Fearless Fresh: Cook like a boss.

Fearless Cooking Club Training Videos on YouTube!

Steph — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 02:53:19 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

A lot has changed since the pandemic borked the entire world. I changed careers and basically flipped the OFF switch on my entire culinary business, including the Fearless Cooking Club. I left the Fearless Fresh site up in case anyone needed the recipes, but I have not logged into the site in… I can’t remember how long. Three years now? Maybe four? I can’t even remember how the website backend works, if that tells you anything!

When I took down the Fearless Cooking Club membership site, I threw the hard drive with all of the video files in a drawer and forgot about it. I went to grad school, started working in behavioral health, and pretended the internet didn’t exist. I no longer have any interest in being a small business, especially online. In fact, I experience existential heartburn whenever I get an email related to some sort of online business tool.

But I still invested a lot of myself (and a lot of money) in creating this vast culinary ecosystem. I feel a little sad to think about everything I created not being put to good use. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s waste… and all of this material sitting in a drawer feels like a colossal waste.

So while sitting around on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I started rooting around the videos to see what’s here. It’s still good stuff, and I want people to use it. So, I’ve decided to upload it all to YouTube.

It’s going to take me a while to get it all uploaded, organized, and posted, but I’ve got one Fearless Cooking Club module up so far. You can find the Cooking with Herbs and Spices module here. The rest will eventually go up as well. I hope you enjoy it.

And one last crazy thing: I just opened my calendar up and realized an incredible coincidence. Today is the anniversary of the first day I started food blogging. Can you believe that? 18 years ago, on February 4th, 2016, I posted my very first recipe. I had no idea when I started going through the videos this afternoon. The universe never ceases to amaze me.

The post Fearless Cooking Club Training Videos on YouTube! appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

How to Roast A Turkey In the Oven — How long and how to prepare it

Steph — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 05:21:01 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

Learning how to roast a turkey in the oven is actually incredibly easy when you get the hang of it. This article will help you roast your bird to perfection and figure out how long to roast your specific turkey. You’ll also learn the best way to prepare it before putting it in the oven.

And, be sure to download my free Guide to Roasting A Perfect Turkey!

It’s that time of year again. Recipe sites quake with people searching for stuffing recipes and other Thanksgiving side dishes, macaroni and cheese casseroles start dancing in our heads, and everyone starts asking how to roast a turkey.

I can’t tell you how many questions I get every year from people who are completely intimidated by the idea of roasting turkeys in their ovens. Most of these people are great cooks, and in fact, have no problem roasting a chicken; but give them a bird over three pounds and apparently their earlier bird-roasting experience goes out the window. Perhaps the problem is that they are presenting their roast turkey to anywhere from five to 20 picky people. Or maybe it’s the fact that your dinner investment suddenly went from $9 to $45.

Or maybe it’s the sheer magnitude of the bird… which is a hell of a lot larger than your everyday chicken.

Regardless, roasting a big turkey is actually just as easy as roasting a little chicken. It might take a little longer, but in the end, there’s no reason why you can’t have a tender, delicious, drama-free dinner.

How to roast a turkey — which bird?

First of all, let’s talk turkey selection. You don’t need to start with the perfect bird to end up with a finished product you can be proud of. That said, I will always endorse a free range, organic option, which I think in the end will not only tastes better, but will also support the kind of world we want to live in the future. But if you can’t afford a $50 locally farmed, pasture raised turkey, you can still pull off the perfect Thanksgiving bird pretty easily.

Now, if you don’t have a turkey yet, I want you to buy one that does not have any salt added to it. Companies LOVE to inject commercial turkeys with all sorts of things like salt, sugar, flavoring, food dye (yes, really), and more.
How do you know if a turkey has all of these things in it? Easy: look at the ingredients. If it says anything other than “turkey,” or the nutritional information contains salt and/or sugar, then you’ve got an additive-laden bird.

IMPORTANT: If you already have a turkey at home with additives added, don’t panic! It’s fine! Keep reading for what to do with it.

Is your Thanksgiving turkey frozen?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard of people pulling a golden-brown turkey out of the oven only to find the middle is still frozen. Here’s something you need to know: a 6 – 12 pound frozen turkey will take a few days to defrost. A fully thawed turkey will be soft all the way to the middle.

Here’s the deal, though: you can’t leave it out at room temperature for very long before salmonella and other beasties start becoming a concern. Basically, turkey should not stay at room temperature for very long, otherwise it becomes a food safety nightmare. So! You always want to defrost your turkey in the refrigerator.

Usually three days will do the trick if the bird is under 10 pounds, but if you’ve got a gargantuan frozen turkey of 13+ pounds, you want to put it in the refrigerator four or five days before the morning of Thanksgiving. Yes, that means removing the turkey from the freezer and putting it in the refrigerator on Saturday or Sunday morning.

Also, be sure to put your turkey in a large pot, pan, or bowl that will contain it all and not allow juices to drip out while it defrosts. It’s best to put it on the bottom-most part of your refrigerator so that any juices that drip won’t contaminate the rest of the food in your fridge. Also, a heavy turkey can stress (and break!) refrigerator shelves, so it’s good to rest it on the bottom of the fridge where it’s more secure.

Dry brine or wet brine a turkey?

FIRST!!! Do NOT brine a turkey that has been injected with salt or it will be too salty. This includes both the dry brining or wet brining methods. A little salt and pepper on the skin before you cook is all you need. If your turkey contains any “ingredients” on the label besides just turkey, it likely has already been salted by injection.

Now, onto how to brine a turkey. Every year I witness a battle between Camp Wet Brine and Camp Dry Brine. Ultimately they yield similar results. The big difference is that wet brining requires a huge pot large enough to hold the turkey PLUS enough water to cover it, while dry brining doesn’t take up any extra space.

