#marie's recipes

[skarsgard-daydreams]

Do you have a reliable babka recipe?? I’m in the market for a good one! 😌

I am no expert on babka, but the one I use is from Smitten Kitchen and it's pretty damn delicious!

[skarsgard-daydreams]

I can't remember if we've talked about this (or if I've seen it before - I think I vaguely remember it), but baklava babka?!? I'm positive this link won't work in an ask, but oh crap this looks delicious.

https://smittenkitchen.com/2018/12/baklava-babka/

Yeast dough PLUS the taste of baklava? My two favorite sins...

[skarsgard-daydreams]

Dangerously Easy Crème Brûlée

This recipe was also requested by @bae-roman. Look, once you start to realize that a decadent dessert you like to order at restaurants is easy to make at home, it is liberating, but it also threatens every effort you make to be healthy. The holidays are a time to be decadent, however, and there's no better way than with crème brûlée. Alton Brown's recipe requires only four ingredients, and I usually simplify it even further by using things that I already have in my kitchen. Instead of a vanilla bean, I use 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and instead of vanilla sugar, I use plain sugar.

The key to executing this recipe well is patience. I always heat my cream incrementally, starting low and slow, so that I don't scald it. Remember to let the cream cool slightly and add it to the egg mixture slowly while whisking so you temper the eggs rather than cooking them. Bake your custards in the bain-marie and chill them completely after cooking.

When the time comes to caramelize the sugar on top, be liberal with it. I want to bust my spoon through a plate of sugary glass when I go to eat it. It's fun to use a kitchen torch if you have one, but if you don't, you can use your oven's broiler. Move a rack up to the top of your oven and slide the ramekins in there on a baking sheet while the oven is cold. Then crank it up to broil and keep an eye on the tips for the sugar to start to caramelize and turn brown.

You can serve the custard immediately or refrigerate again if you're saving them for a holiday gathering. Your guests will be absolutely blown away and will request that you make it every year.

[skarsgard-daydreams]

Not My Big Fat Greek Family's Baklava

This recipe is for @bae-roman. I had a great-grandmother who was 100% Greek. She emigrated here from the "motherland," as one of my dad's cousins calls it, and Greek was her native tongue. But food was her love language. She always tried to stuff you full of Baklava or Kourabiedes even if you were already full. She got them from a local deli, so I don't have any family recipes. But Emeril Lagasse's is usually a hit.

If you've never worked with phyllo dough before, that's the most challenging part of making this dessert. It has a tendency to dry out the longer it's exposed to air, so the key here is to work quickly. Here are my tips:

Make sure you give your phyllo dough ample time to thaw in the fridge. If it's still partially frozen, you won't be able to work with it.

Cook the syrup first so it has plenty of time to cool.

Follow the French practice of mise en place by getting all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go before you take the phyllo out.

Have extra butter on deck in case you start to run out. You cannot have too much butter for this dish.

Butter your pan thoroughly before you begin.

Once you're ready, take out half the phyllo dough and carefully unroll it. Trim it with a knife if needed to fit the pan.

Grab one of the ultra thin pieces of dough and slap that baby in the bottom of the pan.

You are now a brick layer, and your butter is your cement. Slather the top of your dough with butter using a silicone brush, then place another sheet on top of it. Keep going until you've placed 7 sheets.

When you hit 7 sheets, spread out a scoop of your nut filling. Side note: I use exclusively walnuts in mine and I mix it together in a food processor or Magic Bullet.

Drizzle some butter on top just to give your phyllo something to stick to and repeat with another 7 layers.

Move like you're a Greek mother passionately lecturing your child while you cook four things at once. You'll quickly develop a good rhythm for it.

If you start to run out of butter, nuke some more. If you start to get low on phyllo or filling, just try to use the rest of the ingredients as evenly as you can. It's okay to have some layers with more nuts than others.

When you lay down that last phyllo layer, brush the entire surface of your dough liberally with butter until it's drenched.

Slice the dough into diamonds before cooking. Don't you dare slice it into squares. I actually make smaller diamonds than what's shown in the photo so I can pretend I'm engaging in portion-control.

The hardest part comes after baking. You need to drizzle the syrup over the tray of baklava and then muster up the willpower to leave it alone.

The longer you let the syrup soak into the pastry, the better it will be. I usually issue death threats to the family and leave it overnight, or at least until it's fully cooled.

Do not attempt to remove a single piece for sampling while you wait. I did this once and the syrup absorbed unevenly throughout the whole batch.

The best way to serve these at a party is to carefully lay the prettiest pieces in cupcake liners. I eat them like that at home, too, because it's so much less messy.

I am not liable for anyone who develops diabetes or becomes the person everyone asks to make baklava every holiday after serving this recipe. That's just a risk you have to take.

[skarsgard-daydreams]

My scones turned out rough looking because I was too lazy (aka not able-bodied enough) to roll out the dough and cut them into pretty rounds, but they taste amazing.

