Thursday, November 16, 2017

Chili Cheese Corn Dog Bundt #BundtBakers

Hot dogs and spicy beef chili are baked up in a cheesy cornbread batter to create a savory chili cheese corn dog Bundt you can slice up and serve at your next party.

Food Lust People Love: Hot dogs and spicy beef chili are baked up in a cheesy cornbread batter to create a savory chili cheese corn dog Bundt you can slice up and serve at your next party.

One special treat I loved as a child were the fried corn dogs only sold at ball games in the concession stand. They vied for favorite status with Frito Pie, that is, Fritos served covered in chili, and nachos, crispy tortillas smothered with melted cheese food product. I have no idea if any actual cheese is involved in the making of that sauce but it is fabulous. I would go to a football or baseball game just for the food.

When our host of this month’s Bundt Bakers event decided on tailgating Bundts as our theme, I knew I wanted to create a Bundt that had elements of my favorite ballpark snacks. I started with my mom’s homemade cornbread recipe – it’s the best and I really should share that sometime soon – then I added the rest. Talk about good!


Chili Cheese Corn Dog Bundt


This would be great to take along to any tailgating party or neighborhood potluck.

Ingredients for a 6-cup Bundt pan
1 cup or 180g yellow cornmeal , plus extra for the Bundt pan
1 cup or 125g all-purpose flour, plus extra for the Bundt pan
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
3/4 cup or 200g chili - homemade or otherwise. Mine was from this recipe.
3 1/2 oz or 100g extra sharp mature cheddar
3 hot dogs (I used Oscar Meyer because that’s what I can buy here. Use your favorite brand.)
1 large egg
1/4 cup or 60ml canola oil, plus extra for greasing the pan

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and liberally grease and flour your 6-cup Bundt pan. I used a combination of flour and cornmeal for mine.

Slice the hot dogs into thick circles and fry them gently for a few minutes in a nonstick skillet. This removes some of their moisture. Set aside to cool.


In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in the cheddar cheese and sliced hot dogs, stirring well. I set aside 8 slices to put on the bottom of the Bundt pan before adding the batter. They came out pretty cute so you might want to do the same.


In another bowl, beat together the milk, egg and oil. Beat until fairly smooth, about one minute.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until they are well combine.


If desired, put slices of hot dog around the bottom of your greased and floured Bundt pan. Spoon one third of the batter into the Bundt pan. Spoon half of the chili on top.


Top with the second third of the batter. Add the rest of the chili. Top with the last of the batter. In other words, it goes 1. batter 2. chili 3. batter 4. chili 5. batter.


Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until it's lightly browned on top and pulling away from the sides slightly.

Food Lust People Love: Hot dogs and spicy beef chili are baked up in a cheesy cornbread batter to create a savory chili cheese corn dog Bundt you can slice up and serve at your next party.


Remove from the oven and let to cool for a few minutes. Turn the Bundt out onto a rack to cool for another 15 minutes before slicing to serve.

Food Lust People Love: Hot dogs and spicy beef chili are baked up in a cheesy cornbread batter to create a savory chili cheese corn dog Bundt you can slice up and serve at your next party.

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Hot dogs and spicy beef chili are baked up in a cheesy cornbread batter to create a savory chili cheese corn dog Bundt you can slice up and serve at your next party.


Every month my Bundt Bakers group gets together to bring you creative treats baked in Bundt pans. Sometimes they are savory, most times they are sweet, but they are always delicious. Check out this month’s list below. Many thanks to our host Sue of Palatable Pastime for coming up with this fun theme and all her behind the scene work.

BundtBakers  

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

Pin it!

Food Lust People Love: Hot dogs and spicy beef chili are baked up in a cheesy cornbread batter to create a savory chili cheese corn dog Bundt you can slice up and serve at your next party.
.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Bananas Foster Monkey Bread #BreadBakers

Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.

Food Lust People Love: Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.

Bananas Foster is a special dessert that was created and served first, table-side, at Brennan’s in New Orleans. About five years ago, I made Bananas Foster Muffins for a special Muffin Monday, just as we moved in Dubai because that was kind of a special occasion.

