Tag Archives: Vanilla extract

sugarless pumpkin oat bread


Well with the latest smear campaign against me, I decided to finally put things to bed. So here’s my recipe which inspired my sugarless pumpkin oatmeal cookies with pecans. The ones that are the subject of the smear campaign. My bread calls for some unusual things, apple and banana flour. What is apple and banana flour? It is dried apple and banana chips that have been ground into flour using a blender or mill. This recipe makes 12 loaves and generally is only made by me during the holidays. If you’d like to see the recipe that’s gotten me the smear campaign which I believe is nothing more then a publicity stunt on their part, you can view that here. My recipe target of a vindictive smear campaign.  Before I get smeared for this bread recipe, I’ll take the liberty of explaining why I used the ingredients in this bread. The apple flour is a natural sugarless sweetener providing your using unsweetened apple chips. Olive oil is rich in antioxidents and other goodies believed to fight off cancer, as well as heart disease. It’s also got a pleasing flavor. The egg whites is mainly cause again, my doctor wants me away from egg yolks. The pumpkin is cause usually around fall I have a bumper crop of pumpkin. The spelt is easy to digest, and the older relatives some of which have a gluten allergy can’t have regular flour. The mashed banana helps bind everything even the flour version helps. Though if you are using banana flour I recommend adding a bit of water, or apple juice or apple jack until the dough feels right to you. Cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla, all spices contained in pumpkin pie spice and I tend to like pumpkin pie spice with pumpkin, think any and every American likes these spices in their pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread. Coconut is delicious with pumpkin, and unfortunately since I’m allergic to nuts yet not allergic to coconut, I just simply can’t get enough, expecially toasted. It adds a crunch without the nasty allergic side effects, like death. I prefere to add steel cut oats or even swap out half oats for an equal amount of chocolate cause well oats, chocolate and pumpkin just taste good. The pink and red sea salts add a great flavor, and are filled with good healthy minerals. I’ll use red or pink salt or just omit. At one point I had chest pains up until a few years ago and have done my best to completely eliminate salt from my diet, and the high blood pressure and chest pains stopped. Baking powder and baking soda are required to make this quick bread rise, otherwise it be just too dense to enjoy.

Further more, and I hate to do this, but since I do like the offending parties vanilla extract I’ve been kind enough to link you to her recipe. Just click vanilla extract in the recipe list below.

Sugarless pumpkin oat bread

7 1/2 quarts ground apple flour (see commentary above)
2 1/2 cup olive oil
30 egg whites
10 lb pure pumpkin puree (fresh is best, but canned works too)
7 1/2 cups spelt plus extra for kneading
5 quarts mashed banana or banana flour (see notes)
2 1/2 cups cinnamon
1 1/4 cups allspice
3 1/3 tablespoons freshly ground nutmeg
3 1/3 tablespoons ground clove
5 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
1/2 cups fresh grated ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons pink himilayan or red alaea hawaiian salt
2 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
3 1/3 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 quarts coarsely chopped pecans (optional)
2 1/2 quarts shredded coconut unsweetened (toasted)
2 1/2 quarts chocolate chips or steel cut oats (optional, steel cut oats is healthier)

Preheat oven to 350F.Add coconut in single layer on a cookie sheet and bake until lightly toasted (5 minues) Turn heat to 375F With extra olive oil in a cheap spray bottle spray 12 bread pans that measure 9 by 5 by 3 inches. In a large bowl add in all dry ingredients, apple flour, spelt, allspice, freshly ground nutmeg, clove, salt, grated ginger, cinnamon, and banana flour if using. Add olive oil and ground apple flour in a bowl until blended. Mix in egg whites and pumpkin and banana and beat until it looks frothy like yeast. Add vanilla extract. Fold delicately with baking spatula and then whisk until well incorporated. Turn out onto clean work space dusted with spelt flour and knead for no more then 4 minutes or the delicate gluten will fall apart. Place dough in each bread pan, bake roughly 1 hour in batches of 4. It is ready when it is poked in the center with a skewer and it comes out clean. Let cool until easily handled. Using a sharp knife cut around the edges of each pan and turn out onto cooling racks. Slice and serve once cool. I doubt you can stop at just 1 slice.

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Pumpkin beer


Love pumpkin, pumpkin beer…well that’ll be delicious for cooking….or just for drinking.

Grain: 0.5 lb American 20L Crystal
0.5 lb Dark German Munich
Extract: 7lbs Golden LME
Hops: 1oz German Tettnanger
Yeast: Wyeast 1056
Pumpkin: 4-5 lbs (a medium sized pumpkin) baked and pureed
Sugar: 1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
Vanilla: 1 tsp vanilla extract
Spice Mix (you will use 1 tbs of this):
2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
0.5 tsp ground cloves
0.5 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp all spice
Half Whirlfoc tablet or equal Iris Moss

Original Gravity: 1.060 Final Gravity: 1.018
Primary Ferment: 7 days
Secondary Ferment: 7 days

Cut up your pumpkin by taking out the “guts and seeds” and slicing off the shell. Place the meat of the pumpkin on baking sheets and bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. Once baked, run the pumpkin through a food processor or blender.

