What's your favourite recipe

[Prof.]

Since we have an "outdoor cooking a grilling thread", why not a recipe thread as well..
Not just for grilling or smoking, but any recipe that is one of your favourites..

 

[Tonto]

Well, you guys don't know that I am a baker at heart. I tweek recipes until they are as good as I can make them. I have a few that will change the way you view dessert! I'm at work now so I'll correct them when I get home. This first one should be accurate.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake
People say this is the best pound cake they have tried.
All ingredients must be at room temperature.

3 Sticks Butter
3 Cups Sugar
1 8 ounce Package Cream Cheese (Don't skimp, use Philadelphia)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla (must use good vanilla, it matters--Nielsen Massey Madagascar Vanilla)

Mix these until blended well. You will have too scrape the side of the bowl 2-3 times or it will be lumpy.
If you mix it too much, you will incorporate too much air. This will cause it too rise too much and the top will be too crumbly.

6 Eggs
Mix them in1 at a time
Again, don't over mix! As soon as the yolk breaks and is mostly blended, add the next one.
Again, you will have too scrape the side of the bowl 2-3 times or it will be lumpy.

3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder.
This is a balancing act. You want the cake to rise, but the Baking Powder will give it a very subtle, bitter taste if you use too much.
Make sure it's a powder, no lumps.

Add 2/3 of the flour to the butter mixture & mix until incorporated. Scrape the bowl and then mix in the rest. Remember, don't over mix!

Now all ovens are different. I put a piece of tin foil on the rack over the cake to keep it from over browning. I bake it for 80 minutes @ 325 degrees. I've used ovens that take 60 minutes with foil on a rack under the cake. The point is not to over bake it. That is the most important part to a great pound cake. I use 12" bamboo skewers. Poke into the center of the cake, you want it to be very moist/crumbly sticking to the skewer. I also use a 2 piece, Teflon coated, tube pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Once it's done, let it rest for 10 minute & remove it from the outer ring, and let it continue to cool from there. Then remove it from the inner piece and put it on a cake plate and cover it. Ideally, this cake needs to age 3 days. Day 1, pretty much flavorless, day 2 ok, day 3....oh yeah! The problem in my house is getting it to last until day #3!

More to come, these are special and all from scratch:

Chocolate Cake--Wow
Carrot Cake--my all time favorite
Cheese Cake--recipe from a little old Italian lady that was one of my wife's clients. She shared her recipe with me after tasting my Carrot Cake one day.
Chocolate Chip Cookies: Big with a soft middle and a slight crunch on the outside, perfect with a glass of milk. I also use a biscuit cutter to remove plugs of Vanilla Ice Cream to put between 2 cookies, then back into the freezer after wrapping them in plastic wrap.
Cinnamon Rolls with cream cheese icing. Sometimes with chopped Pecans, always with raisins. The bomb!

 

[Tonto]

Chocolate Cake:

Ok so I cheat on this one. It's the recipe on the back of the box of Hershey's Cocoa. The only change is I make a double batch of the frosting. One is just not enough. I often have a small bit left over that I spread on Chocolate Chip Cookies. This is a great cake, people find it hard to believe it's the stock recipe. Hershey's nailed it! You must use parchment paper in the bottom of the cake pans. Be careful when you take is out of them, it will be very fragile and it' so moist, it will stick to your hands. I wear tight fitting Nitrile gloves, invert the pan over my hand. When it turns loose onto my hand, I peel off the paper and put my cake rack on it & flip it back over. If yours cracks (some of mine do), use it for the bottom layer. I've had to cut skewers to stab into the frosted cake to keep it together!


This cake is so moist that it's hard to dry it out. I never have, even when I left it in a bit too long.

 

[Prof.]

Thanks for the recipe Tonto..That looks very nice..
Do you also have recipes for all types of buns? I am looking for a good recipe for Berliner buns and doughnuts..

 

[Tonto]

Sorry Prof, I used to make bread many years ago, but never really got into it. Not much help with that.