Today is the exact anniversary of our arrival, which is what made me think of Bananas Foster again for this month’s Bread Bakers theme of pull apart breads. After all, most monkey breads have sugar and cinnamon. Some have a sticky toffee or caramel glaze. Bananas Foster sauce has the added bonus of rum, perfect for a celebration.

The dough is adapted from the King Arthur Flour monkey bread recipe.

Bananas Foster Monkey Bread


Ingredients
For the bread dough:
1/2 cup or 120ml lukewarm water
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 cups or 250g flour

For the Bananas Foster sauce:
2 medium bananas
6 tablespoons or 85g butter, plus more for buttering the pan
1 cup or 200g dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons rum

To assemble the bananas foster monkey bread: 1 cup or 125g chopped pecans

Method
To make the dough, put your sugar, yeast and warm water in your mixing bowl. Leave to prove for a few minutes. When the bubbles begin forming, mix in oil, egg and salt.


Add 1 cup or 125g of the flour, stirring to blend. Add in the rest of the flour, mixing well. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.


Knead the dough by hand or machine until it is stretchy and smooth. Form the dough into a ball and lightly grease your mixing bowl. Put the dough ball in the greased bowl and cover the bowl with cling film.

Leave in a warm place for 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.


While the dough is rising, you can make your bananas Foster sauce.

Cut your bananas into about 1/2 in or 1 cm slices.

Combine the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon for the sauce in a skillet. Place the pan on a low heat, and cook, stirring, until the brown sugar dissolves. Add the bananas to the pan.


Turn the heat up a little, until the melted sugar is bubbling slowly. When the banana sections soften, carefully add the rum.


Tip the pan slightly so the rum vapor will ignite. It’s a little scary and happens quite suddenly so do be prepared. The flame burns off the alcohol and also helps thicken the sauce.

Food Lust People Love: Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.

Remove from the heat. Set aside and allow to cool. This makes about 1 3/4 cups or 414ml of sauce. We are going to use about 1 1/4 cups or 295ml in the monkey bread and save the balance for pouring on the bread when it’s served.

Thoroughly grease a 10 or 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with butter and sprinkle in a small handful of the chopped pecans. Set aside a handful of the pecan for decorating the bread after it bakes.


Once the first rise of the dough is finished, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press it down gently then cut the dough into about 20-23 balls.



Drizzle some of the bananas foster sauce into the bottom of the Bundt pan.


Add in about 8 or 9 dough balls. Top with more sauce then a sprinkle of pecans.


Add more dough balls, then more sauce and more pecans, until the dough balls are all used.

Food Lust People Love: Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.

Cover the pan with cling film and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes or until the bread has doubled.

Food Lust People Love: Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.

When rising time is almost up, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Remove the cling film and bake the bread for 25 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven.

Food Lust People Love: Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.

Turn it out onto a serving pan, scraping any sticky topping left behind in the pan and spooning it onto the bread.

Food Lust People Love: Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.


Warm the remaining sauce if it’s not pourable anymore and then drizzle it over the monkey bread. Top with reserved pecans.

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.


Many thanks to this month's host, Kelly of Passion Kneaded for this fabulous theme! Check out all the pull apart breads, both savory and sweet, that we’ve baked for you this month.

BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.


Pin it! 

Food Lust People Love: Bananas Foster Monkey Bread takes everyone's favorite pull apart loaf (usually made with bread dough balls rolled in sugar) to a whole new holiday level with bananas and rum. Put one of these guys on your party table and watch it disappear.
.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Stuffed Plum Tomato Tart #BakingBloggers

For a Christmas brunch or a Sunday lunch, this stuffed plum tomato tart with a savory black olive shortcrust is pretty enough to be the star of the meal.

Food Lust People Love: In this Stuffed Plum Tomato Tart with Black Olive Shortcrust, the flavors are Mediterranean, from the red ripe plum tomatoes and the mozzarella and anchovy stuffing, to the black olive shortcrust.

