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Browned Butter Pumpkin Croquemcake with White Chocolate Chai Mousse (Project Food Blog Round 8!)

Because of YOU, Willow Bird Baking is one of only 24 blogs in Project Food Blog Round 8! I am so beyond grateful for your support and love throughout this process. Challenge #8 was to create a baked good using pumpkin. VOTING IS NOW OPEN! (Thank you for voting! Voting is now closed.) I’d love it if you’d pop over to cast a vote for me by clicking “Vote for this Entry” here. Thank you all!!

I am basically an architect. I know some folks who worked through countless hours of pesky schoolwork to call themselves architects and may disagree with me. But I think I have enough experience to go ahead and claim the title.

See, in 6th grade, my classmates and I were divided into teams and charged with a task of monumental proportions. We were to engineer a bridge out of toothpicks, string, and glue. Each of these “resources” was assigned a cost, and we were given a budget of imaginary money with which to purchase supplies. The team whose bridge could hold the most weight at the end of the competition would win epic bragging rights.


Moist, amazing Browned Butter Pumpkin Cake!

We must have been hyped up on marshmallowy breakfast cereal or something, because as soon as the teachers said GO, it was on.

We were ruthless. We pasted, chopped, measured, quarreled, budgeted, collaborated, and in a move that I’m still not sure was entirely legal, pilfered cast-off supplies from the trash can. Hey, we were just being green, right? Nowadays we’d obtain a high L.E.E.D. certification and get a pat on the back. I’m sure my teachers would’ve seen it that way . . .

I remember waxing intellectual about the structural integrity of domes, lecturing a classmate on how strong the ends of an egg were for this reason. Another peer gave an impromptu diatribe on the virtues of suspension bridges. We ended up with some sort of Frankesteinian hybrid, a bridge held up by suspension and bulky domes underneath. We were still furiously glopping on excess glue in hopes of bolstering the bridge’s integrity when the teachers called time.

We watched breathlessly as the teacher judging the competition picked up a thin book and placed it on our bridge. It held. Another volume was snapped up into her fingers and laid gingerly on our opponents’ bridge. It held.

One by one, she stacked books on top of our lopsided, aesthetically wreck-tastic but apparently strong-as-an-ox toothpick bridge. Every book our bridge held was matched by one on our opponent’s bridge — until the teacher picked up two textbooks. Ours held under the weight. Our opponents’ bridge collapsed — and so did we: we collapsed into cheers and giggles, inebriated with victory. We had done it! We were brilliant engineers! We had won!


Pumpkin profiteroles — with pumpkin in the choux dough itself — were filled alternately with White Chocolate Chai Mousse and ganache.

As the crowd thinned, we stood around and stared in wonder at our messy little Golden Gate. My friend Ashley was not yet satisfied. Sure, our bridge was stronger than the other team’s, but just how strong? With her hands on teammates’ shoulders for balance, Ashley stepped — first one foot, and then the other — onto the bridge.

It held.

I’ll never forget that moment standing in front of my elementary school, seeing Ashley’s huge grin, relishing the easy pulse of victory through our already-marshmallow-filled veins. So, yeah, I’m basically an architect. Right?

At least, it was this (misguided?) confidence that led me to believe that I could construct what I’ve officially dubbed the croquemcake.

I wanted to pull out all the stops for Project Food Blog Round 8 (do I say that every round? It’s definitely true every round!) The challenge was to create a baked good using pumpkin, and I was torn between building pumpkin profiteroles (made from pâte à choux) into a lovely croquembouche (mounted cream puff tower) or baking a pumpkin chai cake. Suddenly, it hit me. When in doubt, do both.


I may or may not have tweeted my desire to bathe in luxurious Swiss buttercream.

Thus, the croquemcake was born: a browned butter pumpkin cake filled with a comforting white chocolate chai mousse heart, frosted with velveteen Swiss buttercream frosting, and topped with a croquembouche of pumpkin profiteroles filled with chai mousse and ganache. The cake is served in slices accompanied by a few plucked cream puffs, and is essentially the embodiment of all things autumn.

At first I was panicky about trying to stack a tall, leany thing on top of a tall, frosted thing, but it turned out to be super easy, and it produced a ravishing effect.


The White Chocolate Chai Mousse is incredamazing, y’all. Even if you put off making the whole shebang until Christmas, you should make some bowls o’ mousse ASAP!

. . . oh, and it just might be my new favorite dessert ever. Every bite had an insanely satisfying combination of textures and flavors. This beautiful croquemcake would be the rockstar of any holiday table.

Don’t be scared of the length of the recipe. True to Willow Bird Baking’s mission, this dessert is also surprisingly easy to make. Let me qualify that: it takes three days and has tons of steps, but the steps themselves are simple and manageable. Use my note below on timing to space out the recipe steps into manageable chunks. It is so worth the effort.

What’s your favorite childhood memory?

Browned Butter Pumpkin CroquemCAKE with White Chocolate Chai Mousse


Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking, compiled and adapted from sources including Fine Cooking, Annie’s Eats, America’s Test Kitchen, Cookin’ Canuck, Martha Stewart, Gina DePalma, Alone and Unobserved
Yields: 15-20 servings, depending on your size o’ cake slices. You’ll have the topping croquembouche plus about 30 other cream puffs to serve alongside.

