Saturday, November 17, 2012

Lemon Whole Wheat Bread

As we know, I love making bread.  In fact, I started this blog as a record of my bread-making in some sense.  I was looking for a nice, healthy bread for breakfasts and possibly sandwiches and came across this nice lemon honey whole wheat bread.

It was great: flavorful, whole wheaty, but it made 2 loaves, oops!  I ate the first loaf in the first couple of days with chili for lunch or jam for breakfast.  It would make really great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I used half of the second loaf for a savory bread pudding that I will blog about later.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Oreo Cupcakes

For a friends birthday, she requested something Oreo.  I thought it would be brilliant to fill chocolate cupcakes and cover them with Oreo frosting.  They were awesome.  I usually don't like chocolate cake (it's not chocolaty enough), but the chocolate cupcake recipe was great.  I also added about 6 crushed Oreos.  I was inspired by a peanut butter Oreo cupcake recipe.  They were awesome and can be played with in lots of different ways with different fillings and frostings, from the same basic chocolate recipe.  I also took the cream cheese out of the frosting since I don't like it.

I made filling from shortening to make sure it was white.  I made it a little too thick and it didn't fill as well as I hoped.  The frosting was fine with butter since the Oreos made it light brown.  I doubled the recipe to feed the crowd and ended up with 28 cupcakes.


Ingredients
    Chocolate Cake
  • 1 stick (8 tbs) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
  • 2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp table salt
  • 1/2 cup yogurt
  • Peanut Butter Filling
  • 4 Tbsp shortening
  • 1/4 c powdered sugar (or more to taste/Oreo cream consistency)
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla
  • Oreo Frosting
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 c powdered sugar (more as needed to make it taste good)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 10 crushed Oreos
  • Pinch of salt
Instructions
    For the Cupcakes
  1. Set oven to 350 degeres and line standard sized muffin pan with baking cup liners.
  2. Combine butter, chocolate and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water, heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside and cool until just warm to the touch.
  3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl to combine
  4. Whisk eggs in a second medium bowl to combine, add sugar, vanilla and salt until fluffy and incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about 1/3 of the flour mixture into chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Whisk in sour cream until combined, the sift remaining flour mixture in and whisk until batter is combined.
  5. Scoop into 12 cupcake tins. Bake until skewer in center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.
  6. Let cupcakes cool.
  7. For the Filling
  8. Combine shortening, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and beat until well combined. Scoop the filling into a piping bag. Insert tip into center of cupcake and squeeze as you pull the tip out to fill the cupcake.
  9. For the Frosting
  10. Beat butter. Add in powdered sugar in 1/4 cup increments. Add in the vanilla and the pinch of salt. Add the chopped up oreos and mix until oreos are evenly distributed.
  11. Put frosting into a piping bag and pipe onto filled cupcakes.

Apple Wheat Muffins


I went apple picking last month.  I ended up with a couple dozen apples, so I looked for apple recipes  After making apple sauce I decided I wanted apple baked goods.  So I looked for muffin recipes.

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and fixed it a little bit.

I froze about half of them.  Any that are not eaten or frozen immediately should be refrigerated.  I didn't and some of them turned to rotten mush in the middle.  Also, the recipe called for buttermilk or yogurt, I cut out 1/2 cup butter and used both.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
I ended up with 18 muffins.
1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed, divided
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease and flour 18 muffin cups and set aside.
Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the yogurt and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Mix in the buttermilk gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle.) Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Peach Bundt Cake

Yesterday I ran the Peachtree Road Race (along with 58,000 other people).  It was hot, and my training has been fairly slow lately.  I was JUST fast enough (by one second) to qualify for the "B" wave again, if I run it again.



Why is this relevant?  At the end of the Peachtree Road Race are peaches.  Tons (literally) of peaches.  They told me I could take as many as I wanted.  They told me I could fill my bag.  I filled my bag.  I ended up with 20 peaches.  Now people who know me know that I would rather eat a peach raw than cook it into a dessert.  However, when you have 20 peaches, there are desserts to be made.

Yesterday I made peach chocolate chip pancakes.  They were as tasty as they sound and as easy as they sound.  I won't elaborate.

But the next treat was an obvious one.  I was preparing lesson plans and realized that tomorrow is Volume by Washers day.  (By this we mean it is possible to find the volume of a solid formed by rotating a region around an axis... you don't care so I'm not sure why I'm mentioning it).  So obviously I need a bundt cake to be a solid of revolution in my demonstration (this happens every time I teach Calc 1 or 3).  And obviously it needed peaches.  Here is a recipe like many I found.  I added Greek yogurt for a little moisture, though some of the recipes I found also did this.

