Homemade Fondant

Whether or not you are an avid cake baker or just starting out, I'm sure you either LOVE fondant or HATE it. Some store bought fondants are plain DISGUSTING, so trust me when I say that I understand where you're coming from!

This homemade fondant is not only easy to make but equally DELICIOUS!! It tastes kind of like a cross between cotton candy, marshmallows, and candied unicorns.

What???

Have you not tasted candied unicorns before??


INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup whole milk
3 Tbsp of unflavored gelatin(or 4 envelops of Knox's Gelatin)
1 cup of light corn syrup
3 Tbsp of SALTED butter
2 1/2 Tbsp of glycerin
2 tsp of vanilla extract(you may use clear vanilla)
1 tsp of butter flavoring
1 tsp of lemon juice powder(optional)
3 1/2 to 4 pounds of powdered sugar
2 pinches of salt

Additional items needed:

Vegetable shortening
Extra glycerin(for kneading in, if necessary)
some corn starch
A stand mixer


INSTRUCTIONS:

Place your milk in a 2 cup measuring cup. Sprinkle in your gelatin and allow it to firm up or bloom(should take 3-4 minutes).

Place mixture in the microwave and heat on HIGH for 1 minute. Stir. If your gelatin does not become liquid, then continue to microwave using 15 second intervals until melted. Make sure to stir between heating cycles.

Put corn syrup, butter, glycerin, vanilla extract, butter flavoring, and salt into a large measuring cup. Add this into your milk and gelatin mixture. Stir.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes(or until butter has melted). Stir. Set this aside and allow it to cool to LUKE WARM.

Place 2 pounds of powdered sugar into your stand mixer. Add in your lemon juice powder if using.

Strain LUKE WARM mixture into your powdered sugar. Mix it by hand with a spatula until blended.

Fit your mixer with the dough hook and turn the mixer on to "stir." Slowly start to incorporate the rest of the powdered sugar, adding a cup at a time.

Your fondant is ready when it starts to pull away from the sides and starts to clump around the dough hook.

On a clean surface, add some vegetable shortening and then corn starch onto the counter to prevent sticking.

With some crisco on your hands, dump the fondant onto the counter and begin to work it into a smooth round ball. It will be slightly soft and you may use additional powdered sugar(or corn starch)AS NEEDED to form your ball.

Divide the dough in half and wrap them up tightly in some crisco coated saran wrap. Do not use a spray because that will form a crust. Repeat with a second wrapping, then repeat the same process with the other half of fondant.

Place in an air tight container and allow it to sit overnight on the counter.

The next day, knead only the amount required to cover your cake.

On a non stick surface, knead out some fondant. Interchange between a little glycerin and some shortening, just until soft and supple.

NOTES:

If you are positive that you are not going to color your fondant, then you can add 3 Tbsp of glycerin instead of 2 1/2 to start with. I like to control how much goes into my fondant and if you put too much then it will be too soft, not to mention that food coloring also contains glycerin. If you are unfamiliar with the texture of fondant, go out and purchase some store bought fondant to note the texture.

Do not use butter flavoring shortening. It does not taste good in this.

And no, you cannot taste the crisco in this recipe. :)

This recipe yields about 4 1/2 pounds of fondant.

Work your fondant in batches until nice and smooth.

If at anytime it appears too soft, just knead in more powdered sugar. If it appears too stiff, add in more glycerin.

The sugar and cooking process preserves the dairy ingredients, so there is no worry of spoilage.

Good tasting brands of commercial fondant: Fondx and Fondarific. I hear Satin Ice is good too.

Adapted from Michele Foster's Fondant recipe.

Watch the tutorial below!

