Homemade Flavor Extracts

This post is a shout-out for all of you out there who always seem to have some over-ripe fruit hanging around. You know who you are.

You have a few options.

1. Make puree's. They keep fairly well in the freezer and can be added to smoothies, ice creams, etc.
2. Dehydrate them. This only works if you have a dehydrator, and one can only take so much dehydrated fruit, but this is a good option every once and a while.
3. Make flavor extracts. This is my favorite. Why? Because an extract can be used to make delicious candies, chocolates, and way more without having to mess much with an existing recipe. 

I apologize for the bad picture.

The process is super simple, and you only need two ingredients.

1. Ripe fruit
2. Vodka

When selecting a vodka, shoot for the middle of the road. You don't need a great vodka (it's not worth it), but you don't want the cheapest vodka you can find, either, because some off flavors can get in.

All you need to do is cut some of the fruit up nice and small, add it to a small bottle (to 1/4 full or so, less for citrus), and pour in some vodka. It takes a few weeks to get good flavors, but you can shove them into the back of your pantry and forget about it. For citrus fruits, use the zest. For others, try to figure out what the most flavorful part of the fruit is. For apples, the peel makes a great extract, but for mangoes, the flesh is best.

Eventually these extracts will lose their alcohol smell and taste, and will blossom into delicious flavors. I will warn you, however, that this can get a bit addicting. A bit.

What do you usually do with fruit that's nearing its end?

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Know your cookies: fat

I'll start by telling you all that this week's cookie experiment was just as successful as last week's, and a hundred times tastier. This time, I varied the fat, with somewhat surprising results. I stuck the liquid level at a constant (somewhat - it went over in the upper levels of fat, just because of how much water was in the butter) 50%.

I totally love doing these recipe development posts, as I hope you all do. I started this trial by making cookies with no fat, 25% (based on flour weight), 50%, 75%, and 100% fat weight. This was calculated by subtracting the weight of the water from the weight of the butter to get the weight of the fat.

vvbvgfcv. (My dog's contribution to the post)

The real shocker came in the 0% fat cookies. They were amazingly, surprisingly delicious. They came out super gooey. They were also fairly chewy, and a bit coarse. But in no way were they horrible. I would definitely make them again. (Oh, and full disclosure, they have small amounts of fat from the egg yolk and milk, but I don't count that, compared to the possible 4+ ounces of butter)

The 25% cookies were actually worse. They were chewy,  but rather tough.

The 50% cookies ended up fairly chewy and fairly soft, and decidedly richer than the previous two.

The 75% cookies were soft, but still had some height. They melted in the mouth and were a bit richer than the 50%.

The 100% cookies were very soft (falling apart) and flattened in the oven. They also melted in the mouth, and were very rich. They took on a caramel flavor which the previous cookies didn't have.

And that was this week's experiment in cookie recipe development. Do with it what you will. I suggest somewhere between 50% and 100%, keeping in mind that the higher the percentage, the richer the cookie and the more spread you get.

Oh, and here's the recipe for the butter-free cookies. Mix together the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces AP flour
• 4 ounces brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• .6 ounces milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

What characteristics do you enjoy in a cookie?

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Earl Grey Peach Cake

Going back to school has really brought some more inspiration into my life. Being around tons of great recipes and products like pepper jelly and cayenne chocolates, chocolate stout cakes, and strawberry yogurt mousse tortes, has given me tons of great recipe ideas. But sadly, school has also sapped all of the baking time out of my life.

Oh peaches.

So I've decided to bottle it all up until the weekends, when I can bake and write recipes and blog posts for the week ahead. I settled on this plan Tuesday and have been looking forward to baking this cake all week.

The results were rather messy, but the taste was all there.

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces flour (cake or AP)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces eggs
• 11 ounces sugar
• 8 ounces Earl Grey tea
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 ounces butter, softened
• 2 tablespoon Earl Grey reduction (To make, brew a cup of Earl Grey, add about 1/4 cup of sugar, and simmer until most of the water is gone.)
• 1 egg (or 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg)
• ~7 cups powdered sugar
• pinch salt
• 2 medium peaches, chopped and dried

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two 8 inch round pans with flour and parchment.
2. Whisk together the flour and salt.
3. In a mixer, beat the eggs and sugar for about 5 minutes on medium speed, until thick and pale.
4. Mix the 8 oz of Earl Grey with the vanilla. Alternately mix in the flour mixture and the liquids.
5. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature.
6. Beat together the butter, reduction, egg, and salt, adding powdered sugar to desired consistency.
7. Frost the cake, filling and topping it with peaches.

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