Recipes for Quick Breads 5

Here is a list of quick bread recipes featured on Renaissance Culinaire

Pumpkin Crunch coffee Cake

Recipes for Muffins Scones and Pastries 7

Here is a list of muffin and pastry formulas that have been featured on Renaissance Culinaire. Some of these formulas are commercial baking formulas that can be reduced for home use. This page will continue to be updated as more recipes are added.

Thanks Darwin Bell For Use of his Photo.

Fresh Fruit Napoleons with Blackberry Curd

Banana - Rum Napoleons

Croissant with a starter

Hot Pepper Gingerbread Muffins with Orange-Maple Butter

Gulab Jamun | Indian Sweets

Pate A Choux , Éclairs & Cream Puffs revisited

Callebaut Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Scones

Crispies (Italian puff pastry based, similar tasting as American Elephant Ear)

Scratch Italian Puff Pastry

Cookie Recipes 49

Here is a list of cookie formulas I have featured on Renaissance Culinaire. Some are commercial baking formulas that can be reduced for home use. This page will continue to be updated as I add more recipes.

Espresso Shortbread by Claire Sutton

Sunflower Pops - Peanut Butter Cookies (has *Vegan / Vegitarian notes)

Tuile Cookies Curls

Short Dough Cookies

Recipe: Italian Turdilli

Authentic Scottish shortbread

Sassy Sunflower Pops Cookies - Healthy & Fun 25

Baking with kids can sometimes be challenging. Creating something while keeping kids occupied or interested is no simple feat. Creating a healthier cookies is on not only on parents minds but also on the minds of many health conscience individuals. I would like to introduce you to a great website with some really fun recipes. Sure to please any kid, even that inner child of yours.

...this will
tempt anyone



with visions
of healthy
lovely treats
to decorate &
devour

I was so excited to be picked for
blogging about the Snackivate website.
It came with perks from Kellogg's company -
namely 2 full size boxes of Kellogg's
Frosted Mini Wheats used to experiment
with the recipes on the site, and a cool
little plastic gadget that you put into
the freezer (the cup has gel within the
walls of the cup,to insulate the milk and
to keep it cool),which once frozen will
hold your milk,while the top (it screws
into the bottom) holds your favorite cereal.
This is a nice little gadget for mom's or
dad's toting kids around. Or even college ,
students or teenagers on the go, in be-
ween classes, who haven't the time to
grab a decent breakfast (I think we've
all been there).

The Snacktivate website is a place for anyone looking for health conscience lot's of downloadable recipes, ranging from all different meals of the day to sweet treats, some samples are pictured above, that would be fun to make with children. There are nutrition tips and more for parents, relatives and teachers. Below is one of the featured recipes from Snackivate website.

Recipe: Sassy Sun Pops
I have added some notes on making this Veg/Vegan friendly. You will need to experiment with different ingredients to find the best formulation for Veg/Vegan style cookies using this recipe.

Prep time: 10 min.
Bake time: 12-14 min.
Servings: 33

These cookies are baked at 350 °F for 12 - 14 min.
Materials Needed:Candy sticks, that are oven proof (you can find at your favorite craft store, i.e Micheal's)
Almonds
Flaxseed
Cookie Sheet
Cookie Ingredients:

• 2 cups (AP) flour
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine (soft) (supplement Earth's Balance stick for vegan cookies)
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs (if going veg/vegan there are many egg replacers out there, you may want to experiment with what works best in cookies for you - consider the extra dry ingredients by way of the cereal and try opting for something with more moisture content)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 60 frosted bite sized mini-wheats OR 60 un-frosted mini-wheats (unfrosted is the best vegan alternative due to the gelatin in the frosting) , crushed (pulse in a food processor, or put into a zip lock bag and beat w/ rolling pin)

Procedure:

1. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl, add peanut butter, Gran. Sugar, Brown sugar and mix on medium-high w/ electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs & vanilla. Beat well
4. Beat in crushed cereal and flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated.
5. Drop by spoonful onto a cookie sheet . While pressing down, use back of fork to make across hatch into cookie dough.
6. Add oven proof cookie sticks by pressing stick into one side of the dough of each cookie.
7. TO create sunflower: press flax seeds into the center of each cookie dough round. Press raw whole almonds into the outer edges of each round to form the petals of the sunflower design.
8. Bake at 350 °F for 12- 14 min. or until golden brown, remove baked cookies with spatula from cookie sheets immediately and let cookies cool on wire wracks.