French Cut Green Beans

This so called "side dish" is sooo good...that I can probably eat it as a "main dish", instead! Everything that is good in this world can be found in this recipe. First, I cook some shallots and garlic in some bacon grease, then...add the green beans in, along with some sliced mushrooms, and FINALLY, top it all off with some crunchy bacon! Did I say ANYTHING wrong, here?? :)

Ingredients:

18 ounces of French cut green beans
8 ounces of sliced mushrooms
1 shallot finely chopped
1 pkg of bacon, roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp of red pepper flakes
fish sauce, salt, sugar, black pepper to taste
lemon juice(optional)

Cook your bacon in a cast iron skillet until crispy. Place the bacon on a paper towel lined plate and reserve the bacon grease for later use.

Get an ice water bath ready.

Boil some water. Add in some salt. Cook your green beans for about 1-2 minutes. If you're using regular green beans, cook them for about 5 minutes. Drain them well and then place them in your ice water bath. Drain them well again, and then pat completely dry.

With a skillet on medium high heat, add in 2 Tbsp of bacon grease. Add in your chopped shallots and cook until tender. Add in your garlic plus 1 tsp of chili flakes, and cook until fragrant. Add in your mushrooms, along with a pinch of salt, pinch of sugar, and some black pepper. Cook until mushrooms are almost tender. If your pan seems dry, add in some more bacon grease as needed.

Next, add in your green beans along with some fish sauce and a pinch of sugar. Lastly, add in your crispy bacon and continue to cook for about a minute. Adjust seasoning as needed. If using, squeeze in some lemon juice and toss to coat before removing from heat.

Watch the video here.

White Sandwhich Bread

Nothing beats coming home to the smell of homemade bread! A good tasting bread recipe is easy to come by...one that is not dense, yet light and fluffy is another story. Just like you, I've scoured the internet and tried countless recipes, searching for a light and airy sandwich bread, yet none prevailed. Over the years, I've read what seems like hundreds of forums, and researched many sites, and this year I think I finally came up with a recipe that I hope will do homemade bread some justice. :)

Baking bread is definitely an art form in itself because a lot of things factor into how your bread will turn out, like humidity. If you've ever come across a recipe that says "about" 5-6 cups or so, it's because flour reacts differently in their ability to absorb moisture. That's why I like to use the food processor(although I'm sure some professional bakers would disagree) because it allows my recipe to stay pretty consistent. When kneading by hand or with a stand mixer, I always feel the need to add more flour because of the "tackiness" of the dough but in my years of bread making, slightly tacky and wetter dough will result in a softer/lighter loaf of bread.

Why don't I use bread flour? Although bread flour is awesome to use because of it's high protein content(which results in a beautiful rise) it will also yield a more chewier loaf so that's why I use all purpose flour. It's very important to add the vital wheat gluten which gives the overall loaf great structure and helps it stay risen.

Oh, and fyi if you were trying to find a homemade bread recipe that stays soft for days, well let me tell you, that YOU AREN'T GOING TO FIND IT! That's the beauty of making it yourself--you know EXACTLY what's going in it! Grocery store bread and such use additives and enzymes to their dough to increase shelf life. I use diastatic malt powder only to add softness to the overall texture of the loaf.

Ingredients:
1 cup of warm water(95-110 degrees F)
2 tsp of active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 T of potato flour(NOT POTATO STARCH OR POTATO STARCH FLOUR)
*3 T of baker's special dry milk powder
1 T of vital wheat gluten
*1 tsp of diastatic malt powder or dough enhancer
1 and 1/4 tsp of salt
2 T of sugar
2 T of softened unsalted butter
* For the dry milk powder, I recommend that you purchase it from King Arthur's website! It's called Baker's Special Dry Milk Powder and it's nothing like the ones sold at your local grocery store. For starters, it's a lot smoother and finer in texture and not gritty. I don't know what's in that stuff but it makes the bread waaay softer and lighter!

* I also purchased the Diastatic Malt Powder and Potato Flour from the King Arthur website. Both of these items are crucial in this recipe because they make the bread lighter/fluffier and not dense like most recipes! Try not to leave these things out! I will post a link below that will take you directly to their website!


