Apple Cider Candied Ginger Biscuit (A.K.A. cookie) アップルサイダーと生姜生姜の砂糖漬ビスケット

This is another one of my wife’s baking projects which she made after getting some apple cider.  She found this recipe in the “Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook”. Although this is called “Biscuit” this is not the American idea of a “biscuit” which is generally a buttery flaky type of muffin. Instead this is a type of shortbread which the British may call a biscuit but Americans would call a cookie.* In any case it is made with apple cider.

The usual way of making cookies is to roll out the dough, cut out the cookie using a cookie cutter then re-rolling out the scraps to make more cookies, my wife made a modification to the procedure. She rolled the dough into a cylinder then cut slices off of the cylinder eliminating the need to gather scraps and re-roll the dough.

*Digression alert: Biscuit or ビスケット” in Japan also means British-style cookie. When I was a kid in Sapporo, we grew up with “biscuits” from “Saka Biscuit 坂ビスケット”.  They were packaged in a paper cellophane covered cylindrical wrapping. To my surprise this company is still in operation in Sapporo. They still produce several kinds of  “biscuits” but the cookies are now sold in a bag not wrapped in a cylinder like I remember. (Surprise: I found that apparently I am repeating myself since I wrote about the same thing 10 years ago.)

Ingredients:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
¼ cup apple cider or juice
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup finely minced candied (crystallized) ginger

Directions:
Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer bowl. Beat in the molasses, then the apple cider. In a separate bowl combine the flour, ground ginger, baking soda. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. (I found this almost impossible to do by hand using a spatula. I resorted to stirring the flour mixture into the butter mixture using the mixer which took only seconds and worked much better.) Stir in the candied ginger. I rolled the dough into a cylinder then wrapped it in plastic wrap (#1) and refrigerated 1 hour. After taking the wrapped dough out of the refrigerator, I simply cut slices off the cylinder to make the cookies (#2). 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes (#3 & #4)

This was a very flavorful cookie. It has a strong apple cider flavor and pleasing bursts of ginger. The only problem was that it became very hard once it cooled. Luckily just a short microwaving made it soft again

New York Style Pizza ニューヨーク スタイル ピザ

This is my attempt at making a New York-style crust Margarita pizza. My focus was mostly on the crust. The topping was just what I usually use to make a Margarita pizza using my regular Marinara sauce. This was cooked in our Pizzaiolo Pizza oven on New York Pizza mode which is a lower temperature and longer cooking time  (550F and 7 minutes) as opposed to Neapolitan style pizza (700F and 2 minutes). 

The crust was bread-y and much sturdier than Neapolitan style crust. (Meaning you can fold the pizza wedge in half and the center is stiff enough to hold the topping and cheese). As a result it is not as light and soft in texture as Neapolitan style. Do we like this crust better? I am not sure. But I think that we prefer the pizza crust I usually make which is a modified Neoplitan-style with “00” flour but with the addition of olive oil. In any case this is a very good pizza for sure.

This version was based on recipes by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (serious eats) and in the King Arthur “Book of pizza”. In both recipes, New York-style pizza crust is made with bread flour, oil and sugar. I modified the amount to make enough dough for four 10 inch pizzas. I chose the primary fermentation at 86F for 1 hour and then slow fermentation in the refrigerator for 1 day or up to 5 days. I used enough of the dough for 2 pizzas and froze the rest.

Ingredients for the pizza dough (makes four 10 inch pizzas)
520 grams bread flour, plus more for dusting 
12 grams granulated sugar 
1 grams kosher salt 
1 grams active yeast 
340 grams water
36 grams extra-virgin olive oil

Ingredients to top a Margarita style pizza 

I just used my usual Marinara sauce
5 tbs of olive oil with crushed garlic
Slices of low moisture Mozzarella cheese 

Fresh basil leaves

Grated Parmesan cheese topping on the pizza

Directions for the pizza dough 
Combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl of the food processor fitted with a kneading blade. Pulse 3 to 4 times to incorporate. Stream in the olive oil while running the food processor. Then stream in water until the mixture forms a ball that rides around the bowl above the blade. Let it sit for 5 minutes to let the moisture distribute evenly. Run again to process for 15 seconds longer.

Transfer the dough ball to a lightly floured surface and knead briefly by hand until a smooth ball is formed. In a large enough bowl, add and spread a small amount of olive oil. Place the dough ball in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it ferment at 86F for one hour (we use a bread proofer). 