This is why I prefer dry brining. You literally coat the turkey with salt, sugar, and spices. That’s it.

For wet brining you have to bring a huge pot of water to boil, add all of your ingredients, then COOL the water, and finally submerge the bird. Oh and you have to keep all sides of the turkey underwater.

So you either need to employ something heavy, like a brick, or else use a brining bag and squeeze all of the air out so there are no air bubbles. And, at some point, you’ll want to flip the turkey over to make sure it’s brined evenly.

Are you suddenly a fan of dry brining?

Dry brining ratio and method:

Here’s the ratio for dry brining. For every 8 pounds of turkey you’ll need:

¼ cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar (white sugar works fine, too)
1 tablespoon black pepper

Flavorful extras you can add (mix and match — pick three from this list):

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon ground star anise
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon onion powder
10 juniper berries, ground to a powder

Dry brining instructions:

Mix everything in a bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. Rub all over your turkey (or chicken!) and let rest in the refrigerator for 2-4 days.

Details on dry brining

Most importantly, you want to dry-brine AT LEAST two days before Thanksgiving, ideally three days, or four days for a huge bird. See below for a brining schedule that also includes defrosting time.

I like using using KOSHER SALT. There’s a reason for this. Kosher salt is just salty enough, without being too salty… while iodized salt can oversalt your bird in the same ratio. Kosher salt is cheap. You can get a big box from Trader Joe’s for like $2.

You’re also welcome to use dried or fresh herbs for brining your turkey, but I prefer fresh since they are more flavorful. Just chop them up finely. You can also add dry spices that have been ground to a powder.

Then, just cover the entire bird inside and out with the brining mixture. Get every little nook and cranny. Then, pop it in a bowl or roasting pan and set it in the refrigerator.

It’s also worth noting that you can also brine your individual turkey pieces if your bird has been cut into pieces. You can also brine just a turkey breast or turkey leg on their own. (Same goes for chicken, FYI!)

Cover your turkey in the fridge

I generally cover my turkey while it’s in the fridge, to turkey juices from getting all over, but taking the plastic wrap off the night before you cook it. This will help the skin dry out and become extra crispy.

When you take the turkey out of the fridge an hour before you roast it, give it a good rinse to get all the salt and spices off. Everything you need has already been absorbed into the turkey, and leaving the surface salt on will make it WAAAAAYYYY too salty.

FYI, your turkey needs to be at least halfway thawed before you dry brine it. So, if you start brining it Monday night, it needs to come out of the freezer and go into the fridge on Sunday morning.

If you’re brining a 14+ pound bird, it will likely need four to five days of brining to let the salt penetrate the meat. That means you’ll want to take it out of the freezer three days before brining. The good news is that brining also helps preserve the turkey, so bacterial growth from it sitting in the fridge becomes less of a problem.

Here’s a schedule for Thanksgiving week, with Thursday being the day you cook the turkey:

Frozen turkeys under 10 pounds:

Four days before Thanksgiving (Sunday morning): Take out of freezer and put in fridge
Three days before Thanksgiving (Monday): dry brine turkey

Frozen turkeys over 10 pounds:

Five days before Thanksgiving (Saturday morning): Take out of freezer and put in fridge
Four days before Thanksgiving (Sunday): dry brine turkey

Keep the breast moist and thighs fully cooked

There’s a lot of consternation when it comes to dry turkey breast and undercooked dark meat. Reality is that the breast dries out faster than the thighs, because dark meat is biologically more able to hold onto moisture. So how do you get the thighs done without drying out the breast?

You have a few options:
Cut the bird into pieces
Spatchcock or butterfly the turkey
Cut off the breast when it’s done and keep cooking the thighs
Start the bird breast down and flip it over halfway through roasting

My personal preference for chickens is the last one, starting the bird breast-down and then flipping it over when it’s half-cooked. Problem is, flipping over a searing-hot 14-pound turkey that’s covered with fat and salt is NOT GOOD TIMES.

So if you have a smaller turkey, say 8-pounds or smaller, I recommend starting the bird breast-down. This allows the thighs to cook faster because they’re exposed to more hot air, while the breasts are protected by the pan. Then when you flip the turkey over, the breast get exposed to that same hot air, and the mostly-cooked thighs are protected by the pan. It usually works out pretty well.

If you’ve got a big bird, spatch-cocking is your best best, assuming your oven is large enough to accommodate the splay-ed out bird… which will take up a lot more horizontal space. This cooks the bird in a flat layer, so everything is exposed to the same amount of ambient heat.

In the end, the easiest route (read: less high-maintenance) is to cook the bird breast-up, and once the breasts hit 150°F (66°C), remove them from the turkey and cover them with foil. Then keep cooking the bird until the legs and thighs also reach 150°F (66°C).

Bringing turkey to room temperature before roasting

It’s always good to start with a slightly warmed-up bird before roasting, but as I mention above, poultry is a food safety cluster f***. It’s ill-advised to leave it at room temperature for hours.

I recommend you take the turkey out of the refrigerator ONE HOUR before you put it in the oven. No more than that. One hour is enough time to take the edge off the cold, while also making sure it’s not at room temperature long enough to breed bacterial bad guys.

Should you stuff your turkey?

Short answer: NO.

If you stuff your turkey with stuffing or dressing, it’s nearly impossible to make sure the stuffing is at a safe temperature to eat unless you remove it from the bird and finish cooking it on its own. Poultry is especially dangerous when it comes to bacteria like salmonella, so anything that touches the raw bird needs to be cooked to 160°F (71°C) to make it safe to eat.

In order to cook the stuffing or dressing to 160°F (71°C), you’d need to cook the turkey EXTRA long, which would most certainly dry out the meat.

In the end it’s easier, safer, and results in a more desirable meat texture if you just cooking the stuffing on its own, outside of the turkey.