Put the puree into a bowl and add the sugars, vanilla, and 1 tbs of the Spice Mix.

Place this puree in a Muslin Bag and set aside. From this point on we will call this the “pumpkin mix”.

#1: Bring 2.5 gallons of water to 150 – 160 degrees
#2: place grains in a muslin bag and put grains in water
#3: steep grains for 30 minutes
#4: remove wort from heat and add LME
#5 return to heat and bring to a boil
#6 once there is a rolling boil start the boil clock (60 min)

Boil:
60 min – 0,5 oz Tettnanger Hops
15 min – Whirlfloc or Irish Moss
8 min – Pumpkin mix in Muslin Bag
2 min – 0.5 oz Tettnanger Hops

#7 Cool the wort to below 80 degrees in an ice bath or with wort chiller
#8 Fill your fermenter with 2.5 gallons of cold water.
#9 Add the wort to the fermentor
#10 Add enough water to your fermentor to make 5 gallons.
#11 take Specific gravity — should be between 1.060 and 1.066
#12 pitch yeast
#13 agitate the wort by stirring vigorously
#14 cap the fermentor and place your lock.
#15 place in a temp controlled environment to maintain a range of 66 – 74
#16 Rack at 7 days
#17 at day 14 bottle or keg.

adult smores


Alright, my brother and his girlfriend just came back from a resturaunt. His girlfriend brought me back this odd shaped box…inside was a molecular gastronomy creation…it was so good…Well I’ve taken a stab at recreating it.

On the bottom was a delicious…So I am taking a stab here. I distinctly taste a variety of liquors in a single bite.

Jack Daniel’s Honey Graham cracker

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (375 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour (a swap of 1/2 cup with whole wheat flour or 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour works well here, too)
1 cup (176 grams) dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon (6 grams) baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse sea salt (4 grams)
7 tablespoons (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen
1/3 cup (114 grams) mild-flavored honey, such as clover
5 tablespoons (77 grams) Jack Daniels Honey flavored
2 tablespoons (27 grams) pure vanilla extract

Topping
3 tablespoons (43 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) ground cinnamon

Make the dough: Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Pulse or mix on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off on and off, or mix on low, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.

[Alternately, if you don’t have a food processor or electric mixer, you can cut the ingredients together with a pastry blender. Just make sure they’re very well incorporated.]

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse on and off a few times or mix on low until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and dust it lightly with flour, then turn the dough out onto it and pat it into a rectangle about 1-inch thick. Wrap it, then chill it until firm, about 2 hours or overnight. Meanwhile, prepare the topping, if using, by combining the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and setting aside.

Roll out the crackers: Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be sticky, so flour as necessary. Trim the edges of the rectangle to 4 inches wide. Working with the shorter side of the rectangle parallel to the work surface, cut the strip every 4 1/2 inches to make 4 crackers. [This makes a traditional graham cracker shape. I rebelled and made mine into 2-inch fluted squares with one of these.]

Place the crackers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes in the fridge or 15 to 20 minutes in the freezer. Repeat with the second batch of dough. Finally, gather any scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and re-roll.

Adjust the oven rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Decorate the crackers: Mark a vertical line down the middle of each cracker, being careful not to cut through the dough (again, this is for the traditional cracker shape). Using a toothpick or skewer (I like to use the blunt end of a wooden skewer for more dramatic dots), prick the dough to form two dotted rows about 1/2 inch for each side of the dividing line.

Bake for 15 to 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Check them often.

The marshmellow is distinctly made with vanilla vodka…

Marshmellow topping of some kind, vanilla vodka, splash of heavy whipping cream…it then has calcium lactate added to it and it gets a ball of chocolate into each one dropped into a bath of sodium alginate. This is a process called reverse spherification…the vodka marshmellow mix becomes round…I’m not sure of the exact recipe…With further tampering I can come up with a exact recipe…but may take awhile…since I’m poor. I did find a good little detailed article here…Basic recipe for reverse spherification

It then had a chocolate liquor jello brick that looked like a peice of chocolate. It was just chocolate liquor and gelatin….

It when graham cracker, chocolate liquor jello, vodka marshmellow sphere with chocolate inside it, followed by a real peice of marshmellow ontop in a star and it was toasted with a torch…it was really really good…absolutely divine….figured yall might like to take a wack at it…I think rather then reverse spherification…just making a ooey gooey marshmellow type vodka spread be very good…with real chocolate and the graham cracker be just fine for us simple folk. I’m going to play with the recipe a bit more…I was thinking instead of water in a regular mashmellow recipe a vodka substitution be in order…

Going to try to make a much much more simple and exact recipe.

