Cooking Post!
So, I spent most of yesterday cooking, helping angelus7988 with his contribution to the ADP Initiation buffet. This time around, we decided to make two offerings; something sweet and (since there is apparently quite a demand for it) something savory. The former dish was a tried-and-true favorite that had been quite popular before: cupcake cones. The latter was something new we thought up for the occasion: shepherd's pie tarts. Knowing that there were several vegetarians/vegans in attendance, we came up with a vegan version made with mushrooms in addition to the more standard meat version.
Despite the fact that the "shepherd's tarts" were our Big Project for this event, as many of you know, I can't pass up a chance to bake. So we also made cupcake cones -- cupcakes baked inside sugar cones. We made two flavors this time: devil's food with chocolate frosting, and strawberry with cream cheese frosting. ADP bought us whipped frosting this time, at which we were initially skeptical, but which actually turned out quite well; it spread easily, and made the cupcakes look like soft-serve ice cream.
The last time we made cupcake cones, a couple of semesters ago, they were really popular, but were a real pain in the arse to make. This time around, I discovered a couple of tricks that really made baking them a much easier and more pleasant experience. First, I discovered that mini-muffin tins were just about the ideal size to hold up the cones; the bottoms of the tins are almost exactly the same size as the bottoms of the cones, and the spacing works out so that the edges of the cones are almost touching. As long as you're a little bit careful when moving them, the mini-muffin tins help the cones stand up perfectly for filling, baking, and transport.
The second trick came with filling the cones with batter, a process that was sloppy and frustrating last time. Last week, when angelus7988 and I were at Target waiting to pick up a prescription, I happened to start paging through a book about cupcake decorating. One of the handy tips the book suggested was using a Ziploc bag with the tip cut off as an ersatz pastry bag, and loading it with batter to fill cupcake pans. I'd known about the Ziploc-as-pastry-bag idea before, but the idea of using it for batter instead of just icing was novel to me. I decided to try it with the ice cream cones, and lo, it made the process so much easier. I was able to control how much batter went into each cone, make sure that they were all equally-portioned, and minimize dripping and spilling onto the muffin tin.
Of course, the making of the cupcake cones was not entirely without incident. The unfortunate thing about sugar cones is that some of them have broken rims even when they first come out of the package. Broken rims give the batter a place to blorp down the side of the cone as it rises during baking. So there were a few ugly ones. They still tasted good, though.
The chocolate ones proved to be much more popular than the strawberry/cream-cheese ones (though that may be partly due to the fact that the latter were not brought out until later in the evening) -- in fact, the chocolate ones were so popular that they were gone before I arrived! *sadface*
The real Project of this occasion, though, was the shepherd's tarts. As the name suggests, they are bite-sized tart shells filled with shepherd's pie. Our meat version used ground bison, and our vegan version used sliced and sauteed baby portobello mushrooms. Once again, the mini-muffin tins were our MVP of the cooking process. Happily, I had a biscuit-cutter that was just the right size to make dough-circles that would mold to the inside of each muffin-cup. We made garlic mashed potatoes (using soymilk and margarine for the vegan batch, and good old-fashioned milk and butter for the carnivore batch) to dollop on top, and sprinkled them with paprika when they came out of the oven. Recipe follows if you're interested:
Each 2-crust batch of pie crust dough will yield 2 dozen tart shells. Pick your favorite pie crust recipe, get a package of store-bought pie crusts, or try the recipe I used:
2 c. flour
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. cold water (though we had to add a bit more water, as the dough dried out a bit while we were working with it)
One pound of meat will fill 4 dozen tarts; we used ground bison, though any ground meat will work. Brown and season to taste and set aside until the tart shells are ready to be filled. Likewise, half a pound of chopped baby portobello (also called cremini) mushrooms will fill 2 dozen tarts; presumably other types of mushroom can be substituted, though portobellos tend to be the go-to stand-in for meat. Sautee in a couple tablespoons of oil, season to taste, and set aside until the tart shells are ready.
Mashed potatoes are fairly simple; we found that 2-3 cloves of garlic were sufficient for a 5-pound bag of potatoes, but that can vary by taste.
About a spoonful (not rounded) went into each tart shell, and was covered with a little mound of mashed potatoes. They baked for about 30 minutes at 400F, or until the shells were done when poked with a toothpick. Then we sprinkled a bit of paprika on top to decorate, and voila! Shepherd's tarts.
The shepherd's tarts seemed very well-received. There were no leftovers, and angelus7988 even got an email praising them and asking for recipe details, so I'm willing to consider that a success. And they were tasty. The cupcake cones were also well-received, though I'm wondering if we shouldn't just stick with chocolate next time (or perhaps doctoring up a box-mix, going for apple-cinnamon or something?), since those seem to be the most popular. Regardless, fun times were had -- except for the three hours I spent rolling out pie crust. Of course, now I'm contemplating the prospect of single-serving entree-sized shepherd's tarts... Perhaps another time.
