Monday, October 04, 2010

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I want a cookie, damn it.

For the last week, I have been debating whether to make these healthy cookies. I havent gotten around to it and in the meantime made some pretty healthy muffins instead. Said muffins aren't disappearing like I envisioned. It certainly doesn't help that there are 12 of them and T is out of town. Z likes them and I do too, but they just arent the 'stuffing-your-face' type.

That said, they are still staring me in the face, but I want a cookie.

Not any cookie will do. Its gotta be chocolate chip, and its gotta have oats in it.

I have been doing pretty good lately, not eating so many sweets. really. only a few chocolate chips in peanut butter each night. or, a pumpkin cookie. But, last night, I had a pint of ice cream in my freezer. my favorite BJ flavor, chocolate mint cookie. and, I had more than a few bites. and, I think it helped me sleep. so, the spiral downward begins.

where is that cookie.

So, I made these.





these were oatmeal and chocolate chip made with a little spice and a little bit of wheat flour, just to kid myself.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 teas baking powder
1/2 teas baking soda
1/2 teas salt
1/2 teas cinnamon
1/8 teas nutmeg
1 cup chocolate chips.

no, I didnt plan for all the measurements to be in 1/2 or 1. but, what an easy recipe to remember!

cream butter and sugars. add vanilla and egg, cream. premix and then add the dry ingredients. add the chocolate chips.
bake at 350 around 12 minutes. longer if you like em crunchier. makes just shy of 2 dozen.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Apple Bread.



First Pumpkin and now Apples?  It must be Fall. I have written a little bit about the Crusty Loaf style Apple Bread in the past, how it was the last bread out of the oven on any given day and it sold like hotcakes. We could barely frost it in time as the customers whisked the loaves out the front door.

Sometimes, I feel nostalgia for that place. Still. Even after 10 years. There was something about working there that I am not sure I will ever replace. I think it was the time in my life, the people I worked with and how everyday I really loved going to work, messing with the doughs, smelling the smells. I just loved it. I dont think I have loved any other job quite as much. I truly am a baker at heart. Even while doing desserts in other restaurants following my stint at the bakery, it just never satisfied me as much as working among all the doughs. I was always thrown off by the plating of desserts and presentation. All I wanted to do was produce the goods, hands in the batter, elbows in the dough. Now that I have been away from the whole work scene for over 2 years, it really has given me time to reflect on what I really enjoy doing and what I hope to do next. I hope to see myself in a bakery again someday. Someday.

Today, I made some Apple Bread. I have posted about it before, but this time, I will hand over a recipe too. This makes a nicely perfumed apple bread perfect toasted with a little butter and honey. Just lightly sweetened by the apples tossed with a little cinnamon sugar, the dough is chopped to pieces instead of shaped into the perfect loaf. So, this is a fun recipe to do with the kiddos. Of course, my kiddo is yucked out these days by anything overly sticky, so he just watched as I chopped the apples into the dough. and then, he told me to wash my hands. (despite this, I still have hopes that he too, will be a future baker)

Apple Bread.
adapted from the Bernard Claytons Book of Breads.

3 1/4 cup flour
2 1/4 teas dry yeast
1 1/2 teas salt
1/4 cup milk
1 cup warm water
2 Tabl butter, melted and slightly cooled

Apples:
1 cup chopped apples, I used granny smith
1 egg
1/4 cup pecans, chopped
3 T brown sugar
1 1/2 teas cinnamon

put water, milk, melted butter and yeast in a bowl to bloom yeast. add flour by the cup and mix to combine. when the last of the flour is added, stir to develop the dough for a few minutes. it should be sticky but clear the sides of the bowl somewhat while stirring. add the salt and stir a couple more minutes to combine.

let rise for an hour.
in the meantime, toss the apples with the sugar and cinnamon.

dust a cutting board with flour, lightly and pour the dough, patting it into a rectangle. (see pics below) then, add the beaten egg to the apples, mix, and pour the apples onto the dough. fold the dough over the apples from either side and with a bench scraper or large knife, go ballistic on the dough. (not sure how better to describe this.) chop until it no longer resembles dough, but a big mess. (see pics)

scoop dough into a 8 by 4 inch loaf pan that has been greased and let rise for 45 minutes.
preheat oven to 375, and bake for 45 minutes.



