Roast Mortem (43 page)

 

Step 3—Assemble and bake:
After the cheese sauce is warm and well blended, pour it over the macaroni. (Note: Do not mix in the cheese sauce! Just pour it over the top. The sauce will slowly ooze down during cooking. If you mix it in at this stage, too much of the cheese sauce will end up on the bottom of the dish instead of throughout.) Cover with the remaining half of the cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes. If using Caramelized Bacon Bits, sprinkle them across the top of the casserole just before serving.

Makes 4 servings

 

2 large Vidalia onions (or another sweet onion),
cut into ¼-inch-thick rings
1¼ cups cake flour
(¼ cup for dusting; 1 for the batter—be sure it's cake flour!)
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon garlic salt
Vegetable, peanut, or canola oil (enough for deep frying)
6-8 ounces
cold
seltzer, club soda, or carbonated water
(be sure it's cold!)

 

Step 1—Prepare onions:
Toss the raw onion rings in ¼ cup of the cake flour and set aside.

 

Step 2—Mix dry batter ingredients:
Note: For best results, do not make the batter in advance. Finish the batter just before you are ready to fry the onion rings. In a large bowl, mix 1 cup of the cake flour, cayenne pepper, baking powder, and garlic salt. Heat the oil to 350° F. Only when the oil is hot and ready for frying should you move to the next step and finish the batter.

 

Step 3—Finish the batter and fry:
Add enough
cold
carbonated water to the dry ingredients to make a loose batter. Coat your onion rings and cook at once. Fry until golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Serve hot!

Makes 12 muffins

 

For the batter:

 

 

For the cinnamon topping:

 

Step 1—Prepare the batter:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs and milk and continue mixing. Stop the mixer. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg, and mix only enough to combine ingredients. Do not overmix at this stage or you will produce gluten in the batter and toughen the muffins.

 

Step 2—Bake:
Line cups in muffin pan with paper holders. Fill each up to the top (you can even mound it a little higher). Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until the muffins are lightly brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove muffins quickly from pan and cool on a wire rack. (Muffins that remain in a hot pan may end up steaming, and the bottoms may become tough.)

 

Step 3—Prepare the topping:
Mix together the sugar and cinnamon to create the cinnamon topping. Brush the tops of the warm muffins with the melted butter and dust with the cinnamon topping.

Clare brought this “jelly doughnut” version of her famous muffins to the Five-Borough Bake Sale. Detective Franco is
still
waiting for her to make him a plain old American jelly doughnut. He'll have to wait a little longer.

 

Makes 12 muffins

 

 

Step 1—
Line cups in a muffin pan with paper holders. Fill each cup halfway with the Doughnut Muffin batter. Poke a hole into the thick batter and spoon in 1 teaspoon of raspberry jelly. Top with remaining batter (filling cup about two-thirds full).

 

Step 2—
Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until the muffins are lightly brown. Remove muffins quickly from pan and cool on a wire rack. (Muffins that remain in a hot pan may end up steaming, and the bottoms may become tough.)

 

Step 3—
Brush the tops of the muffins with the melted butter and dust with the sugar.

When Clare needs a quick chocolate fix, this is her go-to recipe. She whipped up a pan of these babies after she realized Mike Quinn had played her the previous night by keeping his secrets. On the subject of pastry chef secrets: one way to deepen the rich flavor of chocolate in any recipe is to add coffee. And the trick to keeping these brownies magnificent is (1) allow melted chocolate to cool before adding to the batter, (2) do not over bake. With this recipe, undercooking is better than overcooking. And (3) allow pan of brownies to cool completely before cutting. These moist and tender brownies will drench your taste buds with chocolate flavor, but they need time to cool and harden before they can be cut into bar cookies. (While still warm, these brownies
do
make an amazing dessert and can be served on a plate with ice cream or whipped cream. Otherwise, give them at least 1 hour out of the oven before cutting.)

 

Makes one 9-inch square pan of brownies (about 16 bars)

 

 

Step 1—Melt chocolate and butter:
Preheat your oven to 350° F and prepare a 9-inch square pan by spraying bottom and sides with cooking spray (or buttering and lightly dusting with cocoa powder). Melt the chocolate and 4 tablespoons of the butter in a microwave safe bowl. (See note at end of recipe on melting chocolate.) Allow to cool as you make the batter.

 

Step 2—Create batter:
Using an electric mixer, cream the two sugars with your remaining 12 tablespoons of butter until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla extract, coffee, eggs, and cooled melted chocolate from Step 1. After wet ingredients are blended, add in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. (Blend well but do not overmix or you will produce gluten in the flour and toughen the batter.)

