Local pros share favorite tools, ingredients for holiday sweets

Published December 7, 2011 in the Commercial Appeal

This is part of an ongoing series about specialty cooks in the Mid-South.

For Arneishea Owens, who runs Madarn's Bake House from her Cooper-Young home, baking is more than a business. She learned it as a child, watching her grandmother. Like many bakers, she was seduced by the smell before she became committed to the process.

"The aroma was so captivating and hypnotizing; the smells would draw me into the kitchen," she says.

Owens began asking questions, and her grandmother would take her time explaining the purpose of each ingredient.

Now, Owens bakes every day. She sells 20 to 24 cakes a month, and her best-seller is the Back in the Day Pound Cake, which is her great-grandmother's recipe. "The cake is so light and fluffy that it dissolves through your taste buds," she says. "I want to bottle the aroma and wear it as perfume!"

As you prepare for holiday baking, take inspiration from Owens and other local bakers.

For Owens, the most important ingredient is a creative mind -- and patience. She believes that fancy or unusual ingredients aren't necessary for great baking.

"There are endless possibilities of what can be created using eggs, milk, butter, baking powder or soda and flavoring," she says.

Jimmy Hoxie, a chef and baker who also lives in Midtown, attended Johnson & Wales University in Charleston, S.C., and taught at L'Ecole Culinaire. Baking was one of his stronger classes. "I love the smells that waft out of the oven, creating new recipes in my brain and trying them out until I get them right, and sharing my new finds or old favorites with friends and family," he says.

Like Owens, Hoxie has some really old family recipes he loves.

"In our family, it's my great-grandmother's recipe for kuchen that I helped my grandmother make as I was growing up," he says. "The smell of the yeast mixed with the cinnamon and butter and the slight smokey scent of the sugar brings me back to my grandmother's kitchen every time."

His advice for bakers is to learn the basics. "Once you have mastered a basic pastry dough, you can expand on it. Try adding some finely chopped herbs or curry powder. Let your imagination run wild."

He's insistent about one thing -- butter. "Always use real butter. Margarine is the closest thing to plastic that is consumed by humans," he says.

"Lard also has its place, especially in pie crusts and biscuits."

Finally, Hoxie says that artificial flavorings are a waste of time and money. "Go real, or don't go at all," he says.

Kat Gordon, owner of Muddy's Bake Shop, has been "messing around" in the kitchen since she could walk. "The best thing my parents did for me was teach me that a mistake made while cooking is not a big deal, so I felt free to bravely experiment," Gordon says. "I learned a lot from failure and still do!"

She advises making notes in your recipe books and reading the introductions in cookbooks. "Authors put a lot of good stuff in there about the methods they use, and it could save you a lot of heartache and wasted sugar."

Gordon's pantry staples include King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, which she notes is the best all-around flour she has found. Farm-fresh eggs (hers are from Donnell Farm in Jackson, Tenn.) are a must. "A 'large' egg should measure about 1/4 cup, so if you're using fresh eggs of different sizes, just crack and whisk 'em, then measure out what you need," she says.

When a recipe calls for milk, Gordon says it means whole milk. Semi-sweet chocolate chips melt quickly, and they can be easily substituted for other chocolates. Fresh herbs and spices like allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, anise, clove, cardamom, rosemary, sage, thyme and peppermint are great for baked goods.

Gordon is a fan of Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract or Miss Mildred's Wicked Vanilla (homemade at Muddy's by a friend). She notes "double strength" vanilla will throw off your measurements if you are using a recipe.

Finally, she recommends parchment paper. "Wax paper is not the same." Parchment paper can be used to line cookie sheets and cake pans and to put underneath cookies while icing them. Gordon also likes to tear off a piece to put on the counter for easy cleanup of her batter-covered spatulas, dirty measuring cups and other tools as she bakes.

All the bakers have certain tools that are indispensable.

Owens makes perfect cupcakes and cookies by using a 2-ounce trigger ice cream scoop to measure the batter and a butter knife for leveling.