Despite the fact that the "shepherd's tarts" were our Big Project for this event, as many of you know, I can't pass up a chance to bake. So we also made cupcake cones -- cupcakes baked inside sugar cones. We made two flavors this time: devil's food with chocolate frosting, and strawberry with cream cheese frosting. ADP bought us whipped frosting this time, at which we were initially skeptical, but which actually turned out quite well; it spread easily, and made the cupcakes look like soft-serve ice cream.
The last time we made cupcake cones, a couple of semesters ago, they were really popular, but were a real pain in the arse to make. This time around, I discovered a couple of tricks that really made baking them a much easier and more pleasant experience. First, I discovered that mini-muffin tins were just about the ideal size to hold up the cones; the bottoms of the tins are almost exactly the same size as the bottoms of the cones, and the spacing works out so that the edges of the cones are almost touching. As long as you're a little bit careful when moving them, the mini-muffin tins help the cones stand up perfectly for filling, baking, and transport.
The second trick came with filling the cones with batter, a process that was sloppy and frustrating last time. Last week, when angelus7988 and I were at Target waiting to pick up a prescription, I happened to start paging through a book about cupcake decorating. One of the handy tips the book suggested was using a Ziploc bag with the tip cut off as an ersatz pastry bag, and loading it with batter to fill cupcake pans. I'd known about the Ziploc-as-pastry-bag idea before, but the idea of using it for batter instead of just icing was novel to me. I decided to try it with the ice cream cones, and lo, it made the process so much easier. I was able to control how much batter went into each cone, make sure that they were all equally-portioned, and minimize dripping and spilling onto the muffin tin.
Of course, the making of the cupcake cones was not entirely without incident. The unfortunate thing about sugar cones is that some of them have broken rims even when they first come out of the package. Broken rims give the batter a place to blorp down the side of the cone as it rises during baking. So there were a few ugly ones. They still tasted good, though.
The chocolate ones proved to be much more popular than the strawberry/cream-cheese ones (though that may be partly due to the fact that the latter were not brought out until later in the evening) -- in fact, the chocolate ones were so popular that they were gone before I arrived! *sadface*
The real Project of this occasion, though, was the shepherd's tarts. As the name suggests, they are bite-sized tart shells filled with shepherd's pie. Our meat version used ground bison, and our vegan version used sliced and sauteed baby portobello mushrooms. Once again, the mini-muffin tins were our MVP of the cooking process. Happily, I had a biscuit-cutter that was just the right size to make dough-circles that would mold to the inside of each muffin-cup. We made garlic mashed potatoes (using soymilk and margarine for the vegan batch, and good old-fashioned milk and butter for the carnivore batch) to dollop on top, and sprinkled them with paprika when they came out of the oven. Recipe follows if you're interested:
Each 2-crust batch of pie crust dough will yield 2 dozen tart shells. Pick your favorite pie crust recipe, get a package of store-bought pie crusts, or try the recipe I used:
2 c. flour
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. cold water (though we had to add a bit more water, as the dough dried out a bit while we were working with it)
One pound of meat will fill 4 dozen tarts; we used ground bison, though any ground meat will work. Brown and season to taste and set aside until the tart shells are ready to be filled. Likewise, half a pound of chopped baby portobello (also called cremini) mushrooms will fill 2 dozen tarts; presumably other types of mushroom can be substituted, though portobellos tend to be the go-to stand-in for meat. Sautee in a couple tablespoons of oil, season to taste, and set aside until the tart shells are ready.
Mashed potatoes are fairly simple; we found that 2-3 cloves of garlic were sufficient for a 5-pound bag of potatoes, but that can vary by taste.
About a spoonful (not rounded) went into each tart shell, and was covered with a little mound of mashed potatoes. They baked for about 30 minutes at 400F, or until the shells were done when poked with a toothpick. Then we sprinkled a bit of paprika on top to decorate, and voila! Shepherd's tarts.
The shepherd's tarts seemed very well-received. There were no leftovers, and angelus7988 even got an email praising them and asking for recipe details, so I'm willing to consider that a success. And they were tasty. The cupcake cones were also well-received, though I'm wondering if we shouldn't just stick with chocolate next time (or perhaps doctoring up a box-mix, going for apple-cinnamon or something?), since those seem to be the most popular. Regardless, fun times were had -- except for the three hours I spent rolling out pie crust. Of course, now I'm contemplating the prospect of single-serving entree-sized shepherd's tarts... Perhaps another time.