Divide dough into four even portions. In the bowl used for the primary fermentation, add a small amount of olive oil and coat all 4 dough balls with the oil. Place each in a ziploc bag. Place the bags in the refrigerator and allow the dough to slowly rise at least1day or up to 5 days.

At least one hour before baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a well floured surface, form the dough ball into pizza shape.

Transfer the formed pizza dough to a wooden pizza peel lightly coated with corn meal (so that the dough will not stick and the pizza can easily slide into the oven and onto the pizza stone).

Brush the surface of the dough with garlic infused oil, place on slices of cheese in a single layer and spread the sauce on top of the cheese. Distribute hand torn pieces of fresh basil leaves on the surface.

Test to make sure the topped pizza slides on the peel. Then slide it onto the pizza stone in the pizza oven. Bake at 550F or on New York Pizza mode for 7 minutes.

After sliding the baked pizza out of the oven on the peel, brush the edge of the pizza with the garlic infused oil, grate the Parmesan cheese on the top and add more hand-torn fresh basil leaves.

Apple Cider Muffins アップルサイダーマッフィン

Fall is here and it is apple cider season. In any case, although we don’t usually use apple cider, my wife saw some the last time we were at Whole Foods and, for some reason, couldn’t resist buying it. Upon her first sip nostalgia set in and she was transported back to her childhood fall season in Pennsylvania*.

We have been enjoying the cider as a juice for breakfast.  But my wife was interested in what could be made from the remaining cider. She found several recipes which used concentrated apple cider to intensify the flavor. Given her recent success this summer using concentrates made from various summer fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries, this was a “must-do”. So she made these apple cider muffins which used concentrated apple cider. This is a good muffin, but despite using reduced apple cider, the apple cider flavor did not come really come through strongly. Nonetheless we really enjoyed having this as a part of breakfast.

* Since apple cider was not part of my childhood fall season in Japan, I wanted to know more about it. This is what I learned and thought it might be useful information especially for the Japanese contingent, so I am including it here. Although both apple cider and apple juice come from the juice of crushed apples they are very different. Apple cider is not-filtered and has no added sugar. It is brown, turbid and has a tangy sweet apple flavor. It is seasonal and popular in North America and Canada when apple harvest occurs. Commercial apple cider generally is pasteurized but unpasteurized varieties may be available at country fairs or from apple producers.  If the cider is unpasteurized it will quickly ferment to alcohol and then to vinegar. (Letting apple cider ferment was a popular way for college students to get an alcoholic beverage back in the day). Apple juice, on the other hand, is pasteurized, filtered (clear) or made from apple concentrate, with sugar added.

This is based on the recipe by Sally’s baking.

Ingredients
3/4 cup (180g/ml) fresh apple cider (NOT apple cider vinegar) (reduced to 1/2 cup or 60 g/ml)
1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup (113g/120ml) vegetable oil or melted coconut oil
1/2 cup (100g) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature 
1/4 cup (60g) unsweetened applesauce (We didn’t have any applesauce and the recipe suggests substituting mashed banana, sour cream, or plain yogurt. My wife used sour cream in the same amount as the applesauce.) 
1/2 cups (210g) peeled and shredded apple (about 1.5–2 apples)
3/4 cup (90g) chopped walnuts

Directions:
Reduce the apple cider: In a small saucepan, bring the apple cider to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until it has reduced to 1/4 cup (60g/ml), about 20 minutes. It won’t necessarily be any thicker, but it should be a bit darker. Cool to room temperature.

Make the muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg.

In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, applesauce (or whatever substitute you may be using) and the reduced apple cider until combined. Pour the oil mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until combined. Fold in the shredded apple and chopped walnuts (if using).

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin liners, filling all the way up to the top.

For full sized muffins Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. (The recipe states the initial high temperature will quickly lift the muffin tops so they become extra high then the centers bake during the lower temperature bake time. ) Continue to bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 15–16 minutes more. Cool the muffins in the pan set on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the muffins from the pan to the rack.

If making mini muffins bake at 350 F the entire time skipping the initial high temperature. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

These muffins were quite moist and tender in texture. They had a flavor profile reminiscent of morning glory muffins without all the ingredients and fuss morning glories require. Maybe because of all the spices they did not have a strong apple flavor and the cider component did not come through at all. It is still a good seasonal muffin. 

Addendum: As a celebration of fall, the winter cyclamen we have in our garden finally emerged into a beautiful autumn display bringing an end of season spark of joy to the harbinger of the coming winter.  

