“Award Winning” Briney Olive and Pickle Dip

Recently we had a “Chip and Dip” team event at work. Our organization supplied the dippers (various chips and veggies) and several team members brought dips and salsa to enjoy. Everything was super yummy! We also had a very informal contest on the best dip and mine won! I was super excited about this because I had made up the recipe myself.

I knew I wanted to bring something and I started thinking about what I had in my fridge. I love pickles and anything in brine, so I got the idea to really go with the briney flavor. Also, I’ve been a bit obsessed with Worcestershire sauce recently, so I threw some of that in there. And then all the salts, herbs and spices I thought would work with the pickles and olives.

I was a little nervous the night I made it because it seemed like no matter how much flavor I added, I only tasted cream cheese. Finally I decided to stop and just see what happened to it in the fridge overnight. That was the key - all the flavors melded together and I ended up with exactly my kind of dip - briney, pickly, salty, with a nice depth from the Worcestershire. This will be a go to dip for summer parties for sometime to come!

A Briney Olive and Pickle Dip

Prep time: 10 min

Inactive Cook time: Overnight

Makes about 2 ½ cups dip

Ingredients:

16 oz cream cheese, softened

4 green onions, white and light green only, sliced

½ cup chopped green olives

2 - 3 dill pickles diced

3 tbsp olive brine

4-5 tbsp dill pickle brine

6 oz sour cream (I used the light version)

¼ cup mayo (I used Vegenaise)

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp celery salt

2 tsp dill

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper (or more or less depending on the spice level you want)

Directions:

Place cream cheese in large bowl and cream with fork or hand beater, just to get things started. Add the green onions, olives, pickles, and brines and mix thoroughly. Add the sour cream and mayo (I discovered that if you add these in the beginning, the cream cheese may get a little clumpy). Add remaining ingredients and mix till everything is combined.

Let dip sit in fridge at least overnight. Longer for more intense flavors.

Traditional New Orleans King Cake

As I’ve mentioned before, my husband and I are from New Orleans, LA. And around this time of year, we start thinking about when to order our annual king cake from Randazzo’s Bakery. If you’ve never had a New Orleans’ style king cake, I highly recommend ordering one from Randazzo’s. They are amazing!

This year though, given my endeavors into bread making over the last year, I decided to try to make one myself. In my mind, I knew what I wanted - I wanted Randazzo’s, both the cake and the icing (the icing is just as important as the cake). So, I set to searching for recipes. I found lots of recipes, but the photos associated with those recipes did not portray the cake texture I was looking for. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted a cake texture similar to these Honey Oat Rolls that I’ve been making recently.

I’m going to segue here to talk about these rolls really quick. These things are CRAZY good!! And super easy! I’ve made 2 batches in the last month and my husband uses them, essentially, as slider rolls for dinner. The first batch I made as suggested, with honey and oats brushed on top. They were great like that, but just a bit too sweet for sandwiches. So the second batch I just brushed with butter and those were perfect. Try them out the next time you want some rolls.

Ok - back to the king cake. As I said, I wanted to the texture to be like these rolls. So I decided to remove the oats, add cinnamon, and then roll the dough out like a cinnamon roll as opposed to individual rolls. I originally thought I would do 2 tsp of cinnamon in the dough, but after adding 1, that looked like enough, so I left it. And then just grated a little nutmeg in there as well.* The rest of the dough is made just like the original recipe. Also - the dough was slightly stickier than the original recipe (since I left out the oats), but I left it because I knew I would need flour to roll it out and form the braid.

After the first rise, I turned out the dough and rolled it out into a rectangle that was about 10x12. I brushed the dough with melted butter and sprinkled it liberally with the cinnamon and sugar mixture. I rolled up the dough, starting with the long side opposite me and pinched the bottom closed.

In order to get the most even braid, I used a rolling pin to flatten the roll a bit. Then I cut the narrow rectangle into 3 long strips. I took each strip and stretched and twirled it so that the cinnamon and sugar mixture was swirled throughout. After that I lined the strips next to each other and braided one over the other until I got to the end.

