STOLLEN: Daring Bakers December 2010 Challenge

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

It has been a while since I've posted on this blog, although I certainly haven't been lacking cooking and taking pictures. At the urging of a friend, I recently joined the Daring Bakers, and as a member, I will be preparing a designated recipe each month and will be posted pictures and comments here. Maybe this mandatory posting will get me back into posting the results of my own creations as well.

In any case, I have to say that at first I was less than thrilled when I found out that this month's recipe was stollen. Not celebrating Christmas, it's not a traditional holiday food for me; nonetheless, I proceeded eagerly. As I discovered, the dough is yeast-based and very rich, and is very much flavored with citrus. One of the add-ins to the dough was candied citrus peel, which had to be prepared from scratch. It was a good opportunity to try out this technique in addition to making the stollen itself.

In the end, the stollen came out looking beautifully. If I made it again, I would perhaps change up the dried fruits and reduce the degree of citrus flavors in the dough.

I'm looking forward to seeing what recipe will be up for next month!

Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi in Brown Butter

I am beginning my journey into the world of gnocchi, and my first try was the ricotta variety with spinach added to keep it interesting. I paired the gnocchi with a brown butter sauce and some grated Parmesan, and the result was rich, decadent deliciousness. Next time, I might try a more adventurous sauce, and I'm hoping to try making potato gnocchi soon.

Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi in Brown Butter
Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

16 ounces frozen spinach
1 pound container ricotta cheese
4 eggs
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese for dough, ½ cup for serving
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ stick unsalted butter

Directions

Defrost spinach in microwave. Squeeze spinach in a small handfuls until as dry as possible. Stir together the spinach, ricotta cheese, eggs, 1 cup Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a large bowl until evenly combined. Mix in 2 ¼ cups of flour. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough.

Using floured hands, break off pieces of the mixture slightly smaller than a walnut and roll into small dumplings. Place gnocchi on a lightly floured baking sheet. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Boil the gnocchi until they float to the surface, 1 to 2 minutes, then drain.

Meanwhile, cook butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Toss gnocchi with brown butter in skillet, then serve sprinkled with the remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.