For the last of four Adventures in the Kitchen giveaways I thought we would give out a Kids Cooking Kit.  I started cooking and exploring in the kitchen when I was little.  Cooking is a great creative outlet for children.  Involving them in the process opens up new foods for them.

One night when I was about 10 or 11 years old, my parents were out celebrating their anniversary and my little brother and I were with a babysitter.  I decided to make a cake from scratch.  I believe I left out an important ingredient such as baking powder or baking soda (or added to much) and that cake was hard as a rock.  It was no treat but I am sure they praised my efforts!

Things don’t always go perfect in the kitchen, but it is about the journey, the time spent together baking or cooking dinner.

My niece and nephews love pigs in a blanket.  Once we made them with little eyes and a tail.  Pigs in a Blanket are easy to make.  The kids love to roll up the hot dogs in the dough.  You will see though that they got a bit more than golden brown.  They certainly didn’t notice.

So to enter this last giveaway share your favorite childhood recipe you’d like to see updated.  That is it.  The winner will be chosen through random.org. The contest ends Sunday, May 10, Mother’s Day. 

Pigs in a Blanket

1 pack of hot dogs-your preference
1 can of crescent rolls
Cheddar or American cheese slices, optional

Preheat oven to  375 degrees .

Unroll dough; separate at perforations.  Lay out dough on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Place a hot dog on the dough and start rolling up from the widest to the smallest point.   You can wrap the hot dog with the cheese before rolling in dough.

Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and hot dogs are heated through.

The second April giveaway is a Barbeque Accessory Pack.  It features 4 items from Sur La Table, one of my favorite cooking stores.  The pack will include a Stainless Steel Grill Griddle, Wood Chip Smoker Box, Sauce Pot with Basting Brush and a large Sauce Mop.

Today my Uncle Mark grilled my favorite asian chicken as part of our Easter meal.  Once or twice a year he whips up a batch of his secret sauce and serves up a batch of delicious Asian Style Barbeque Chicken.  I am still trying to get his recipe to share with you all.

This week the  giveaway is all about you.  I have had this blog for a little more than a year and I would love to know more about you.  A bit about yourself and your cooking interests.  Would you mind taking a moment to fill out a short survey ? I promise it is quick.

You can enter through Thursday,  April 16 and I will announce the winner Saturday, April 18, 2009.

Here’s How To Win:

1. Fill out Adventures In The Kitchen Reader Survey and leave a comment here saying you took the poll.

2. To get a second entry subscribe to the Adventures In The Kitchen feed and email me. Send it to cheri (at) adventuresinthekitchen (dot) com.

3. Finally, to get a third entry, post or tweet about this giveaway and post the link in the comments.

Thank you so much for participating.  I will be posting the next one on Monday.

Iam excited to announce that April is Giveaway month at Adventures in the Kitchen.   Each week in April there will be a new giveaway.  The first is an Ice Cream Party Pack with a Boston Warehouse Ice Cream Lazy Susan, The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and a pink ice cream scoop by Zyliss.

The Ice Cream Lazy Susan will be a fun addition to any barbeque or kids party.  The Perfect Scoop is filled with delicious ice cream recipes.  I am definitely going to try the Malted Milk Chocolate and Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream this summer.

You can enter through Friday April 10 and I will announce the winner Saturday, April 11, 2009.

Here’s How To Enter

1. Leave a comment on this post, answering this question – What is your favorite ice cream?

2. To get a second entry subscribe to the Adventures In The Kitchen feed and email me. Send it to cheri (at) adventuresinthekitchen (dot) com.

3. Finally, to get a third entry, post or tweet about this giveaway and post the link in the comments.

To kick off the ice cream giveaway I made Lemon Buttermilk Sorbet from David’s book.  Spring is here and what a perfect ending to a meal.  This is a super easy recipe with 5 ingredients and zesting 1 lemon.  Who knew it could be this easy.

Lemon Buttermilk Sherbet
By David Lebovitz The Perfect Scoop
Makes about 1 quart

1/3 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
1 medium lemon, preferably unsprayed
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)

In a medium saucepan combine the water and the sugar. Grate the lemon zest into the pan. Heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and let it come to room temperature, then place the syrup into the fridge until thoroughly chilled.

Whisk the buttermilk into the syrup and then whisk in the lemon juice. Freeze in an ice maker per instructions.

Emails left in comments will only be used for contest notifications.

I decided to skip the raisins and rum but tried the cinnamon. It gave the brownies a nice underlying flavor. I also just melted the butter and chocolate together which is quick and less likely to overheat the chocolate.

Luckily I have a meeting to go to tomorrow night. The last thing I need a week before a trip to Mexico is a plate of brownies!

French Chocolate Brownies
- makes 16 brownies -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.
Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.
Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you’re using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It’s important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you’ve got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it’s better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you’ll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won’t be completely incorporated and that’s fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they’re even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!
Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

You might notice for those with Internet Explorer that the big black ugly bar is gone. Thanks Leslie for helping me out!