Once braided, I transferred it to a Silpat lined baking sheet and made an oval shape with the braid. Finally, I pinched all of the ends together, covered with plastic wrap and let rest another hour or so.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (200 C). Bake for 18-20 minutes, or it reaches about 180 degrees inside. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

While cake is cooling, make frosting. I’m typically not a fan of using corn syrup, however the icing is very important and I searched a lot to find a recipe that made the exact glaze we wanted. This one was really perfect. In 2 cup, microwavable measuring cup with spout, melt the butter. Add rest of ingredients and mix until creamy. Pour over cake and sprinkle with your choice of nonpareils or purple, green and gold decorations.

Of course you can always stick a plastic baby in there too.  :)

In the end, the cake came out perfect. We couldn’t believe it. It was exactly what we wanted. Neither one of us expected to get it right on the first try, but we loved it. This will be our tradition from now on. It was fun to make and delicious to eat!

*Just a note - be careful with the nutmeg. The first cake I made was perfect - with grating about 1/4 of a nutmeg into the mix, but there was a nutmeg "accident" with the second cake and it ended up tasting more like nutmeg than cinnamon. :)

RECIPE:

Traditional New Orleans King Cake

Serves: 16-18

Cake adapted from Bakingdom.com

Frosting from Homemade Frosting

Ingredients

Cake 5 cups (635 grams) bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 tsp cinnamon a little grated nutmeg

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup (250 ml) milk

1/2 cup (125 ml) lukewarm water

1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 57 grams) unsalted butter or margarine, cut into 4 pieces

1/4 cup honey Filling 1/2 stick butter, melted 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon Frosting 2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar 3 3/4 tablespoons milk, room temperature 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 tablespoon butter 1 1/2 tablespoon corn syrup

Directions

Combine the flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer and stir to combine.

In a small bowl, or two cup (450 ml) measuring cup, warm the milk so that it’s hot enough to melt the butter, but not boiling. Add the butter, stirring until melted, then stir in the water and honey. In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg, then add it to the butter mixture and whisk slightly.

Add the yeast to the dry mixture.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with paddle attachment until a dough just forms. Switch to dough hook and knead on medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. The dough will be a little sticky, but a little more flour will be added later when rolling.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise for about 1 to 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

In the meantime, make the filling: In a small bowl, mix sugars and cinnamon. In a microwavable bowl, place 1/2 stick of butter (it will melt better if diced), and pop in microwave for about 30-45 seconds until melted. Set everything aside for now.

Once the dough has risen, place dough onto lightly floured surface and roll into a rough rectangle, about 10" x 12". Brush with melted butter and cover with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Pat mixture down to make sure it sticks.

Starting with the long side opposite you, roll into log, pinching the dough closed when finished. Seam should be on bottom. Take rolling pin and roll over log to flatten. Split dough into three, long, even strips with a pasty cutter. Twist each strip so that the cinnamon mixture swirls around the strip of dough.

Next, braid the 3 strips together. Line the three strips next to each other - starting with the left, cross over middle strip. Next take the right strip and cross over the middle strip (which was originally the left strip). Continue until you get to the end. When you get to the end, transfer to Silpat lined baking sheet and form braid into an oval. Pinch all ends together - I tried to follow the braid so that the oval is one solid braid.

Cover with a clean, dry towel and allow to rise for an hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (200 C). Bake for 18-20 minutes, or it reaches about 180 degrees inside. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting: In 2 cup, microwavable measuring cup with spout, melt the butter. Add rest of ingredients and mix until creamy.

Pour over cake and sprinkle with your choice of nonpareils or purple, green and gold decorations.

Chocolate cake with brown sugar caramel pastry cream, whipped cream, and toffee

The main focus of this post is to capture my cake recipe, but I thought I would also share my menu.  This year I wanted to do a mainly “dark” menu.  It started with the Sinister Spread from Martha Stewart.  I’ve used this before at a Halloween party, but I like it so much - it’s just a perfect “halloween” cheese spread, plus it uses (mostly) in season fruits which makes me happy.  Most of the recipes were made straight from the original source (links below).  But I created the beet bruschetta, combined 2 recipes to make the pumpkin donuts and created the cake combination.

