted from Marcus Samuelsson

    For the dough

    • 1 package yeast
    • 2 tablespoons warm water
    • 1 teaspoon sugar
    • 1 cup whole milk
    • 6 tablespoons butter
    • 10 cardamom pods, cracked
    • 1 vanilla pod, halved and scraped (substitute 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)
    • 1 egg plus 1 yolk (reserve extra egg white)
    • 1/3 cup sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 3 1/2 – 5 cups flour
    • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

    For the filling

    • 1/2 cup butter, softened
    • 1/2 cup brown sugar
    • 1/2 cup sugar
    • 2-4 tablespoons warm or hot milk (original calls for 4, mine was too watery)
    • 3 teaspoons cinnamon

    For the topping

    • Reserved egg white
    • 1/4 cup toasted almonds

    In a small bowl, mix yeast, warm water, and sugar. Set aside until foamy, about 5 minutes.

    Gently heat milk, butter, cardamom pods, and vanilla bean until very warm but not hot. Remove from heat and allow to steep until cool. Strain, and add to the yeast mixture. Whisk egg, egg yolk, sugar and salt until well combined, stir into yeast mixture.

    Add flour until a slightly wet dough forms, and roll it into a ball. Grease a clean bowl with the vegetable oil, and turn the dough ball in it until coated. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 2 hours.

    Combine the filling ingredients (butter, brown sugar, sugar, warm milk and cinnamon). Prepare two baking sheets with buttered parchment.

    Divide the dough into two equal parts, and on a floured counter roll into 12 x 9 inch rectangles. Spread with the filling mixture and roll length-wise. Slice into 6 slices and place on baking sheets, slightly flattening with your palm (next time I’ll tuck in the ends to make them a little prettier). Cover and let rise 30 minutes.

    Whisk together egg white with a couple tablespoons water and brush over the rolls. Sprinkle with toasted almonds. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack.

    Serve in front of the TV with guilt and hot chocolate.

    Both The Girls in the Back Row and The Rants Macabre have a great podcast episodes on the film, I recommend a listen!

  • Imperius Pears

    Imperius Pears

    These Imperius Pears, poached in red wine and bathed in chocolate, are one of the unforgivable dishes. They cast a pleasant thrall over those who eat them; there’s a darkness tinged with spices, especially the unusual black pepper, but the chocolately sweetness is so dreamy that the eater doesn’t mind losing their will.

    Only the wizard with exceptional strength is able to resist – but why would they want to?

    Harry Potter Imperius Pears

    • 4 Bosc pears, almost ripe
    • 2 1/2 cups red wine (such as cabernet)
    • 3/4 cups sugar
    • 1 vanilla bean, split
    • 12 black pepper pods
    • 1/2 inch ginger, sliced into coins
    • 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa
    • pinch salt

    Peel the pears and scoop out the core at the bottom with a spoon.

    In a small saucepan, heat wine, sugar, vanilla bean, black pepper pods, and ginger to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and submerge the pears two face up, two face down.

    Simmer for approximately 20 minutes, then flip pears and simmer another 20 minutes. Check to see that they are easily pierced by a fork but not falling apart. Remove to a plate.

    Strain the remaining wine mixture and return to the saucepan, add cocoa and salt, and bring to a boil. Lower heat slightly and simmer until mixture thickens, coating a spoon. Remove from heat and cool.

    Arrange pears on a plate and drizzle with the wine and chocolate reduction. Service with more on the side.

    potter-week-gold

    Submitted for PotterPowers day of Common Room’s PotterWeek – check out #PotterWeek around social media for tons of fun Harry Potter-related goodness!

    Mischief managed.