Pumpkin Puree Ingredients: (or use canned pumpkin puree)
about 7 pounds worth of sugar pumpkins (or pie pumpkins)
2-3 cups water

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cake Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of your pumpkin puree
3/4 cup unsalted butter; more for the pans
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pans
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk

White Chocolate Chai Mousse Ingredients: (I had a lot of leftover mousse; you could probably get by with 2/3 of this recipe)
2 1/4 teaspoons powdered gelatin
3 tablespoons water
18 ounces white chocolate chips (see note)
4 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
heaping 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
heaping 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper (white or black)
dash cayenne powder

Swiss Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites , at room temperature
24 tablespoons (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Profiterole (Cream Puff) Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups water
9 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/8 teaspoons salt
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
6 large eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
Egg wash (1 egg yolk and 1/2 cup heavy cream, lightly beaten)

Ganache Ingredients:
10 ounces bittersweet and semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream


Directions:
Note on timing: This dessert is easy to create, but involves many steps. For this reason, I divided the work over three days. On day 1, I roasted and pureed my pumpkins (you can nix this day if you use canned pumpkin). On day 2, I baked my cake and froze it, baked my profiteroles and froze them, and made my chai mousse. I also piped out white chocolate snowflake decorations to dry overnight. On day 3, I made my frosting, assembled and frosted my cake, made ganache, filled my profiteroles, and constructed my croquembouche.

To make pumpkin puree: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the tops off of above 7 pounds worth of sugar pumpkins (also called pie pumpkins). Cut the pumpkins in half and scrape out the seeds and innards. Place the pumpkin halves peel-up, cut-side-down in a baking dish and fill the dish 1/4 inch deep with water (about 2-3 cups). Roast pumpkins for 60-90 minutes, or until flesh is fork tender. Allow them to cool for a bit before scooping all flesh out of the peel and placing it in a food processor. Puree for 2-3 minutes until completely pureed, then drain in a paper towel-lined colander for about an hour. Store your pumpkin puree in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze it in 1-cup increments for later use. Alternatively, you can use canned pumpkin puree for this recipe.

To make browned butter pumpkin cake: I baked my cake in a pan that allows you to fill your cake with a heart-shaped tunnel of mousse (please comment if you’d like the details). If you don’t have one of these pans, you can still create the tunnel effect! You can use this technique by the fabulous Amanda, or this tunnel technique featured previously on my blog.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour two cake pans (either the heart-tunnel pan or regular 9-inch cake pans) very thoroughly. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook it, swirling occasionally, until it’s golden brown with a nutty aroma, around 4 minutes. Remove it from heat and pour it into a bowl to cool for about 15 minutes.
Whisk or sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves in a small bowl. In a separate, large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and buttermilk until well combined. Use a spatula to stir in the dry ingredients until just combined, and then whisk in the browned butter. Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans.

Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, around 28 minutes. Let cakes cool in their pans until mostly cool before turning them out onto wax paper to wrap and freeze. Freeze at least 30 minutes or until firm.

To make white chocolate chai mousse: Mix spices (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, pepper, cayenne) together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Place 3 tablespoons of water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over top to dissolve and soften for at least 5 minutes. Place white chocolate in a medium bowl. Combine 1 1/2 cups of cream and spice mixture in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until simmering. Remove from heat, add gelatin, and stir to dissolve. Pour gelatin mixture over white chocolate and whisk in small circles until smooth. Cool completely to room temperature, stirring occasionally, around 5 to 8 minutes.

In a separate bowl, beat remaining cream to soft peaks. Use a whisk to fold about 1/3 of the whipped cream into white chocolate mixture to lighten. Then fold the rest of the whipped cream in until no streaks remain. Refrigerate your mousse until set, then stir slightly to break up before using.

To make profiteroles: Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs. Stir in pumpkin puree.

Pipe the batter using a pastry bag and a plain tip. Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top. Brush tops with egg wash while trying not to drip the wash down the puffs onto the pan (which could somewhat inhibit rise).

Bake the choux at 425 degrees F until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool (tip from a pro: poke each puff with a toothpick while cooling to release the steam inside. It shouldn’t cause your cream to leak, but will help the puffs stay crisp). Can be stored in a airtight box overnight, but I recommend, if you aren’t using them right away to create your croquembouche, that you freeze them. When you’re ready to use them, bake them at 350 degrees F for 5-6 minutes to refresh and recrisp them.

To make ganache: Bring the cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan (or just stick it in the microwave for 2 minutes in a microwave-safe bowl). Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Once the cream reaches a simmer, pour the cream over the chocolate and let stand 1-2 minutes. Whisk in small circles until a smooth ganache has formed. Let ganache stand at room temperature until fully cooled, then whip to frosting-like consistency for piping into cooled profiteroles.

To make Swiss buttercream frosting: Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil without stirring until syrup reaches 240° on a digital thermometer, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer on medium speed, gradually pour in hot syrup in a thin stream; avoid pouring syrup on whisk. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until stiff peaks form and mixture is cool, about 8 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add butter 1 tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition. (If at any time buttercream appears curdled, beat on high until smooth, then reduce speed to medium and continue beating in butter.) Once all butter is added, beat on high speed until buttercream is smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla extract.

