Donuts for Easter

Besides a basket of candy, the one thing I used to look forward to on Easter Sunday morning when I was a kid was donuts. My family would gather at my grandmother’s house after church and my uncle Joe would bring over a couple of boxes of Munchkins (donut holes) and donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts. The Munchkins were for the kids, the donuts for the adults; when my cousins and I grew up (we’re talking 8, 9, 10), we graduated to full-size donuts.

I hated the powdered, lemon-filled ones, but loved Boston kreme. I used to stuff chocolate Munchkins in a mug full of hot milk and eat with a spoon. The standard vanilla glazed donuts were my favorite, and I can still feel the dryness of the plain old-fashioned variety.

So, when I was checking out Brandi Henderson’s blog (she’s the pastry chef at Delancey, an excellent Seattle pizza place), I Made That, all those Easter donut memories came rushing back. Except, her donuts look a lot fresher and more delicious than the fast food ones I used to eat.

I’ve made donuts at home before, but, unlike her, never used yeast in the batter, which is probably why they turned out more like a fried cookie than a cakey donut. I really like how she lets the donuts rise on a baking sheet – think of all the delicious little caverns created by taking that one little (totally genius) step. Her recipe seems so simple, so delicious – I might even spring for a sprig of vanilla bean.

I’m going to attempt Brandi’s recipe this Easter. I’ll probably have to make a dozen, at least, because I’m going to a friend’s house for lunch. It’s very important to have a hole in the donut large enough so that you can hold the thing while dunking in coffee. So, I’ll be using this Ateco doughnut cutter for speed and consistency. And, of course, a big, sturdy wire strainer to move the donuts in and out of the oil, like this one from Helen Chen.

Now, if I could just get Dunkin’ Donuts to ship me a couple of liters of fresh coffee, I’d be able to re-live my childhood Easters.

The Cheftools/Lucks/Twilight connection

So, this is somewhat funny: Cheftools.com is located in Seattle; we sell a variety of products from the excellent Lucks, which makes interesting, creative and tasty food decorations; Lucks is located in Tacoma, which is just a couple of miles south of Seattle near the bottom of Puget Sound. Lucks makes three different edible pictures for cakes from the Twilight movies. The kicker? Twilight is set in Forks, WA, which is on the Pacific Ocean side of the Olympic Peninsula (the land between Seattle/Tacoma and the ocean).

It’s biting irony. It’s a spooky coincidence. It’s three degrees of cake decoration. It’s a cake decorating love triangle (get it? Because of the love triangle in the Twilight saga?).

Celebrate mom with Chef Tools' Mother's Day sale

We all know the evolution of Mother’s Day gift giving: When you’re 4 or 5, you make homemade coupons for “free” back rubs, or a week’s worth of dishwashing. Later, with a few bucks from your birthday (or from dad), you buy something random from the local drugstore: hot pink nail polish, a single tea candle or Skittles. A sweet gesture, but probably not what Woodrow Wilson had in mind when he made Mother’s Day an official holiday in 1914.

Fast forward 30 years and Mother’s Day might be off your radar. Another year where you Google “when is Mother’s Day this year?” only to find that it has passed. Mom probably doesn’t care; she’s mom and the memory of 6-year-old you presenting her with a homemade card and a tiny picture frame (in it a stock photo of a smiling couple on a beach) still makes her smile. Chances are mom still has that frame – and the card.

So why not make this the year you return to treating mom to a thoughtful gift? (And we’re not saying that everyone stopped celebrating Mother’s Day, in which case you’re a better kid than me – and keep up the good work!) Here at Chef Tools, we’re having a Mother’s Day sale to help you find the perfect gift for mom. We have three specially-priced gift sets (using a combo of items you asked about on Twitter and Facebook) plus a huge array of stylish MU aprons, oven mitts, potholders and dishtowels.

