Swapper Profile: Micah + Vegan Tater Tot Hotdish Recipe

Hooray for Micah and Vegan Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Swapper community meet Micah! Micah has an infectious sense of humor and fun, and through his terrific variety of creations, you may already know him from the swap. His treats are always vegan, always tasty, and have included Chocolate Dipped Mango, Vegan Chocolate Chunk Biscotti, Assorted Crackers (Caper + Sea Salt, Green Garlic, Lemon + Red Pepper) and more. Also, I do believe Micah deserves credit for introducing one of my favorite swap trends: homemade cocktails for the potluck. Back in August last year, he brought a gingery summer fruit bourbon concoction that clearly set the pace...our last swap had three kinds of cocktails on offer. Way to go Micah (a toast in your direction). He loves biscuits and baking and veganizing as he goes, and he shares his recipe for Vegan Tater Tot Hotdish below. I'm feeling Minnesota already.

Name: Micah

Vegan recipe blog: Big Mike's Eats 

Hometown: Bernal Heights, San Francisco, via Saint Paul, Minnesota

Profession (optional): Attorney

How did you first get involved in food swapping? How long ago?

I went to my first SF food swap in spring 2012 and was immediately hooked.  I found out about the swap through a random google search for local food events.

What did you make for the last food swap and what inspired your choice?

I made vegan chocolate chunk-almond-cinnamon biscotti. Biscotti is my go-to for any food sharing occasion because I can make it with anything I’ve got lying around in the kitchen, and everyone’s happy when there’s more biscotti in the world. Except the gluten free folks, but I’m working on that!

Bags o' biscotti!

 What’s your favorite thing about swapping?

It’s an even tie between the excellent people and the excellent loot. The only thing better than heading home with an armload of spicy pickled carrots, homemade bourbon vanilla, and foraged cherry jam is hanging out with the awesome and hilarious people who made those gems.

Who or what most influences your cooking?

Being Minnesotan. As a vegan, I feel like there’s a lot of unchartered water. I’m obsessed with adding to the vegan recipe canon by updating the cultural foods I grew up with by making plant-based versions. Midwestern comfort food is my preferred food genre, which for my childhood meant a big mishmash of Jewish, Northern European, Scottish, Norwegian, and local standards.  I’ve veganized a lot of foods that only a Minnesotan could love, like scotch eggs, Welsh rarebit, haggis, lutefisk, the Juicy Lucy (an outside-in cheeseburger), stovies, Hungarian goulash, deep fried cheese curds, and the penultimate Minnesotan delicacy, tater tot hotdish.

I’ve also built up a hefty arsenal of veganized Jewish comfort foods, which is especially handy around Hannukah and Passover, when vegans can feel trapped between ethics and observance. I’ve covered a lot of the classics: lox, kugel, matzoh ball soup, latkes, beef brisket, Passover macaroons, and the like, but I’m still working on the perfect vegan challah. It’s my white whale.

 I’m basically a split personality cook; when I’m veganizing a classic comfort food, I have no shame about junk food. Minnesotan food traditions are based on pantry staples like boxed soup mix and canned vegetables, and whole foods versions just don’t hit the mark, in my experience.

When I’m making new recipes, though, I try hard to focus on whole foods and local, organic ingredients.  My boyfriend is also a vegan food blogger, and he’s much more committed to whole foods, so he’s an excellent influence. I’m a bad one, as there’s an endless supply of biscotti and cake in the house.

What’s your favorite kitchen tool?

Parchment paper makes my world go ‘round. Silpats are a more sustainable, reusable option, but parchment paper can be cut to size and composted so there’s no cleanup. I can’t stop dipping random foods in chocolate, so parchment paper makes candy infinitely easier remove after hardening, and parchment paper removes the need for both oil and cleanup when baking cookies or roasting vegetables.

In case parchment paper isn’t tool-like enough, I’ll also big up my dowel rolling pin (with tapered ends and no handles), which I bought when I was eighteen and working at a posh cooking supply store. A dowel pin gives a person so much more control when rolling out dough, so you can make ultra thin crackers and wrappers for dumplings, wontons, or knishes.

Micah's crackers from a past swap

Your current flavor or ingredient obsession?