To assemble your cake: Line up cake layers and trim sides as needed with a long serrated knife. No need to thaw before you do this — it’s actually easier with frozen layers. Spoon white chocolate chai mousse into heart-shaped wells in your cake layers (if applicable — or spoon it into whatever shaped cavity you’re using). Carefully position the top layer on the bottom. Apply a thin coating of frosting all over as a “crumb coat” and refrigerate the cake for a half hour or so. Then frost the cake generously with the remaining frosting.

To assemble your croquembouche: Fill cooled profiteroles with leftover chai mousse and ganache as desired. Melt white chocolate bark and dip tops of each profiterole into the chocolate, lining up on wax paper to dry. Cover a plate with wax paper — this is where you’ll build your croquembouche. Start with bigger, broader profiteroles and use the white chocolate as “glue” to piece together a sturdy base. I refrigerate my croquembouche after the construction of each new layer, to harden the chocolate and avoid any toppling incidents! Continue building a cone, fitting the profiteroles together according to their shape. Use white chocolate to pipe snowflakes on wax paper, and to “glue” them onto your croquembouche once they’re dry. Refrigerate your croquembouche until you’re ready to assemble your final product.

To assemble your final croquemCAKE: Carefully ensure that your croquembouche isn’t sticking to your wax paper. Gently lift it onto the center of your cake. Surround your cake with leftover cream puffs for serving. Enjoy!


Roasting pumpkins! While there’s not a huge taste difference from using this process versus the canned stuff, it’s a fun, satisfying thing to try!

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Deconstructing a Pizza and a Place

Deconstruction in the culinary world is about division: a familiar dish is broken down into its discrete flavor components, which are served in an unexpected way. It’s about assembly: the separated components meld in each bite, surprising in their newfound unity. It’s about departure: the eater is asked to readjust what they know and what they think they know. It’s about coming home. It’s about the moment when all the flavors suddenly make sense as a recognizable whole — maybe as a dish you’ve had a taste memory of since childhood, but didn’t expect to meet in this new form.

During my parents’ anniversary dinner, I took the classic dishes they’d grown up with and reinterpreted them. Diner pizza became these deconstructed pizza bites, cold and salty, bold and mellow — and surprising in their transformation from discrete bits of flavor to a unified, familiar experience.


View of the Bay Bridge from Alcatraz

San Francisco was also deconstructed for me this past weekend. I attended the Foodbuzz Food Blogger Festival and after a weekend of crowds, taxis, food, lights, friends, laughter, food, cameras, trolleys, hills, and food, I’m sitting alone in Charlotte trying to process the experience.

It’s quiet here — just the sound of airplanes in the sky above my apartment, the road noise beyond the woods, the determined hum of my recently reemployed heater. When I look to the west from this vantage point, pretending my vision reaches the 3,000 miles and 96 hours back in time to my trip, I see fragmented moments: a deconstructed city, a deconstructed experience.

Maybe if I offer these bits of memory to you together — no toothpick to assemble them on, so a blog post will have to do — you’ll taste the flavor of the weekend.


A gull looks toward San Francisco

FLAVOR

Bursting, juicy pork sandwiches with crispy pork skin. Cupcakes like coconut clouds. Adorable quail eggs. Agave-sweetened gazpacho. The burning rush of juice from a garlicky escargot pop. Sultry corn tortillas around shredded beef. A tongueful of flaming mushroom soup. Tart cranberries nestled in goat cheese. Lamb resting peacefully on a bed of butternut. Gruyère tucked inside a fat croissant.


Mini-doughnuts by the bay

ADRENALINE

I presented my Blueberry Stuffed French Toast Bowl recipe to a room filled with sweet, hungry people. Before the demonstration, my shaking hands were trying desperately to set each kitchen utensil and bowl in its rightful place, taking aimless photos, and failing to fasten my apron properly. During the demonstration, I might have been a little silly. Maybe. And after the demonstration — pure joy. What fun! What supportive friends!


Doing my Nature’s Pride demonstration at the Foodbuzz Tasting Pavilion

LAUGHTER

On Saturday night, Foodbuzz hosted a scavenger hunt around the city. I joined a group of relative strangers to romp around San Francisco being silly. I was so exhausted before we began that I wasn’t sure if I’d made the right decision — but being a part of Team Tony & the Gold Dust Gals (as we dubbed ourselves) was a highlight of my trip. Here are the tasks we had to complete (photos in this section are by the super-sweet Laura Flowers except the business card photo by my lovely roomie Diana):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZByOPa-X-l0&fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca]1. Dance with a stranger (I totally stepped on his foot).


2. Late night exercise: 10 synchronized jumping jacks.


3. Exchange business cards with 10 people.


4. Photo with the hippest person you can find (the dude in the bowtie, OBVIOUSLY!)

5. Late night toast at the Gold Dust Lounge (I don’t drink, but water works!)


6. Late night snack (of brightly colored, flagrantly artificial drugstore sweets!)

It was beyond absurd scavenging around San Francisco with these wonderful, crazy people. I started out so tired I could barely move, but once we finished our tasks, I didn’t want the night to end.

CRISIS

Even as we were running around San Francisco through bouts of laughter and chatter, something was very wrong. In fact, something had been wrong throughout my trip. On my first night in the city, I walked out to the drugstore to purchase a few supplies. A homeless man stood outside and asked if I would buy him a tuna sandwich and some orange juice – something I happily did. As the weekend stretched on, though, I saw a different man or woman on every corner. Every few feet. In every other doorway.