I have to tout these MU products. These aprons are so cool you could wear them out of the house. Check out this onyx long chef apron – it’s beautifully designed, plus durable with 100 percent pre-washed cotton herringbone, deep pockets and an adjustable neck. It would look great with this orange MU handleslip pot handle sleeve. It’s thick – of course – so you can handle anything, and it’s lined with comfortable terrycloth. And, it’s orange, so no one will notice if a little marinara gets splattered on there, which brings me to my next topic …

My favorite gift set is the no-scuff lasagna baking kit. This set includes an HIC Porcelain Lasagna Baking Dish – reviewed by Cook’s Illustrated – a Bakeware Buddy serrated plastic knife and a CIA Master’s Collection Non-stick Slotted Turner. The Bakeware Buddy knife and the CIA (that’s Culinary Institute of America) non-stick turner won’t scuff the baking dish like metal. Plus, acidic tomato sauce won’t corrode them. The HIC baking dish is 13” x 9” and 2-1/2” deep, big enough for lasagna to feed the whole family. You can also use the Bakeware Buddy knife on baked goods and vegetables. It would be pretty cool to show up at mom’s house with this gift set and make lasagna – of course, you’d have to leave it behind at the end of the night.




What about a nice salad with that lasagna? We’ve put together two fine Jill Butler-designed items in one set. The Parisian plate gift set is a set of four salad plates and four placemats. Both items are inspired by French bistros. The placemats are 100 percent cotton with alternating red and white stripes. The porcelain Chez Pastis plates are elegant enough for a brunch get-together and durable enough to take on a picnic. Jill Butler inlayed the plates with the message “Bar rendez-vous des amis” – a place for friends to meet. The plates are white with either a red, black, green or blue design.

And don’t forget the wine. If mom is a wine lover, she’ll love this set. It’s a Luminarc Small Square Carafe and a Screwpull GS-200 table-top corkscrew. The Screwpull GS-200 comes with a foil cutter, and has Activ-ball technology, which guarantees no more jammed corks. Luminarc has been making glassware since 1825, and is famous for quality. Have a relaxing evening with mom over a couple of glasses of wine, reminiscing about those coupons you used to make. If she still has them, hopefully you were smart enough to include an expiration date.

Happy Mother’s Day and a big “thank you” to all the moms out there!

ChefTools gets 2 new employees!

It’s been an exciting week for Cheftools.com. On Monday, two new employees came aboard the ChefTools team at our HQ here in sunny Seattle, and they’ll be regularly updating this blog (and our Facebook and Twitter sites) with food news, new products available on ChefTools, promotions and recipes.

Sara Monzo is ChefTools’ new marketing coordinator and Neal McNamara is the new content editor. We’re excited about them because it means we’re continuing to expand and that we’ll be even more diligent about letting you know the best ways to outfit your kitchen.

Sara lives in Redmond, Wa., and has a ton of marketing experience. Even better, she loves to cook and she loves getting her hands on the newest cooking tools – and believe us, when we have a cool new gadget or a blockbuster sale (or just a good recipe), she’ll let you know.

Sara cooks at home all the time, and especially enjoys fixing Mexican-style dishes. (She makes a mean enchilada sauce.) She is “addicted” to pho (pronounced “fa”), a Vietnamese soup that’s Seattle’s signature dish – Philadelphia has cheese steaks, New Orleans muffaletta sandwiches, and Seattle has pho – and has the strange power to warm the soul on even the grayest, coldest of Pacific Northwest days. She recently got a Le Creuset Dutch oven and can’t stop using it.

Neal lives in Seattle and joins our team after a career in newspaper journalism. He’s lived all over the country, but he’s originally from New York. So, he’s pretty much obsessed with pizza, coffee and bagels. Sadly, he hasn’t found anything west of the Hudson River that he would call pizza (Connecticut has great pizza, surprisingly; they call it “apizza”). But he’s still looking, and toils in his own kitchen trying to recreate New York-style pie (he’s working on perfecting a dough recipe and trying to get his landlord to install a brick oven in his apartment – so far, so bad). He would be lost in the kitchen without his chef’s knife and his grandmother’s World War II-era cast iron pan.

So keep checking our blog and Facebook and Twitter pages. We’ll be looking to connect and share information with you, and hear from you about what you want out of ChefTools.com.

Let’s get you cooking!

Grilled Leg of Lamb - Perfect for Easter Dinner

Now that Easter is only a few days away, we thought we'd share a spectacular Leg of Lamb recipe with you. Our own Marketing Specialist - Sara - has made this recipe countless times and can't rave enough about it! Sara even made this for a dinner party with friends who thought they didn't like lamb and she converted them. When we heard that, we thought we must share this with all of our peeps! We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did.