Do you ever come across a new ingredient in the grocery store that you just have to buy, even if you have no idea what you will make with it? I do! My most recent purchase was a container of mini plum tomatoes. Talk about cute!

Well, I couldn’t just cut them up and put them into a salad because then, how would you know how cute they were? Right? I decided that the best way to showcase them would be to stuff and bake them. And the best way to get them to stay upright would be to make them part of a tart.

This is a bit fiddly to make since you have to empty the tomatoes in order to fill them, but look at how pretty it turned out? Totally worth the time and, really, not a lot of effort.


Stuffed Plum Tomato Tart with Black Olive Shortcrust

The flavors are Mediterranean, from the red ripe plum tomatoes and the mozzarella and anchovy stuffing, to the black olive shortcrust.

Ingredients
For the black olive shortcrust:
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup or 60g shortening
1/2 cup or 40g minced black olives, well drained
3-4 tablespoons cold water

For the plum tomato tart filling:
16 baby plum tomatoes (mine weighed about 1 lb 2 oz or 500g)
1/2 cup or 28g fresh breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic
Small bunch chives (about 15g)
3.5 oz or 100g mozzarella, grated
5-6 small anchovies fillets, drained (for a vegetarian tart, replace these with salty Kalamata olives)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup or 60ml milk
1/2 cup or 50g finely grated Parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil

Method
Make the pastry dough by lightly combining the shortening with the salt and flour, until you have crumbles. Fork through the minced black olives.


Add the cold water a little at time, mixing it in with a fork, until the pastry can form a ball. You can see my method, without the olives, in detail here: How to make a flaky pie crust.


Wrap the dough in cling film. Chill.


Halve and empty the plum tomatoes, reserving the liquid and flesh you have removed. I used a melon ball scoop, which made this part really easy. Leave the tomato halves to drain cut side down on paper towels.



Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Lightly grease and line your 8 3/4 in or 22cm spring-form tart pan with baking parchment.

To make the stuffed plum tomato filling, mince the garlic, chives and anchovies. Mix them with the grated mozzarella, breadcrumbs and enough of the tomato insides to moisten.


Roll out the chilled olive pastry crust and ease it into the prepared tart pan. Trim the pastry to fit or fold it over and make a decorative edge.


Top with another piece of parchment and baking beads.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Remove the beads and parchment and bake another five. Remove the tart case from the oven and brush the bottom with a little olive oil.

Stuff the tomato halves with the filling and put them cut side up in the tart case, close together so they support each other to stay upright. I piled them all in and then held one at a time to fill, then replaced it in the crust.


Beat your eggs with the milk. Add the Parmesan and a good few grinds of fresh black pepper and mix well.

Carefully pour the egg mixture around the stuffed tomatoes. Give the whole tart another couple of grinds of fresh black pepper.

Food Lust People Love: In this Stuffed Plum Tomato Tart with Black Olive Shortcrust, the flavors are Mediterranean, from the red ripe plum tomatoes and the mozzarella and anchovy stuffing, to the black olive shortcrust.


Bake for 35-40 or until the egg is set and the tomatoes are slumping.

Food Lust People Love: In this Stuffed Plum Tomato Tart with Black Olive Shortcrust, the flavors are Mediterranean, from the red ripe plum tomatoes and the mozzarella and anchovy stuffing, to the black olive shortcrust.




Cut into slices. Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: In this Stuffed Plum Tomato Tart with Black Olive Shortcrust, the flavors are Mediterranean, from the red ripe plum tomatoes and the mozzarella and anchovy stuffing, to the black olive shortcrust.

Today I am joining a group of avid bakers in a new group called Baking Bloggers. Our organizer is Sue from Palatable Pastime and for our inaugural post, she has chosen PIE as the theme. Check out all the other lovely pies and tarts, both sweet and savory, that we are sharing.

Pin it! 

Food Lust People Love: In this Stuffed Plum Tomato Tart with Black Olive Shortcrust, the flavors are Mediterranean, from the red ripe plum tomatoes and the mozzarella and anchovy stuffing, to the black olive shortcrust.
 .