HODA KOTB, co-host:
All right.
It's time
for
TODAY'S HOLIDAY KITCHEN
. We're turning ordinary snacks into gourmet goodies for your
New Year
's celebration.
KATHIE LEE GIFFORD, co-host:
What are you laughing about?
KOTB:
I don't know, it's kind of funny.
GIFFORD:
Emilie Baltz
is the author of "Junk Foodie" and she's here to show us how to please even the pickiest of palates. Really,
Emilie
?
Ms. EMILIE BALTZ:
Really.
KOTB:
Well, I like -- I like the ingredients you're starting out with, things I love,
Twinkies
and
Ho Hos
and you're going to turn these into gourmet foods?
Ms. BALTZ:
Yeah. Very, very easily.
KOTB:
OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
So a great way to be able to use kind of anything from the convenience store...
KOTB:
Right.
Ms. BALTZ:
...to start thinking of innovative ways to transform them. So the first recipe that we're starting with is a
Twinkie Napoleon
. And a
Napoleon
is...
KOTB:
A Twinkie Napoleon.
Ms. BALTZ:
Yeah.
KOTB:
OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
Doesn't look like it is going to become it very quickly.
KOTB:
No. OK, so what do you do?
Ms. BALTZ:
So the
Napoleon
is a traditional French pastry...
KOTB:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. BALTZ:
...that's made of puff pastry and cream.
GIFFORD:
And cream, yeah.
Ms. BALTZ:
And so we're going to do it using only
Twinkies
and
potato chips
.
KOTB:
Potato chips
.
Ms. BALTZ:
So we open the
Twinkie
, cut it vertically, and then reserve...
GIFFORD:
Scoop out its stuff.
Ms. BALTZ:
Exactly. We can use a fancy term like "reserve" for this. We'll scoop out all of its stuff. And then -- here, you can take this if you like,
do you want to
smash one up?
KOTB:
What do you want
-- squeeze it by hand?
Ms. BALTZ:
Yeah, you're going to squeeze it by hand and you'll be amazed that the
Twinkie
reconstitutes into dough very, very easily. So you just want to squeeze it up.
KOTB:
What ingredients are in this, I wonder?
Ms. BALTZ:
Lots of magical things.
KOTB:
OK.
GIFFORD:
Yes.
KOTB:
Exactly.
Ms. BALTZ:
So once we have them formed into these nice balls...
KOTB:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. BALTZ:
...we're going to start to roll it out really thinly. And you can practice rolling.
GIFFORD:
I'll do that for you.
Ms. BALTZ:
And you want to roll it to about this thickness, about two or three millimeters.
GIFFORD:
Oh, that's like -- OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
Simultaneously -- now this is going to be the layer of dough. We want to add a
little
crunch and crackle to it, so a great way to do that is a technique that I've developed called the smash.
KOTB:
OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
So we open a
little
hole in the top of it and then you're going to take the...
KOTB:
Right.
Ms. BALTZ:
...
potato chip
bag and start to smash it.
KOTB:
Smush it.
Ms. BALTZ:
There you go.
KOTB:
OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
You can smash it until we get to...
GIFFORD:
How did you come up with these things? Have you always been fascinated by
junk food
?
Ms. BALTZ:
I've always been fascinated with
junk food
. I was never allowed to eat it when I was
little
.
KOTB:
Oh, that's it.
GIFFORD:
Oh, you're one of those.
KOTB:
Now -- your mother's fault.
Ms. BALTZ:
...were made of.
GIFFORD:
Mm-hmm.
KOTB:
OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
I know. Thanks, Mom.
KOTB:
OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
So once it's all smashed...
KOTB:
This is
potato chips
?
Ms. BALTZ:
This is a crumbled
potato chip
.
KOTB:
Of course it is.
Ms. BALTZ:
We're going to layer the
Twinkie
dough with it.
KOTB:
Does not look good.
Ms. BALTZ:
And then very -- oh, no, it's delicious, I swear.
KOTB:
It is?
Ms. BALTZ:
Yeah.
KOTB:
OK. I can't wait to try it.
Ms. BALTZ:
And then we'll cut them into all of these uniform pieces. And then carefully you want to layer them on top of each other. So what that creates is kind of the same layering effect that a pate de fruit would have.
GIFFORD:
Ms. BALTZ:
Oui, oui, madam. And then cover it with a
little
bit of
Twinkie
cream.
GIFFORD:
Oh.
KOTB:
Is this it? Is this the final thing?
Ms. BALTZ:
And then garnish it with a
potato chip
and that's the final piece.
GIFFORD:
Hoda
gets to try it. Oh, you're going to love that.
Ms. BALTZ:
Absolutely delicious.
KOTB:
You think?
Ms. BALTZ:
Yeah.
GIFFORD:
Yeah, because it's sweet and...
Ms. BALTZ:
It's like sweet and savory, a
little
crunchy.
KOTB:
Mm.
Ms. BALTZ:
Not bad, huh?
KOTB:
Good.
Ms. BALTZ:
Great.
KOTB:
It is good.
GIFFORD:
All righty!
Ms. BALTZ:
So moving right along, 'tis the holiday season and here's a very simple way to start making single-serving deliciousness, and this is a re-creation of a treat called the
buche de Noel
, which is a traditional French...
GIFFORD:
Ms. BALTZ:
Yes, exactly. Well done. It's a French dessert that's made to resemble a log. So the
Ho Ho
works really well for this. Sometimes you want to chill them so the hard candy shell stays crispy.
GIFFORD:
Uh-huh
.
Ms. BALTZ:
And then we just take the top of the chocolate off, we peel it off very carefully, so we're left with this sort of half...
KOTB:
Mm-hmm.
Ms. BALTZ:
...naked
Ho Ho
.
Crumble
the rest of it...
GIFFORD:
That was
Hoda
the other night. Duh-duh-dun.
KOTB:
Hey!
Ms. BALTZ:
Maybe you should...
KOTB:
I thought you were with me, I mean...
Ms. BALTZ:
OK. The natural decor of this log...
KOTB:
I can see you
laughing still, OK?
Ms. BALTZ:
Give him a
Puckeroom
.
KOTB:
OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
We decorate it with...
GIFFORD:
All right, we're
running out of time
.
Ms. BALTZ:
...all of our
natural ingredients
.
KOTB:
All right. Yeah, OK.
Ms. BALTZ:
Here there are
Puckerooms
,
chocolate bar
...
KOTB:
So it's just a
Ho Ho
with gumdrops.
Ms. BALTZ:
...with a
little
bit of......to it.
GIFFORD:
Of course. Now what -- this stuff I ate a
little
earlier. It was good. I didn't know what I was eating, I hope it's popcorn.
Ms. BALTZ:
So this is a quick and simple way to make gourmet popcorn. It is a mixture of smashed up
Cheetos
and popcorn.
KOTB:
All right.
Ms. BALTZ:
You toss them together in a bowl.
KOTB:
We have 15 seconds.
Ms. BALTZ:
It's......bowl.
GIFFORD:
It's actually delicious.
KOTB:
So thank you, honey.
Ms. BALTZ:
Wash it down with
Coke
and
Yoo-hoo
.
GIFFORD:
All right. You're adorable,
Emilie
.
KOTB:
Nice talking to you.
GIFFORD:
Thank you. Coming up tomorrow, we're going to take you down
Memory Lane
for a few good laughs. Have an awesome day, everybody.
KOTB:
Have a great
Winesday
.
Bye
, everybody.
GIFFORD:
Bye-bye. Thank you.
“ ”