found at Suzie the Foodie
Cinnamon Crunch:
I began by making the “crunch” part of the recipe, which sounded fascinating. In a food processor I combined 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup quick-cooking rolled oats and 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp of packed light brown sugar. I pulsed a few times and then added 4 tbsp of cold unsalted butter cut into pieces.
You were supposed to pat the mixture evenly into a 4″ square on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. As you can see, that meant going quite three dimensional! Did that mean this was supposed to be more like a dough than a crumble? It just did not want to pile that high.
I did my best and then baked it in a preheated 350F oven. I was supposed to bake it for 15 minutes until it turned golden brown and crispy. Well at ten minutes it turned into a dark blob! So I took it out.
Ice Cream:
I combined 2 cups whole milk, 2 cups heavy cream and 2 cinnamon sticks in a medium sauce pan. If you have a vanilla bean, scrape it and throw it all in at this point. I put this pan over medium heat the way I was supposed to and it took forever to come to a simmer. A skin kept forming on the top.
Once it came to a simmer I removed it from the heat, added some vanilla bean paste and let steep for 30 minutes. I returned it to the heat and brought it to a simmer. Again, it took forever!
“Prepare an ice bath by placing a medium bowl inside a larger bowl filled half full with ice water.” I was looking at the bowls thinking, a medium bowl is going to be too small!!! Just following the recipe Suzie…
Combine the eight egg yolks with 1 cup of sugar.
Which together until the egg yolks turn pale yellow. My house gremlin stole my whisk attachment (and my giant wooden cutting board!) so I used egg beaters instead and as you can see, they worked great.
Slowly whisk in the warm milk mixture into the eggs yolks and sugar. Remove cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean (if using). Return mixture to the pan and cook stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture coats the back, 3 to 4 minutes.
When it was thick enough to do so I started to notice it looked like it was breaking up a bit so I quickly moved to the next step.
I had to strain the custard into the bowl set in the ice bath and I was right, the original one was not big enough. So I moved the ice bath to another vessel and choose a larger and deeper bowl to go inside it so the whole bowl would cool down. But it didn’t! I kept replacing the ice bath but the best I could get was a lukewarm custard. It would not “chill” like the cookbook said it would.
In fact, traditionally most people always put the custard in the fridge to chill completely before churning. I was shocked that at this point you were supposed to “pour the custard into an ice cream maker”!!!
I don’t get it. This is not kitchen stadium. I do no have only an hour to make five dishes. And if you watch Iron Chef, the ice cream gets them every time and why? Because it is not cold enough.
On the left you will see just how “soupy” the ice cream was after it finished churning. I knew that was not how it was supposed to look but folded in some of the “crumble” anyway.
Bobby Flay’s Southwestern Style Blue Corn Biscotti
found at Food.com
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yield: 26 biscotti
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup stone-ground blue cornmeal
3 tablespoons stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons anisette (or Sambuca liqueur)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup coarsely chopped unsalted pistachios
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Assemble your ingredients.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, blue and yellow cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.
3. With the mixer set at its lowest speed, add the butter to the dry ingredients, a little at a time, beating until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir the liqueur into the dough until incorporated. Stir in the nuts until the dough is thoroughly blended and holds together in a ball.
4. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet and gently press to form a log measuring approximately 3 inches wide, 1 1/2 inches high, and 10 inches long. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for at least 2 hours or for as long as 8 hours.
5. Before second baking, reheat the oven to 350°F.
6. Using a serrated knife, carefully cut the log crosswise into 1/3-inch thick slices. Lay the slices on the same parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges but still slightly soft in the middle. For more even baking, turn the biscotti over after 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet.
7. Note: Time does not include resting time of at least 2 hours.