Dough, just waiting patiently for the apples.

Hello, Apple and cinnamon sugar goodness.


Chop, Chop, Chop..

Look at me now!


Saturday, September 25, 2010

More Pumpkin, coming at ya.

I am not sick of it yet.

this time, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

I have tried numerous times to make a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie that is chewy. and, each time, I end up with something cakey. this time was no different, but I just accepted the results, and damn, they were pretty good. So, if you like Pumpkin, chocolate and a cakey cookie, this is yours.



1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2  teas baking soda
1/4  teas salt
1/2 teas cinnamon

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 walnut oil
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/2 teas vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips.

mix the dry ingredients together, set aside.
whisk the egg and sugar, pumpkin and vanilla. drizzle in oil and whisk to combine well.
add the dry ingredients and combine with a spatula. dont over mix! add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.

scoop by the heaping tablespoon, I got about 15 cookys.

bake at 350, 8-12 minutes. I would check them after 8, turn if needed. these took my new oven 8 minutes to bake convection style, but a conventional oven might need longer. 


Friday, September 17, 2010

Pumpkin Bread...
and we are back up and cooking with convection!


I find it hard to believe that in 5 years and some 185 posts, that I have never written about one of my favorite things. I love this time of year for many reasons. I actually do enjoy the rain sometimes. especially the smell it brings this time of year as it mixes with the scent of the falling leaves. kind of a musty tree and dying leaves smell? I love the smell of firewood, even though it is still not THAT cold just yet. some though think it is, so there is a little bit of that smell in the air too. and, I love love love squash and pumpkin anything. take a look here.

But, I just cant believe that I have never written about pumpkin bread. I love this stuff. This is something I will gladly buy at Starbucks in July. But, come September and October, I make it myself.

But, have you read about the great pumpkin shortage? I must have blocked it out of my mind. I guess last year was so wet, that the farms in the midwest that normally produce most of the US canned pumpkin supply, lost much of their pumpkin crops. leaving most stores barren of pumpkin and only 6 cans in the whole Libbys factory inventory.

So, when I went to the store yesterday, I was kind of bummed to see that indeed, there was no pumpkin on the shelf. BUT, there was butternut squash. just so you know, it makes just about as mean a pumpkin bread. So, I bought two cans, just in case.

Supposedly, this year has been a better one, so we should be seeing more pumpkin on our shelves just in time for fall.

In the meantime, make this bread.
or this one. (looks like I was lying a little bit. I have made a variation of this bread in the past..)
both breads adapted from the Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger.


1 c sugar
1/2 c plus 2 Tabl brown sugar, packed
14.5 oz can of butternut squash or pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup walnut oil
(I have also used canola, and even a half canola/olive oil mix with success)

2 1/3 c flour
1 1/2 teas baking soda
1/2 teas salt
3/4 teas cloves
3/4 teas cinnamon

preheat oven to 350. grease a loaf pan. I used a 9 x5x 3 pan.
mix the sugars, squash, eggs and oil. whisk to blend thoroughly.
in a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
add the dry to the wet and whisk to combine.

pour into loaf pan and bake for 50 min. chances are the bread wont be finished, but I like to set the alarm just in case, then reset it for shorter increments. all in all, it takes just over an hour to an hour and 15 to bake.




On another note, welcome the family, new and wonderful oven!

* I also made this same recipe a few days later into muffins with a struesal-ly topping. yum!




here is the topping recipe:

1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teas cinnamon
1/4 teas salt
6 Tablspoons Butter

combine dry ingredients, crumble in butter and mix until it resembles a coarse meal.

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Fatty pancakes. oh so good.


I like to make Pancakes for Z at least once a week.

I had an extra bit of cream and egg yolks from some cake baking a while back and found the perfect place to put them. I call them fatty pancakes because they contain just that: butter, cream and egg yolks. and, surprise surprise? They were really good.