Start off by sprinkling your yeast into your warm water. Make sure it isn't too hot-you don't want to kill your yeast. Give it a little stir and then add in your sugar and stir one more time. Allow to sit until mixture becomes creamy or when you can see the yeast kind of "sprouting" on the top of the surface(at least 5 min or so). Now, you know that your yeast is "alive".

While you're waiting for your yeast to wake up, add your all purpose flour, diastatic malt powder, potato flour, and vital wheat gluten into a large mixing bowl. Mix to combine.

When your dough is activated, give it a quick stir to loosen up the sugar that has fallen to the bottom of the bowl, and pour it into your dry mixture. Using a wooden spoon, mix until well combined. Add in your salt last(yeast doesn't like salt but adds flavor)give it a another quick mix, and then add your dough into the food processor.

Pulse for 1 minute. Turn off food processor and slightly flatten out the dough and then slather on your softened butter. Take your hand or butter knife and bring some dough over the butter. Pulse for 30 more seconds. It's easy to over knead dough in the food processor so stay close.

Place dough onto a clean work surface and working with very fast hands, form it into a nice smooth ball. Don't overdo it. I recommend NOT adding any additional flour to your work surface unless you absolutely HAVE TO! When you begin to work with the dough, you will notice that the stickiness of the dough will start to smooth itself out.

Place dough into a bowl and add a small amount of vegetable oil. Place your dough in the bowl and toss to coat. This will prevent a crust from forming at the top of the dough. Cover with saran wrap and allow to double in size. This can take anywhere from 45 minutes to over an hr depending on your weather conditions. A warm and draft free place is recommended.

Once doubled in size, take two fingers, lightly press them into some flour, and then poke the top of the dough--if your indentations stay, then your dough if ready to be rolled out.

Take dough and place on clean work surface and punch it down the middle. Sometimes I give it a few small punches to release some of the large air pockets that have formed within the dough. Using a rolling pin, gently roll it out and then shape it into a log(if you notice your dough sticking, lightly flour your rolling pin to get the flow going). Pinch the seam together and roll it over itself with the seam side down. Pinch and seal the two ends as well.

Take some vegetable oil and lightly coat your bread pan but don't overdo it. Get in there with your hands and make sure that the sides are well coated as well. Take a piece of saran wrap sprayed w/ some baking spray and cover your dough. Allow to rise one more time until it has risen to at least half an inch to an inch high above the sides of the pan. There is such thing as letting it rise too long. If you over did it, the dough will collapse and you will end up with a brick!

Place a cast iron skillet on the bottom of your oven. Turn your oven to 350 degrees. Once done preheating, remove saran wrap from loaf and gently slide it into the oven. Take about 5 ice cubes and add those into the cast iron skillet and close the oven door. Don't slam it, you don't want to disturb your dough. That steam from the ice cubes will give your bread a nice rounded "dome" like shape and a beautiful brown crust. After about 15 minutes, remove your cast iron skillet cause it won't do any good in there at that point.

Bake for 25-30 minutes(tap the bottom of the pan-if it sounds hollow it's done). If the tops get too brown for your liking, you may tent it with some foil for the last 10 minutes. I like it when the crust is really brown so I never tent it. Remove from oven and immediately place onto wire racks to cool completely. Brush the tops with melted butter and allow to cool for one hour before slicing. If you slice into them too soon the texture of the bread will be sort of "gummy" in texture.

Slice and enjoy!! If you're starting to bake more often I would highly recommend purchasing a electrical knife for nice and even slicing. I have one by Black and Decker that I am in love with! No more sloppy pieces of uneven bread! Also the bread will stay soft for up to two days on the counter. One loaf for my house lasts only for a day so it works out perfectly in my favor. Keep it stored in a tight paper bag and away from sunlight and only cut what you need.