Georgia Peach Pound Cake

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh peaches, pitted and chopped

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Butter a 10 inch tube pan and coat with white sugar.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla and yogurt. Reserve 1/4 cup of flour for later, and sift together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Use the reserved flour to coat the chopped peaches, then fold the floured peaches into the batter. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Proof a girl doesn't need chocolate to be happy: Blonde Brownies

So I gave up chocolate for Lent.  I once gave up chocolate for a month.  Let me tell you, it's not easy (at least for me who gets home from a long day and just wants a small piece of dark chocolate to unwind)!  I've felt like I needed to bake recently, and it seems like all recipes I'm drawn to have chocolate.  I thought about something like snickerdoodles, but somehow they didn't seem rich enough.  A nice brownie sounded good... so instead, I'll make blondies!  Yes, I probably should have gone to Smitten Kitchen for inspiration, but instead I stopped by Martha Stewart, and found this lovely recipe.  I left out the toffee chips because the only ones I had were coated in chocolate.  In all honesty, I am typing this as they bake so I haven't actually tried them.  But I licked a bit of batter (which is something I swore I would never do again, but my memory is starting to fail me and I know longer remember how miserable food poisoning feels) and it basically tasted like chocolate chip cookie dough minus the chocolate chips.  And I think that this is an acceptable alternative to chocolate chip cookies.  Especially since there are warm and gooey butterscotch chips present.


  • 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
  • 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup butterscotch chips
  • 1/2 cup unsalted cashews, coarsely chopped (about 3 ounces)
  • 1/4 cup toffee bits

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a buttered 8-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper, allowing a 2-inch overhang. Butter lining (excluding overhang); set pan aside.
  2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
  3. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and mix, scraping down sides of bowl, until well combined. Mix in butterscotch, cashews, and toffee.
  4. Pour batter into prepared pan; spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into blondies (avoid center and edges) comes out with a few crumbs but is not wet, 42 to 45 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift out; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Apricot Sugar Cookies

So I've been craving apricot cookies for about 4 months, but didn't really have any reason to make these.  I have limited cookie cutters and the only pair that makes these cookies well is the circle and heart combo.  Which makes them perfect for Valentine's Day.  I did make some strawberry because I had some strawberry jam lying around and not everyone likes apricot.

I got the recipe from my mom :).  Thanks Mom!

3 c flour
1 1/4 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
3/4 c butter, room temp
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
apricot preserves
 
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; set aside.  Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Gradually add flour mixture and beat until well blended.  Cover and chill at least one hour.
 
Line cookie sheet with foil; set aside.
 
Roll dough to 1/8-in thickness on lightly floured surface.  Cut out with 2 1/2-in diameter cookie cutter.  Cut centers out of half the cookies with 1-in diameter cookie cutter.  Transfer cookies to foil lined sheets.
 
Bake at 375 degrees until just beginning to brown on edges, 6 to 8 min.  Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely.
 
Spread 1 t apricot preserves over each whole cookie.  Top with remaining "cut out" cookies sandwich style.  Makes 2-1/2 to 3 dozen cookies.  Centers can be baked as a separate treat; watch carefully, they bake quickly.


I topped the heart shaped middles with a little strawberry frosting:

Strawberry Frosting 
  • 2 Tbsp of butter at room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbsp Cup Strawberry Preserves
  • 1/4 Cups Powdered Sugar

Friday, February 10, 2012

Lemon Risotto

After a very lengthy hiatus, I've decided I need to get back into food blogging.  I've made plenty of new things, I just haven't been posting.  So I'll start with this amazing lemon risotto I recently made.  I served it with salmon and broccoli, and the risotto was DEFINITELY my favorite part.  It also went perfectly.  I cut the recipe in half, which I sort of regretted, but risotto is usually not good for very long.  The recipe is from Bon Appetite and can be found here.


  • 3 cups canned low-salt veggue broth

  • 1 tablespoon butter

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

  • 1 large shallot, chopped

  • 1 cups arborio rice or medium-grain white rice

  • 1/8 cup dry white wine

  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)

  • 1 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I used basil and was very pleased with the outcome)

  • 1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel


  • Bring broth to simmer in large saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; cover to keep warm. Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until tender, about 6 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine and stir until evaporated, about 30 seconds. Add 1 1/2 cups hot broth; simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is creamy and tender, about 35 minutes. Stir in cheese and remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in parsley, lemon juice, and lemon peel. Season risotto with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.

    Read More http://www.epicurious.com:80/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Risotto-106451#ixzz1m1PoEtar