(photo courtesy of Susana Howe / Bon Appetit)

Recipe courtesy of Epicurious.com

Grilled Leg of Lamb

w/Rosemary, Garlic and Mustard

1 well-trimmed 6-pound boneless leg of lamb, butterflied to even 2-inch thickness

8 garlic cloves, peeled, divided

1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

Fresh rosemary sprigs and fresh Italian parsley sprigs

Open lamb like book on work surface. Using tip of small knife, make 1/2-inch-deep slits all over lamb. Thinly slice 4 garlic cloves. Insert garlic slices into slits in lamb. Combine remaining 4 garlic cloves, mustard, olive oil, white wine, rosemary, and lemon juice in processor. Blend until coarse puree forms. Spread underside of lamb with half of puree. Place lamb, seasoned side down, in 15 x 10 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread remaining puree over top of lamb. Cover lamb with plastic wrap and chill overnight.

Let lamb stand at room temperature 2 hours. Coat grill rack with nonstick spray and prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Sprinkle lamb generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Grill lamb to desired doneness, about 17 minutes per side for medium-rare. Transfer lamb to cutting board; let rest 10 to 20 minutes.

Thinly slice lamb against grain. Overlap slices on platter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Garnish with fresh herb sprigs.

ChefTools To Help Get You Cooking:

E-Z Rol Garlic Peeler Tube

$8.79

RSVP Herb Scissors

$9.95

Amco Lemon Squeezer Juicer
$11.95

Cuisipro Oil Mister Sprayer

$15.99

Victorinox Fibrox Granton Edge

Carving Knife, 12"

$68.59

Thursday Is National Pecan Day

Not exactly a well-known holiday, but in our opinion, one worth celebrating.

When we hear the word pecan, the first thing that comes to mind is PIE. And who doesn't love a great Pecan Pie?

Here at ChefTools we're all about cooking and baking and providing you with the best tools for your Culinary adventures. So today we thought we'd show you some tools to help you celebrate the fabulous Pecan, by offering a mouth-watering Pecan Pie recipe.

(photo courtesy of Mark Thomas, BonAppetit / Epicurious.com)

The one below is courtesy of BonAppetit Magazine and can be found on Epicurious.com.

Bourbon-Orange Pecan Pie with Bourbon Cream

• 1 butter pie dough disc or pre-made, frozen pie shell
  
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped candied orange peel
• 4 tablespoons bourbon
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups pecan halves (about 9 1/2 ounces), toasted

• 1 cup chilled whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch deep-dish glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang under; crimp edges decoratively. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line pie crust with foil. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until crust edges begin to brown and crust is set, about 17 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Bake until golden brown, pressing with back of fork if crust bubbles, about 5 minutes longer. Transfer pie crust to rack. Maintain oven temperature.

Whisk brown sugar, corn syrup, corn starch and melted butter in large bowl to blend. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. Stir in candied orange peel, 3 tablespoons bourbon, grated orange peel, vanilla, salt, and then toasted pecans. Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake pie until edges puff and center is just set, about 35-50 minutes. Cool pie on rack at least 1 hour. (Can be made 6 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Using electric mixer, beat 1 cup chilled whipping cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, and remaining 1 tablespoon bourbon in large bowl until cream holds peaks. Serve pie warm or at room temperature with bourbon cream.

ChefTools To Help You

Of course in order to bake the best pie, you need the best tools for the job. We just so happen to have everything you need, and at extraordinary prices! Here are some gorgeous Le Creuset items to help you on your way to the perfect pecan pie!

Microplane Ultimate Citrus Zester

available in Green, Yellow & Orange

$12.95

Le Creuset Stoneware Batter Bowl

available in White, Caribbean Blue, Cobalt Blue

Red & Yellow

$35.99

Le Creuset Stoneware Pie Dish 10"
Available in White, Cobalt Blue & Cherry Red
$29.99

What's Red and White All Over and Nonstick Inside?

With a white, nonstick coating on the cooking surface and a red exterior, Bialetti Aeternum Cookware is strikingly different. It's also eco-friendly, which Bialetti may be referring to with a name like Aeternum. It means forever in Latin.

You won't find any PFOA, PTFE, or cadmium anywhere on or in these pots and pans. The nonstick nano-ceramic interior is made from titanium and silicate micro-particles, on of the main ingredients in glass. And the red exterior coating is made from high-temperature silicone. These two materials completely cover an aluminum core to create lightweight cookware with exceptional thermal conductivity and heat distribution. Bialetti Aeternum is an affordable and attractive line of cookware.