Blood oranges and sweet limes! Their seasons are just ending now, and I’m a little heartbroken. I had never seen either of these darling citruses when I lived in Minnesota, and I’ve been schlepping home about ten pounds of fruit from the Alemany Farmer’s Market each week that they’ve been available. Sweet limes are gorgeous eaten plain; a strong, clear lime flavor, but as sweet as an orange. Sweet lime juice and chili pepper flakes over sautéed collard greens is pretty great. Blood oranges are absolutely beautiful and a little bit tart; I use them for mimosas and chocolate chunk biscotti.

Biggest food surprise?

That carrot greens are amazing.

If the Rapture came tomorrow, what would your last meal on earth be?

Everything that I could find, dipped in dark chocolate. And champagne.

When I'm not in the kitchen I'm...

Blogging about being in the kitchen, painting, doing weird collaborative art projects, or playing chess. Sometimes I go to work, too. 

Favorite local food experience:

Making brunch with friends every Saturday after the Alemany Farmers’ Market. We scoop up whatever weird, adorable produce is in season and build brunch around it, like nettlepesto + baby turnip pizza.

TATER TOT HOTDISH Recipe by Micah

Prep time: about an hour
Yield: one large casserole dish, about 8-10 servings
Preheat oven to 425f

Ingredients

- 1 32 oz. bag tater tots (I use Ore Ida- reliably vegan)
-1 finely chopped onion
-1 12oz. package of vegan ground beef (Smart Ground original veggie protein crumbles from Lightlife)
-2 tsp garlic powder
-sea salt and pepper to taste
-1 ½ c. vegan creamy portabella soup from Imagine foods
-1 14oz can or bag of frozen French cut green beans
- ¼ c. daiya cheddar shreds (for the gooey insides)
- ½ c. daiya cheddar shreds (for the crispy top)

Directions
1. Bake tater tots at 425 for about 20 minutes or until golden and firm- you want them nice and crispy inside the hot dish, but don’t let them brown- they’ll finish baking when the whole hot dish is assembled. 
2. While the tater tots are baking, chop the onion finely
3. Heat 2 tbs canola oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add the chopped onion and sauté until translucent, then 
5. Add the package of vegan ground- crumble it into the pan, and fry the onions and ground together with the garlic powder, a pinch of salt, and a few cracks of fresh ground pepper for about 8 minutes or until veggie ground is cooked through
6. Pour the 1 ½ c. mushroom soup into the pan and continue to cook and stir over medium-high heat until well mixed and the soup has cooked down a little, about six minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. It should taste vaguely like beef-a-roni. In a good way. The best way. 
7. Scoop the onion-ground-soup mixture into a large casserole dish
8. Open and strain your 14 oz. can of French cut green beans, and spread them evenly over the layer of onion-veggie ground-soup
9. Sprinkle approximately ¼ c. of the cheddar daiya over the green beans

10. Make an even layer of the baked tater tots over the green beans. If there are any very soft parts, make sure they’re facing up
11. Bake at 425f. for about 15 minutes so tater tots can get crispier
12. When tater tots are golden brown and firm, remove from oven and sprinkle the remaining ½ c. daiya shreds evenly over the top. Place back in the 425f. oven and bake another 15-20 minutes until the daiya shreds on top are lightly browned and crispy.
13. Serve hot! 

Reheating note: You can cover leftover hot dish with foil or in Tupperware and refrigerate, but when it’s time to reheat, bake it in the oven or toaster oven (350f for about 10-15 minutes, or until tots are crispy again). The tater tots will get soggy in the fridge, so you need the dry heat of an oven to get them nice and crispy again.

Micah's Tater Tot Hotdish at the swap

Briefly, Cook the Books 2013: Mile End Cookbook

I put my library request in early, I swear. But it was Passover and it seemed like I wasn't ever going to get my hands on a loaner copy of The Mile End Cookbook for April's Cook the Books due to the number of holds ahead of me... But then a librarian friend introduced me to the brilliance that is Link+, and thanks to inter-library coordination it was ready for me to pick up at my local branch within a few days. I was over the moon pleased with myself, and I settled in to flipping through the recipes and hungry thoughts of making cinnamon buns and challah, lotsa pickles, and a bunch of different kinds of latkes, to start.