Oven tips for turkey roasting

You want to preheat your oven for at least 30 minutes before you put the turkey in. Ovens take longer than you think to come to temperature, and the thermostat will LIE and say it’s at full temperature after 15 minutes, when it’s not.

I recommend getting a cheap oven thermometer, which cost like $5 at Target or on Amazon. Seriously, you may be surprised to find out that your oven is a lying liar, and exactly how much it lies. If you’re one of the few people who actually has an oven with an accurate thermostat, give that appliance a blue ribbon for honesty!

Cooking many things in the oven at once

One more oven-roasted tip for turkeys. Don’t cram a bunch of stuff in the oven with your turkey. The more things you put in the oven, the longer it will take all of them to cook.

Besides the fact that every cool thing you introduce to the oven lowers its ambient temperature, every pan, sheet, or pot you put in there basically acts like a wall against heat. So if you slide a sheet pan full of veggies in your oven, you’ve basically walled off the heat in one area. Your oven will have to work harder to move heat around that wall, leaving you with hotter and cooler spots in your oven.

Which roasting pan to use?

Honestly, it doesn’t matter much what pan you use. You can use a roasting pan, a baking sheet with higher sides, an enormous cast iron skillet if your turkey will fit in it.

One thing you DO want to do, regardless of the pan you use, is lay a rack down before adding the turkey. This will allow the bird to cook more evenly as heat moves around it and keep the skin from sticking to the bottom of the pan. It will also allow the juices to drip into the pan, which you can then use to make a pan sauce.

How long do you roast your turkey?

FYI, all Thanksgiving turkey recipes are not the same (if you can even call the technique of roasting a turkey a “recipe”). The roasting time will vary depending on the size of your bird, the size of your oven, how old and efficient your oven is, and any other items you may have stuffed in the oven at the same time.

I recommend roasting a turkey at 400°F (204°C) for perfect texture and crispy skin. If the turkey is the only thing in the oven, it should take two hours to up to six hours. I also recommend rotating the turkey 180° once an hour to make sure it cooks evenly. If your oven is large enough to allow you to rotate it 90° every hour, do that!

Is the turkey done?

Your best friend here is a probe thermometer, the kind you stick in the oven and attach to an alarm. These AMAZING devices are like $15 at Walmart and will save your butt when it comes to roasting a turkey.

All you need to do is stick the probe in the thickest part of the turkey (the breast), making sure to keep it away from any bones that might throw off the temperature. Then you set the temperature alarm for 145°F (63°C). You’ll know it’s done when it beeps.

You might be thinking, “145° isn’t a safe temperature for poultry!” But here’s the thing: it will keep cooking after you take it out of the oven. After you remove the turkey from the oven, cover it with foil and let it sit 20 minutes. The bird will continue to cook for that entire time and hit a PERFECT 160°F (71°C), and NOT overcook. You’re welcome!

Cliffs Notes turkey roasting tips

Below are the cliff’s notes tips that will help you roast your Thanksgiving turkey to perfection. These tips will also apply to roasting a chicken to absolute perfection, since turkeys and chickens aren’t all that different. The biggest difference is size, so a chicken just cooks for less time using the exact same method and techniques.

This is all common sense advice if you really think about it, but for whatever reason people seem to lose their minds when it comes to making Thanksgiving dinner. If you have any of your own advice on how to roast a turkey, please, PLEASE, I implore you, leave a comment at the end of the post. My goal is to create a pseudo-database of turkey tips (I have no idea why find that phrase so funny) that people will be able to refer to into perpetuity.

And if you’ve got a tiny oven, be sure to check out what happens when you cook a turkey in a small oven.

Video on how to roast a turkey

If you prefer video, I’ve gone over all the best points of roasting a turkey in this video:

How to Roast A Turkey In the Oven — How long and how to prepare it

Learning how to roasting a turkey in the oven is actually incredibly easy when you get the hang of it. These tips will help you roast your bird to perfection. Here you'll learn how long to roast a turkey, and the best way to prepare it.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Keyword autumn, poultry, roasting, thanksgiving, turkey

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 3

Total Time 3 30

Servings servings

Calories 861kcal

Author Stephanie Stiavetti

Equipment

Roasting pan
Roasting rack
Probe thermometer
Chef's knife

Ingredients

1 turkey!