[skarsgard-daydreams]

Homemade Marshmallows

I'll admit it: making candy is a little intimidating. But if you're adventurous in the kitchen, the effort will pay off with delightful mounds of mallow-y goodness that you can give as gifts or keep all to yourself. I use Alton Brown's recipe, and like Henry Deaver in "Sound and Color," I like to add a little peppermint extract and a few drops of red food coloring to make them pink and perfect for peppermint hot chocolate. You need a candy thermometer and a mixer to make these. And an apron.

[skarsgard-daydreams]

Cranberry Bread

Okay, let's say your foray into yeast breads didn't go so well. Don't worry. Quick breads will still make you look like a culinary goddess. This bread is sweet and tart and aromatic, and it looks impressive to boot. I found the recipe when my mother brought me half a dozen pounds of frozen cranberries in March and I had to find ways of using them to clear out my freezer. This is the perfect sweet loaf to put your relations into a sugar coma while you're cooking dinner on the holidays. It also makes a delightful gift for the person who claims they don't need anything. Merkel would devour this. The Kid would eat around the fruit like a dog that got hold of a fruitcake.

[skarsgard-daydreams]

Crusty No-Knead Artisan Bread & Bread Baking Tips

Inspired by a request from @grandpa-sweaters, I will be posting some of my favorite recipes for the holidays during the 12 Days of Solstice. In my mind, nothing is better than a freshly baked loaf of bread. Baking bread can seem intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, you learn that bread dough is actually quite forgiving, and it doesn't take much effort to produce a loaf that will absolutely wow everyone at your holiday feast.

Case in point is the old world magic of the Crusty No-Knead Artisan Bread. It's so simple that you can throw the ingredients together in a few minutes at night, do nothing with it for 12-18 hours, then wake up and bake it to perfection in about an hour. As the title suggests, you don't have to knead it. You simply mix flour, salt, water, and yeast into a bowl and cover it with a towel. You need some kind of covered dish in which to bake it. This could be a Dutch oven or a covered Pyrex casserole dish from the 1970's (what I use) or an oven-safe pot with a lid. Anything that retains heat and traps steam inside will allow the loaf to form that wonderfully crusty exterior that will make people think you are a true master of the loaf. 

You can find hundreds of variations on this recipe on the internet, but I like to share this one by Janet Barton because the long FAQ she includes is extremely useful for people who are learning to bake bread. 

A few tips for baking this bread and basically any other yeast loaf:

Activate your yeast. Even though most recipes don't call for this step, I like to throw my yeast into a little bowl with a cup of lukewarm water and a tiny bit of sugar (less than a teaspoon) and let it sit on the counter for ten minutes before I do anything. The yeast will get all bubbly and then I know it's alive and my bread will rise.

Keep it warm. Yeast doesn't work in environments that are too hot or too cold, so find a nice cozy spot in your kitchen for the dough to proof and yell at your family if they leave the back door open and create a draft. Likewise, don't use hot water or let your dough sit by a heat source. Follow the goldilocks principle.

Break the rules. Baking bread does not require the same strict precision as baking things like cakes or cookies. In fact, sticking dogmatically to the recipe can often result in a less desirable loaf because things like the type of flour you use or the humidity in your kitchen or the phase of the moon (probably) can make your dough unexpectedly too wet or too dry. Pay attention to the description of the dough's consistency in the recipe. Don't be afraid to add a bit more flour if the author says the dough should stop sticking to the bowl, but it's sticking to your fingers and every surface in your kitchen.

Follow the rules. I know I just said it’s okay to break them. But when it comes to the ingredients you’re using, make sure you’re either putting in what the recipe calls for, or you know how to compensate for the difference a substitution will make. If your recipe calls for all-purpose flour, you can’t substitute it completely with whole wheat flour and get a good result. I have a relative who tries this all the time because she wants to make it healthy, and then complains that her bread is tough. Look for a recipe using whole wheat flour instead, or do a little research to figure out how much you can substitute before the consistency of your loaf is affected.

Let it rise. Yeast needs time to do its thing, so it's important that you let it rise long enough. If the recipe says to let it rise for 90 minutes or until it has doubled in size, check it at 90 minutes but leave it for as long as it takes to actually double. For a No-Knead loaf, the extremely long rise is what allows you to skip kneading. I have baked it after 8 hours when I'm impatient, but the flavor and texture improves up to the 18 hour point. If the recipe calls for you to let the dough rest for ten minutes before you start kneading, listen to it. The dough will become more elastic as it rests and your hands or your stand mixer will thank you.

Preheat the oven. For No-Knead loaves, you have to heat the vessel in which you'll be cooking the dough for 30 minutes before you even start baking. But you should always make sure your oven comes all the way to temperature before you throw that baby in there. A lot of expansion is created as the water in the dough turns into steam. If your oven isn't hot enough, your loaf will suffer for it.

Use enough salt. A lot of bread recipes involve very few ingredients, which means that every single one of them is incredibly important! Don't skimp on the salt. If you have flaky sea salt or kosher salt, use that instead of table salt. It's delicious.

Let it cool. I know you want to slice into that bad boy and eat it the second it's done, but bread continues to develop texture and flavor even after you remove it from the oven. Give it at least an hour to cool when it's done if you're not willing to wait for it to come to room temperature. Threaten to stab your family with the bread knife if they don't leave it alone until it's ready. Revel in your newfound power as master of the loaf.