During the scavenger hunt, we passed a man with no shoes and only a thin sweatshirt sitting in an alcove. He was unable to make eye contact, and seemingly unable to modulate his voice. In a quiet monotone, he was repeating, “Help me — somebody help me.”


San Francisco sunset through the dirty hotel window

I don’t know what to say except that I’m haunted. We have homeless in Charlotte, but I encounter them at a rate that I feel I can manage, and offer them a warm lunch or dinner. In San Francisco, I was overwhelmed. What can I do for this person? And this one? And this one? Each individual deserves a meal, deserves clothing, deserves love, deserves a kindness. But I don’t have the money to provide for them. I prayed as I passed, but was confronted with a scripture from James: “If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”

I’m reading through the article series, Shame of the City from 2003 and still wondering, wondering, wondering: what can I do?


View of the Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz

COMFORT

Despite traumatic moments, Sunday was a balm on my nerves and heart. My beloved college roommate, Martha, drove an hour and a half to spend the day with me. We walked through the sometimes-rain and sometimes-mist in Chinatown, then took a trolley out to the water. We devoured croissants and muffins at Boudin Bakery, home of “mother sponge,” the starter of San Francisco’s famous sourdough.

The sea lions of Fisherman’s Wharf had us in stitches — especially the particularly bulbous ones. I made Martha pose like a tourist in front of random ferries and Ghirardelli square. We rounded off the night with In N Out fries and a crazy drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. Staring out at the lights of Sausalito and San Francisco with someone I truly love to pieces was one of my favorite parts of the trip.


Me and Martha

From random bites to random dances, from boisterous sea lions to giant bay bridges, San Francisco was full of magic. I’ll continue to process the experience and break it down into bright bite-size pieces. In the meantime, have a Deconstructed Pizza Bite.

Do you have suggestions for how to get involved in the plight of the homeless? Have you found a way of serving underprivileged citizens? Let me know.

Deconstructed Margherita Pizza Bites


Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking
Yield: about 12 pizza bites

Ingredients:
2 1-inch thick slices of crusty Italian bread, toasted
12 pieces of pepperoni
1 tomato, chopped into cubes
24 mozzarella pearls (or small hunks of mozzarella)
about 4-5 large basil leaves, torn into 3 pieces each

Directions:
On a toothpick, assemble the following: one hunk of bread as your base, a pearl of mozzarella, a hunk of tomato, another pearl of mozzarella, a piece of pepperoni folded into quarters, and finally, a piece of basil leaf. Refrigerate until ready to serve, and serve cold for a fresh, bright flavor.


Sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf

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Homemade Hot Chocolate & Marshmallows (Voting Now Open in Project Food Blog Round 6!)

Willow Bird Baking is a contestant in Project Food Blog, a contest comprised of a series of 10 challenges to find the next food blog star. Voting for Challenge #6 is now open! To vote for my special birthday picnic to win this round, register for a (free) Foodbuzz account. Once you’re registered, sign in and go to my round 6 entry here. To vote, click the heart next to the words “Vote for this Entry.” I am so grateful for your support!

Part of the Project Food Blog Round 6 challenge was to prepare a beverage to take with you on your road trip. Lemonade was the first thing that came to mind, but I quickly nixed it. Mike’s not big on lemons (I know, crazy!), and this meal was all about him! But all Mike drinks is water, and that didn’t seem very creative. I scanned my memory banks for some help.

Help came in the form of a memory I mentioned in my picnic post: a memory of a previous road trip Mike and I had taken to Gatlinburg and Sevierville, Tennessee. We’d gone so that I could introduce Mike to the apple orchards that my family has loved for years.

I wanted him to eat apple fritters and fried apple pie for breakfast, see the aviary in the middle of the Apple Barn restaurant full of flippant finches, walk by the creek with me while we waited to be seated for dinner. I wanted him to taste the sausages with peppers and onions from the street vendors in downtown Gatlinburg, bite into his first funnel cake, and ride the terrifying (to me — everyone else seems downright calm!) tramway up the mountain to see the black bear habitat. All the things I’d loved as a child.

When we arrived, I broke out some hot chocolate mix that I’d packed, but little did we know we’d have access to a fireplace! When we saw it, we were thrilled — for some reason, it seemed like the most romantic thing in the world to sit by a fireplace and drink hot chocolate. I still have the mugs we picked up from a corner drugstore to mix our cocoa in.

This memory decided it. I found a simple recipe for hot chocolate mix, heated some milk, and mixed the two in a thermos before packing it snugly into my Project Food Blog cooler. Two mugs and two spoons went into my box of dishes to cart along. I tucked homemade marshmallows (one of those amazing recipes that looks fancy but is actually quite simple) into a bag to add sweetness and fun to our nostalgic drink.

Now to share the memories with you! As the weather cools, I hope you’ll mix up your own hot chocolate, find your own fire somewhere, and enjoy a special night with family.

Reminder: Have you entered to win the cute chalkboard giveaway yet? If not, head on over and enter!