Instructions

First things first: thaw your bird completely before putting it in the oven... but do NOT thaw it at room temperature. Thaw it in the fridge for a few days — up to four or five, depending on the size of your turkey.
400°F (204°C) is the perfect temperature for cooking a whole bird. You'll get crispy skin without compromising tenderness.
Depending on the size of your bird, it should take anywhere from 2-6 hours to roast at 400°F (204°C). I highly recommend a meat thermometer, one that stays in the turkey while it cooks and lets you set an alarm for when it reaches the proper temperature. This keeps you from continually opening the oven door, which will greatly increase your cooking time.
Basting the bird won't give you crispier skin. In fact, you'll get limp, soggy skin and it only marginally affects the flavor.
Some argue that rubbing the entire bird with fat, inside and out, doesn't affect the flavor, but I disagree. It depends on the fat, though - olive oil won't give you a flavor boost, but butter mixed with a heaping dose of salt and herbs will yield a tasty dish indeed.
Stuffing some butter (mixed with salt and herbs) under the skin will help flavor the meat, but don’t go overboard. Too much fat will just make the meat greasy.
They (whoever "they" are) say that you're supposed to cook a whole turkey to the internal temperature of 180°F (82°C), but I find that 160°F (77°C) yields a perfectly moist bird that's still cooked completely through. Make sure to measure in the thickest part of the breast.
Also, remember that the bird will carry-over cook for 20-45 minutes after you take it out of the oven, so you want to cook it to about 145°F (63°C) to 150°F (66°C), then let it come up to temperature as it rests, covered lightly with foil.
The thighs and other dark meat will take longer to cook, especially if you roast the bird breast-side up. You can butterfly your turkey or roast it in separate pieces for more even cooking. I’ve also had great luck removing the legs and thighs once the breasts are done, and roasting the thighs and legs longer on their own. You’ll still need to let them rest for 20 minutes or so once you pull them from the oven.
It doesn’t matter if you roast your turkey breast up, breast down, flipped over halfway through, or hanging from the rafters — no position will make the breast more moist IF YOU DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO THE TEMPERATURE.
Don’t put stuffing or dressing inside your turkey. This can lead to all sorts of holiday misery — namely salmonella. If you insist on stuffing your bird, remove the stuffing as soon as the meat is done and cook the stuffing to 160°F (77°C) in a pot on the stove.
Let your bird rest for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven. A good 20 minute nap will let everything settle and keep the moisture where it belongs: in the meat.
The easiest way to guarantee that pieces of breast will be moist is to let them soak in the bird's juices for a few minutes after they've been cut. This includes the fatty runoff from what you've rubbed over the surface or stuffed under the skin.
You want the entire bird to roast evenly and have crispy skin all over, so consider elevating it off the surface of the roasting pan. A good-sized roasting rack will do the trick, which allows air to circulate under the bird, crisping it all the way around.
Get two decent thermometers: one for measuring the turkey, and one for measuring your oven’s temperature. ‘Nuff said.
Don’t waste the juices in the bottom of the pan! Reduce in a saucepan with some white wine and fresh sage, add a little cornstarch, and you’ve got an amazing gravy.
And what do you do with the leftover turkey the next day? Make turkey minestrone soup, of course!

Video

Notes

Nutritional analysis is based on using a 12 pound turkey for 8 people.

Nutrition

This content was originally posted on FearlessFresh.com.

The post How to Roast A Turkey In the Oven — How long and how to prepare it appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

Cheese 101: Three Sheep’s Milk Cheeses You Must Try

Steph — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:00:56 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

These days, sheep’s milk cheeses dominate my list of favorite dairy treats. For some, they’re an acquired taste, but for others like me, they’re a staple in our cheese drawer. Maybe it’s the luxurious fatty texture—sheep’s milk is incredibly rich, despite the fact that ewes don’t yield that much milk—or perhaps it’s the characteristic grassiness that conjures visions of green pastures and wide-open blue skies.

Regardless of your reasoning, the fact remains that when you sink your teeth into a fine specimen of fermented sheep’s milk, it can rock your world. I have a similar feeling towards mixed milk cheeses, like Andante’s Metronome cheese.

Here’s a list of my favorite sheep’s milk cheeses. There’s good variety here, spanning a wide range of personalities and flavor profiles. And, of course, you can’t forget the amazing cheese I just discussed a few weeks ago, Brebirousse d’Argental: a perfectly creamy exercise in sheep’s milk indulgence.

Abbaye de Belloc
A full-flavored example of sheep’s milk finery, Abbaye de Belloc is produced in the Pays Basque region of Northern Basque Country. This cheese doesn’t pussy-foot around; its forthright sheepy flavor carries with it a distinctly barnyardy funk along with a salty-sweetness that makes it difficult to put this cheese down. Superbly meaty and with 60% fat content, you can taste every luscious ounce of oil as it slathers its way across your tongue (more trained palates may even detect a hint of lanolin). When aged correctly, Abbaye de Belloc relaxes a bit and shares an addicting caramelized flavor with those patient enough to wait a few weeks before indulging.

Bellwether Farms’ San Andreas

Produced in the temperate climates of Northern California, San Andreas is a great sheep’s milk cheese for beginner and advanced cheese lovers alike. With a robust flavor and firm, smooth mouth feel, this cheese is complex but doesn’t like to play coy. I love its lactic maturity—very nice for a cheese aged just 60-days—and it’s saltiness is punctuated with handsome sour notes, right where they need to be. This may be a relatively young cheese, but you can taste every week it spent in the aging room, and you may even be able to sense the grass, grain, and alfalfa that Bellwether’s well-tended ewes dined on during the milking season.

P’tit Basque
One of my favorite cheeses of all time, P’tit Basque is another Basque cheese produced in the Pyrénées. Mild and nutty, firm and slightly fruity, this cheese isn’t overly complex, making it an ideal candidate for introducing beginners to the world of sheep’s milk. Aged for about 70 days, P’tit Basque maintains a sweet smoothness reserved for younger cheeses, and melts well when swirled into a béchamel sauce or sprinkled across the top of a creamy gratin. Even though it is produced by a large French producer, P’tit Basque still maintains a certain level of artistry that keeps it on many learned cheesemongers top-ten lists.

What are your favorite sheep’s milk cheeses? What makes them stand out for you?

The post Cheese 101: Three Sheep’s Milk Cheeses You Must Try appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe with Lemon and Vanilla

Steph — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 01:13:13 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

If you’re looking for the best sour cream coffee cake recipe on the planet, guess what? You’ve found it. This recipe is SO good that I dream about it at night.

The best coffee cake in the world

Seriously, if you’ve never had a sour cream coffee cake, here’s why you should check it out. The sour cream in this cake gives it A LOT more flavor. It’s perfect with a cup of coffee or tea, or even as a quick snack in the afternoon. (It’s up there with my ginger almond cake recipe.)

Like, the cake itself is delicious, even by itself. Buttermilk add a little extra tang without being overpowering. And, if you don’t have sour cream, you can easily substitute plain yogurt. I personally love the combo of lemon and vanilla, so this cake has a nice fresh lemon-y flavor with warm notes of vanilla. When you pair sour cream and vanilla with lemon and buttermilk, the flavor of this cake is blasted out of the stratosphere.

(If you adore the vanilla-lemon combo like I do, be sure to check out these lemon-vanilla bean rice krispy treats.)