Appetizers

Sinister spread

Savory fall pies

Beet caprese bruschetta

For the beet bruschetta, I just roasted some beets and diced them. Then combined them with diced parmesan and purple basil and tossed them in some really good balsamic vinegar.  We toasted some yummy dark, Russian rye bread and topped it with the beet mixture and a good drizzle of olive oil.  It was good, but I made way too much!  I will be eating beets all week.  :)

Salad

Roasted balsamic radicchio

This was the the flop of the night.  The radicchio was just WAY too bitter.  It was nice and creepy looking though.  I didn’t take a stand alone photo of it, but you can see it in the overall shot below.

Mains

Wild rice and Mushroom pilaf

This came out super yummy!  I was nervous because wild rice can be tricky - too chewy or too nutty - but it thankfully cooked perfectly and all the flavor married well together.  Also, I replaced the chicken stock with mushroom to keep it vegetarian - I highly recommend doing that, I think the added mushroom flavor was part of why it tasted so good.  And the whole dish was a great base for the short ribs.

Red wine braised short ribs

This recipe is fantastic!  The ribs are cooked slowly and they get so tender.  And with all the veggies and the wine, the sauce it very flavorful.  Plus, it’s better if you cook it a day before so that saves some time on party day.

Dessert

Pumpkin spice baked donuts with maple glaze

Chocolate cake with brown sugar caramel pastry cream, whipped cream, and toffee

For the cake… I had something in my head that I wanted and I wasn’t finding it.  I thought about this recipe, but I was afraid the molasses would be too strong.  Then I saw this cake and this cake and I liked the look of them, but I still wanted a darker cake.  And I still wanted a little of the molasses flavor.  So, I used this chocolate cake recipe - which really is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had.  It’s a pretty easy cake to make, despite it’s numerous ingredients.  It is SO moist and SO flavorful!  I then decided on a brown sugar. molasses caramel pastry cream for the center and a little on top.  And I wanted the “piled high” look, so I did just a basic, stabilized, vanilla whipped cream.  I also added toffee pieces and drizzled chocolate on top, which gave it a nice crunch.  I was really pleased with how it came out.  The flavors were exactly what I wanted.

Chocolate cake with brown sugar caramel pastry cream, whipped cream, and toffee

Serves: 8-12

Ingredients:

- The Best Chocolate Cake

- Brown Sugar Molasses Caramel Pastry Cream

-- 1 1/2 cups Half And Half

-- 1/2 cup Sugar

-- 1/4 cup Flour

-- 1/4 tsp Salt

-- 4 large Egg Yolks, room temp

-- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract, or vanilla paste or almond paste

-- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

-- 1/4 cup half-and-half

-- 2 tablespoons butter

-- Pinch salt
-- 1 1/2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses

-- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

- Stabilized whipped cream

-- 16 oz heavy cream

-- ¼ cup powdered sugar

-- 2 teaspoons gelatin or vegetarian gelatin

--8 teaspoons water

-- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- Other Ingredients

-- Toffee pieces

-- ½ cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Make cake according to cake recipe

Make pastry cream:

- Make caramel by mixing the brown sugar, half-and-half, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until it gets thicker. Add the molasses and vanilla and cook another couple of minutes to dissolve molasses and thicken further.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

- Warm the half and half in the saucepan until you start to see wisps of steam. It should not actually be boiling.

- Make the Egg-Sugar Base: In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt. Add the egg yolks and whisk them into the dry ingredients.

- Once combined, pour a little of the hot half and half into the eggs and whisk to combine. Continue pouring the half and half  slowly into the eggs, whisking continuously.  NOTE: be sure not to let the egg/sugar mix sit too long before pouring in the half and half.

- When all the half and half has been added to the eggs, pour everything back into the saucepan.

- Set the pan back over medium heat. Whisk constantly. At first, the pastry cream will look very thin and frothy, but it will start to thicken after a few minutes. When it has thickened to a pudding-like consistency, pause whisking every few seconds to see if the cream has come to a boil. If you see large bubbles popping on the surface, whisk for a few more seconds and then remove the pan from heat.

- Stir the vanilla and caramel into the pastry cream.  Make sure the caramel is cooled first.

- Refrigerate until ready to use.  NOTE: cover with plastic wrap that is touching the top of the pastry cream to avoid a skin forming.

Make whipped cream:

- Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of plain gelatin into 8 teaspoons of cold water. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes to allow the gelatin to absorb the water.

- Microwave 5-10 seconds and allow to cool.

- Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature, but not get completely cold. The gelatin mixture should still be in liquid form.

- In a bowl, whip 2 cups heavy cream until it is barely stiff. Add the powdered sugar and whisk a little more to combine.  Add cooled gelatin to the cream in a steady stream, while continuously stirring.

- Whip the gelatin into the cream until soft peaks are formed

Assemble Cake:

- Take one cake layer and spread ¾ of the pastry cream on top

- Spread over cake layer but leave about an inch around outside because top layer will squish pastry cream out

- Sprinkle with toffee pieces

- Top with second cake layer

- Spread the remaining ¼ of pastry cream in a thin layer over top

- Pile on whipped cream and swirl to make a nice, peaked whipped cream mound

- Top with more toffee pieces

- Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second intervals until melted.  Be careful not to heat too much - I did 30 seconds and then 15 and that was enough.  I had a few chunky pieces left and just stirring it melted them.

- Drizzle chocolate over whole cake and allow to run down side

Halloween Food Spread

Island Mint Iced Tea

For July 4th this year I had it in my head to do a meal with a summery beach/tropical/island feel to it.  Most of my dishes were straight from recipes online.. focaccia with caramelized leeks (see below for more on this), green goddess dip with crudites, backyard jerk chicken (although we broiled it instead of grilling), grilled swordfish with cilantro, lemony olive roasted potatoes, summer creamed corn (see below for more on this), and key lime pie.

When planning the menu, I had an idea in mind for a drink, but I could find nothing online that sounded like what I wanted - I wanted something refreshing but everything was too fruity.  So Michael and I tested some ideas and the very first one we tried was spot on.  I LOVE this drink.  I’ve had one almost every night since the 4th.  It was just perfect - refreshing and light, but with a tropical twist.  And I’ve realized that I love cachaca!  It’s such a yummy rum.

Island Mint Iced Tea

(Makes 1 drink)

2 parts Mint & Honey Tea (we used Sweet Leaf)

1 part pineapple juice

Juice of ½ a lime

1 oz of Cachaca

Fill glass with ice, add tea, then pineapple juice, fresh lime juice, rum and stir well.  Garnish with pineapple wedge.

Go sit on a beach (or pretend you’re sitting on one) and relax.  :)

Extras...

I wanted to post the focaccia and the corn because those were my other favorite dishes.  For the focaccia I used this base recipe and then topped with caramelized leeks, fresh dill, fresh chives and WAY too much salt.  I used the large crystal salt and went a little overboard, but I really liked the basic flavors and the basic bread dough.  I was light with just the right chewiness.

And finally, the corn.  Oh My.  I did not think this dish would be this good.  I wanted to do a corn dish because corn is in season and what I'd seen at the grocery looked so good.  This dish has just a slight amount of cream and the lime juice makes it so light and fresh, with this tartness that you don’t usually get with corn.  And the pinch of cayenne was just enough to give it this little kick.  It was incredibly addictive and I may have to make it again this weekend.

Strawberry Cake Trifle

As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I’ve had a goal of recreating the strawberry cake my Maw Maw always made for my birthday, but from scratch.  I feel like I’ve accomplished that goal and I’m happy with my recipe.  But I have another version of the strawberry birthday cake that I came up with quite some years ago that I use for parties or potlucks because the original cake doesn’t travel very well.  This version uses most of the ingredients of the original (boxed cake mix, strawberry jello, vanilla pudding), but I’ve turned it into a trifle.  It’s super easy to make, pretty tasty and moist and perfect for a summer gathering.

Strawberry Cake Trifle

Ingredients:

1 box Pillsbury Strawberry cake mix

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

1 (4 serving size) strawberry jello mix

1 pint strawberries, sliced (save a few large one for top)

8 oz whipped cream

1 tbsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 large package vanilla pudding mix

3 cups milk

Directions:

Make vanilla pudding according to package directions

Whip cream with powdered sugar and vanilla

Combine vanilla pudding and whipped cream, set aside

Dissolve gelatin in 1/2 amount of water called for in package

Take cooled cake and crumble on bottom of trifle bowl

Drizzle with gelatin

Cover with whipped pudding mixture

Cover with sliced strawberries

Repeat

Cover top layer with big strawberries