Pumpkin Okonomiyaki for Halloween ハロウィーン向けかぼちゃお好み焼き

With Halloween approaching this is pumpkin season. So, we recently got a very big Japanese “Kabocha” pumpkin かぼちゃ from Weee. As I said it was very big so I was able to make three dishes from just half of the kabocha. They were: kabocha salad カボチャサラダ, salted kabocha 塩かぼちゃ and kabocha simmered with eggplant 南瓜と茄子の煮物. That left the remaining half, which my wife cooked in the oven and made a kabocha puree by scraping the cooked meat off the rind. Although she is planning to use it for other purposes, as I said it was a very big pumpkin and produced a lot of puree, so I used some of it to make a seasonal okonomi-yaki お好み焼き for lunch. As shown in the picture as a good measure, I also served the pumpkin salad as a side (shown on the left). The brown and cream colored dabs are additional okonomi-yaki sauce and Kewpie mayo. (They are helpful supplements for the okonomi-yaki.)

Ingredients and directions are the same as previously described. The only difference is I added some of the cooked kabocha puree (about 2 tbs) to the batter (#1). I added a bit more water to make the batter consistency correct. After 4 minutes of cooking on one side, I flipped to make  the pork belly side down and cooked 4 more minutes, then flipped again showing nicely crispy pork and the yellow pumpkin color in the underlying pancake (#2). I cooked 2 more minutes to make the bottom surface crispy. I spread on the oknomi-yaki sauce and added lines of mayo (#3). The cut surface shows the yellow pumpkin color (#4).

We shared one pancake as usual. I topped it with a julienne of pickled ginger, “aonori” 青海苔 dried laver, and bonito flakes (first picture). The texture was very moist as would be expected using kobocha puree. The squash flavor was subtle but clearly present. We maybe like this better than the version made with yamaimo (mountain potato). This is a nice seasonal variation appropriate for Halloween.　

Pan-Grilled Spanish Mackerel 鰆の塩焼き

We got one of the largest Spanish mackerels* we’ve ever had from Whole Foods (about 5 lbs.). As usual, we asked the fish monger to remove the head, tail, fins and gut it. I finished the preparation when I got it home by filleting the fish, removing the pin bones and gathering any residual meat by scraping the bones. I usually make miso-simmered 鯖の味噌煮 and ‘tsumire つみれ” fish balls. This time, since the fish was so big, I also prepared two nice deboned pieces  (from the mid section of the filets). I made “shio-yaki 塩焼き” or “salt grilled” fish using a frying pan. I served this with grated daikon or “daikon-oroshi  大根おろし” with soy sauce. This was particularly good; a nice thick but tender piece of meat with a nice flavor but no hint of fishiness. 

*Finding the appropriate Japanese name for the fish we can get in US can be difficult. Spanish mackerel may be close to “sawara 鰆”. Boston mackerel may be closer to Japanese “saba 鯖”. Certainly, Norwegian mackerel  is Japanese “saba” since it is imported to Japan as “saba”. We can get Norwegian mackerel here but it is usually cleaned and frozen. 

This is not a recipe but a record of how to pan-grill fish using a stainless steele frying pan and parchment paper. (I try not to grill fish using the toaster oven in order to avoid any lingering fishy smell.) Of course, a charcoal fire is the best but requires a bit too much work. 

Ingredients: (2 servings)
2 filet portions of Spanish mackerel (#1), with the skin scored to prevent the skin from breaking during cooking
Japanese sake and salt

1 inch segment of daikon, skin removed and grated, with the excess moisture pressed out
Soy sauce

Directions:
Place the two filets in a rimmed plate, top and bottom lined with paper towel. Pour in enough sake to throughly soak the top and bottom paper towels and refrigerate. 30 minutes before cooking, remove the paper towel and pat the filets dry. Sprinkle salt on both the flesh and skin sides. Cut some parchment paper to fit the frying pan. On medium flame, add the filets with skin side down (#2). Flip after 4-5 minutes or until half of the thickness of the flesh looks opaque (#3 and #4). Cook 3-4 minutes more or until the flesh becomes all opaque.

This method of using parchment paper works well; emulating grilling. Because of the parchment, the fish does not stick to the pan. This method can be used for marinated fish too. This is much easier than grilling or broiling using a toaster oven.

An Aside: We planted morning glories and moonflowers early in the spring and finally, we got a morning glory bloom…Just in time for the first frost?