Monday, April 25, 2011

Cherry Danish

I wasn't feeling the traditional Easter Dinner this year so my husband decided to smoke a giant bone in Rib Eye that we bought at Marczyk's Fine Foods and I decided that Martha Stewart's Cherry Danishes would be the perfect dessert!

My 4 year old daughter helped me and we all loved them. We're anxious to make them again and use some other jam for the filling. Daddy loves Cherry so he was very happy with them.




Cherry Danish
 adapted from Martha Stewart May 2011 Magazine


For the dough
1 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, plus more for bowl
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (one 1/4-ounce envelope) active dry yeast
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and hands
Salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy cream, for egg wash

For the filling
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1/3 cup cherry preserves

For the glaze
1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream

About 3 hours before you want to serve these, make the dough.  This dough can be made ahead of time and frozen for up to 2 weeks.  Warm the milk, butter, and sugar in a small saucepan over a low heat until mixture reaches 120 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Make sure that you are looking at the right side of your thermometer....NOT the C side.  Pour the warm milk over the yeast that you've put in the bowl of a mixer; whisk to combine. Cover with 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt (do not stir). Let stand for 5 minutes.

Using the dough-hook attachment, mix the dough on medium speed, scraping down sides of bowl, until a sticky dough forms. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low, and mix in 1 1/2 cups flour. (If dough is too sticky, mix in an additional 1/2 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.) Continue to mix until dough is smooth and pulls away from sides of bowl, about 3-5 minutes more.

Using floured hands, place your dough that you've named Henry, onto a lightly floured surface. Knead Henry into a ball, and transfer him to a large buttered bowl. Cover Henry with plastic wrap, and let him stand in a warm place until dough is doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Turn on your oven if you need to warm your kitchen. 

Return your dough named Henry to a lightly floured surface, and punch him down. Reshape Henry into a ball. Let him stand, covered with the plastic wrap, for 10 minutes.

While Henry is resting,  make the filling: Beat cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg yolk. Add (or don't) poppy seeds, and beat until evenly distributed.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 16-inch square. You might need to do this in two sections in you have a small kitchen like I do. Trim the edges using a sharp paring knife pizza cutter to form a 15-inch square. (If dough seems too warm or too elastic, refrigerate or freeze for 10 minutes.) Cut dough into nine 5-inch squares, and divide between 2 baking sheets.

Cut a 2-inch line from the 4 corners of each square into the center. Spread a heaping tablespoon of cream cheese filling onto each. Drop a heaping teaspoon of preserves on top of the cream cheese. Fold the 2 top corners into the center of each square. Repeat with remaining corners to form petals. Brush petals with egg wash. Bake until deep golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes. Let cool slightly.

While your little flowers are baking, make the glaze: Mix together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap until ready to use. (If glaze gets stiff, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.)

Drizzle Danishes with glaze, and let stand for 10 minutes.

These can be made in the morning and served many hours later.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Walnut Room

We went to Marczyk's this morning and picked up a couple of beautiful pieces of meat for iKeith to smoke tomorrow and a few other things (like sausage and hot dogs that I'll tell you about later). They were having a sale because it's their 9th anniversary so everything was 10% off.

I also spent a little time in the wine shop and I think I could drink my way through it.  They seriously have a fabulous collection of reasonably priced wine.  Whoever is stocking this place is doing a great job!

We were hungry for lunch when we left and decided to head to Cherry Cricket for some burgers.  We tried for 20 minutes to find a parking space and gave up.

Our next stop was the Baker Neighborhood.  I knew we'd find something great and maybe have better luck with the parking.
The Walnut Room

My children always love pizza so we decided to try The Walnut Room.  I read on YELP that they had Chicago Style Thin pizza.  This made my husband very happy because he'd recently had a conversation with a co-worker about this kind of pizza and we were anxious to find some.

One thing that I liked about the menu was that they had 10 inch sizes so that we could try more than one pizza.  They also sell pizza by the slice for $2 each.  This works out great because my daughter eats a small amount but my son can eat two slices.  This ended up being much cheaper than buying them their own pizza. By the way....kids eat free on Monday.

2 thumbs up
I chose the Mediterranean Pizza ($8.25), garlic herb oil topped with Feta Cheese, fresh Baby Spinach, Artichoke Hearts, Red Onions, Sun Dried Tomatoes and Mozzarella.  I loved the sweetness of the tomatoes against the salty feta.  This was a fresh, crunch pizza and I loved every bite.


My husband, the meat lover....chose the Iron Maiden($6.50) which is just pepperoni, sausage and ham.  It was really good and reminded us of a pizza from our childhood.  I like some veggies on my pizza so this wasn't my favorite.  My husband loved it!


The Walnut Room also has a great selection of appetizers and sandwiches.  So much to try that I know we'll be back!



The Walnut Room
2 N. Broadway
Denver, CO 80203
303.736.6750
Twitter @TheWalnutRoom
Facebook The Walnut Room


I was not compensated for this post.....my family just loves pizza and I like to share what I learn with my friends.

Walnut Room Pizzeria on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Pop Up Pancakes

Today....my first baby turns five years old. I always make a special breakfast for my kids when it's their birthday and I knew he'd like these. He ate them for breakfast and lunch. He ate them until they were gone. I made some of these in a regular muffin tin and some in a small tin and I liked the small one's better. I would reduce the baking time by 5 minutes if you do this.

bite sized


Pop Up Pancake Recipe
adapted from Make and Takes

1 cup milk
1 cup flour
6 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon of vanilla
3 tablespoons of sugar
dash salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease your muffin tins.

Place all ingredients in the blender and mix until all of the flour is incorporated.

Pour into muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden on top.  When you remove them from the oven...they will collapse a little bit.  This is fine.

The insides are hollow....so you could pipe in some whipped cream but we just cut them up and served them with maple syrup on top.  They are addictive!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Strawberry Siggi's Yogurt


I've been hearing a lot about this yogurt.  I'm not a huge yogurt fan.....but I thought since I'm of Scandinavian Ancestry....that I'd be all over this Icelandic Style treat.

I was not.

It made me gag.

My 4 year old, little foodie.....she loved it and wants me to buy more.

But....it's $2 a container at Whole Foods.

I think she needs an allowance.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Coffee Talk: Cherry Creek Mall Starbucks


I've made it my life's mission to try all three flavors of Starbucks Cake Pops.  First up!  Tiramisu....it was really good with a cup of coffee, moist and sweet.  I give it five star. 

I enjoyed this coffee and cake pop at the Starbucks Kiosk at The Cherry Creek Mall.  A favorite spot to get refreshment while shopping or visiting our iPad2 at The Apple Store.  It is always clean and the barista's do their job very well!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Easter Egg App from Martha Stewart

Leave it to Martha to come up with an app to help you decorate Easter Eggs! My daughter is obsessed with Martha Stewart right now so we've been watching The Martha Stewart Show in the mornings.

Today Martha colored eggs...after she pranked Joey for April Fools Day,  and she told us about her new app. Mallory is impressed that Martha owns an iPad. We downloaded it immediately! Download yours HERE.



Martha has really outdone herself this time.  The Egg Gallery gives you every decorating option under the sun.  I don't know how i'm going to decide...there are too many options to choose from! Once you do find one that you really like....click on HOW TO and there are detailed instructions. By the way...you can mark your favorite eggs and then find them in the button titled FAVORITES!  I tell you...Martha has thought of everything!

She even has a section called basics.  Here you will find a video showing how to blow an egg.  NOTE: Martha is not in this video....on of her minions is demonstrating. Also....they use an aspirator....not their mouth.  Good to know!

This app is a bargain at .99 cents!