I thought I would share the recipe with you.

adapted from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, but just slightly altered..

2 cups flour
2 Tablspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 yolks
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups Greek Yogurt 0% (original recipe does call for buttermilk)
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup milk

whisk dry ingredients in a med bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. add the wet to dry and mix to combine. try not to overmix.

make your pancakes, and dont forget the butter and honey! mmmmm, good.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Oh Fudge.


Fudge isn't just for the holidays anymore, at least not in my kitchen where we still are without a functioning oven. But, the burners still work, so thank goodness for that. I have spent the last month eating peanut butter and chocolate chips.


Which is pretty good.

But, I miss the baking, and I have been trying to come up with things to make without an oven. no bake cheesecake? no bake cookies?

so far, I have made cookie dough and that's about it. I guess I made some ice cream too. but, that is a separate post entirely. I just felt like 'baking' something.

So, I broke down and made some sweet sweet fudge.

I don't make fudge alot. and, it was good, but for me to post it here, it might need a little tweaking. I used the ol' Marshmallow creme, chocolate chip, evap milk, butter combo with a healthy dose of sugar. It was good, but I think next time,  and I can't believe I am going to say this, but, next time, I might even add nuts. I am normally NOT a nut in fudge/brownies/cookies/banana bread person. unless its oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and the nut is a nicely toasted pecan.  (long live the Crusty Loaf for turning me onto that one.) But, I think my fudge could have used a little savory. It was all too sweet. And, I think next time I would use a really dark chocolate instead of  both semi sweet and milk chocolate chips...

My hope though is that next time isn't until the Holidays roll around, and that much before then, like next week, I will be baking up some nice muffins, in a new working oven.

we are close. just crossing fingers.
and toes.



Sunday, August 15, 2010

the land of sopapillas.



As I sit here in my 90 degree house, the last day before T goes back to work after a 6 week hiatus, I reflect back on the last weekend spent with my best girlfriends in the world. It was the first time I had left my 2 year old son for more than 6 hours. I was gone for 3 days. It was hard, of course, to be away from my little family, but I so needed a little refresher. I have no childcare and my husband normally travels during the week. So, having him around for 6 weeks was like a vacation for me too. I was able to steal away and do yoga during the week, get a pedicure and dinner with a friend, go shopping here and there, go to Trader joes solo...all things I used to take for granted. And, last weekend, at the close of T's vacation time, I was able to get on a plane with nothing more than my dear friend, a carry on(!), some smutty magazines and my big bag of peanut m&m's. Let me tell you, it was a little piece of heaven and yet something else I always took for granted.

C and I landed 3 hours later in the land of New Mexico. the land of chilis, the land of sopapillas. the land of 3 blissful days spent with my 3 best friends in the world.

I loved Santa Fe. We just walked around, ate some delicious food, saw some art, went to a really nice spa, and of course, ate some sopapillas. It was a little piece of heaven, a weekend I will never forget.

I am incredibly blessed to have such dear dear friends.










Friday, August 13, 2010

My latest craving.

And no, I dont just eat peanut m&m's and spoonfuls of peanut butter dipped in a bag of chocolate chips.



A few months ago, I was in the midst of morning sickness and I ate something that tasted so so wonderful. I was at the Zoo on a warm late Spring day and had met a friend there who had run into another friend. We all ended up sitting on the lawn while the kiddos actually stuck around us, and we had a little picnic. My friends friend whipped out this tupperware of rice and some nori looking things and proceeded to wrap the nori around the rice for a nice treat. It wasn't just your everyday nori though. This stuff had some special name that at the moment I cannot recall. It was nori, but it was toasted and brushed with sesame oil and salted. I was practically drooling it tasted so good. and, it was so incredibly simple and also somewhat healthy. After this, I was on a quest to find it. She usually got it at a Korean market about 15 miles North, but I was able to find it a little closer at another Asian market. (the source of my bubble tea cravings last time around) Funny, I actually refrained from the Bubble Tea and made a Beeline for the seaweed aisle this time.

