Monthly Cooking Thread - February 2022

It seems I’ve been cold for weeks. My husband laughs, because he grew up in Pennsylvania, often sitting in deer stands in below-freezing weather, and tells me that I don’t know what ‘cold’ is. But I’m a hot-house plant – at least, I’ve become one in old age – and I’ve just wanted to ball myself up in a blanket for days on end, even here South of the Mason-Dixon.

I haven’t done much cooking lately, and have pretty much lived on store-bought comfort foods, especially soup and little chicken pot pies.

But I’m looking forward to Spring which - as Punxy Phil reminds us today - always DOES come, despite the climate change fear mongers. And I thought the photo above and it’s accompanying hummus recipe from ‘Feasting at Home’ looked like the epitome of Springtime:

https://www.feastingathome.com/hummus-recipe/

Another hummus recipe I want to try intrigues me because I used to get a very garlicky hummus WITHOUT cumin from a little storefront on K street, and it’s still the best I’ve ever had. When I crawl out from my blanket, I’m going to try this:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/229012/lemon-garlic-hummus/">

Another thing that makes me think of Spring is the Cucumber Sandwich. My husband grew up with an English-born Mom and Grandma, and they often made cucumber sandwiches; it’s another thing I want to try this Spring.

The cucumber sandwich is traditionally just thinly sliced, salted cukes on very thin, buttered bread; but an American variation has used cream cheese instead of butter, and I think that would be good, too. Here are some suggestions for making them:

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/cucumber_sandwiches/

I have an old vintage gizmo that slices bread really thin that would be good for this, and was surprised to find that someone still sells essentially the same item:

https://www.thenicerslicer.com/

Red Velvet Bundt Cake

Ingredients for the cake:
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoons red food colouring paste
1/2 cup boiling water
For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted to remove lumps
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or half and half plus more if necessary to achieve desired texture

Instructions
For the cake:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9-inch bundt pan generously with butter, and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk.
Measure the buttermilk and vegetable oil into a large liquid measuring cup.
Add the eggs and vanilla to the milk mixture, along with the red food colouring, and whisk all the wet ingredients together with a fork.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk together just to combine (until no streaks of flour remain and the batter is a smooth, even red colour.
Slowly add the boiling water, whisking constantly until the batter is smooth and everything is combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan on a wire rack in the pan until almost cooled completely to room temperature.
Place an inverted plate over the bottom of the bundt cake and flip gently. The cake should slide out of the pan easily and sit nicely on the plate. Trim the bottom of the cake slightly, if necessary, to ensure it will sit flat.

For the glaze:
Add the powdered sugar to a small bowl and drizzle the heavy cream in one tablespoon at a time, stirring after every addition.
If necessary, add a little more cream until the desired consistency is reached.

Assembly:
Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake and let it drip down the sides.
Crumble the cake scraps leftover from levelling the cake on top of the glaze, and serve.

Notes
Make this cake up to 2 days ahead of time, storing it in the fridge in an airtight container until ready to serve.

https://thebusybaker.ca/red-velvet-bundt-cake/

Chocolate Peanut Brittle

Ingredients
1-1/4 cups salted peanuts
1/4 cup Dark Cocoa
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 cup sugar

Directions
Lightly butter cookie sheet; set aside. Stir together cocoa and baking soda in small bowl; add butter. Set aside.
Stir together sugar, corn syrup, and whipping cream in heavy 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Stir in peanuts. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches 300°F. on candy thermometer or until syrup, when dropped into very cold water, separates into threads which are hard and brittle. (Bulb of candy thermometer should not rest on bottom of saucepan.)
Remove from heat; stir in cocoa mixture. Immediately pour onto prepared cookie sheet. With tongs or wooden spoons, quickly spread and pull into 1/4-inch thickness. Place cookie sheet on wire rack; cool completely.
Snap into pieces!

http://dyingforchocolate.blogspot.com/2022/01/chocolate-peanut-brittle-peanut-brittle.html

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