Vol Au Vent Cutters

Vol au Vent à la Financière

Invented by the early 19th century pioneer of haute cuisine, Marie-Antoine Carême, vol-au-vent are delicate puff pastries that resemble a small crock and lid. They’re so light and airy they may take "flight of the wind" if you’re not careful when pulling them from the oven. To keep them from escaping out the kitchen window on a summer breeze, the pastries should be filled with savory or sweet ingredients, from cocks' combs to raspberries and whipped cream. Wait. What? Cocks' combs? Yes, cocks’ combs, the fleshy, red mohawk-like plume on top of a rooster's head. One of the original and classic fillings for vol-au-vent is called à la Financière and involves cocks' combs, chicken quenelles, mushrooms, truffles, and Madeira. Essentially translating to Banker's Vol-au-Vent, the name refers to the rich ingredients, and presumably to their suitability for affluent finance workers. Cocks' combs may not be high on your list of appetizing ingredients, or popular with your stock broker, but there’s no need to go authentic if you’re not feeling so adventurous. Just about any type of ragout variation works well as savory filling. And just about any type of fruit pie filling or custard works well as a sweet filling. Some ideas to get your imagination started are listed below the pictures of Vol au Vent Cutters.

Traditionally vol-au-vent are round. But now vol-au-vent cutters from Ateco take the delectable pastry into new territory with flower, heart, triangle, tree, and star shapes. Carême would be envious.

Ateco Vol au Vent Cutter, 4-Petal Flower	Ateco Vol au Vent Cutter, Daisy	Ateco Vol au Vent Cutter, Heart
$5.09	$5.09	$5.09
Ateco Vol au Vent Cutter, Triangle	Ateco Vol au Vent Cutter, Tree	Ateco Vol au Vent Cutter, Star
$5.09	$5.09	$5.09

Savory Vol Au Vent Filling Ideas:
• Curried Chicken
• Caramelized Onions, Grilled Pears, and Blue Cheese
• Roasted Vegetables in Balsamic Glaze
• Shellfish Étouffée
• Lobster with Béarnaise Sauce
• Lamb Osso Bucco

Sweet Vol Au Vent Filling Ideas:
• Fresh Fruit and Whipped Cream
• Fruit Compote and Pastry Cream
• Chocolate Mousse with Hazelnuts
• Bavarian Cream with Shaved Chocolate
• Dried Fruits and Nuts Drizzled with Honey
• Stewed Apples and Cinnamon

On Sale: Le Creuset Kiwi Green

If Le Creuset was on your wish list this past holiday season, but was left unfulfilled, here's your chance to treat yourself. At a discount. All in-stock Kiwi Green Le Creuset is on sale, from cast iron cookware to tea kettles, stoneware baking dishes, and silicone utensils. Hurry up and stock up before it's all gone. Orders over $99 also qualify for Free Shipping.

3-1/2-Quart Round Oven Was:  $189.99 Sale: $151.99	1.7-Quart Whistling Tea Kettle Was:  $69.99 Sale: $55.99	Petite Au Gratin Dish Was:  $9.99 Sale: $7.99

Sale is applicable only to in-stock Le Creuset in Kiwi Green. Once it's gone. It's gone. No rain checks. No back orders. First come, first served.

Excuse Me Sir, But There's A Bird In My Pie

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds,
Baked in a pie.

 The familiar nursery rhyme calls for 24 blackbirds to be baked in a pie. But you really only need one. Acting as a vent to release steam while baking, a pie bird prevents a bubbling mess of sticky sugar syrup and fruit from boiling out all over the place and baking to the bottom of your oven. A pie bird also supports the top crust, keeping it from sagging in the middle. The result is a lovely, picture-perfect pie.

For years, many pie birds have been spending their days quietly retired in Grandma's knick-knack cabinet, long forgotten as a collectible antique. But what's old is what's new. Pie birds are back in fashion. Try baking your next pie with the help of a pie bird, and find out for yourself what all the excitement is about. Don't put a fork in it. Put a pie bird in it.

Norpro offers both a modern Silicone Pie Bird and a traditional Ceramic Pie Bird. Your choice. And while you're at it, don't forget pie chains and pie crust shields.