The crumb of the cake is tender and satisfying, like a coffee cake ought to be. And it doesn’t have a ton of sugar, so it’s not cloyingly sweet like I’ve found a lot of other coffee cake recipes to be.

This cake comes together in just about five minutes, and the vanilla-lemon glaze and toasty walnut streusel only take another five minutes each. That makes this sour cream coffee cake recipe seriously quick to throw together.

It’s great for Christmas morning, or on the weekend when you want something special without a ton of time, energy, or work. Minus baking time, it’s only 15 minutes to make.

Sour cream coffee cake of the gods

Another reason I love this coffee cake is because I sometimes find a tub of sour cream hiding in the fridge that I need to use up before it goes bad. If you’ve got some extra sour cream you want to use up, this is the best way to put it to good use. Food waste is a bummer!

You can also spice this cake up with all the different leftover spices you have in your cabinet. You can add 2 teaspoons total of some combo of the following:

Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cardamom
Allspice
A touch of clove (not too much… it can be overpowering)

If you don’t have sour cream, you can totally use plain yogurt in this coffee cake. It will still have the same tender crumb and gorgeous flavor, though it will have a little less fat than if you use sour cream. You could even use fruit-flavored yogurt, but you’d probably want to reduce the amount of sugar in the cake recipe by one tablespoon.

You could also stir ½ cup of candied citrus peel or chocolate chips into the batter from this sour cream coffee cake recipe, if you’re feeling extra fancy. This cake is similarly flexible to my winter breakfast cake, which has all sorts of goodies in it.

A few tips for baking this cake

First of all, don’t over-mix the batter. When you add flour a cake batter and then start stirring, that activates the gluten in the flour. The more you mix, the more those proteins get riled up and start to get tough. That’s why you only want to mix the final ingredients just until they’re combined, meaning you don’t see any bits of white flour anywhere.

If you keep mixing past that point, you run the risk of making your finished sour cream coffee cake tougher than it’s supposed to be. You want a tender crumb, one that feels delicate but sturdy on your palate, not a tough hockey-puck of a cake.

Also, the reason you want to use a cake pan with a removable bottom is that the walnut streusel is baking on top of the cake. This means you can’t invert the cake pan to get the cake out. If you turn the coffee cake upside-down, the streusel will fall off and make a huge mess!

So make your life easier and use a cake with a removable bottom. Or, I suppose you could use a silicon cake pan where you can pop the cake out, but I did not test this recipe with a silicon pan, so your baking times may change.

Sour cream coffee cake substitutions

If you want to start substituting ingredients, here’s what you can expect:

Can you make this cake dairy-free?

You CAN swap out sour cream for yogurt, if that’s what you’ve got, but trying to use a dairy-free sour cream or yogurt may or may not work. Non-dairy products tend to have emulsifiers and other random ingredients in them, so that they taste and feel like regular dairy-based products. Those extra ingredients may cause problems with the baking. But the only way you’ll know for sure is to try! And then let me know how it goes. If you’re looking for a great dairy-free cake, check out this vegan fruit-smoothie cake.

Since this cake recipe uses melted butter, you can substitute vegetable oil, olive oil, coconut oil, or another liquid oil. The flavor will change and the texture may be somewhat affected, but it should not (in theory) ruin the recipe.

For the buttermilk and whole milk, you should be able to substitute any non-dairy milk, since they’re not a huge part of the recipe.

For the glaze, you can use whatever non-dairy ingredients you want. Glaze isn’t baked so it’s pretty easy to swap out ingredients.

Can you make this cake gluten-free?

Possibly, though your mileage may vary depending on the gluten-free flour blend you use. I’ve had good luck with prefab blends like Cup4Cup and Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Mix, but if you start adding alternate flours, I can’t guarantee how it will turn out.

You can also easily sub out the flour in the streusel with gluten-free flour without much problem.

How do you know when the cake is done?

One question I get a lot from students is, how do I know when my cake is done? In a normal cake you can touch the top and see if it’s bouncy, but since there’s a walnut streusel on this cake, you can’t do that here. You can insert a toothpick in the center of the cake to see if it’s done, but I have a much more effective way to see if it’s done. I use a probe thermometer.

Here’s the thing with cakes: they’re usually done when the internal temperature reaches 200°F (93°C). That’s the temp at which the starches in the flour have fully liquified to create a network of carbs (which gives the cake its body) AND enough of the liquids have evaporated

Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Lemon and Vanilla

If you’re looking for the best sour cream coffee cake recipe on the planet, guess what? You’ve found it. This recipe is SO good that I dream about it at night. This cake is super flavorful. It’s perfect with a cup of coffee or tea, or even as a quick snack in the afternoon.

Course Afternoon Tea, Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword breakfast, cake, coffee, snack

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 10

Servings slices

Calories 534kcal

Author Steph

Cost $6

Equipment

8-inch cake pan with removable bottom (cheesecake pan or springform pan — see video)
Optional: small squeeze bottle for drizzling glaze

Ingredients

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Ingredients

3/4 cup sugar + 2 tablespoons
1/2 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
2 tablespoons buttermilk
2 tablespoons whole milk
Walnut Streusel (below) YOU NEED THIS BEFORE BAKING!!
Vanilla Lemon Glaze (below) You can make this while the cake's in the oven

Walnut Streusel Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon ground
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

Vanilla Lemon Glaze Ingredients

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Sour Cream Coffee Cake Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease the bottom and sides of an 8-inch cheesecake pan generously. (A cheesecake pan is just a cake baking pan with a removable bottom — an 8-inch springform pan will also work). Place a parchment round in the bottom of the pan, if you’ve got one. This will make your sour cream coffee cake FAR less likely to remove from the cake pan.
Stir together sugar, melted butter, lemon zest, and vanilla. Stir in beaten eggs until well combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir these dry ingredients into the butter and egg mixture.
Stir buttermilk, milk, and sour cream into flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Do not overmix! This will make the crumb of this sour cream coffee cake more firm than it should be.
Pour coffee cake batter into prepared pan and smooth the top flat with a spatula. Sprinkle the top with walnut streusel, making sure to create an even layer.
Bake until internal temperature is 200°F (93°C), 50 to 55 minutes, rotating the cake halfway through baking. Let cake cool for 20 minutes before removing from pan.
Drizzle with glaze before serving. The easiest, most attractive way to do this is to put the glaze in a small squeeze bottle, and run strips of glaze across the entire coffee cake in a back-and-forth motion. It looks great this way!