But with taxes due and a barely planned vacation to take, it turned out that for most of April I was swimming with fishes in Mexico instead of cooking at home.

So this month is short and sweet, with just two simple dishes cooked but (as usual) many more savored with my eyeballs. I was also proud because not only did I use up a lot of things in the fridge before leaving the country (greens and herbs from the swap, bacon, salami, eggs, etc.), I also did not need to buy anything specifically for these recipes, except the beans!

Mish-Mash - This recipe caught my eye immediately. Salami with eggs? Yes please. With just a few ingredients, this is great and easy-to-prepare meal which will be on the menu at our joint going forward for sure.

As I sought ways to cook anything amid the pre-trip crunch, it turned out the Maple Baked Beans were just the thing to take to a friend's BBQ. They were very tasty on grilled sausages, and we ate the leftovers as beans on toast with eggs as our last dinner at home. Breakfast for dinner, always a winner.

Next up for May is Tender by Nigel Slater. And I can sure do with some veggies in my diet after all those tacos and beer!

Boozy Swap Recap x2: January & April presented in pictures (and glasses)

We had a packed house for our January swap, and a big crowd for our 2 year anniversary swap in April too. The most noticeable theme? Booze! Yup, at the January swap we had bourbon cocktails being made to order as samples the awesome Earl Grey Soda Syrup shown below, plus a couple homemade wines on another table, and the April swap had not one but THREE kinds of alcoholic beverages on offer for the potluck, plus cordials and other spirited elixirs on the swapping block. There were even flavored sugars for cocktail glass rims. Now you know how SF swappers roll...

Along with the alcohol there was a lot of garden fresh produce, so it really felt like spring up at our April swap.

There was so much other good stuff too! But, I'm off to Mexico in a couple days, and am trying to cram a lot in before I leave, so am keeping this post short. I did just finish my taxes though, so cheers to that! Since this snapshot view has no doubt left you wanting more, go peruse the full photo galleries from both swaps here and here. Then mark your calendar tentatively for the first weekend in June.

Cook the Books 2013: Soup weather = Tom Yum Goong

March was filled with more work travel, lots of family occasions and visitors, and now a cold...so it didn't allow me much time in the kitchen to try out this month's Cook the Books selection, Good Fish by Becky Selengut. But, my Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Shrimp and Lemongrass) soup was just what the doctor ordered, and I've got the ingredients on-hand to make the Wild Salmon Chowder with Fire-Roasted Tomatoes and Quinoa Cakes with Smoked Trout and Chive Sour Cream in the next few days. I also have BIG love for sardines, so always have them in the pantry and will try not just her version of Pasta con la Sarde for sure, but the fresh Skillet Sardines too.

Anyhow, on to what I did make...

Cooking shallots and lemongrass is up there in terms of kitchen smells, but it's the kaffir lime leaves that are the magic ingredient here and will transport you right into the heart of Thailand as you cook this deliciously, evocatively, fragrant broth. Or at least that's what happened to me.

Though this isn't an overly complex recipe, making the stock takes some time, so once again I broke it down over two days. Be sure to brown the shrimp shells over high heat in order to impart their distinctive flavor to the broth.

Tom Yum Goong (Spicy Shrimp & Lemongrass Soup)
Adapted from Good Fish by Becky Selengut
Serves 4

2 tablespoons high-heat vegetable oil (I used safflower)
1 medium onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined (shells reserved)
5 to 6 cups of water
3 tomatoes, medium dice, or one 14-oz can of diced tomatoes with their juice
6 Kaffir lime leaves, or zest of 1 lime
6-8 thin slices of fresh, peeled galangal or ginger
2 jalapeños, halved (remove the seeds and membranes if you want to decrease the heat of your soup)
1/2 cup sliced shallots
3 stalks of lemongrass, cut into 1-inch pieces, woody top half discarded
1 cup cremini or button mushrooms, thickly sliced
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3-6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (2-3 limes)
Salt
Whole cilantro leaves, for garnish

Making the soup stock

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a stockpot over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, and celery and saute for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned.