 

[Prof.]

Yeah..I had a go at that myself, but it just got to easy to go down to the shop and buy some bread..
I do however like to make buns of all sorts..Kitchener buns ( also known as Berliner buns ), chocolate eclairs, cream puffs, finger buns and of coarse doughnuts..
I'm always on the lookout for a better recipe as I still haven't been able to replicate commercial buns.!

 

[Tonto]

This yeast roll recipe looks like it has potential:

https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/bread/savory-bread/easy-big-fat-yeast-rolls-2.html

Do you have a good, yeast donut recipe?

 

[Prof.]

Those rolls look interesting..I might give them a try..
My latest doughnut recipe is the best one yet..Still not perfect but almost there..

INGREDIENTS

260g. bread flour
125g. plain flour
7g. instant yeast
100 ml. warm milk or ( buttermilk )
25g. sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
50g. butter, melted
1 large egg

INSTRUCTIONS..
Combine the yeast and milk with a little sugar, in the measuring cup. Let stand for 5 - 10 minutes.

Add the sugar, salt and the flour to the mixer and mix on low speed and then add the milk mix , egg and the melted butter..
Knead on low to medium speed until a dough begins to form...Knead for 5 mins..
If the dough is quite sticky, add more flour a tablespoon at a time until a soft, tacky dough forms.
The dough should clear the sides of the bowl, but not the bottom.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free spot for
1 - 2 hours.

On a floured work surface, roll the dough out to a ½-inch thickness..and using a doughnut cutter dipped in flour
cut out the doughnuts and place on a baking sheet pieces..
Roll any leftover dough scraps into balls for Kitchener buns..

Cover the doughnuts and allow to rise again..approx.15 - 30mins. to double the size..

Heat the oil in the wok to 170C. and place the doughnuts into the oil using the baking sheet square to lower into the oil...
Remove the paper with tongs and flip doughnuts every few seconds until golden brown..
Place onto a rack over oven tray to cool..

If not eating straight away, put into freezer bags and freeze..

 

[Prof.]

Here's one of my favourites..Quick and simple..

Spicy Red Chicken Wings..

INGREDIENTS

100ml. tomato ketchup
1 Tbsp. barbecue sauce
1 tsp. onion powder
1/ 2 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. celery salt
1/4 small red capsicum
You can add some chilli if you want it hotter..

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut the capsicum into small pieces and pound into a mash in a mortar and pestle..
Strain and remove any skins..

Add all the ingredients into a small saucepan and warm to combine all the ingredients..

Cut off the wing tips and shallow fry in extra virgin olive oil until golden brown..

Pour off any excess fats or oil, just leaving a little in the pan..

Lower the temperature and pour over the sauce..Turn the wings over several times until they are a reddish brown colour..

Serve with rice and pour any remaining sauce over the rice..

 

[Mark C Flick]

A simple Salsa
1 28 oz. can San Marzano tomatoes
2 fresh Roma tomatoes
2 good sized jalapeños
1 habanero
1 medium yellow onion
1 tbsp brown sugar
a dash of salt and pepper
a bit of lime juice
and a splash of EVOO

 

[Prof.]

That looks like a "hot" Salsa!!

 

[Mark C Flick]

It's got a little kick to it but it's not so hot you lose the flavor or numb your tongue. The sweetness of the San Marzano's and that little bit of sugar kinda temper the peppers a bit.

 

[GFOviedo]

This is awesome. I see several recipes that I would like to try out. Lately, I've been just cooking meat my wife does everything else.

 

[Mark C Flick]

I'll also add 2 -3 cloves of garlic and/or a packet of Sazón GOYA now and then. For me, salsa recipes are kinda fluid. Depends on what I'm in the mood for. Sometimes it's just 6 Roma tomatoes, 2 jalapeños and 1/2 an onion,... probably closer to Pico de Gallo than salsa but I'm not one to pick nits.