Homemade Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows


Recipe by: adapted from Martha Stewart (hot chocolate) and Joy of Baking (marshmallows)
Yield: about 31 servings of cocoa mix

Hot Chocolate Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons cups sugar
2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cocoa
1 teaspoon table salt
Whole milk for serving (you’ll need 1 cup warm milk per each 2-tablespoon serving of cocoa mix)

Marshmallow Ingredients:
1/3 cup cold water, divided
1 1/4-ounce envelope unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
pinch salt
2/3 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I eyeballed this measure – you can also add other flavorings and extracts here)


Directions:
Make marshmallows the day before you plan to serve your hot chocolate. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray, line the bottom with parchment, spray again. Place about 3 tablespoons powdered sugar into the pan and shake it around to coat.

Place about 3 tablespoons of cold water into the bowl of your electric mixer (with whisk attachment) and sprinkle gelatin over the water to soften for about 15 minutes.

While the gelatin softens, place sugar, corn syrup, salt, and remaining water into a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture boils, and then cover the saucepan with a lid for three minutes to allow sugar crystals to dissolve. Remove lid and attach a candy thermometer to the saucepan. Turn heat up to high and let the mixture boil without stirring until it gets to 240 degrees F (after about 10 minutes). Remove from heat.

Immediately, with your mixer on low, pour the hot syrup in a thin stream down the side of the mixing bowl into the gelatin. Slowly increase the speed to high and beat for about 10 minutes, until the mixture is triple its original volume, thick, and stiff (like marshmallow cream). Add vanilla extract and/or any flavorings and beat about 30 seconds longer.

Using a spatula sprayed with cooking spray, spread mixture into your prepared cake pan. Smooth as best you can into a smooth layer. Sift 2 tablespoons powdered sugar over the top of the mixture and let marshmallows stand and dry uncovered about 12 hours.

When set, slide marshmallow disc out onto cutting board (use a greased knife to loosen it from the pan if it’s stuck). Use a cookie cutter sprayed with cooking spray to cut out shapes of marshmallows. After cutting each shape out, you can use a damp finger to make the sides sticky and dip the shapes in colored sanding sugar to create a fun border (I just mixed regular sugar with a few drops of red food coloring). Alternatively, Shake the marshmallows in a bowl of powdered sugar to coat them and then shake off excess. Store the marshmallows in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

To make hot chocolate, heat 1 cup of milk in a microwave-safe mug until hot and mix in 2 tablespoons of cocoa mix. You can also heat large batches of milk over medium-low heat in a saucepan (being careful not to let the milk boil) to make cocoa in bulk. Serve with marshmallows on top!

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A Heartfelt Birthday Do-Over, Homemade Ravioli, and a Giveaway!

This weekend, I drove a total of 320 miles or 6 hours total for one magical road trip. It was inspired by a sweet gesture from Mike, and turned into a beautiful event for both of us. Let me tell you all about it.

I.  The Inspiration: A Childhood Dream Come True



Mike’s gift to me that inspired my road trip: a visit to the NC State Fair.

This weekend, Mike gave me a sweet gift: a do-over. He gave me the opportunity to revise a childhood memory from fifth grade.

My parents are going to kill me when they read this, because I’ve never told them anything about it. In fifth grade, my teacher scheduled a field trip to the State Fair in Raleigh, about 3 hours away. I’d never been to a fair, so I was thrilled to hear about the trip — until I heard the cost: $90. To my fifth grade brain, that might as well have been a million dollars.

I thought of my daddy going off to work third shift every night at the newspaper. I thought of my mom working late into the night to get her nursing paperwork completed. I thought of how we had to be careful to make ends meet each month despite all of their hard work.

I decided not to tell them about the field trip. I knew they would sacrifice to let me go, and I knew I’d rather stay home than let that happen. I sat at school while the other kids climbed aboard the bus to Raleigh. I’m sorry Mom and Dad — I know I should’ve given you the opportunity to send me! But my fifth grade mind was made up.

Imagine my surprise and delight when, a few weeks ago, Mike asked if I wanted to drive up and go to the State Fair. All of my fifth grade excitement came rushing back. Yes, I wanted a do-over! A second chance! A funnel cake!

In that spirit, this past weekend, Mike took me to my first fair. We ate copious amounts of fried food, petted fat billy goats, and definitely made up for lost time. It was better than it ever could’ve been in fifth grade, because Mike was by my side.

II.  Returning the Favor with a Road Trip: Mike’s Birthday Do-Over

I knew I wanted to do something special for Mike in return for what he’d done for me. Thankfully, Project Food Blog’s challenge for Round 6 was to pack up a meal and take a road trip (thank you so much for voting me through to this point). My road trip was designed to surprise Mike with his very own special do-over!



Mike’s surprise do-over.

On Mike’s birthday this past year, I really goofed. I made him handmade pumpkin ravioli — which probably sounds wonderful, except for the fact that he doesn’t like pumpkin and it tasted awful. This isn’t one of those “Oh, this could use more salt” things, y’all. It was gross.

For my road trip challenge, I decided to drive to Raleigh and throw Mike a heartfelt birthday do-over. Everything would be decorated in hearts and kisses and, most importantly, I’d make him a fantastic meal this time — one to drive all thoughts of pumpkin ravioli straight out of his mind.


The menu and decor. Note to PFB voters: the picnic basket was just for charm; all food was transported in my PFB cooler per challenge guidelines! Oh, and psst – you can enter to win this chalkboard below!

I chose to make the following dishes for our party:

-handmade, heart-shaped cheese ravioli in a meaty red sauce

-heart-shaped palmiers with goat cheese and homemade pesto

-red velvet cupcakes with heart cutouts

-giant red velvet kisses with special messages

-hot chocolate with homemade heart-shaped marshmallows


Cooler packed and ready to go!