This recipe is adapted from Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies a recipe © of Kellogg's NA Co. 2008. All Rights Reserved.


Hope you can recreate the fun time I had creating these with my 5 yr old daughter. It was a blast. She loved adding the spoons of dough to the cookie sheets and making the "sunflower" designs. Enjoy!

My Recipe : Curried Asparagus 8

This is a tasty side dish. It has gotten raves from my friends and family. It may seem a bit salty at first glance but take into consideration the liquid added washes the flavor out a bit , so there needs to be enough salt to bring out the curry flavors. Enjoy!

Green Asparagus by Gunnar Magnusson

You Will Need:

• a nice bunch of Asparagus (1-2 #s)
• 1/4 - 1/2 of a stick of butter
• a good curry powder (look for these ingredients : coriander seed, chili, cumin seed, fennel seeds, cinnamon, poppy seeds, star anise seeds, turmeric, mustard seeds, white pepper and peanut -- You can buy this mixture at an Asian market, regular grocers tend to have a diluted curry powder lacking depth)
• balsamic vinegar (a splash about 1-2 TB)
• porcini mushroom flavored oil (a bout 1/4 TB
• rubbed sage (about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp)
• onion salt (1/2 tsp)
• garlic salt (1/2 tsp)
• kosher salt (1 tbs)
• water (enough to cover asparagus)

Heat your pan on medium high and allow the butter to melt completely. After washing & breaking the fibrous bottoms off your asparagus stalks -- add them to the melted butter. Add 1 tablespoon of curry to the pan, mix into the butter to form a paste. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar over the whole pan. Drizzle your asparagus with the porccini oil. Dust with rubbed sage. Sprinkle salt , onion and garlic salt (a few shakes , as water will be added later). Stir briskly. Add 1 tsp more of the curry. Add enough water to barely cover the stalks. Cover and allow to simmer.

When done the asparagus will take on the yellow color of the curry, and they will appear slightly wrinkled/wilted.

Oregon Hazelnuts + Recipe : Praline Paste 18

Hazelnuts. Have you seen the groves of trees while in Oregon? . Drive toward Wilsonville, Oregon and you will see them. Interspersed between suburban sprawl and small businesses, the further you proceed --- slowly the vast quilt of these orchards starts to fully engulf the land. Hashed out in a herringbone pattern, these are stubby trees with intricate canopies. They spread their branches enveloping the crops of nuts in an umbrella of leaves


The Willamette Valley is responsible for %99 of U.S hazelnut production. A great site to find out more about Hazelnuts, including tasty formulas (recipes) and other links, is Oregon's Hazelnut Industry website.


Nuts are unfairly avoided due to misconceptions of being unhealthy and full of fat. This may be true for certain varieties of nuts, but Hazelnuts are a heart healthy choice. They contain %91 percent mono unsaturated fat and less than 4 percent saturated fat. Not to mention significant amounts of protein, fiber, iron, phosphorus, vitamin E, folate and many other essential nutrients.


Today I will share a great way to introduce hazelnuts to your palate. Learn how to make this paste from scratch. Praline paste is usually a baking item you rarely see in supermarkets. It is mostly found in specialty shops such as cake decorating suppliers. However, I couldn't find it at The Decorette Shop , Portland Oregon's own cake specialty supplier. To purchase praline paste you are most likely going to run into prices ranging from $15 -20 per 2 lb container. It can be very expensive to purchase retail.


Praline Paste Formula:

Lightly Toast whole hazelnuts on a baking sheet.

In a stainless steel sauce pan, combine equal parts sugar
and water. Do not stir . The mixture will reduce --- allow
to caramelize (you will see the sides start to color first).

