Sweets and Treats Read online

  Also in This Series

  The Artisanal Kitchen: Perfect Pasta

  The Artisanal Kitchen: Perfect Pizza at Home

  The Artisanal Kitchen: Vegetables the Italian Way

  The Artisanal Kitchen: Holiday Cocktails

  The Artisanal Kitchen: Holiday Cookies

  The Artisanal Kitchen: Party Food

  The Artisanal Kitchen: Baking for Breakfast

  The Artisanal Kitchen: Party Cakes

  33 CUPCAKES, BROWNIES, BARS, and CANDIES to MAKE the SEASON EVEN SWEETER

  Cheryl Day and Griffith Day

  artisan | New York

  Contents

  Introduction

  Bars & Brownies

  Cheryl’s Brownies

  Creole Brownies

  Star Brownies

  Ginger Cake Squares with Fresh Whipped Cream

  Drunk Blondies

  PB&J Bars

  Pumpkin Crunch Bars

  Lemon Pie Bars

  Shaker Meyer Lemon Pie Bars

  CUPCAKEs

  Old-Fashioned Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

  Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

  Banana–Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

  Pinkies Chocolate Lunch-Box Treats

  Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon–Cream Cheese Frosting

  Coconut Cupcakes with Whipped Buttercream Frosting

  CandiEs

  Bittersweet Pecan–Dulce de Leche Truffles

  Brown Sugar Fudge

  Cotton Candy Meringues

  Butter Mints

  Sorghum-Molasses Chips

  Resources

  Index

  Introduction

  Many people’s kitchens turn into a veritable baking wonderland when the holiday season sets in, and there is nothing quite like the satisfaction of bringing smiles to the faces of those enjoying your delicious creations. The process of baking intimidates many folks, but our style of baking is meant to be fun. Once you master a few simple techniques, you’re in! It’s the small details that make all the difference. Becoming a great baker is accessible to anyone who is willing to learn. Here are our simple but special tricks for turning out incredible snacks and baked goods.

  Read the Recipe

  Always read a recipe from start to finish to make sure that you have a clear understanding of all the steps. It’s a mistake to assume that, for example, because you have made cupcakes many times you know the method for every single cupcake recipe. Think of a recipe as your baking GPS. Be sure that you have the proper tools and that all of your ingredients are at the proper temperature. One of the most common kitchen errors is to start mixing and then discover that you are missing a key ingredient. Yikes!

  Another common mistake is to not realize that an ingredient—say, sugar—is added in two separate increments, not all at once. If you don’t read the instructions, you are not setting yourself up for success. So say it with me: “Read the whole recipe first!”

  Organize Your Workspace (and Your Mind)

  Your most important tool in baking is a clean and organized workspace. Make sure that you have all of your ingredients and tools prepped and ready to go before you start baking. The French term mise en place means, literally, to “put in place.” Measure out the flour and sugar, chop the nuts, and have clean bowls ready. Many baking techniques are time-sensitive—it is disastrous to start mixing only to realize that you needed to get your butter or eggs to room temperature first. Distractions are often the villains in the kitchen: if you have to stop for a phone call, be sure to make a note of where you left off in the recipe so that you don’t find yourself trying to recall whether you added the salt or not. A well-organized kitchen will ensure confidence and success.

  Temperature Matters

  It is essential to have your ingredients at the temperature called for in the recipe. For example, if your eggs are too cold when you add them to your perfectly creamed butter and sugar, the butter will seize up, deflating the air bubbles that you worked so hard to create, and the batter will resist being completely mixed. If that happens, the air bubbles will not expand during baking and the result will be a flat, dense cupcake, not one with a light, fluffy, and tender crumb.

  The quickest way to get eggs to room temperature is simply to put the whole eggs in a small bowl of hot water and swish them around for 1 to 2 minutes, being careful not to bang their delicate shells against one another. This will bring them gently to room temperature. Don’t leave them in the hot water too long, though, or you will begin to cook them.

