(Pastry Fairy’s) Risotto

No, this doesn’t have anything to do with baking. But it is delicious, and not as hard as everyone seems to think it is.

• 1 cup Arborio or other short-grain Italian rice
• 4 cups chicken stock (I use the “no-chicken” broth that we get – best flavor)
• 1/2 cup red or white wine (red will make a nice sort of mauve risotto)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon (or so) extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the stock or broth in a small pot and keep simmering while you make the risotto. In another pot heat the butter and olive oil until hot. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes, until the onion is translucent. Toss in the rice and sauté for two or three minutes, until the grains look toasted. Don’t be afraid of a little sticking; this will prove beneficial to flavor development.

Now pour in the wine. If you’ve got it right and the heat is high enough, it will hiss and smoke and be very satisfying. Stir the bottom to get all those browned bits. Let it simmer until the wine is mostly absorbed; now add about 3/4 cup of stock (this is approximate). Let simmer until absorbed. Add more stock. Repeat. When all the stock is absorbed, which will take 20 to 25 minutes, take the pot off the heat, cover it, and let rest for at least ten minutes, although fifteen is better. Salt to taste and eat.

(Pastry Fairy’s) Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is the quintessential comfort food of my childhood. The recipe is my mother’s. They keep very well in a cookie jar or sealed container. This is one of the very few recipes where I think margarine actually tastes better than butter. I don’t know why.

For twelve muffins

• 1/2 cup butter or Earth Balance margarine, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Dash salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and bananas. In separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add to wet ingredients, along with chocolate chips. Combine just until the batter comes together; a little leftover flour is okay. Spoon into a greased muffin tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

(Pastry Fairy’s) Scones

A few words on scones. They are decadent, delicious, and decidedly sinful, certainly something to be made only on special occasions. A variety of variations are possible, which are listed at the bottom of the page. The basic recipe I give here is for the ever-popular blueberry lemon scone. The recipe I use is from the delightful Cheeseboard Collective Cookbook, and makes about sixteen scones.

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Zest of one lemon, grated
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, undefrosted
• 1 cup butter, cut into slices
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup half and half (or heavy cream for extra richness)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the flour, sugar, powder, soda, salt, and zest. Now cut in the butter. You can do this in two ways. If you are making the scones in the KitchenAid, simply put it on the lowest speed (using the white paddle attachment) and throw in the pieces of butter one at a time until all the butter is cut into the flour. The butter should be the size of small peas. This can be a bit messy and the KitchenAid might spew flour at you, but it requires less muscle work. If you are making it by hand, take out the potato masher, throw all the butter slices in the flour and mash it around for awhile. Fold in the berries carefully so they don’t break, otherwise you will get a grayish scone.

Pour in the liquids and quickly mix them in, taking care not to overmix. There might still be some flour left at the bottom of the bowl. Using the ice cream scooper, scoop the dough onto a baking sheet that you have either greased beforehand or lined with parchment paper. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

VARIATIONS

• Chocolate Chip: Omit zest and blueberries; add 1 cup chocolate chips.
• Cranberry-Orange: Substitute cranberries for blueberries and orange zest for lemon.
• Maple-Pecan: Omit zest and blueberries; add 1 cup chopped pecans. Combine 1 cup powdered sugar and enough maple syrup to make a thick glaze; spoon over baked scones

(Pastry Fairy’s) Honey Challah

This is a wonderful basic challah recipe. It is moist, tender, and fairly easy to make; the dough is rather stiff because the liquid to flour ratio is low, so kneading requires a bit of muscle effort. The recipe is from A Blessing of Bread, an absolutely delightful book about Jewish ethnic breads.

For one large or two small loaves

• 3 3/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup warm (wrist-temperature) water
• 1/3 cup honey (or sugar, but it won’t have quite the same flavor)
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs, plus an extra egg for glazing

Mix yeast, water, 1/4 cup of the flour in a large bowl. Let this slurry rest for ten to twenty minutes. Stir in the honey, oil, eggs, and salt; then stir in 3 cups of the flour. You should have 1/2 cup flour remaining. Use this flour to knead the dough with. It will take about 5 minutes of kneading. Set in a bowl and spray the top with nonstick spray. Let rise for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume. You can speed up the rising process by putting the bowl in the oven, as long as it is TURNED OFF. This is a bit dangerous though because someone might wander in and turn the oven on, which means disaster.