Walnut Streusel Instructions

Stir together all dry ingredients. Stir lemon zest into melted butter, then stir butter into dry ingredients until it is crumbly.
Use your fingers to finish mixing the butter into the dry ingredients, created different sized crumbled for the cake. Spread crumbles over top of sour cream coffee cake before baking.

Vanilla Lemon Glaze Ingredients

Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl until there are no lumps. If you’d like your glaze a little thicker, you can add another few tablespoons of powdered sugar.
Drizzle the glaze all over your sour cream coffee cake. The easiest, most attractive way to do this is to put the glaze in a small squeeze bottle, and run strips of glaze across the entire coffee cake in a back-and-forth motion. It looks great this way!

Video

Notes

If you’ve got some extra sour cream you want to use up, this is the best way to use it.

You can also use vegetable oil instead of melted butter.

If you don’t have sour cream, you can easily substitute plain yogurt.

If you’re feeling fancy, you can stir ½ cup candied citrus peel into the batter from this sour cream coffee cake recipe.

Also, feel free to spice up this cake with your favorite spices. Add 2 teaspoons total of some combo of the following:

Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cardamom
Allspice
A touch of clove (not too much... it can be overpowering)

Nutrition

The post Sour Cream Coffee Cake Recipe with Lemon and Vanilla appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

Can You Cook Quinoa in A Rice Cooker?

Steph — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 12:00:09 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

Can you cook quinoa in a rice cooker? That’s an EXCELLENT question, and a fair one. The good news is you can cook almost any grain in rice cooker, including quinoa and any other whole grains you might be wanting to try. This trick makes cooking quinoa SUPER easy!

Cooking quinoa in rice cooker means you don’t have to worry about the water boiling over and making a huge mess on your stove. It also means perfectly fluffy quinoa every single time, without fail. It’s seriously the easiest way to cook quinoa and add more whole grains to your diet.

Quinoa is one of those super healthy foods that’s tasty and fast to prepare. A lot of folks get intimidated when they try to branch out past everyday grains like white rice (which is basically like a Snickers bar, as far as your pancreas is concerned). They look to quinoa for its nutty flavor and the fact that it’s high in amino acids.

Honestly, quinoa and brown rice are two of the healthiest grains you can buy for cheap at the grocery store.

Can you cook quinoa in a rice cooker?

But here’s the thing:

Most grains cook the same way rice does. So, there’s really no difference whether you’re making white rice, brown rice, quinoa, farro, or anything else. (Hell, you can even turn quinoa into a pudding, like rice pudding!)

The only thing that MIGHT change is the amount of time it takes to cook, but generally your rice cooker will worry about that for you. So if you’re wondering if you can cook rice in a rice cooker, the short answer is yes. But how?

How does your rice cooker know when the quinoa is done?

When you cook rice in a rice cooker, it usually work like this:
The cooker boils water, which never gets hotter than 212°F
The white rice absorbs the water and also stays at 212°F
When the water is absorbed by the rice, the rice begins to overcook
The rice gets hotter than 212°F
The rice cooker notices this via the sensor and turns off before the rice burns
Voila, perfect rice (assuming you’ve added enough water, otherwise if can get crunchy)

So, now that you know all of this, I can safely tell you that quinoa cooks the exact same way as rice. HUZZAH! That mean, yes, you CAN cook quinoa in a rice cooker. Woot! (And FYI, you can also make grains in the slow cooker, like this slow-cooker whole-grain porridge.

You can even substitute quinoa for other grains — a great example is cheesy quinoa recipe, in place of cheesy grits. So good!!

You can now use the grains for any quinoa recipe you like, like my curried quinoa salad with mango!

Can you cook quinoa in a rice cooker? Yes!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Gluten-Free

Keyword healthy, high fiber, quick and easy, rice cooker, whole grain

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 25

Total Time 27

Servings people

Calories 156.4kcal

Author Steph

Cost $3

Equipment

rice cooker

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa dry
2 cups water cold
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

First, rinse the quinoa in lukewarm running water. There’s a coating on each grain called saponin, and it doesn’t taste very good. Rinse the grains for a minute while agitating with your fingers. When you don’t notice any tiny bubbles forming on the quinoa, that means the saponin is gone.
Add the rinsed quinoa to the rice cooker. Add cold water or broth, as well, and salt if you’re using it. Don’t use salt if you’re cooking the quinoa with broth, because it’s salty enough.
Give the rice cooker a gentle swirl to get everything mixed in. Cover the cooker and set it to the rice setting.
After this, a lot depends on your individual rice cooker. Some cook quinoa in as short as 15 minutes, while others can take as long as 30 minutes. A cup of quinoa doesn’t take very long to cook, though, so it’s still a quick, easy, and healthy grain to make.
Once the rice cooker switches itself off, carefully open the rice cooker — it will be hot, and steam can burn your face and hands. Once the steam has dissipated, gently fluff the grains with a fork to get that fluffy quinoa texture.

Video

Notes

You can also use vegetable or chicken broth instead of water, for a richer, more savory flavor. NOTE: If you use stock, do not add salt! Your dish will likely be too salty.

Nutrition

The post Can You Cook Quinoa in A Rice Cooker? appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

Feeling Overwhelmed?