  If a recipe calls for room-temperature butter, that means it is between 65° and 67°F, which is cool but not cold. You can pull the butter out of the refrigerator about an hour before you are going to start (on a superhot day, 30 minutes will do the trick), or you can cut it into cubes to help speed up the process of bringing it to room temperature. A few visual and tactile clues can also help you to determine whether or not butter is at the proper temperature: you should be able to make an indentation with your finger on the surface of the butter, but the butter should be slightly firm, not hard—and definitely not squishy. If the butter gets too warm, label it with the date and return it to the refrigerator for future use for something that does not require creaming. Start again with fresh butter.

  Preheat Your Oven

  Start preheating your oven at least 20 minutes before baking to make sure that it has a chance to come to the correct temperature. You should also use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is calibrated correctly (see “The Baker’s Dozen”). All ovens are not created equal, and baking temperature can make a big difference in the result. If the oven is too cold when you put a cupcake in it, rising will be inhibited, the batter will melt, and the crumb will be tough. If the oven is too hot, the results can be even more disastrous. A crust will form on the outside of cupcake layers and the inside will be underbaked and gooey.

  Ovens will cycle on and off during baking, and every time you open the oven door, the temperature will drop slightly. This is why baking times are usually given as a range. If a recipe says to bake for 20 to 25 minutes, check it at the earliest time. And don’t worry if your oven takes 5 minutes longer than suggested. Use the visual clues for doneness given with the recipes as well, and always take note of your baking time, which will be helpful the next time you make that recipe.

  Know Your Ingredients

  It is important to understand the role of each ingredient in the baking process. You can’t just skip over steps or substitute ingredients and think it will all work out in the end.

  Take the unassuming egg: it performs so many important functions in making baked goods and other desserts. Eggs leaven, thicken, moisturize, and enhance flavors. Whole eggs, as well as yolks on their own, are great emulsifiers. The lecithin in yolks binds fats and water, which normally resist each other. Eggs also provide structure; when egg whites are whipped to stiff peaks and folded into a batter, for example, the air trapped in the whites expands in the heat of the oven during baking, acting as a leavening agent for light, airy desserts.

  Baking soda and baking powder are both leaveners. They create chemical reactions in doughs and batters that release carbon dioxide bubbles that will cause cake layers to rise. Baking soda requires the presence of an acid, such as sour cream, buttermilk, molasses, nonalkalized cocoa powder, or brown sugar (which contains molasses) to activate it. Baking powder does not require the presence of acid; it reacts once it is combined with a liquid, such as milk. Baking powders made with aluminum compounds have a chemical aftertast
e, so we use aluminum-free baking powder in all of our recipes.

  To Weigh or Not to Weigh—That Is the Question

  Baking is a precise science. At the bakery, we measure out pounds and pounds of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs, and using a scale makes for quick work with large amounts and our busy production schedule. However, as self-taught scratch bakers, we use measuring cups at home and when baking in small batches at the bakery. We know that most home bakers don’t own a scale. Although we realize the importance of accurate measuring, we know this can be achieved with measuring cups as well. We give instructions for measuring certain ingredients properly so that you will achieve consistent results every time you use one of our recipes.

  And use the correct vessel to measure: dry measures for dry ingredients, liquid measures for liquids (see “The Baker’s Dozen”).

  Measuring Dry Ingredients

  When you measure flour or sugar, use this no-fail technique (we recommend storing flour, sugar, and other dry ingredients in a canister rather than a sack so that you have plenty of space to dip and scoop): First loosen up or fluff the flour a bit with your measuring cup or a spoon. Scoop the flour or sugar into your measuring cup until it is heaping, then sweep a straight edge, such as the back of a table knife, across the top to level it. Do not tap the cup to settle the contents (brown sugar, though, is usually packed into the cup).