Once the sugar reduction has caramelized, remove from heat.











The lightly toasted hazelnuts are
added to the sugar reduction.
They are then stirred briskly,this should
be done very quickly as the sugar reduction
will start to harden.

You want to coat the hazelnuts in the caramel.
The heat from the caramel will warm the nuts
and allow the hazelnuts essence to permeate
the caramel.

The nut caramel is then poured onto a greased
marble slab. The cooled caramel will be less reddish
brown in color.












Allow the caramel to cool. Once cool use a spatula to
spread and press the nut caramel in an even layer.

Flip the cooling layer
over. Allow to harden.







Once the nut caramel has hardened, use a rolling pin or some
other weighty tool to break up the hardened nut caramel.
The pieces should be small enough to fit in your food processor.

Put nut caramel pieces into the food processor and pulse unit the pieces begin to smooth until a paste. Continue to process until desired smoothness.






Store in an airtight container. This paste is great to jazz up your pastry cream -- just add a small amount of praline paste to the cooled pastry cream before adding to cream puffs.

Photog: Finished paris brest 5

A Paris-Brest is a French dessert, made of choux pastry and a praline flavoured cream.

Finished paris brest, originally uploaded by Amber *.

The pastry was created in 1891 to commemorate the Paris–Brest–Paris bicycle race. Its circular shape is representative of a wheel. It became popular with riders on the Paris-Brest cycle race, partly because of its energy-giving high calorific value, and is now found in pâtisseries all over France.

Hazelnut -currant bread 0

Hazelnut -currant bread, originally uploaded by Culinarynovice.

Fresh from the oven. Falling from the peel into a perferated pan to let cool.

Danish Bakeri : home of the Baker 1

Where does the quiet history of the baker reside? In the dilapidated ruins of ancient civilizations? Or in the failing masonry of eleventh century European buildings. If I were to lay my ear upon these stones, would I hear the soft murmurs of ancient oven doors, of an artisan bread song or the benching and rolling of laminated doughs?

I am now in the Laminated Pastry station. In class I was told today from a reliable source [a 4th generation Baker from Denmark], about Denmark and it's bakery history. We were making Kringles. Kringles are Danish pastries and are based from Danish pastry [Weinerbrod dough]. The demonstration was on the "Wisconsin Kringle". The Wisconsin Kringle varies immensely from traditional Danish Kringle, due to the Round or oval shape and 10 additional fillings. You can follow this link to learn a little history & the process of Wisconsin Kringles from a old world Danish bakery in Wisconsin .


The Danish are quite rigid in keeping with their traditional pastry standards. The traditional filling for the Danish Kringle is :

• a thin layer of Remonce [ mixture of butter, sugar,vanilla can contain : almond paste, white cake crumbs, honey] ;
• Pastry Cream [handmade custard];
• Finally a thin roll of Almond Filling [Paste : crushed almonds or apricot kernels,butter,sugar; Then mixed with egg whites and more sugar]

The Pastry before fill is carefully rolled out with a French rolling pin into long strips, and the width is no bigger than 3-4 inches. The 2 fillings are spread in a 2 inch stripe in the center of the pastry, then the roll of almond filling is centered onto the stripe. The edges are brought up and over the filling to form a seem. It is then rolled out slightly on the bench. Here a baker from Edgar's Bakeri [bakeri is bakery in Danish] is forming the traditional Danish shape :




From as far back into Danish history, the Kringle has been a symbol of bakery. In fact the Kringle symbol means "home of the baker". Buildings from the middle ages and stones in graveyards can be found with the Kringle symbol. In modern day Denmark, neon signs loom over the walk ways, beckoning foot traffic. So if you are ever in Denmark, look for home - home of the baker.

Formula : Callebaut Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Scones 0

{This formula is meant for a small production batch, mixed in a 20 quart mixer. For home use cut the formula ingredients into 1/3.}

This is an Americanized version of scones. Real scones would be VERY dry.The Americanized version has also more flavor & sweeter.