Turn the heat up to high and add the reserved shrimp shells. They will turn their recognizable pink almost immediately, but saute about 3-4 minutes until they are lightly browned.

Add the water to the pot. If you are using canned tomatoes, drain the juice into a measuring cup and add enough water to total 6 cups.

Stir in the sliced galangal, jalapeños, and kaffir lime leaves and bring to a boil.

Scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any browned bits and simmer gently for approximately 30 minutes. (This is when the fragrance magic happens)

Strain the stock through a fine mesh sieve and set aside. If you make the night before, store the stock in the fridge overnight.

Making the soup

Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, and add the shallots and lemongrass. Saute about 8-10 minutes until  lightly browned.

Add the mushrooms, tomatoes and reserved stock and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the fish sauce. Simmer for another 10 minutes, then add the shrimp and turn off the heat (the residual heat will do the cooking for you).

Add the juice of 2 limes and season to taste with salt. Add more fish sauce if necessary, as well as lime juice which will brighten the flavors. A little sugar or honey can help if your soup is tart or bitter.

Be sure to taste the soup at this stage and balance the flavors according to your palate.

Serve garnished with cilantro leaves, and remember you can lightly chew on the lemongrass stalks to release some of their flavor, but do not try to eat them!

Cooking notes:
While deveining shrimp is not the sexiest job in the kitchen, it was actually a first for me and I kind of enjoyed it. This takes about 10 minutes, so plan your prep and cooking time accordingly. Selengut's website includes a number of how-to videos, including one on deveining shrimp.

I had exactly, to the drop, 3 tablespoons of fish sauce left in the bottle. I love it when that happens!

Here's an in-depth, Spring-filled post reviewing this cookbook by Oh, Briggsy, with the monthly round-up post coming soon from Grow & Resist!

Swapper Profiles: Angela Mc and J.K. Kaufman + Beer Bread Recipe

I am extremely pleased to introduce the dynamic swap duo of Angela and J.K.. Though in fact they haven't been coming to the swap for all that long of a time, it feels like they have (in the best of ways). They always come supremely well-stocked, which is evidence of the hard work and love they put into their cooking. Their packaging is always playful, and matches their fun spirits and smiles every time. Between them they've busted out Tea Cookies in assorted flavors, Marshmallows, Chocolate Covered Caramels, Rustic Chocolate Choffy Ball Truffles, Mini Pies (Blood Orange & Blueberry, Savory Goose, Persimmon, and Apple Sugar + Spice), and Orange-Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies. They also co-write a blog, Tea Time Adventures. Read on to see what else gets them excited in the kitchen, plus nab a tasty looking recipe for Beer Bread. Cheers to that!

Angela and J.K. with their Death by Caramel Brownies

Name: Angela Mc

Home (+ hometown swap): SF/sf food swappers

Angela's savory goose mini pie was delicious

How did you first get involved in food swapping? How long ago?
I think I first saw it in an email, I just know that it was instant attraction to the idea and we swore we would go to the next one! Since last year? Perhaps in June? It was the swap at the old venue in the Mission.

What did you make for the last food swap and what inspired your choice?
Mini-pies. A friend had given me a booklet called "Bike Basket Pies" and we thought they'd be perfect to swap. We made four kinds. 3 fruit and one savory.

What’s your favorite thing about swapping?
Getting ideas from other swappers! It always seems like someone has made something that is such a brilliant idea that I must steal it. Last swap it was the tea-infused simple syrup.

Who or what most influences your cooking?
I just pick it up as I go, but one famous chef I Love is Jacques Pepin. He has had such an varied career, and his autobiography is awesome.

What’s your favorite kitchen tool?
Toaster oven. For real. It's so much easier and tastier to toast than microwave food. A close second is ye olde immersion blender.

Your current flavor or ingredient obsession?
Salt. I love salt. Always.

Biggest food surprise? 
When people say they "can't" cook. Or is that Pet Peeve? Hmmm.

If the Rapture came tomorrow, what would your last meal on earth be?
Brunch! A fried chicken, waffle kind of combo with Lots of fresh fruit. Bacon.

When I'm not in the kitchen I'm... eating out and then blogging about it!