Steph — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 17:10:45 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

Feeling overwhelmed with cooking? Let’s start with just one drawer in your kitchen.

Here’s why:

An organized drawer doesn’t just look better, it will actually help you feel better… and cook better.

When even a single utensil drawer is set up like a well-curated boutique, you’ll start cooking each meal with the message that you and your peace of mind matter.

This is why I wrote a whole post on kitchen organization, using a super easy kitchen zone system. And guess what? There’s even a cheat sheet you can download from that post that will help get you organized.

So start with just one drawer, maybe the one where the spatulas try to eat you every time you open it. Or maybe it’s the needy drawer that just refuses to close because the potato masher gets jammed up up in the back.

Dump it all out and pick up each item one at a time. Ask yourself:

Is it current or is it outdated/broken?
Have I used this in the past year?
Do I even want this thing?

Then, if it doesn’t pass muster, toss it in the donate box.

If you do one drawer once a week — spending literally 15 minutes of time — by the time the holidays roll around, you will have a WHOLE NEW ORGANIZED KITCHEN.

Sounds pretty awesome, doesn’t it?

If you’re looking to become a more confident, creative cook, the Fearless Cooking Club is designed to help you overhaul your cooking skills, shift your eating habits, and take better care of yourself on the daily.

It will teach you how to be a more efficient cook, too.

Get ready, because when you join, you’ll get instant access to a ton of valuable content, including program materials, videos, and resources, and a bunch of amazing bonus content that you can’t get anywhere else.

Here’s the best part – while the program focuses specifically on cooking, it breaks down the process of how to improve the flavor and creativity of literally any food.

Once you’ve become a more efficient cook, you can use the tools you’ve learned to in so many other areas of your life. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

I promise you this: regardless of how overwhelmed you feel, or how seldom you cook yourself a healthy dinner in the evening, you will start to see progress and results.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR COOKING MORE CREATIVE AND EFFICIENT.

<3 Steph

“The FCC cooking classes are super friendly and easy to use. They showed me how to easily chop herbs that I didn’t know before and have really helped to bring more flavor into my cooking. I really like the quick clips that I can jump between when I’m looking for specific information.” – Spruce P

The post Feeling Overwhelmed? appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash in the Microwave

Steph — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 15:00:51 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

Figuring out how to cook spaghetti squash in the microwave is pretty simple, with a few basic bits of advice under your belt.

When autumn rolls around, everyone who’s trying to slow down their carb intake breathes a sigh of relief, remembering that it’s spaghetti squash season. These large squash, whose flesh separates into long, firm noodle-like strands, are a great way to enjoy all the saucy foods you love while not carb-loading with a 1/4 pounds of flour-based pasta. And since you can cook them in the microwave, that makes these lower-carb squash a SUPER quick and easy meal to prepare during the week. (Especially if you’ve got your favorite spaghetti sauce made ahead and frozen in dinner-size portions!)

When you know how to cook spaghetti squash in the microwave, you can officially kiss those quick, high-carb meals goodby at the end of a long day. There’s a world of difference in how I feel after a standard pasta meal, and the exact same meal made with spaghetti squash instead. I’ll bet you can guess which version I feel better after eating, especially when it’s a lighter sauce like this incredibly fast and simple pesto sauce.

How do you cook spaghetti squash in the microwave?

Thankfully, it’s super easy to cook squash in the microwave! It’s also a hell of a lot faster than cooking it in the oven… though I do have to say, cooking a fresh squash in the oven is still lovely if you’ve got the time — this stuffed chipotle acorn squash recipe with ricotta and pecans is a great example.

You do have a choice, though. There are a few different ways you can microwave a spaghetti squash, and the big difference is how to cut the squash (or don’t cut the squash) before cooking:

1. Leave the squash whole

Benefit: it’s easier! Cutting a raw squash can be tough.

Drawback: the squash can explode in the microwave. It’s not NEARLY as funny as it sounds (and it doesn’t sound that funny). Luckily you can avoid this by poking holes in the squash beforehand.

2. Cut the squash the long way

Benefit: Pretty easy, because you only have to cut the squash once.

Drawback: you end up with short “noodles,” because the strands of the spaghetti squash go around the squash the short way… so you’ve basically cut all your noodles in half.

3. Cut the squash the short way, into slices

Benefit: You get long, gorgeous noodles, because the strands of the spaghetti squash go around the squash the short way. This method allows your to scrape the noodles in a circle around the middle of the slices, making for long noodles.

Drawback: you have to slice through the squash several times, which can be tough depending on the size.

I’ve provided instructions for options 1 and 3 below, because those are my favorite way to cook spaghetti squash. What can I say? I love long noodles!

Cooking times for squash

The amount of time you cook your spaghetti squash depends on how big the squash is, and which method you use. I’ve outlined the steps below on how to cook spaghetti squash in the microwave, but also provided instructions so you can cook your exact squash perfectly. Basically, that means you’re going to microwave it for a few minutes and check it, then microwave it again if necessary. It’s a lot better than nuking your squash into a puddle, right?

Also, news flash — you can make spaghetti squash BOWLS! Check out this cajun-spiced squash bowl. Pretty awesome, right?

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash in the Microwave

Figuring out how to cook spaghetti squash in the microwave is pretty simple, with a few basic bits of advice under your belt.