Besides being delicious, some of the dishes had special significance. The red velvet cupcakes were planned to remind Mike of cupcakes I made for him one Valentine’s Day years ago, before I baked on a regular basis. He loved them so much that it inspired me to continue baking.

The hot chocolate represented sitting by the fire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee with him one December a couple of years ago. We hadn’t expected to have access to a fireplace on our trip, and for some reason, it made us so happy. We sat by it and sipped hot chocolate, loving every minute.




Handmade ravioli — now you see it, now you don’t.

I prepped and cooked for 3 days before hopping in my car and driving up the interstate. The venue I’d chosen for our birthday party picnic was Historic Yates Mill Park, and it turned out to be breathtaking. We spread a quilt under the shade of some gorgeous trees and ate while looking out over the mirror-like pond. Heart streamers danced in the wind beyond our picnic blanket, and a few industrious ants tried to join us for our meal. We brought books to read, but ended up having too much fun playing, talking, lounging, and walking around the mill.


Heart-shaped Pesto and Goat Cheese Palmiers.


I <3 Dessert! A giant red velvet kiss, red velvet cupcakes with heart cut-outs, and hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows.

Mike was coaxed into putting on the gigantic birthday hat I bought him. We blew birthday horns, I sang happy birthday, and he blew out his candles — all just as it should have been on his real birthday. This time, there was no pumpkin disaster to overshadow the moment — just me, Mike, and our little feast.


Normal Mike, and Julie-Made-Me-Wear-This-Stupid-Hat Mike

When all the food was packed away into the car again, we spent hours dwindling about the grounds. All told, four hours slipped past us like silt along the creek bed beside the mill. We decided picnics need to be a regular event for us.



Around the Historic Yates Mill: heart streamers, beautiful trees, and the mill itself.

Between fried cheesecake, corndogs, historic mills, and heart-shaped meals, Mike and I have had an amazing weekend. Thank you to Project Food Blog for my awesome cooler, and for inspiring my birthday party do-over. Most of all, thank you, my amazing readers, for voting for me in the last 5 rounds. I’d so appreciate your votes again in round 6!

Would you like to win the aqua chalkboard showcased in this post? Posh Pilfer is giving it away to one lovely reader (deadline for entering: Thursday, 10/28 at 6pm EST; winner will be chosen via random.org). To enter, answer the following question in the comment section: What memory do you wish you could “do-over”? Think about what you could do right now to make your do-over happen — and go for it!

Want an extra entry? Follow Willow Bird Baking on Twitter, tweet this message, and leave an extra comment telling me that you’ve done so: I just entered to win a cute chalkboard from @julieruble of Willow Bird Baking: http://bit.ly/cz2iLB

Handmade Cheese Ravioli in Meaty Red Sauce


Recipe by: Adapted from Annie’s Eats (pasta and ravioli); Sauce adapted from Strawberry Hedgehog
Yield: enough pasta to serve about 2 people

Ravioli Pasta Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon water, plus more as needed (I ended up using several full tablespoons)
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole ricotta
1/4 cup goat cheese crumbles
fresh basil, chopped, to taste
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme, chopped, to taste
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste

Sauce Ingredients:
about 3 links of Italian sausage, crumbled and browned
2 16-oz. cans tomato sauce
4 6-oz. cans tomato paste
1 tablespoon dried oregano
chopped fresh basil to taste
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Make the pasta: In a food processor, combine the eggs, water, olive oil and flour. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are well mixed and a dough begins to form. If the mixture is not coming together, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time just until the dough is formed. Transfer the dough from the food processor to a work surface. Knead 1-2 minutes by hand. Cover with a clean towel and let rest for 20 minutes. Knead again for 1-2 minutes, or until dough starts to feel more supple and elastic. Let rest for another 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces. If you have a pasta machine, see instructions here for how to prepare the sheets of dough. If not, roll one piece of the dough out on a lightly floured surface, pressing hard and rolling diligently until the dough is very thin. Use a large heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out ravioli pieces. Let these rest while you mix your filling.

Mix filling: Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Taste and season accordingly.

Assemble ravioli: Place about 1 teaspoon of filling in the middle of half of the heart shapes, leaving a clear edge around the perimeter. Dip a finger in water and lightly brush around the edges of a heart topped with the filling. Place one of the remaining pasta hearts on top and press the edges of the pasta shapes together to seal around the filling, being careful to press out any excess air. Repeat with the remaining dough shapes.

Make sauce: While browning Italian sausage, mix all other ingredients together in a bowl. Add to sausage and cook until heated through. In the meantime, cook pasta: bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the ravioli until al dente, about 4-5 minutes. Drain well and add ravioli to the sauce, tossing to coat. Serve with a spring of basil and shaved Parmesan.


At one point, my “Check Airbags,” “Low Tire Pressure,” and gas light were all lit. Glad I was only 5 minutes from my destination at this point!

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Pizzas Benedict and Deep Dish Pizza Cupfakes

YOU PEOPLE ROCK! Willow Bird Baking is one of only 72 blogs in Round 5 of Project Food Blog, and it’s all because of you! Virtual high-fives, y’all! I can’t say thank you enough.