Favorite local food experience:
Annual Street Food Festival!!


Name: J.K. Kaufman

Home (+ hometown swap): San Francisco

Profession: Retired

How did you first get involved in food swapping? How long ago?

Angela found out about it and we decided to participate. I think our first swap was in October.

What did you make for the last food swap and what inspired your choice?

Judy Rosenberg's (Rosie's Bakery in Boston) orange pecan chocolate-chip cookies from her All-Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar-Packed, No-Holds-Barred Baking Book (page 101). They're my current favorite of the things I bake and definitely my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie.

What’s your favorite thing about swapping?

Meeting other people who enjoy creating good things in the kitchen and coming home with a bag full of new things to try.

Who or what most influences your cooking?

Whatever I feel like eating. But I rarely cook, unless you count my morning oatmeal. I'm a baker. Friends invite me to dinner and asks me to bring bread and/or dessert.

Death By Caramel Brownies in the making

What’s your favorite kitchen tool?

The silicone paddle for my stand mixer. It scrapes the side of the bowl as it beats. My chocolate tempering machine is a close second. I have a serious weakness for gadgets and small appliances.

Your current flavor or ingredient obsession?

Chocolate

Biggest food surprise?

Discovering that the taste of charcoal-grilled food that I didn't like was really the excess lighter fluid my father used.

If the Rapture came tomorrow, what would your last meal on earth be?

Abalone

When I'm not in the kitchen… I'm reading, either dead tree or online. Or out eating with Angela or other friends.

Favorite local food experience:

Tasting the creations of the best artisan chocolatiers at Fog City News on Market Street.

Beer Bread Recipe by Angela

Preheat oven to 375°
Grease a bread pan with olive oil, nonstick spray, or butter.
3 c flour3 T sugar1 T Baking Powder1 tsp. salt1 c cheddar cheese (shredded)1 T chives

Whisk these dry ingredients together
Add 1 beer and stir. Mixture will be sticky.
Put mixture in prepared pan. Bake 55 minutes.
Remove from oven, rub a little butter over the top, and return it to the oven for 2-3 minutes.
Eat!

See original post with more pictures here.

Cook the Books 2013: Spiced Pineapple-Filled Pastries for the Chinese Lunar New Year

I tend to balk at too many choices. At restaurants when confronted multiple dishes I cannot decide upon, I often ask the waiter to pick for me. Andrea Nguyen's Asian Dumplings had a similar effect in that so many of the recipes appealed to my senses (stomach, eyes, and taste buds!), I didn't know where to start.

This book is especially exciting with its liberal interpretation of the term dumpling, and its Pan-Asian offerings. After much page turning and salivating, my top contenders list narrowed down to Curried Chicken Baked Bao, Shrimp Rice Noodle Rolls, Sticky Rice and Spiced Chicken in Banana Leaf, Kimchi Dumplings, Spiced Pineapple-Filled Pastries, Milk Dumplings in Cardamom and Saffron Syrup, Sticky Rice and Mung Bean Dumplings in Ginger Broth, but in the end I only made one dish from this book. It was that kind of month.

And it ultimately came down to ingredient availability amid my crazy schedule. I had a big fresh pineapple on the kitchen counter calling my name, and after perusing the book had grabbed ground annatto recently at one of the markets in my neighborhood. Thus the decision was made.

I made the filling one evening after work, but quickly realized the entire project was too ambitious to finish in one fell swoop. I put the jam in the fridge and then made the dough and dumplings on the weekend when I was in a more leisurely state of mind.

My delay was fortuitous as I ended up making the Spiced Pineapple-Filled Pastries on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. When I realized that, I had a niggling feeling I'd actually seen these on offer around this time of year in the past. And, as a little research confirmed, these appealing fruit-laced packages are in fact traditional for the new year celebrations and signify prosperity! The stars had aligned for my cooking project, which has got to bode well for Year of the Snake overall. I brought the extras in to work the next day and delivered them to co-workers with a cheeful Gung Hei Fat Choy!