So today’s post is a Tuesdays With Dorie from two weeks back, when the big black bar appeared. The challenge was Madeleines and this time I was determined to get this right. A few months ago I bought one of those soft, silicone pans. It did not go well. The madeleines did not come out easy and left their skin behind.

So off to Sur La Table to purchase a metal pan. It was sort of funny because the clerk kept saying these are really hard to make. They are so easy to make. I hope you will all give them a try. I am anxious to try a few other flavors and play around a bit.

The group Tuesdays with Dorie was mentioned in the Wall Street Journal. You can check it out here.

Traditional Madeleines

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 stick (6 Tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Working in a mixer bowl, or in a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the eggs to the bowl. Working with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed until pale, thick, and light, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, or for up to 2 days. This long chill period will help the better form the hump that is characteristic of madeleines.

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 12 full-size madeleine molds, or up to 36 mini madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Or, if you have a nonstick pan, give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don’t worry about spreading the batter evenly, the oven’s heat will take care of that. Bake large Madeleines for 11-13 minutes, and minis for 8-10 minutes, or until they are golden and the tops spring back when touched. Remove the pan(s) from the oven and release the madeleines from the mods by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry any recalcitrant madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature.

If you are making minis and have more batter, bake the next batch(Es), making certain that you cool, then properly prepare the pans before baking.

Just before serving, dust the madeleines with confectioner’s sugar.

I was excited to see Diane from Diane Dishes select Florida Pie for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie. I love key lime pie and limes so I knew this would be good.

It was pretty easy but my crust didn’t seem to come together. I think I needed more butter to bind it together and clearly I wasn’t watching the broiler action close enough!

The pie is in the freezer waiting to be taken to work in the morning. Check out the other entries for the week.

1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, seperated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened. Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended. Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown. (Or, if you’ve got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.) Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

Another Tuesday and another Dorie recipe. This week Caitlin of Engineer Baker chose Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake.

The great thing about these challenges is that I am trying new recipes. In the original recipe it calls for figs. Well, if you know how picky of an eater I am, you know those went out of the recipe. I made a simple polenta and ricotta cake.

It is very easy to pull together and came out very tasty. I think next time I would add a bit more lemon and throw in a bit of chopped fresh rosemary. I added a few raspberries, but I would top with a dollop of whipping cream too!

Check out the Tuesday With Dorie entries here.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

About 16 moist, plump dried Mission or Kadota figs, stemmed
1 c. medium-grain polenta or yellow cornmeal
½ c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 c. ricotta
1/3 c. tepid water
¾ c. sugar
¾ c. honey (if you’re a real honey lover, use a full-flavored honey such as chestnut, pine, or buckwheat)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 10 ½-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Check that the figs are, indeed, moist and plump. If they are the least bit hard, toss them into a small pan of boiling water and steep for a minute, then drain and pat dry. If the figs are large (bigger than a bite), snip them in half.

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder, and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey, and lemon zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. You’ll have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter.

Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs. Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the panm, and the butter will have left light-colored circles in the top. Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes. Cool to warm, or cool completely.

For this months Daring Bakers Challenge Elle and Deborah selected Cheesecake Pops. They are little cheesecake morsels on a stick, dipped in chocolate and decorated how you wish.

They are very rich and they would have to be served straight out of the freezer. I fear they would fall off the stick on a warm day, as it is today, in the OC. The cheesecake was easy to make but I the dipping was a bit of a struggle. I added some pink sugar to pretty them up, plus it added a bit of a crunch to the bite.

Check out some of the other Daring Bakers here.

Cheesecake Pops

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature

2 cups sugar

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2 egg yolks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) – Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

So I am back from my business trip and it is another Tuesday with Dorie.  This week   Amanda  from slow like honey selected Bill’s Big Carrot Cake.  I have never understood carrot cake – I like my desserts veggie free but I was up for the challenge.

The recipe was super easy to put together and was soon in the oven.  I  cut the recipe in half and used two small pans.  Because I cut it in half I had to keep checking it at ten minute intervals to keep from overcooking.

Tasting it after cutting the cakes, I was very surprised at how delicious it was.

I did not use coconut in either the cake or the frosting.  I toasted some walnuts and put around the outside, mostly to cover my inadequate frosting skills.

It was Ashley’s birthday so I brought it to work in celebration of her big day.  My co-workers loved it and hopefully you will too.

Go over to Tuesdays with Dorie and check out all the other variations.  I am always amazed at the creativity of my fellow bakers.

Bill’s Big Carrot Cake
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs

For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick ( 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound or 3 and ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or ½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
½ cup shredded coconut (optional)
Finely chopped toasted nuts and/or toasted shredded coconut (optional)

Getting ready:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.

To make the cake:
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

To make the frosting:
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.

If you’d like coconut in the filling, scoop about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this position.

To assemble the cake:
Put one layer top side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generously cover the first layer (or generously cover with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake stop side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting or plain frosting.  Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top- and the sides- of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or coconut, sprinkle them on now while the frosting is soft.

Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

Serving:
This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it’s good plain, it’s even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:
The cake will keep  at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it’s firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.