Challenge #5 was to take a traditional dish, pizza, and remix it to create something inventive. I brainstormed for a week to find something creative, fun, delicious, and maybe even a little magical. I asked a billion (give or take a few) folks to weigh in with their pizza favorites. I laboriously googled (okay, that part was easy) and read recipe after recipe. Finally, I reached a conclusion. I appreciate your votes and I hate to let them go to waste, but . . .

FORGET PIZZA. I made cupcakes instead.

I’m tired, I’m whiny, I’m challenged-out, and cupcakes are tasty.

Just kidding, just kidding! ME, challenged-out? NEVER. The whiny part was true, but I’m always up for a challenge.

The title of this post probably gave me away — of course I made pizza . . . with a big twist. I chose to create two pizza remixes for this challenge, actually, representing two times of day when you aren’t “supposed” to eat pizza: dessert and breakfast.

I’ve been eating pizzas at all the wrong times since my childhood. Cold leftover pizza for breakfast was a delicacy. Midnight snack pizza was one of my favorites. What can I say? I’m a rebel. And I have a feeling more than a few of you are rebellious in the exact same way.

My “dessert” pizzas are a little sneaky, because they aren’t cupcakes at all — they’re cupfakes! They’re actually mini Chicago-style deep dish pizzas stuffed with mozzarella, goat cheese, pepperoni, and some of the best pizza sauce I’ve ever tasted. They’re then “frosted” with ricotta cheese, topped with colored salt sprinkles, and crowned with grape tomatoes in the place of cherries. Apart from being utterly delicious, they turned out to be the cutest little pizzas on the block!

I broke out the razorblades, cardboard, ribbon, cardstock, and glue gun to create an asymmetrical cupcake tower to showcase these cuties. Cue amusing exchanges on Twitter and Facebook:

My favorite cupfake incident was when I took a few of these to my neighbor (hi, neighbor!) and asked if he’d like some leftover homemade pizza. He looked at what seemed to be a plate of cupcakes in my hand with a slight pause. I wasn’t sure if he was going to ask why I didn’t know the difference between a pizza and a cupcake or just assume I was crazy, so I quickly explained. Mustn’t have the apartment complex thinking I’m nuts — any more than they already do, that is!

I was originally only going to create the cupfakes, but this morning I woke up and decided that for Round 5 of this competition and with only 72 blogs left, I had to go all out. I made a whole new batch of pizza dough to create my breakfast pizzas and some even tinier deep dish pizzas for later. So three batches of dough, a whole package of mozzarella, and scads of pepperoni later, I’m ready to fall over.

It was worth it.

I’ve affectionately named my breakfast pizza Pizzas Benedict. These had a heartier crust made with part whole-wheat flour to mimic an English muffin (okay, it was because I thought I’d run out of all-purpose flour. I later found a bag of it in the living room because, you know, that’s where normal people keep their flour).

The Pizzas Benedict were stuffed with a mixture of scrambled eggs, spinach, bacon, goat cheese, and cheddar cheese, and topped with fresh Hollandaise sauce. The egg mixture didn’t stay stuffed into the crust like it was supposed to, so in some of the pizzas, it was more of a topping and the crust was like a muffin base — but they were still delicious! Next time I might add even more of the stuffin’.

This turned out to be an exhausting, dangerous challenge. I shattered a glass all over the kitchen floor and sliced my foot as I was mixing my first batch of dough — a batch that ultimately ended up in the trash. I was up until the wee hours of the morning with my razorblades and hot glue. And at one point, I looked up from creating my Chicago-style deep dish pizzas and realized that my New Yorker roommate was sitting on the couch watching a Yankees game.

Barbara is not just any New Yorker, y’all. She makes a yearly pilgrimage to New York for Italian food and baseball. She has Yankees paraphernalia all over her room. She has like 8 superstitious rituals she completes for each baseball game — including lighting tealight candles, snuggling under her Yankees blanket, and wearing her lucky necklace.

She’s going to kill me, but I told her there was no way I wasn’t going to tell you about the time she ran into my room in a panic, pleading, “Can you please help me get this necklace on?!” I thought she just really loved jewelry until I realized it was her Yankees necklace and the game was starting. Yeah. She’s that kind of New Yorker. And here I was busily creating some Chicago pizza in our kitchen. I started planning escape routes.

Turns out I needn’t have worried — Barb appreciates good food as much as she appreciates New York. She loved the pizza sauce and forgave the crust. She declared that you should vote for me — and she has such good judgment. I’m just sayin’.

In addition to being exhausting, dangerous, and sometimes painful, this challenge was amazing! It allowed me to tackle new techniques (making homemade pizza dough), which is something I’m passionate about. It also provided an arena to do the things I already know I love: playing with food, making it adorable, and making it fun.

I hope you’ll make some pizza cupfakes and surprise someone you love. Or why not have a pizza day, complete with a pizza breakfast, lunch, dinner, and “dessert”? Have fun!

Deep Dish Pizza Cupfakes


Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking, compiled and adapted from the following sources:

– Recipe Pizza (crust) with help from Annie’s Eats
– Strawberry Hedgehog (pizza sauce)

Yield: about 13 cupcake-sized cupfakes

Crust Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 3/4 cups all−purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Pizza Sauce Ingredients:
1/2 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

“Toppings”:
pepperoni
mozzarella
goat cheese
ricotta cheese
grape tomatoes
kosher salt mixed with a few drops of food coloring to create “sprinkles”

Directions:
To make dough, sprinkle yeast and sugar into the warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer for this, or just mix by hand); allow stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, cornmeal, oil and salt to the yeast mixture and knead on a high speed for 7-10 minutes (you could also do this part by hand on a floured surface). You may need to add more flour here (I added about a cup and still had a wet dough, but I left it at that).