 

Step 3—Bake and cool:
Spread the batter into your prepared 9-inch square pan. Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes. Do not over bake these beauties. When are they done? As the batter cooks, you will see the top form a crust and begin to show traditional cracking. Gently shake the pan. If the center appears to jiggle a bit, the brownies are still underdone. Continue cooking five minutes at a time until baked batter feels solid when pan is gently shaken. You can also insert a toothpick into the very center of pan. If batter appears on toothpick, continue cooking and checking. Cool pan on a rack to allow air to properly circulate beneath the hot pan bottom. Do not cut brownies before they are completely cool or they may break apart on you. You can always enjoy still-warm brownie squares on a plate with ice cream or whipped cream. Otherwise, simply wait until cool to the touch (about 1 hour), then cut into bars and eat with joy!

 

Clare's Note on Melting Chocolate:
(1) Make sure bowl and stirring utensils are completely dry. Even a few drops of water can make chocolate seize up. (2) Chocolate burns easily so never heat chocolate until you see it turn completely liquid. Heat in microwave only 15 to 20 seconds to soften. Then remove and stir. Reheat if necessary for 10 seconds at a time and stir again until completely melted. (3) If you do not have a microwave, use a double boiler or create one by placing a dry, heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Place chocolate in the bowl or top of double boiler and stir until melted.

What makes this a “poor girl's” crème brûlée? The lack of a pricey kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar. Clare suggests you do what French housewives have done for years: use the oven broiler. The caramelized crust that forms on top of the dessert will not have the hard shell-like texture that comes from using a professional kitchen torch (or even an industrial model à la the firefighter's bake sale), but the taste of the crunchy, warm sugar atop the creamy silk of the egg custard will be sinfully satisfying. This recipe calls for 6 egg yolks, but do not discard the whites: you can use them to make Nonna's
Brutti Ma Buoni
(“Ugly but Good”) Italian Cookies. (See the recipe at
www.CoffeehouseMystery.com
.)

 

Makes 4 to 8 servings (depending on ramekin size)

 

Step 1—Make the custard:
Preheat oven to 300° F. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until smooth. Mix in the milk, cream, and vanilla. Pour the mixture evenly into four individual 7-8-ounce size ramekins (or eight 4-ounce size ramekins). Set ramekins in a shallow roasting or baking pan and create a water bath by pouring water into the pan until it reaches halfway up the outside of the ramekins.

 

Step 2—Bake the custard:
Bake until set, about 1 hour. Cooking time may be longer or shorter based on your oven and the size of your ramekins. So when is it done? You are looking for the top to set. The custard may still jiggle slightly, but the top should no longer be liquid. It should feel firm (spongy but set) when lightly touched, and when a toothpick or skewer is inserted down into the custard at the edge of the cup, it should come out clean. Otherwise, keep baking and checking.

 

Step 3—Chill it, baby:
Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. Cover each ramekin tightly with plastic wrap and chill completely in fridge for 4 hours or overnight. (Note: Covering with plastic will keep a skin from forming, but be sure to allow the custard to cool completely before covering.)

 

Step 4—Caramelize the top:
Okay, here's the “poor girl” part. If you do not have a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar, then take Clare's advice. Before serving, sprinkle turbinado sugar over the top, set ramekins in a shallow pan filled with ice (to keep custard cool), and place under your oven broiler for a few minutes to caramelize. Check often. Do not let sugar burn. Serve immediately. (Note: If substituting light brown sugar, re-chill in fridge to harden top.)

 

 

Makes one 8- or 9-inch pie

 

 

Step 1—Toss blueberries with flour:
Rinse and dry your blueberries. Toss with 2 tablespoons of the flour. (You are coating the berries with flour to soak up excess liquid during baking.)

 

Step 2—Make batter:
Preheat oven to 375° F. Using a simple hand whisk, gently blend the flour, sugar, salt, half-and-half, eggs, and cinnamon. Do not overmix or you'll toughen the batter. Carefully fold in the flour-tossed blueberries. (You are not crushing the berries, just gently folding.)

 

Step 3-Bake:
Pour the batter into your pie shell. If using an 8-inch crust, there may be a bit too much batter, that's okay, just hold it back. (See my crust tips below.) Bake about 1 hour. When is it done? The trick here is not to undercook the pie. You want the batter to firm up completely. The pie is done when a knife or skewer inserted down into the pie at the center comes up with little to no loose
batter
sticking to it. (You will always see some blueberry juice smeared on the knife or skewer when you insert it.) After 1 hour, check your pie. If not done, keep returning to the oven for 5-minute intervals until the pie is fully baked. (Depending on your oven, it may take 5-15 extra minutes beyond the initial hour.) Remove from oven and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting. Enjoy plain or with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.