  Creaming Butter

  To produce the perfect texture in baked goods, you must master the art of creaming butter, which is the foundation of many recipes. Often recipes start with the words “cream the butter and sugar together,” without any explanation of what this actually means. And they fail to tell you that if you don’t do this step properly, the results can be disastrous. If your butter is too cold, it will not whip properly; if it is too soft, it will not retain air. The most important factor in creaming butter and sugar is the temperature of the butter. See “Temperature Matters”.

  When a recipe calls for creaming butter and sugar, you want to beat the softened butter and the sugar together until the mixture is light in both color and texture; this means air has been incorporated. We’ve included timing estimates in all the recipes to give you a sense of how long this step will take. Use these estimates as guidelines, but it is also important to learn what the result should look like. Properly creamed butter and sugar will be very pale yellow (or very light brown if you’re using brown sugar) and almost doubled in volume.

  Remember that baking is a science. The creaming process aerates the butter; air bubbles are literally forced into the butter mixture. These air bubbles expand during baking, giving your baked goods the texture that you want. Once you master this technique, you will be amazed at what a difference it makes. Your cupcakes will have a light, delicate crumb and your cookies will be melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

  Practice Makes Perfect

  My mother always used to say this, and it is certainly true when it comes to baking: even if you mess up every now and then, it’s okay. Mistakes may not always be pretty, but they often taste delicious. Whenever you learn a new craft, there will be a learning curve. Take notes and learn from your mistakes. Have fun, and keep smiling along the way, and I promise you will get better every time.

  There are many variables to be aware of in baking, but don’t let that scare you. One of the things I love most about baking, for example, is the challenge of having to figure things out day after day based on the weather. If it’s a hot and humid Savannah day, I know I will have to play some tricks to get my meringues to have perfect peaks. And if it’s a really hot day, I may decide not to make chocolates at all and opt for ice cream sammies instead. The more you bake, the more you will learn.

  The Baker’s Dozen

  There are certain tools for scratch baking that any baker should have in the kitchen. If we were stranded on a desert island (with a kitchen, of course!), these are the twelve tools we would have with us.

  1. Stand or Handheld Mixer. Our mothers and grandmothers used a handheld mixer for baking; I remember it was a big deal when my mother bought her first stand mixer, a shiny turquoise Hamilton Beach model with all the attachments. It was like my mom had won the lottery, and I benefited from all the yummy treats she made with it.

  You can use a handheld mixer for most of these recipes, but a stand mixer is one of the best investments you’ll make if you’re a serious baker. A good stand mixer will allow you to cream butter, whip egg whites, make bread and cookie doughs, and mix delicate cake batters. It will give better volume and consistency to your batters and doughs and make easy work out of long mix times. Our recipes use the paddle attachment and the whisk, but our new favorite accessory is an all-in-one paddle attachment with a spatula blade. It scrapes the sides of the bowl as it mixes, saving you from having to do it.

  2. Measuring Cups and Spoons. Measuring cups and spoons are among those tools so familiar that you never stop to think about how important they are. Before measuring spoons, grandma’s handwritten recipe would tell you to use a pinch of this and a dash of that to make her lemon pound cake extra special. We can credit Fannie Farmer, the author of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, for inventing measuring cups in 1896. She helped standardize the measuring of ingredients.

  Measuring cups fall into two categories: dry and liquid. Dry measuring cups are for flour, sugar, and other such ingredients. Liquid measuring cups are for any liquid. We suggest you have a few sizes of liquid measures: 1 cup, 2 cup, and 4 cup.

  Measuring spoons are used to measure small amounts of both dry and wet ingredients. They usually come in a complete set. The most common measurement sizes are ⅛, ¼, ½, and 1 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon.

  3. Balloon Whisk. Balloon whisks are used to stir batters, whip meringues and cream, and blend custards. The open design of a balloon whisk makes it handy for mixing and aerating dry ingredients if you don’t have a sifter—in fact, sifting is easier with a whisk. Whisks come in many different sizes; having a few will enable you to do many different tasks in the kitchen.