Turn dough into a large bowl coated with olive oil. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm spot until it has doubled in size, about 1-1.5 hours. To create a “warm spot,” I turn my oven on to 100 degrees F for a few minutes and then turn it off and open the door. When it has cooled to just barely above room temperature, I place the dough in and close the door, eliminating the possibility of drafts.

Prepare a muffin pan. Preheat the oven to 475 (with a pizza stone in it, if you have one – I just used a baking sheet). Coat each well with olive oil and a sprinkle of cornmeal. Punch risen dough down. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and let rest for 10 minutes. Using floured hands, pinch off about 2-inch balls of dough and place them in each prepared muffin well (you can freeze any leftover dough in a ball). In each well, poke a few pearls or slices of mozzarella cheese, some goat cheese, one or two pepperoni, and, finally, a big spoonful of sauce. In fact, I’d layer the sauce between each topping and then really stuff as much as you can on top — it’s the best part! Push each topping down so that the crust rises around the side. I use a spoon to gently press the sauce down at the end, so the entire thing resembles a deep dish pizza. Bake for 15-17 minutes. Let cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes before cooling on a cooling rack. If you’re making cupcakes, let them cool completely (otherwise, serve them warm).

To “frost,” pipe ricotta cheese onto each cupfake. Top with a grape tomato and salt sprinkles. You can heat each cupfake about 30 seconds before serving it. Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Pizzas Benedict


Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking, compiled and adapted from the following sources:

– Recipe Pizza (crust)
– Tyler Florence (Hollandaise sauce)

Crust Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 1/2 cups all−purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

“Toppings”:
about 8 scrambled eggs
spinach, torn into small pieces
cooked bacon, torn into small pieces
cheddar cheese
goat cheese
garlic
butter for scrambling eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Hollandaise Sauce:
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
Pinch cayenne
Pinch salt

Directions:
To make dough, sprinkle yeast and sugar into the warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer (you can also use a hand mixer for this, or just mix by hand); allow stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, cornmeal, oil and salt to the yeast mixture and knead on a high speed for 7-10 minutes (you could also do this part by hand on a floured surface). You may need to add more flour here (I added about a cup and still had a wet dough, but I left it at that).

Turn dough into a large bowl coated with olive oil. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm spot until it has doubled in size, about 1-1.5 hours. To create a “warm spot,” I turn my oven on to 100 degrees F for a few minutes and then turn it off and open the door. When it has cooled to just barely above room temperature, I place the dough in and close the door, eliminating the possibility of drafts.

As dough rises, beat eggs, garlic, salt and pepper, and spinach together. Place a teaspoon or so of butter in a skillet over medium high heat and scramble egg mixture. Pour into a bowl and add cheddar cheese, goat cheese, and bacon.

Prepare a muffin pan. Preheat the oven to 475 (with a pizza stone in it, if you have one – I just used a baking sheet). Coat each well with olive oil and a sprinkle of cornmeal. Punch risen dough down. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and let rest for 10 minutes. Using floured hands, pinch off about 2-inch balls of dough and place them in each prepared muffin well (you can freeze any leftover dough in a ball). Place a heaping spoonful of egg mixture in the center of each well, pressing it down into the crust dough. Bake 15-17 minutes until crust is golden. Let cool in pan for at least 5 minutes. Serve warm with Hollandaise sauce.

Make the Hollandaise sauce while your pizzas bake: Whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a stainless steel bowl and until it is thickened and doubled in volume. Place this bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water that does not touch the bottom of the bowl. Whisk rapidly and constantly, being careful not to let the eggs get so hot that they scramble. Drizzle melted butter in while continuing to whisk. Whisk until the sauce is thickened and doubled in volume. Remove from heat and whisk in cayenne and salt. Cover and place in a warm place until ready to use. If the sauce gets too thick, you can whisk in a few drops of warm water before serving.

Just for fun, here’s the list of ideas I considered for this challenge. Maybe you can grab one of these ideas and run with it!

  • Iconic Luxury Dish Pizza: Beef Wellington and Tiramisu Pizzas
  • Pizza Pie (a pie made with pizza ingredients – a take on tomato pie)
  • miniature pizzas with super accurate-looking toppings (e.g. tiny, tiny pepperoni!)
  • pizza pockets
  • dessert pizzas
  • a “pizza parfait” with layers of crust, sauce, cheese, toppings, basil in a parfait glass
  • a “waffled pizza” cooked on a waffle iron (this idea comes straight from the waffleizer blog, so not very original)
  • pizza cups — crust cups filled with sauce, cheese, and toppings and served as little appetizers
  • pizza muffins (muffins baked with cheddar cheese, pepperoni, etc. in them, and a mozzarella cheese ball in the center — sauce on top)
  • pizza nachos
  • pizza panini
  • fried pizza balls (not sure how I’d do this… somehow put pepperoni and cheese inside batter and fry the outside, and dip in sauce? Kind of just like mozzarella sticks, I guess)

What creative version of pizza can you think up?

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