Month April 2014

Peanut Butter Jelly Chevron Cake Roll

Carroll 2 Comments

Love when food trends follow fashion trends.  How adorable is this chevron pattern on a traditional jelly roll.  I credit Pinterest with popularizing food that is so darn cute in the everyday households.  It’s fun to watch all the adorable treats popping up on social media.  And wouldn’t this be great on an Easter brunch table?

DSC_0791

I loved the idea of honoring the 1850s jelly roll then with classic flavors of peanut butter and jelly.

DSC_0765

Ingredients

Cake:

  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:

  • 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup peanut butter
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • 10 ounces fruit jelly

Directions

Cake:

In a medium mixing bowl, whip the eggs until frothy. Slowly add sugar, water, vanilla and flour mixture, scraping bowl occasionally.  Take out about 1/4 of the batter and add a few drops of food color to get to the desired color.

Place the colored batter into a piping bag with a small flat tip and make the zig zag pattern onto the wax paper.  You can find patterns on line to print out and trace, or make your own with a sharpie marker on a piece of parchment paper placed under the wax paper.

Bake the patterned batter for 2 minutes; allow cooling for 3 minutes and then spreading the rest of the batter on top.  Bake another 9-11 minutes.

Immediately loosen the cake around the edges and invert cake onto prepared towel. Carefully remove paper. Roll the cake, beginning at the narrow end. Cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes.

Filling:

Add cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and almond extract to a medium bowl and beat until well mixed. Carefully unroll cake and spread the peanut butter cream evenly to edges. Follow by spreading the fruit jelly over peanut butter.

Gently roll the cake and wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.  Slice and serve with fresh fruit or berries.

DSC_0784

This is such a fun, playful way to present a jelly roll cake.   The peanut butter and jelly filling is going to take you back to the lunchroom table, where everything is cute as a polka dot and sweet as a sprinkle!

DSC_0763

Let your inner child and fashionista meet in the kitchen!

This is what I used https://appliancereviewer.co.uk/best-ovens/

Work Vs. Play- Buffalo Chicken Samosas

Carroll 2 Comments

I’ve been on a blog-acation recently- With a new job, or role as we call jobs at WDW, I had to set some of my hobbies on the back burner until I came a little more comfortable at work. Not to say I haven’t been cooking and definitely not to say I haven’t missed working on blog stuff, I just could not juggle it all.  Being a chef at an African/Indian restaurant has certainly influenced the ingredients that are stocked in our refrigerator at home, I mean, now I make my own bread with a bread machine from www.Village-Bakery.com and much more. Sir Wes seems to be just fine with that, especially when I made my first samosa dough filled with buffalo chicken.

DSC_0010

I am clearly not the best at forming samosas, but I started to get the hang of it towards the end. And then I saw how they all looked like cattle heads, I had to laugh at myself. Good part is they ate just as well as a perfectly formed samosa!

DSC_0007

They are actually pretty simple to make, and I think the kids would love to get their hands dirty with these.   I’ll even go as far as saying they are well balanced to on the diet spectrum!

DSC_0032

Pastry

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup water, at room temperature

1 pound chicken thigh/breast meat, cooked and cooled

Favorite buffalo sauce

To make the pastry:

Combine the flour, salt, cumin, and oil, in a medium bowl. Mix until the oil is evenly distributed. Mix in the water, and knead for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it is smooth and has the consistency of bread dough. Set aside while you prepare the filling.

Season the cooked chicken with the buffalo sauce to taste preference. Make sure it is enough to wet and coat the chicken as some of it will bake away.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Divide the dough into 4 sections and form each into a smooth ball. Using your hands, press each ball into a flat disk. Dust a clean working surface with flour so the dough doesn’t stick, and using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll a disk into a thin circle, thick as a tortilla and cut the circle in half. Take one of the half circles and make a cone shape starting at the center of the cut side to make the point of the cone and then wet the edges with a little water to bond the overlapping the edges together. Put 1-2 oz of filling into the cone, moisten the top of the inside edges and close the cone, pressing the edges to seal it. Brush with olive oil on each side of the samosa and then place it on a baking sheet. Repeat the process to make about 12 samosas. Sprinkle with sea salt and place the samosas in the oven, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the samosas are nicely browned. Serve with the blue cheese dressing.

DSC_0012

I am happy to get back to the blog finally, while work was and always will be my priority, I think I am settling in to the new routine! Will see how the new cuisine I am working with comes into play at home!