Mini Fruit Tarts

Ingredients for the crust:
1/2 cup of all purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp more
1/4 cup of pecans
2 pinches of salt
1 1/2 Tbsp of sugar(I used brown sugar in the video cause I ran out of regular sugar)
1/2 stick(4 Tbsp) of cold, cubed butter
1-2 tsp of cold, ice water

For the filling:
1 1/4 cup of whole milk(divided)
3 large egg yolks(reserve the egg whites for the royal icing)
7 Tbsp of sugar(divided)
2 Tbsp of cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp of vanilla bean paste(or half of a scraped vanilla bean pod or half a tsp of vanilla extract)
4 ounces of softened cream cheese

For the topping:
Fresh fruit of your choice

For the glaze:
1/4 cup of apricot jelly
1 Tbsp of water

For the chocolate hearts:
1/2 bag of cocoa flavored candy melts

For the royal icing:
3 large egg whites
about 5 cups of powdered sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
some water

Additional items needed:
2-3 mini tart pans(something with a removable bottom or a springform pan)
dried beans or pie weights
2 disposable piping bags
Wilton tip #1 or #3
Silpat or parchment paper

To make the crust, place your flour, pecans, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse until your pecans are finely ground. Add in your cold butter, and pulse some more until the mixture resembles corn meal. With the motor still running, add in your ice cold water, until the mixture comes together, and start to form a ball. Start off with 1 tsp of water and then add more if you need to. Turn out your dough onto a piece of saran wrap, flatten it out into a disc, and then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Remove your dough from the fridge and divide it into 3 equal pieces. Place the dough into your mini tart pans and press into an even layer of the pan and also up along the sides. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.

Place your pans on a baking sheet and line the crust with foil. Fill them with dried beans or pie weights and bake for 12 minutes. Remove the foil and dried beans and continue to bake until golden brown, about 8 more minutes. Transfer onto a wire rack to let them cool completely.

Next, make the glaze. Place your apricot jelly and water into a small saucepan and cook over medium low heat. Once your jelly has melted down(about 10-15 minutes), strain the mixture and set aside for later use.

To make the filling, whisk together your egg yolks, 3/4 cup of milk, 3 Tbsp of sugar, a pinch of salt, and 2 Tbsp of cornstarch. Set aside. Next in a small saucepan, add the remaining 1/2 cup of milk, 4 Tbsp of sugar, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla bean paste. Bring this mixture to a simmer over medium heat. While whisking, take your hot milk and pour a little bit into your egg yolk mixture(this is called tempering). Keep whisking and slowly start adding in small dribbles of the hot milk, until half of it is mixed in. Now, you may start adding in steady streams until everything is mixed in. Strain the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture becomes thick(it should resemble the texture of yogurt). Remove pan from heat and whisk in your softened cream cheese. If you did not use vanilla bean paste, this is where you may add some vanilla extract. Place filling into cooled crusts and put them into the fridge while you work on your chocolate hearts. You may also pour the cream cheese/pastry cream into a bowl, place saran wrap directly on the surface, and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the heart shaped chocolate hearts: Follow the directions on the packaging and melt your candy melts in the microwave. Stir and then place it into a disposable piping bag. With a pair of scissors, snip a tiny bit off, and then pipe a heart onto your silpat or parchment paper that has been placed on a baking sheet. Fill the heart with more chocolate and smooth it out using a toothpick. Give the pan a few whacks on the counter to release any air bubbles that may have formed. Refrigerate until set.

How to make the royal icing: Place your egg whites into your stand mixer and beat on medium low until frothy. About 2 minutes. Add in some powdered sugar in batches until all mixed in. Add in your vanilla extract. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowls a few times to remove any large lumps. Continue to beat until smooth. Add in some water if it's too thick or more powdered sugar if it's too thin. You want to be able to pipe some out for writing. Place Wilton tip #1 or #3 into a disposable piping bag and put some royal icing in it. Twist and secure tightly.

Remove your chocolate hearts from the fridge and write a sweet message on them. Place them back into the fridge to set.

Arrange your fruit on the pastry cream, and using a pastry brush, brush on some glaze, then top off with your chocolate heart. Serve immediately! :)

Watch How to make mini fruit tarts here: