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 Eggs Benedict Jenn and Jill challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg for the December 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge. They chose an Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.
Total time: 1 hour
4 eggs
2 English muffins
4 slices of Canadian bacon/back bacon (or plain bacon if you prefer)
Salt and vinegar (for poaching)
Hollandaise Sauce
Chives, for garnish
1. Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and bring to a simmer.
2. Add salt and a splash of vinegar (any kind will do). I added about a tablespoon of vinegar to my small saucepan (about 3 cups of water/720 ml of water), but you may need more if you’re using a larger pan with more water.
3. Crack eggs directly into the very gently simmering water (or crack first into a bowl and gently drop into the water), making sure they’re separated. Cook for 3 minutes for a viscous but still runny yolk.
4. While waiting for the eggs, quickly fry the Canadian/back bacon and toast your English muffin.
5. Top each half of English muffin with a piece of bacon. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon, draining well, and place on top of the bacon. Top with hollandaise and chopped chives.
 Poached Egg on Eggs Benedict
 Hollandaise Sauce on top of Eggs Benedict Jenn and Jill challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg for the December 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge. They chose an Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.
Total time: 35 minutes
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp. (5 ml) water
¼ tsp. (1 ¼ ml/1½ g) sugar
12 Tbl. (170 g/6 oz.) unsalted butter, chilled and cut in small pieces
½ tsp. (2 ½ ml/3 g) kosher salt
2 tsp. (10 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
Directions:
1. Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and bring to a simmer.
2. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and set aside.
3. Whisk egg yolks and 1 tsp. (5 ml) water in a mixing bowl large enough to sit on the saucepan without touching the water (or in top portion of a double boiler). Whisk for 1–2 minutes, until egg yolks lighten. Add the sugar and whisk 30 seconds more.
4. Place bowl on saucepan over simmering water and whisk steadily 3–5 minutes (it only took about 3 for me) until the yolks thicken to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Remove from heat (but let the water continue to simmer) and whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time. Move the bowl to the pan again as needed to melt the butter, making sure to whisk constantly.
6. Once all the butter is incorporated, remove from heat and whisk in the salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper (if using).
This is slow, time consuming and absolutely perfect. The general principle for Hollandaise sauce is 1 egg to 4-6 Tbsp of butter. The only thing I might change for me is dropping down to 10 Tbsp of butter, as I felt it was a little too buttery with my 12 Tbsp of butter (I use only real salted butter). Once on top of my Eggs Benedict, I didn’t notice so much.
 Tea-Infused Teriyaki Chicken Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November 2011 Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.
Total time: 1 hour, plus optional marinade time
2 bags Stash’s Licorice Spiced Tea
2 cups boiling hot water
6 cloves garlic
1/2 cup fresh ginger root
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp peanut oil or vegetable oil
Steep tea in hot water for 3-5 minutes. Remove and squeeze tea bags, discard.
In a food processor or blender, combine tea and remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth. ***
Boil sauce in a large pan on medium-high for 20-30 minutes until reduced.
 Stash's Licorice Spice Tea
*** At this point, you could add 4 lovely Szechuan peppers and 1 pound of chicken to marinate in the refrigerator. I marinated my chicken, then boiled the whole lot down, added some carrots, and served it on steamed rice.
As it is, it’s just a sweet teriyaki sauce; it’s not even very salty. If you want sweet & salty, add more soy sauce. If you want sweet & spicy (which worked great for me), add some peppers; four Szechuan peppers didn’t make it very hot to me, but you might find it warm enough.
 Chinese Tea Eggs Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November 2011 Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.
Total time: 30 minutes, plus steep time (I did 4 hours)
6 eggs (any size)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (6 gm) black tea leaves, or 4 tea bags
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (5 gm) Chinese five spice powder
1 tablespoon (5 ml) (3 gm) coarse grain salt
toasted sesame seeds, to garnish
Directions:
1. In a large enough pot to avoid overcrowding, cover the eggs with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for twelve minutes.
2. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and keep the cooking water.
3. With a spoon, tap the eggs all over until they are covered with small cracks. This can also be
done by tapping and rolling the eggs very gently on the counter.
4. Return the eggs to the pan and add the tea leaves or bags, Chinese five spice powder, and salt. Cover
the pan.
 Tea and five-spice 5. Heat gently and simmer, covered, for one hour.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and let the eggs cool down in the liquid for 30 minutes.
7. Remove the eggs from the liquid. Peel one egg to check how dark it is; the others can be returned to the liquid if you wish to have the web-like pattern darker. Allow the eggs to cool fully.
8. To serve, peel and slice the eggs in halves or quarters. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
I mostly followed instructions, simmering for only another 15 minutes and steeping – cooling down – for 4 hours. I used whole spices instead of Chinese 5 spice blend (cinnamon bark, fennel seeds, star anise, cloves, pepper) and Chai Spice Black Tea because that’s what I had. I served my eggs deviled with heaping amounts of chipotle.
 Apple Butter (Yes, I ate some, and no, I'm not ashamed.) The September 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by John of Eat4Fun. John chose to challenge The Daring Cooks to learn about food preservation, mainly in the form of canning and freezing. He challenged everyone to make a recipe and preserve it. John’s source for food preservation information was from The National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Total Time: About 4 hours.
6 apples, washed with skins and cores removed
1/2 cup apple cider
1/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
pinch (1/8 tsp) of ground cloves
Makes about 2 cups of apple butter.
Cut apples into slices.
Combine apple slices and apple cider in a large saucepan. Cook slowly and stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Cook until apples are very soft (falling apart).
Gently mash the apples in the pot with your spoon or potato masher. (Alternatively, you could: Position a food mill or strainer securely over a large bowl. Press cooked apples with cider through the food mill or strainer to make a pulp. Be sure to collect all the pulp that comes through the food mill or strainer; for example, scrape any pulp clinging under the food mill into the bowl.)
Add brown sugar and spices to your apple pulp. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently. When cooking down the apples, you want to leave the lid ajar or use a splatter screen. This will allow for evaporation. Another trick is to support the lid by laying two wooden spoons across the top of the pot.
To test for doneness, spoon a small quantity onto a clean plate; when the butter mounds on the plate without liquid separating around the edge of the butter, it is ready for processing. Another way to test for doneness is to remove a spoonful of the cooked butter on a spoon and hold it away from steam for 2 minutes. It is done if the butter remains mounded on the spoon.
Pour contents into desired storage container or multiple containers. Refrigerate up to 2 weeks, freeze up to a year, or home canning is good for a year.
I never took my apples or apple butter mix out of the pot until the very end. I used a really sturdy pot, and I could tell it was done when I moved the spoon through the apple butter and everything *stayed in place*. That might have been overcooked, but it also made the apple butter very sweet and flavorful.
This recipe is a half batch. A full batch is 12 apples, 1 cup cider, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 Tbsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice and 1/4 tsp cloves.
 Pumpkin Muffcake 1 3/4 c flour
1 1/2 c pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c oil
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease a muffin tin with soft or melted butter. Dust with sugar.
In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, spices, baking soda and baking powder, set aside.
Stir together sugar and oil until well blended. Add pumpkin puree and eggs. Mix until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix well, removing larger clumps, until mostly smooth.
Pour batter into greased muffin tin, and bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the closes muffin comes out clean.
I put some (soaked, drained) raisins in a handful of the muffins, and while it was good, it wasn’t as good as the muffin by itself. Slathered in butter was the way to go, but I still feel like it was missing something. Walnuts maybe?
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