What is so great is that I actually was in Trader Joes a month later and they had the exact same thing! I was elated to say the least. And, at the moment, I am debating a drive over there just so I can fill my cart with the stuff. At Trader Joes, it comes in a little green package labeled, "roasted seaweed snack."



What I have been doing lately is boiling up some sticky rice, cutting some slivers of avocado and then just putting some of each in the middle of the seaweed. I love it because the texture is great. the salty seaweed kind of crackles with the sticky rice and sweet avocado in between. Maybe its just my darn hormones, but it is a really tasty treat. and, much easier than making sushi.

Now, if I could only have some raw Ahi.


Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Chilled Tomatillo and Tomato Soup.

Since I am flying without an oven these days, I am trying to cook with out really cooking. I guess this is the time of year I would prefer, as it tends to be warm, well, sometimes, in Seattle. I found out yesterday that this summer in Seattle has been the cloudiest on record, since they began recording in 1951.
But today, it is perfect. And, if those tomatoes are popping up in your yard as they are in mine, this might be a good thing to make.

I took a recipe for a Tomatillo Soup featured in Sunset this month and put my own spin on it. I added tomatoes, and instead of using fresh tomatillos, which the market didnt even have more than a handful of, I opted for the canned variety. I omitted some things here and there and added more of things too. and, this is what I came up with. I was quite pleased with it.

and, if you make it, make enough for leftovers. it was even better today at lunch.

Chilled Tomatillo and Tomato Soup.
(adapted from Sunset Magazine)

14 oz tomatillos. (2 12 oz cans-yields about this much in actual tomatillo)
1 pint red cherry tomatoes
1/2 white onion
1 c chicken broth
1/2 clove garlic
1/2 an English Cuke (the really long ones, seedless)
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1/4 c salsa verde
2 Tablespoons cilantro
1 avocado, diced
1 pint yellow tomatoes

Drain the tomatillos. Halve the tomatoes. Chop the white onion, garlic and cuke. Put in Processor or blender with the other ingredients except the avocado and  the yellow tomatoes. whiz until blended and of the preferred texture. add salt and pepper to taste. then, Halve the yellow tomatoes and dice the Avocado and stir this in too. Chill until nice and cold.


Monday, July 19, 2010

An Ode to a tree.


I can't believe that I have tears in my eyes as I write this. I mean, it's just a tree right? or is it?  In a matter of days, on my birthday to be exact, this beautiful tree will be ripped from the border between ours and our neighbor's yard. This tree is one of the reasons our back yard feels a bit like a sanctuary. I love the shade it has provided. I love the sound the leaves make when the wind blows through them. I love the privacy it provides from the ugly apartments behind us. I love laying on the grass and looking up through its many branches as the light filters in from high above. I guess you could say that I am heartbroken. 



Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Damn good Peanut Butter Cookies.

I bought a jar of peanut butter that I didnt particularly like, but instead of just tossing it, I decided to make these cookies. I had forgotten about these gems, and remembered them as I was also trying to come up with a treat for a friends daughter who is gluten and dairy intolerant, who had jsut broken her elbow. ouch. I first discovered these in Gourmet or some other magazine a while back, and was intrigued by the fact that they were so easy to make and only had a handful of ingredients. even better now, with less time to bake. any recipe that I can do one handed while holding a curious 28 pound toddler is a keeper.





you MUST try these.
and, if you like your cookies chewy like me, you should definitely underbake them just slightly.

1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 oz chocolate chips (if you are dairy intolerant, make sure the bag says "Parve,"meaning Kosher, or dairy free. I used the Trader Joes chips)

mix all ingredients except the chips until smooth. add the chips. mound by the Tablespoon onto a siplat or an ungreased cookie sheet. Should make just over a dozen cookies. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes, turn the tray, then bake for about 7 minutes more. check on them before the 14 min mark to see how they are. when they look puffy, but just slightly under, pull 'em.

I took these to a playgroup and so wish I could have had a camera to capture the chocolate all over the faces of the kiddos. they are messy, but delish.
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Strawberry Shortcake.