  4. Rubber Spatula, Plastic Dough Scraper, and Metal Bench Scraper. A rubber spatula is your best tool to get every bit of cupcake batter into the pan (leaving just a little bit behind in the bowl to lick). It also folds beaten egg whites into a batter. A plastic bowl scraper can be used, of course, to scrape out bowls, but we use it to scoop the measured dry ingredients into the mixing bowl. A metal bench scraper is best for dividing bread doughs and for scraping your work surface clean.

  5. Knives: Paring, Chef’s, and Serrated Bread. Invest in good-quality knives, along with a steel and a sharpener to maintain them. A paring knife, 3 to 4 inches long, is best for peeling and slicing fruits and other ingredients. A chef’s knife that is 6 to 8 inches in length is a utility knife, best for chopping nuts and dried fruit, among other tasks. A serrated bread knife, 8 to 9 inches long, is great for chopping blocks of chocolate, cutting cakes into layers, and, of course, slicing bread.

  6. Mixing Bowls. Mixing bowls come in different sizes and materials, including glass, ceramic, plastic, and stainless steel. We prefer wide heavy-duty stainless steel bowls that make mixing easy. Stainless steel bowls are nonreactive and very durable; a set of six nested bowls from small to large will cover most baking needs. Use glass mixing bowls for melting chocolate and for anything else you want to pop in the microwave to warm.

  7. Baking Sheets. The debate about the merits of nonstick, dark, and insulated pans seems endless, but paired with nonstick spray or parchment paper, good heavy-duty baking sheets will outperform all others and will last your lifetime. All you really need are two 12-by-17-inch heavy-duty rimmed aluminum baking sheets and one 10-by-15-inch rimmed jelly-roll pan. We speak from experience on this; trust us. You can find these baking sheets, also called sheet pans, at your local restaurant supply store or online.

  8. Baking Pans. For your sweet treats, you want good-quality, sturdy aluminum pans that provide eve
n heat. Avoid thin, lightweight pans that will allow your baked goods to burn.

  9. Sifter. A sifter is a great tool for mixing and aerating dry ingredients; it will also help break up clumps of ingredients. We specify a sifter (or a fine-mesh sieve) for some of the recipes in this book; at other times, using a whisk to aerate the dry ingredients is enough.

  10. Rolling Pin. A simple straight, non-tapered, hand-turned wooden rolling pin is an all-purpose tool. At 16 inches, it is the perfect size and weight for rolling out biscuits and cookies, doughs and piecrusts. I do not recommend marble rolling pins because flour does not stay on them if you dust them before rolling, and they tend to drag and stick on the dough. Take good care of your wooden pin, and it will last for generations, becoming a treasured family heirloom.

  11. Parchment Paper. I can’t say enough about the wonders of parchment paper. It’s perfect for lining both cookie sheets and brownie pans. It’s the best way to create a nonstick surface if you don’t want to use a nonstick spray.

  12. Oven Thermometer. Whenever someone calls us with a baking problem, we always ask, “Do you have an oven thermometer?” All ovens are not the same, and it’s important to know where your oven stands when it comes to maintaining temperature. A properly calibrated oven (even a new oven may be off) is essential for cooking and baking. To test your oven, put an oven thermometer in it, turn it to 350°F, and then check to make sure the oven reaches the proper temperature. If the temperature doesn’t read true, adjust the oven temperature until the thermometer reads correctly—and then call a professional to calibrate the oven.

  Additional Tools

  Once you’ve got the basics covered, here are the other tools we recommend.

  Bowls

  3-piece glass set: 1-, 1½-, and 2½-quart

  3-piece stainless steel set: 1½-, 3-, and 5-quart

  Pots, Pans, and Baking Pans

  6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed nonreactive stockpot