Course Entree

Cuisine Gluten-Free

Keyword autumn, keto, low carb, paleo, winter

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Total Time 20

Servings people

Calories 74.83kcal

Author Steph

Cost $5

Equipment

Cutting board
Paring knife
Chef's knife
Microwave
Fork

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash 3 or 4 pounds

Instructions

How to microwave spaghetti squash whole

Give the spaghetti squash a quick rinse in the sink to get rid of any dirt or debrit on the surface. Dry the squash completely and set on a cutting board.
Use a sharp paring knife to STAB THE HOLY HELL out of your spaghetti squash. I mean it — channel your inner Freddie Krueger! The reason you're doing this is because microwaving a whole spaghetti squash can cause it to explode from pressure. Stabbing a bunch of holes in it allows the pressure to release. Seriously, you want like 20 DEEP holes all over the squash.
Set the squash on a plate and set in the microwave. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Carefully turn the squash over (it make be hot!) and cook on high for another 5 minutes. The squash is done when you can very easily pierce it with a fork and the fork goes all the way in. If there is any resistance when you stick it with a fork, microwave for an additional 2 minutes.
A 3-pound spaghetti squash should take about 11 minutes. A 4-pound squash can take up to 14 or 15 minutes.
The squash will be SUPER hot, so grab your heat-proof kitchen mits and set the squash on a cutting board. Use a chef's knife to cut the squash in half, lengthwise, or in 3-inch slices if you prefer longer noodles. The squash should be soft and very easy to cut.
Use a spoon to remove the seeds, which you can discard. Use a couple of forks to scrape the inside of the spaghetti squash the long way to create long noodles.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, tossing noodles to season evenly. Add sauce and serve immediately.

How to microwave spaghetti squash in slices for longer noodles

Give the spaghetti squash a quick rinse in the sink to get rid of any dirt or debrit on the surface. Dry the squash completely and set on a cutting board.
Using a large 8-inch chef's knife, shave off a flat spot on one side of the squash to keep it from rolling around. It doesn't need to be a big spot, just enough to stabilize it, which will make it a lot safer to cut!
Once the squash is stabilized and won't roll around, cut the squash into 3-inch thick slices, so that you end up with several round disks of squash. Scoop out the seeds in the middle.
You can also cut the spaghetti squash the long way, but you will end up with shorter "noodles" and it will take longer to cook in the microwave.
Place the spaghetti squash slices on a glass baking dish or microwave-proof plate and slide the plate into the microwave. Microwave squash for 2 minutes on high.
Remove the squash from the microwave and flip the slices over. Use a fork to scrape the interior flesh of the squash and see if it comes apart in strands. If it does not, place the squash slices back in the microwave and cook for another 2 minutes on 50% strength. Continue repeating this process until your spaghetti squash is completely cooked and you're able to easily create "noodles" with a fork.
When the spaghetti squash is completely cooked, use a fork to scrape around the inside of the slices, creating long, luxurious noodles. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, tossing noodles to season evenly. Add sauce and serve immediately.

Video

Nutrition

The post How to Cook Spaghetti Squash in the Microwave appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

10 Most Popular Recipes and Tutorials on Fearless Fresh

Steph — Mon, 28 Oct 2019 15:00:44 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

Can you believe I’ve never done a roundup of the most popular recipes and posts on Fearless Fresh? These are the recipes and tutorials that readers keep coming back to time and time again… like for YEARS in some cases.

These recipes have been read, pinned, shared, cooked, and baked, more than any others on the site. There’s a reason for that: because they’re rock solid. I hope you enjoy them.

10 Most Popular Recipes and Posts on Fearless Fresh

How Long to Roast A Chicken

Morning Baked Oatmeal with Berries and Coconut

Pan to Oven Baked Pork Chops Recipe

How Long Do I Cook Pork Chops? Great Question!

Revisiting My Favorite Lettuce Wrap Recipe

How to Make Mint Tea

How to Make Clotted Cream (Oven Method)

Make Clotted Cream (Slow Cooker Method)

Italian Almond Cookies (Ricciarelli)

Making Kimchi: How Long to Ferment Kimchi

The post 10 Most Popular Recipes and Tutorials on Fearless Fresh appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

Why Frozen Fruit Can Be Better Than Fresh Fruit

Steph — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 15:00:42 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

When it’s the rainy season, I want sunny FRUIT. There’s not a lot growing this time of year, but take heart: frozen fruit it a great option — and I swear! You’re not compromising your health or ideals. Here’s why:⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Frozen fruit can be fresher and more high quality than the fresh fruit you buy in the produce aisle. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Yes, you read that right.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Let me explain. Fruit picked for fresh sale is often picked long before it’s ripe, leaving it to ripen off the vine or branch. They do this because under-ripe fruit is easier to transport without damage. This is the case even for organic fruit. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
While early picking isn’t necessarily a big deal, fruit left to ripen as nature intended is far more flavorful and in some cases, more nutrient dense. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
There’s also the chemical ripening of fruit with acetylene gas, which isn’t necessarily a problem, but doesn’t make for the best quality eating experience when compared to naturally ripened fruit. ⁣⁣
⁣⁣
NOW! Frozen fruit is picked MUCH closer to the ripe period, because it’s not being transported nearly as far. That means frozen fruit can actually more more flavorful and nutrient dense that fresh fruit. Huzzah!!⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Plus, frozen fruit lasts infinitely longer because it’s kept in the freezer. Even had fruit go bad while sitting on your counter, attracting a swarm of fruit flies that linger in your kitchen for the next week? ⁣⁣⁣(barf)
⁣⁣
Not a problem with frozen fruit. ⁣⁣

⁣⁣So the next time you’re craving raspberries in January or peaches in March, go for it. Grab a big bag of frozen fruit and dig in. ⁣⁣

The post Why Frozen Fruit Can Be Better Than Fresh Fruit appeared first on Fearless Fresh.

Seven More 5-minute Cooking Lessons

Steph — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 15:00:48 +0000

FEARLESS FRESH: Learn to cook like a boss.

Everyone loved the last list of quick cooking lessons and tips so much, I wanted to post a few more that I know for a fact are useful. Again, these super short cooking tips will change the way you cook if you commit to implementing the concepts. Little changes can have a HUGE impact, especially when they make a shift within the foundation of how you do things.