Spiced Pineapple-Filled Pastries

Kuih Tart

Adapted from Asian Dumplings by Andrea Nguyen
Makes approximately 32 pastries

FILLING
1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple in natural juice, drained with juice reserved OR 1 whole fresh pineapple, chopped plus water
10 tablespoons sugar
1/2 whole star anise (4 robust points)
1 cinnamon stick or cassia bark (approximately 3 inches long)
2 whole cloves
1 pinch of sea salt

DOUGH
10 ounces (2 cups) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground annatto (optional)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 large whole egg plus 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten and strained
32 whole cloves

To make the filling: Pulse drained pineapple in a food processor 10-15 times until it has a finely chopped, uniform texture. Scrape pineapple paste into a saucepan and add the reserved juice (or an equivalent amount of water if using fresh pineapple), star anise, cloves, cinnamon stick, sugar and salt. Stir frequently over medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Carefully taste without burning your mouth and adjust sugar accordingly. Decrease the heat to medium low and let simmer for about 1 3/4 hours or until almost all of the liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally. The mixture will have thickened to a jam-like texture and darkened to a deeper amber yellow color. Be more vigilant and stir more often during the last 30 minutes to prevent scorching. It is done when it holds its shape and has just a little bit of bubbling liquid left on the bottom.

Remove all of the whole spices, and transfer jam to a bowl to cool for approximately 2 hours. Once cool (and more firm), you may cover and refrigerate for up to a week. It can be used while still chilled and makes about 1 cup.

To make the dough: Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, salt, and annatto) and set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well blended. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the dry ingredients one-third at a time, until a slightly sticky dough has been formed. It will seem dry at first, but will moisten as you continue to stir and fold. Once similar to a mass of marzipan, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Form into a ball and then press out into a 1-inch thick disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour in order to firm up the dough. It can be refrigerated for up to 2 days, but let it sit at room temperature for about an hour afterwards to become workable.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Cut the dough in half, re-wrapping the other half while you work to keep it from drying out. Gently squeeze dough into an elongated cylinder and then roll into a 1-inch thick log. Cut into 16 equal pieces (quarter the log first and cut the tapered ends a little longer than the rest), and shape into squat cylinder pieces.

I will provide abbreviated instructions here for forming and rolling out the wrappers, but the author has a video tutorial on her site (as well as great illustrated step-by-step instructions in the cookbook).

Cut two squares of plastic wrap approximately 5 inches in diameter. Placing one piece of dough at a time inside the plastic pieces, use a tortilla press if you have one, or some heavy flat object such as a frying pan, to flatten each piece of dough into a thin circle.

Place each wrapper on your work surface. Flouring only as needed to keep the dough from sticking, use an Asian dowel-style rolling pin (or a regular one, which worked fine for me using it an an angle) to roll each piece out into a 3 to 3 1/2 inch circle. Apply more pressure on the outer rim as the wrappers should be thicker in the middle and thinner on the edges for dumplings.

To assemble, hold a wrapper in the palm of your hand and place a scant 1 1/2 teaspoons of jam in the center. Fold your hand in slightly to center the jam, keeping 1/2 to 3/4 inch clear on all sides. Chose a spot on the wrapper rim, such as 3 o'clock, and fold the rim towards the center. Repeat as you work your way around the the wrapper, gently pinching and pressing the dough together to create small pleats. Once all the dough has been folded inward, if you jam is not completely sealed up, use your fingers to pinch the dough together to close.

Cup the pastry in your hands to gently shape into a round ball. If any holes appear, patch them up with your fingers or a tiny bit of dough. Place pleated side down on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart.

Preheat the oven to 350° and position the rack in the middle of the oven. Chill the pastries for about 15 minutes before baking. 

After brushing with egg yolk, stick a clove with the ball end down in the center of each one.

Bake for 24-26 minutes until golden. Cool on a rack, and don't be alarmed at any leaking jam or appearing cracks.

Repeat with the second half of the dough and filling.

Whew, that was a long one! Have some virtual pastries why don't you?

All I can say is the length and detail of the recipe is deceptive. These were easier to make than I thought they would be and also extremely satisfying. Unless you have super stamina cooking powers though, I would recommend breaking the different stages up by a day or two. I also froze half of the dough and plan to make more of these down the road using some of my homemade jam stash lining the pantry shelves.