Hoxie's list includes a digital scale, an accurate candy thermometer, a bench scraper (to scoop dough or flour from your work surface), a decent set of pastry tips, parchment paper, a bread stone and commercial half-sheet pans. (The full ones don't fit in most home ovens.)

He advises getting the best you can afford.

Gordon says an oven thermometer is the easiest, cheapest way for anyone to be a better baker. "No one's oven stays calibrated perfectly, and this will ensure that you're baking at the right temperature."

Her favorite thing to bake is pies, followed closely by cookies, so she says a rolling pin is indispensable. "I know the pros like the French pin, but I've always preferred the kind with handles."

Before buying, see what feels better in your hand. "You want it to be comfortable, weighty, big enough to accommodate the dough you're rolling out, but not too big for your counter space," she said.

She uses cookie cutters to cut shapes to top pies, to cut sandwiches for kids' tea parties and to make cookies. Find them inexpensively at estate sales. Pyrex liquid measuring cups a in variety of sizes and vintage Pyrex oven-to-table ware are also favorites. Gordon prefers a balloon whisk and a 10-inch flat rubber spatula, but suggests seeing what feels good to you. "You want them to fit comfortably in your hand so it feels like an extension of your own arm."

Gordon adores the Cuisinart 14-cup food processor her mother gave to her as a Christmas present in college. "I didn't have a stand mixer at home until 2010, but I would've been lost without my trusty food processor," she says. "It can do cookie dough, but it also helps with non-baking tasks like shredding and chopping vegetables." Gordon advises that if you have to pick one piece of expensive equipment, the food processor is it. "Get a cheap hand mixer for icings, etc.," she says.

Get two large sheet pans, two 8-inch cake pans, one 9-by-13-inch pan for brownies (good for lasagna, too), one muffin pan and one 9-inch pie plate. Get the best quality, because these are the things you'll use the most, she said.

Staples for the baker's pantry

Unbleached all-purpose flour (King Arthur)

Sugar (Domino)

Baking powder and baking soda

Farm fresh eggs

Fresh herbs and spices (allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, anise, clove, cardamom, rosemary, sage, thyme and peppermint)

Honey

Real butter

Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Sorghum molasses

Vanilla extract (Nielsen Massey or Miss Mildred's)

Whole milk

Crispy Rice Treats with Browned Butter and Sea Salt

4 oz. unsalted butter

1 (10-oz.) bag marshmallows

1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Butter a 9-by-12-inch pan. In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat.

Let it melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir often, being sure to scrape the bottom. Watch it carefully, as the period between the time the butter begins to take on color and the point where it burns is often less than a minute.

As soon as the butter takes on a nutty color, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows until melted.

Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal. Spread into prepared pan.

Let cool and cut into squares or whatever shapes your heart desires.

Source: Adapted by Kat Gordon from smittenkitchen.com

Classic Pound Cake with Orange Glaze

2 sticks unsalted butter

3 cups sugar

1 tsp. salt

5 eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

3 cups sifted cake flour

Orange glaze:

1/4 cup fresh strained orange juice

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. grated orange zest

Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan set aside for later use. With a mixer on the lowest speed, cream butter, sugar and salt together for 8 minutes until light and fluffy. Still on the lowest speed, add the eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in vanilla with the last egg. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides and bottom of bowl. Return the mixer to the lowest speed; gradually add the flour mixing until just blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Shake pan gently to distribute batter. Place on center rack of cold oven.

Turn oven setting to 300 degrees. Bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Test for doneness by carefully inserting a cake tester in the center of cake. When the tester comes out clean, the cake is done. Remove the cake from the oven; cool on wire cooling rack for 15 minutes before removing from pan.

Meanwhile, whisk together orange juice, powder sugar, and 1 teaspoon orange zest in bowl. Turn cake out of pan onto wire rack. Place waxed paper under rack to catch glaze drippings. Slowly spoon orange glaze onto top of hot cake. Cool completely before serving.

Source: Arneishea Owens

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. milk

40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan. Makes 40.

Source: allrecipes.com