Punch down the dough. This means taking your fist and punching the hell out of it. It’s fun and satisfying. Imagine the dough is that guy from your Chem 1A class who always breaks the curve.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Form the dough into braids, loaves, rounds, or whatever shapes you like. I like a five or six strand braid myself. Put on a greased cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 1/2 hours or so. Again, you can speed it up by putting it in the oven.

Beat the extra egg with a dribble of water. Brush this egg wash over the loaf or loaves. You can sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds on top if you want. Place in the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

(Pastry Fairy’s) Irish Soda Bread

This is simple, and good. Serve it with stew for dinner, or add some currants or dried cranberries and serve it for tea. I also like it for breakfast with a cup of strong Irish breakfast tea. In any case it is best eaten hot, cut into wedges and spread with butter. There is no substitute for the buttermilk in this bread, as it contributes all of the flavor and is essential to the texture.

This recipe is very special to me – it is my great-grandmother’s recipe. Her name was Helen Kiley and she was a 1920s flapper from a Chicago Irish family. She died before I was born but my mother got the recipe from her, and would make it on occasion while I was growing up.

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup currants or dried cranberries (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the dry ingredients, and add the dried fruit if using. Make a well in the center, and pour in the buttermilk. Mix it up with a fork until a loose dough is formed; knead a few times in the bowl until it comes together in a cohesive mass. It will be sticky. Form into a round loaf shape, put on a greased pie plate or cake pan, and cut an X on the top with a knife. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until golden brown. Eat right away.

(Pastry Fairy’s) Bread Pudding

Similar to fruit crisp in its variations and ability to feed a crowd, bread pudding is a wonderfully satisfying dessert, and very simple. It’s one of my favorite desserts, especially when made with a hearty country-style bread and topped with ice cream (and/or bourbon sauce!) This is a basic recipe; make it your own by adding some of the optional additions. An excellent thing to make for dessert when you only have an hour. The bread is better somewhat stale because it soaks up more of the liquid that way. You can make the bread pudding richer or lighter by using different milk products: nonfat for light, whole milk for fairly rich, and heavy cream for unbelievably sinful!

To serve six or so

• 1 good size loaf French bread or hearty whole grain bread, preferably slightly stale
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, honey, or maple syrup
• Pinch salt
• Spices of choice: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tear loaf of bread into bite size pieces. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, sweetener, spices if using, and salt until well combined. Or blitz it in the blender (I like this option). Dump in the bread and let it soak for 15 minutes or so. Actually, the longer it can soak, the better. Pour into a greased baking pan and bake for 45 minutes or so.

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS

• Dried fruit
• Chocolate chips
• Booze (bourbon, whiskey, rum, tequila)
• Pineapple chunks
• Cut-up fresh fruit (pears, apples, peaches are good)

A final note: don’t go crazy with the additions. A bread pudding with raisins, chocolate chips, pineapple, pears, AND booze will not be good, it will just be weird. Limit yourself to one or two.

SERVE WITH

• Ice cream
• Booze sauce (make crème anglaise, add booze)
• Yogurt (for health nuts)
• Whipped cream (for hedonists)
• Fruit sauce (buzz some raspberries in the blender. Instant fruit sauce)

(Pastry Fairy’s) Dried Fruit in Phyllo Packets

I make this with my Greek dinner menu, and it’s delicious. A bit time-intensive, but wonderfully sweet and aromatic. You can vary the dried fruit, and I often do. If you don’t want to use butter to spread between the phyllo layers, Earth Balance or nonstick spray works too, just not quite as tasty. The recipe is from Weight Watchers’ Take-Out Tonight!, an excellent cookbook which I highly recommend.

Makes six packets

• 1/4 pound dried figs, quartered
• 1/4 pound dried apricots, sliced
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
• 4 sheets phyllo dough, defrosted if frozen
• 1/2 stick butter, melted

Place the cut dried fruit, raisins, juice, honey, water, cinnamon stick, and vanilla in a medium pot. Simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until a thick compote forms. Take off heat, stir in almonds, and set aside.

Place one sheet of phyllo on a greased cookie sheet. Brush with melted butter and place the second sheet on top. Repeat until you have layered all four sheets. Score with a knife into six equal squares, then place 1/3 cup or so of filling on each square. Fold up into a neat little packet. Arrange the packets on the sheet. Brush the tops with a little more butter and bake at 350 for about 20 or 25 minutes, or until the phyllo is crisp. Serve with Greek yogurt on the side, or ice cream.

OPTIONAL ADDITIONS

Substitute any of the following for some of the dried fruit: dried cherries, dried pineapple, dates, dried cranberries, dried pears, dried peaches, etc.

Substitute walnuts or sunflower seeds for the almonds.