The vanilla vodka mashmellow
1/2 cup (125 ml) cold vanilla vodka
3 envelopes (21 g, or about 3 Tablespoons) unflavored gelatin[1]
2/3 cups (157 ml) corn syrup
2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (62 ml) water
1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) salt
1 to 3 tablespoons (15 to 45 ml) vanilla extract or other flavorings (Mint perhaps…chocolate…vanilla..mint…mmm yummy..so creme de minth…)
Corn flour (cornstarch)
Confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
Food colorings(optional)1) Collect your ingredients and equipment before you begin working. You’ll need them at hand throughout the process then make sure you have preheated the oven to 180.

2) Prepare a mixture of equal parts powdered sugar and cornstarch or corn flour. Mix a cup or more of each in a bowl and keep it handy.

3) Line your pan with plastic wrap, waxed paper, or baking paper for easier release. Thoroughly spray the pan or plastic wrap with cooking spray or pour some oil in and spread it all over with your hands or a pastry brush. Make sure the entire surface is well oiled. Alternatively, you could use a silicone pan as it is non-stick least in theory. Dust the oiled surface generously with the cornstarch and powdered sugar mixture. Tap the excess back into the bowl and reserve it for later.

4) Pour the 3 envelopes of gelatin into the bowl of an electric mixer.

5) Put 1/2 cup cold vodka into the bowl with the gelatin.

6) Let the gelatin and vodka sit for about 10 minutes while you prepare the sugar and corn syrup mixture. The gelatin will “bloom” during this time.

7) Combine 2 cups of granulated sugar, 1/4 cup vodka and 2/3 cups corn syrup in a small saucepan.

8) Bring the mixture in the saucepan to a boil.

9) Place a candy thermometer in it and watch for the temperature to reach exactly 117°C/244°F (in the soft ball stage)

10) Pour the boiling sugar mixture into the gelatin mixture and start mixing it at high speed. While mixing, add 1/4 teaspoon salt and beat for at least 15 minutes.

11) Add the vanilla extract or another flavoring at the end of the 15 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired, at this stage, too.

12) Spread the mixture evenly in a prepared pan. It will help to oil your hands, spoon, or spatula before beginning.

13) Sprinkle more cornstarch over the top and, if you want, cover with another piece of plastic or waxed paper and press the mixture into the pan.

14) Let the marshmallows sit for about four hours at room temperature.

15) Remove the big slab of marshmallow from the pan and place it onto a cutting board well sprinkled with more of the cornstarch mixture. Sprinkle more cornstarch on the side that is now on top.

16) Cut the marshmallow into squares with kitchen scissors or a pizza wheel. You can also use cookie cutters to cut the marshmallows into shapes. Separate the pieces so they don’t stick back together.

17) Toss the pieces with powdered sugar to keep them from sticking to each other on the cut sides.

18) Stack the marshmallows into containers with sheets of waxed paper between each layer.

19) Enjoy responsibly.

The chocolate
I’ve been playing with the chocolate. Let’s get out our candy thermometers folks.Filled chocolates

First create a hollow chocolate shell by filling a suitably deep mould with chocolate and then place the full mould in the fridge for about 3 minutes. Take the mould out of the fridge and turn it upside down. The liquid chocolate in the centre of each mould cavity should then drain out leaving a chocolate shell. This can be filled to within 1.5mm of the top with a delicious centre such as praline cream which can be made from chocolate spread, a flavoured fondant, marzipan, toffee, jam or marmalade. Once filled, place the filled moulds in the fridge until the centres have hardened then run liquid chocolate over the back of the moulds, scraping off the excess chocolate and allow to harden again. Alternatively a nut or part of a nut can be placed in the centre.

TIP: Leave filled chocolates on the side to cool before placing them in the fridge, as cooling too quickly (especially in the Summer) can cause the chocolate to crack. Also leaving them in the fridge for too long may cause condensation to form, when removed from the cold into a warm room, causing a dullness or sugar bloom to develop.

Liqueur Chocolates

Although tempting, it is not a good idea to fill chocolates with neat liqueur. For best results, add the liqueur of your choice to a sugar syrup or mix it with a little fondant or marzipan. The following recipe will allow a thin sugar coat to form on the inside leaving the centre fluid. Combine 375g (12 oz) of granulated sugar and 90 ml (4 fl oz) of cold water in a heavy-based saucepan and stir continuously over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to allow the syrup to boil until it reaches a temperature of 108°C (225°F). Quickly remove from the heat and place the pan in cold water to stop the cooking process. Add 60ml or 4 tablespoons of liqueur of your choice to the syrup, without stirring it in. Instead, have a second saucepan at hand and pour the syrup backwards and forwards from saucepan to saucepan, this stops sugar crystals from forming. Once cooled, the syrup can be used to fill your chocolates.

All you need is a mold….I bought all my candy making molds from here baker’s nook

I used a Square Shaped Caramel Candy Mold by ILA 120 from their site.

^_^ A much easier less scientific spin on the smore!