Finally, some summer weather around here. Have been doing a little more baking around these parts now that I am in the second trimester bliss. energy and appetite restored. it feels good. and after a loooooooooooooong gray spring and june, the forcast calls for sun all week. lets hope it sticks around. SO, now that I am in the mood, its time to bake with those damn good strawberries I have been wolfing down for the last couple weeks.

I had a gripe with strawberry shortcake that I wanted to clear up. When visiting with my parents, I wanted to show them that even though I am 2 years out of the kitchen, that I can still make a dessert. so, I made some shortcake. I made biscuits and topped them with macerated berries and a dollop of softly whipped creme. Trouble was, I hated how the shortcakes turned out. Then, I realized, strawberry shortcake can also be made with a nice sponge cake. no need to use heavy biscuits when you can use a light cake that does its part to soak up all those nice berry juices. I suppose I just needed a different and more fluffy biscuit recipe, but instead of trying to perfect it, I went a whole different direction. This time, I whipped up a lemon butter cake, soaked it with a lemon simple syrup and then doused it with my macerated berries. I let it sit for the afternoon to give the cake time to soak up all the berry goodness. Then, when it was eatin' time, I whipped up the creme and spread it over the top of the cake. Now, this is more like the shortcake I was craving the first time around.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

good timing.

I admit, I must have known something was going to come between me and the south beach diet when I decided to embark on it. It was so not me. restricting myself from food? who? so, I was kind of relieved when I found out 2 days later that I was in fact, pregnant. A perfect out for the SBD!!! I could now eat whatever I wanted right? So, this explains my hiatus from posting. I soon after, entered into a 3 month period where nothing tasted good, and the things that did, well, you wouldn't want to know. But, I have rounded a corner and finally feel like eating and have the energy to actually cook again. So, here is hoping that I can just find the time to get back on here and do some blogging. (baby wakes) gotta run!

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

eh, I have my doubts.

I have never dieted in my life. I eat sensibly most of the time, but I admit to having a major sweet tooth too. I guess I have always been so active that my indulgences have always succumbed to a 2 hour swim practice or an hour run. But, I have slipped a little bit. For the last 20 months after Z was born, I have been finding every excuse not to run, and also every excuse to indulge my sweet tooth. No wonder I cant shake the last of my baby weight, right? I think that feeding Z lunch and eating the leftovers off his tray doesnt help matters either. I went through my closet the other day and was so bummed that half of my jeans from 'before Z' still sit gathering dust in the back of my closet. really, a year and a half later. This combined with the fact that a friend of mine, just 6 months after giving birth, is looking healthy and as trim as ever. I can no longer use the baby thing as a reason for my 10 pounds. no more. I asked my friend how she did it and she said that 6 years ago, she was told about the South Beach Diet. She went on it to lose weight for her wedding, and ever since then, it has changed her life. It changed the way she thought about food, lessened her cravings and as I found out yesterday when I told her that I didnt think I could live without sweets, it introduced her to Splenda. Now, I am a purist when it comes to sugar, always have been. I hate the idea of replacing sugar with anything. I bake, and sugar does wonderful things to baked goods that using Splenda just cant compete with.
 browning for instance.

I found something funny on the Splenda website that just made me want to laugh, and cry:

"In the baking process, sugar caramelizes to produce the familiar golden brown color of baked goods. Baked goods made with little or no sugar do not brown like recipes made with sugar. To help achieve a more golden brown color when baking with SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener, lightly spray the batter or dough with cooking spray just before placing in the oven"

Seriously? why would anyone want to do this? yuk.
anyway, despite my doubts, I bought the stuff.

For the first 2 weeks, the SBD has you following a strict phase to weed out your cravings for sweets and carbs. I have a really hard time believing that this will actually happen, but I am trying it. So far, I have gone a day and a half without eating any sugar whatsoever and no bread, pastries or donuts. no carbs of any kind. this just goes against my makeup. To add insult to injury, you cant even eat fruit for the first 2 weeks. so, I ask, what the heck do you eat...yeah, I know, meat, eggs, veggies and cheese...but, whats for dessert? I have been dying for something sweet, hence my reluctant Splenda purchase. I bought sugar free fudgcicles (so-so), sugar free jello (have yet to try it) and just now, I made a 'lovely' dessert of ricotta, splenda, cocoa powder and vanilla. It is supposed to resemble tiramisu, but I would like to think of it more as 'what-the-fu-tira-ma-who?' I can see it already, I may be able to adapt to eating less carb and sugar, but to give up what I love completely for the likes of this (below) is just. not. going. to. happen. ever.