This is a Base or Master formula - meaning you can use this basic formula, and add onto it. Just make sure if you are going to add an ingredient with liquid, to use less liquid in the base formula. This goes for ingredients that are very dry. It is all a balancing act.
{# = lb}
Buttermilk Scones:

• 3# Bread Flour
• 2# Pastry Flour
• 1# 7 oz. Sugar
• 1 oz.Baking powder
• 1/2 oz. Baking Soda
• 1/4 oz.Salt
• 1 oz. Vanilla extract

Blend dry ingredients in a 20 qt. mixing bowl. Add:

• 1# 14 oz. Butter

Room temperature butter is much easier to work with here. Break up into small pieces , place pieces on top of dry ingredients. Blend in butter in 1st speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Remove bowl from the mixer. Transport to bench/workspace.
{Tip: If you end up working with cold butter, break off small chunks into your hand and work/massage the butter chunks before adding to the mixer.This will help the butter warm up once the mixing starts - because the paddle & the hitting of the sides during mixing produces friction which leads to heat.}

• 2# Buttermilk
• 1# whole eggs

[Warning: do not wear long sleeves!This is very messy.]
Add the eggs to your buttermilk.Make a "well" {or hole}in your dry mixture, pour the egg & buttermilk into your well. These ingredients will be folded in by hand with a plastic scraper.Fold until liquid & dry are completely incorporated.
TIP: A true "fold" is when you take the rounded edge of your scraper and starting at the bowls lip(edge)scrape downward & under the batter,an even line along the bottom and sides of the bowl, to complete your fold at the other sides' lip. Your next fold will start where that first fold ended. With each fold completed, the is bowl slightly turned.
This will ensure that you will never have an area in the bowl that hasn't completely been mixed.
Dark Chocolate/Hazelnut:
Callebaut Dark Chocolate

8 oz. toasted, chopped hazelnuts

Add the chopped dark chocolate & toasted,chopped hazelnuts to the mixed dough,fold well.

Once well mixed, take small globs of dough and line them up on a well floured table. Have a yard stick(ruler) handy.

Pat out dough{flour your hands}, onto well floured table, 1/2 of the dough into a strip: 4 inches wide and about 3/4 inches thick. (No thicker than 3/4 of an inch - this dough rises & the scones will be huge)

When you have the correct width & thickness, line up your yard stick along the strip. Gently score the dough in 2 inch increments with a bench scraper].[ do not cut, make indentation]

Now apply pressure with knife on scored lines & cut. {you need to be some what consistent or you won't make an even cut due to hazelnuts etc.} This dough is soft , you will need to pull just cut pieces, away from the main dough strip - or they will reconnect.

Put onto parchment papered sheet pan. Arrange 12 per pan { 3 across & four rows }. Lightly egg wash with "egg only egg wash".

Egg Only Egg wash:

• whole eggs
• liquid egg (from container)

Make enough for use. Beat with wire whip. Use pastry brush to apply.

Bake until browned. Don't rely on color - because this will very due to egg wash. Rely on touch , in the middle & sides . The scones will feel baked - no under baked dough, more formed.

Recipes of interest : stuff me! 0

I have created another stuffing as follows :

Image credit elana's pantry

Recipe:
1 whole yellow onion loosely chopped
2 TB of minced garlic.
4-5 stalks of celery, chopped into small pieces



melt 3 TB unsalted butter, in a saute pan
on high heat, turn down to medium, toss
in onion/garlic/celery. Saute.When onions are transparent and celery soft - remove from heat. Transfer to large heavy bottomed pan. Add a small amount of Porcini Mushroom oil
After 3 minutes add :

1 bag (8oz) dried cranberries.
16 oz. of Chicken stalk
2 Tb thyme, or other herbs


In same saute pan ad :

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup finely hazelnuts

1 TB butter
A bit more porccini mushroom oil



Brown the nuts for 2-3 minutes ( you will smell a slightly toasted aroma). 

Add to the larger pan, put the pan on medium heat, stirring ingredients.Add plain stuffing cubes (dried bread crumbs (day old, oven toasted cubes of bread), Stir , ad another 16 oz of chicken stock, lower heat, cook until crumbs thoroughly saturated.