I fail at reading

I saw this recipe and thought it'd be the perfect one to do. I have tons of dark brown sugar that's been waiting to be used (and getting clumpier by the day..I'll have to remember to store dk brown sugar better from now on o_o) and lots of butter of course! This looked quite simple and easy to throw together so I thought it'd be no biggie to do this on a laid back Friday.

Of course things don't always turn out as planned...The dough was incredibly sticky, as warned in the recipe, but probably due to my incredibly lame log-making skills, I couldn't get the dough to form a nice log. I ended up chilling the dough in the fridge for half an hour before turning it out onto parchment paper to shape, but that half hour didn't really help with making the dough more workable. I wound up first chilling one large log in the freezer for a couple of hours and then cut that log in half and made two smaller logs and chilled those overnight. I can tell you this dough does not get hard. Even after an overnight rest in the freezer, it was still rather soft to the touch and warmed up really quickly once taken out. I also found that 10 minutes at 350 was much to long for my poor cookies...and then subsequent testings at different temps and times somehow did not produce the pretty golden cookies that were pictured on the baking bites site ;__; So then, I finally went back to check the recipe, and lo and behold I mixed up baking powder with baking soda -_-;; One thing to say though is that even though they all turned out really brown and did not look too appetizing...they were still delicious. That's a testament to the flavor of these cookies!



Look out for a subsequent test with baking powder rather than baking soda...it'll be coming in a couple of weeks!

and here's the recipe if anyone wants to um..replicate my failure..

Butterscotch Thins
adapted from Baking Bites

1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt*
1/2 cup salted butter
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until mixture resembles wet sand. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, or working by hand, blend in flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain.

3. Chill dough in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

4. Transfer dough, which will be very sticky, to a large piece of wax paper and roll it up into a log.

5. Freeze for at least 1-2 hours.

6. Cut log in half to form two smaller logs. Freeze logs for at least 1-2 hours or overnight.

7. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

8. Cut dough into slices no more than 1/4-inch thick and place on prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of room for the cookies to spread. These cookies spread to about 2x their original size.

9. Bake for about 7 minutes, until cookies are a nice dark caramel color. For crispy cookies, increase the baking time by a minute or two.

10. Cool for a minute or two on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

11. Cookies should be cooled completely before eating (otherwise they might stick to your teeth) and can be stored in an airtight container.

*use less if you prefer weaker salty taste or go with the original recipe's 1/2 C unsalted butter and 1tsp salt. I had lots of salted butter I needed to use so I chose to use salted butter instead

Too much butter is not always good...

I bought a bag of blood oranges on sale at the supermarket and I discovered that I'm not particularly fond of their flavor as is. So of course I look for a simple recipe that I can use them in. I was thinking of juicing the oranges and making a cream or panna cotta with them but I had no heavy cream in the fridge and I didn't feel like leaving the comfort of my warm apartment to go to the store. So I kept looking and I stumbled upon a blood orange tart recipe from Smitten Kitchen that looked perfect for my purposes.

The rustic look of the tart and the simplicity of the recipe were the deciding factors in choosing this recipe...and I'm sure I would have had awesome results had my head been in the right place the day I made it. I read the recipe the night before and the next morning, instead of rereading the recipe, I went by memory..for the crust anyway. Of course, I screw up and put in 1.5 sticks of unsalted butter instead of 1 stick that was in the recipe. And of course I don't catch my error until after I finished chilling and rolling out the dough. >_< But since I was out of flour, I went with what I had, and oh boy...the dough spread quite a bit in the baking process. It tasted ok, the crust was pretty flaky, but I'm sure it would have been even better with the original recipe! Next time I think I'll try again, but with a different fruit...maybe pears or apples :)



Blood Orange Tart
taken from Smitten Kitchen
note: Smitten Kitchen also provides a recipe for a dark, salted butter caramel to serve with the tart that I didn't make (thank god, I'd probably have ruined it and my pot if I did that day) that sounds delectable :)

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, the stick cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
3 tablespoons ice water
8 to 10 blood oranges (about 5 ounces each) [I only needed 7]
1 large egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons of water
Deep, Dark Salted Butter Caramel Sauce, for serving (after using Zoe Nathans, decided that I definitely prefer my own, reprinted below)

1. In a food processor, pulse the 1 cup of flour with 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the baking powder and salt. Add the stick of cold butter and pulse several times, just until it is the size of peas. Sprinkle the dough with the ice water and pulse just until moistened crumbs form. Turn the crumbs out onto a work surface, knead once or twice and pat the pastry into a disk. Wrap the pastry in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

2. On a floured work surface, roll out the pastry to an 11-inch round, about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer the pastry to a parchment paper–lined flat cookie sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes, or until chilled.

3. Meanwhile, peel the blood oranges, removing all of the bitter white pith. Thinly slice 2 of the oranges crosswise; remove the pits. Transfer the orange slices to a plate. Working over a sieve set over a bowl, cut in between the membranes of the remaining oranges, releasing the sections into the sieve. Remove the pits and gently shake out as much juice as possible without mashing the sections; you will need 1 cup of sections. Reserve the orange juice for another use.

4. Arrange the orange sections on the pastry, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the sugar over the oranges. Using a paring knife, thinly slice the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter over the oranges. Fold up the pastry over the oranges, leaving most of the oranges uncovered. Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle lightly with 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Arrange the orange slices on top, leaving a 1-inch border of pastry all around. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar on top. Freeze the tart until solid, at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.

5. Preheat the oven to 375° and position a rack in the center. Place a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any drips. Bake the tart directly from the freezer for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the pastry is deeply browned. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack and let the tart cool for 30 minutes. Carefully slide the parchment paper onto the rack and let the tart cool completely.