But, I will carry on. The first 2 weeks is the hardest, and from then on the diet actually resembles what I would eat normally, if I was eating sensibly all the time. If. This is my goal, I guess, to eat more sensibly and smartly. To indulge my cravings, but not nearly as often as I do now. I do think that this is possible. It has to be, because I will never stop baking with sugar. never. ever.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Parsley Pesto.

I am one of those people who forgoes buying a whole tree of parsley when the recipe calls for one sprig. I hate to think of the extra going to waste in my crisper. I almost always, up until now, have forgotten about it until it pretty much grows a pair of legs to up and walk out of the fridge. so, many times, I just decide to do without that little extra flavor in my soup or my pasta. bad I know, you would think that after years of working in kitchens, that I would be savvier about using up ingredients in creative ways. but, I guess the last 20 months of motherhood have erased some of my previous know how.
but, the other day, I finally started thinking again. Pesto isnt just limited to basil and I know this. as I stared at the wilting parsley and cilantro slowly dying in my crisper, I nearly kicked myself for forgetting about a very basic and simple way to use this stuff up. Funny, because I have had abundance of basil in the past; which turned me into a pesto making machine all summer. (this was back in Ithaca, where basil actually grows with wild abandon..unlike here in the NW, where it doesnt really) and, I know that I have made a cilantro pesto or two in my life. not quite sure how this all had escaped me.

oh yeah, its that motherhood thing. can I blame this again?

Anyway, so I had some extra parsley and some cilantro.
and, some pecans in my freezer.
and a little bit of parm cheese, and a little bit of garlic and olive oil.

and, with a little whirl of the cuisinart, a pretty tasty pesto was born.


Monday, March 22, 2010

I spend quite a bit of time at Woodland Park Zoo, and I am a big fan. Of course, I have a special place in my heart for the place having once had the opportunity to volunteer there within the Australasia exhibit. but, that is a whole different story, one that I have already blogged about here.

The zoo membership is all of 40$ for a year of me and my son. 40$!!! Really, this is the best deal in town. I go there at least once a week, if not more. I love living nearby too. instead of just walking to a park, I can just walk to the zoo and let Z run around without feeling like we have to get our moneys worth and see everything. Many times when we visit, we see maybe one or two animals before he loses interest and wants to just wander around. On many occasions, I have noticed that we seem to hit the zoo when the animals are away, or inside, but today, EVERYONE was out. it was really great. even the elusive ones like the snow leopard and grey wolf to name a few, were out enjoying the sunshine. and, today, Z let me see more of the animals, and as a result, I was able to get some fun pictures!  I am writing more and more about food on whisk&wander lately, but I also want to focus a little bit on our wanderings, and since the zoo is a huge part of our life here, I wanted to share it.





Sunday, March 21, 2010

Yesterday, I went to Specialties and couldn't walk out of there without buying one of their wheat germ chocolate chip cookies. I bought 2 actually. I have been wanting to recreate these gems for a while and so I was conducting a little taste research.

yeah, taste research.

I like the ring to that.

what makes these cookies so good is the amount of butter or shortening that is in them, and the nutty flavor of the wheat germ, a hint of cinnamon, little chocolate chunks scattered throughout. their texture is a little on the cakey side, with a little chewy and a little crispness on the outer edges.

I tend to like my chocolate chip cookies on the either crisp-chewy or the really crunchy side. I am not really a cakey cookie gal, but who am I kidding? I wouldnt actually turn any chocolate chip cookie down.

Today, I set out to recreate these puppies. take one.





the result.

a good first attempt! I do think that I could have used more butter to mimic the cafe's cookie, but I was actually happy with my lower calorie version. with a little less fat, it wasnt quite as moist, but I definitely thought the flavor was there, not to mention those healthful ingredients!

here is the recipe:

note: I have since made batch number 2 which doesnt quite resemble the cookies above, but I felt it yielded a tastier and moister, yet a little flatter result. I have increased the butter 2 oz and lessened the egg by one.

6 oz butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 eggs
1/4 teas vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup wheat flour, fine
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 teas cinnamon
1/4 cup oats
1/2 teas salt
1/4 teas baking powder
3/4 cup chocolate, chopped

cream sugar and butter. add eggs and vanilla and cream until fluffly. mix dry ingredients and set aside. add dry ingredients to wet, stir to combine. add chocolate and stir to combine. bake at 350 12-15 minutes.
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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy St Patty!

So, last year, I whipped up a batch of Soda Bread, as I do every year, and I wrote about it here. I also posted a recipe adapted from a cookbook that I use often. This year, I did soda bread two ways. Yesterday, I decided to venture out from my normal white loaf and do a more healthful wheat variety. This was not a raging success, but it wasnt bad either. it was just a far cry from my favorite soda bread of all time, from the ol' Crusty Loaf Bakery..rest her soul. it got me thinking, why dont I make that today, my all time favorite, instead of trying every other recipe out there. The thing about the ol CL recipe is that is sort of got lost in the shuffle. but, luckily, I can still remember portions of it and all the ingredients and ratios, so I was able to recreate it. thank goodness for all the repetition of making it weekly. thank goodness for that.





and, in the spirit of St pattys, I had to add a little green!



as promised, here is my recipe:

3 3/4 cups flour
2 Tabl corn starch
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teas baking soda
1 1/2 teas cream tartar
1 1/2 teas salt
2 Tabl butter
2 cups buttermilk (more or less..)

combine all the dry ingredients. add the butter and rub the mixture until the butter is incorporated and it resembles a more coarse mixture, yet uniform. add the buttermilk and stir just to combine. scoop it out onto table and knead barely, just make it hold its shape. you really want a sticky dough, barely handled. bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes until golden. this makes 2 loaves at about 20 oz each.



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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Whole Wheat Challah French Toast.

Challah is really good on the first day, pretty good on the second day, and so-so on the third day. In our house, we got through about half before day three hit. I always seem to forget these things when I bake bread. I love it, but we just dont go through it fast enough. and, in the case of WWchallah, this was no different. I was seconds from just tossing it, and then, i sort of kicked myself. Z has been on a morning-cake roll, be it pancakes, crepes or waffles for breakfast lately, and I guess I just overlooked the obvious. french toast. being a pastry person, I tend to think of all the dessert options first..like bread pudding, bread pudding, bread pudding..and then I think of all the dinner options, crostini, bruschetta, panzanella, ribolita..and I am not sure that challah really suits the bill there.

and, I am a little embarrassed to admit, I dont think that I have really ever made french toast. really? its just not something I think to do often for some reason. until now. this morning, I mixed up some milk, eggs, a touch of sugar, cinnamon and salt and then I soaked the bread in it until it was good and ready. (about 10 minutes.)

come to think of it, I was probably inspired by the donut I ate yesterday..

anyway, it really is amazing how you can take a piece of stale bread and create something really delicious.

french toast, welcome to our house.

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Friday, March 05, 2010

Challah Day.

Challah is an eggy, light and slightly sweet bread. It differs slightly from Brioche in that it usually contains more eggs and less butter. What contributes to the light airy texture is also the type of flour used. In Challah, traditionally, it is white flour which is able to create more gluten thus creating a lighter and airy structure to the bread.

Today when I set out to make Challah, I didnt realize that I was pretty much out of white flour. So began a little experimenting and what I got in the end was actually a decent loaf of bread! In place of most of the white flour, I used a fine milled whole wheat flour and a touch of oat flour.

The end result was good, maybe not as fluffy in texture, but definitely not heavy and dense like wheat breads can get. and, the flavor was good and not too different from a Challah made with all white flour.




recipe to come..
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