Tangerine and Olive Oil Cake

Heavenly Housewife had a great idea to make a citrus/olive oil cake. I used tangerines instead of clementines - and liked how juicy they were. The visual of the cake (which i hope to upload when i get home) - is too close to a pound cake in my opinion. I look at a "loaf cake" - and i think rich, with a thick hearty crumb. Instead, it's super moist and delicate. No complaints - it's just messing with my visual taste buds - like a tease!

Tasty - for sure. With 1 cup of juice and the zest - it's just slightly tangy and sweet. I think this would be GREAT in a 8" round - single layer - with a sprinkling of powder sugar. That - or just make a citrus pound cake!

Gotta love trying new recipes!

Dutch Apple Pie for a fall BBQ

Apple pie just seems like the right thing to do in the fall. Looking for some way to add something new - I decided to try out the Dutch Apple Pie recipe with some modifications from Cook's Illustrated Fall Entertaining (2009 cover recipe - still on the shelf). Check out the magazine for the full recipe. It's worth the $8.

This recipe breaks the process down into three parts: the bottom crust, the apples, and the streussel topping. This proved to be helpful on a busy day that made me leave the kitchen several times between steps.

Crust: baked blind, and using cold vodka for part of the water. Very smart. You can get vodka much colder than water! If you don't keep it cold, measure it into a small ziplock and throw it into your freezer while you get everything else together.
Scate's Tip: I used pear vodka.

Apples: The apples are cooked down in a big dutch oven before assembling the pie. This is a great way to manage the amount of liquid that goes into the finished product.

Scate's Tip: you need liquid! After cooking down the apples, if you don't have much liquid left over, add about 1/4 cup of apple cider to the cream. This will really help your pie meld together. Also, I don't like raisins with apples - so I used finely chopped dried apricot. It added a nice color and was really perfect for this pie.

Scate's Tip: Check out your farmer's market for apples! I was able to chat with a woman from the farm - she knew everything there was to know about apples and apple pie. It was really helpful. I got some harrelson and something else that was soft... I can't remember! Look for a mix of crisp and soft, and sweet and tart.

Streussel: mixed with a little bit of white cornmeal! This made it retain the crunch even after sitting on the counter for a bit.

Scate's Tip: Avoid over mixing - you want the lumbs to create a great topping.

Super Easy Pickled Peppers

Time to harvest the fruit and vegetables that have been growing in the garden! In my "urban" garden, our peppers really took off in late summer. I wanted to preserve them in some way - without needing to worry about canning methods or equipment. This whole process took about 20 minutes. Easy enough for anyone! The brine can be altered to your taste. Have fun.

Pickling some Peppers

Glass Jars with lids

1 pound fresh jalapeno peppers, washed (I added in 1 habenaro into each jar for color)

2 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar)

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons canning salt
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
3 cloves garlic, peeled and whole

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

1. Prepare the peppers: either slice or stab. I made one jar of sliced and two jars of whole peppers. For the whole peppers - cut an X in the tip and stab a few times in the sides. This helps the pickling juices penetrate the pepper. Put the peppers in the clean glass jars, leaving about 1 inch at the top.

2. Make the Brine: In a non-reactive saucepan, bring the other ingredients to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes.

3. Fill the jars: Remove from heat and let cool for five minutes, then pour the brine over the jarred peppers. Place the lid on the jar and let cool. Once cool, refrigerate for at least a week before using, if possible.

Serving: whole peppers can be seeded before using if you want to difuse the heat. Otherwise, use these anytime you want a little heat. Great in quacamole, on baked potatoes, or on eggs. Anything really!

Storage: must remain refrigerated! These are not "canned" and do not have a shelf life. They will stay in the fridge for up to 6 months.

Special Thank You to M&H for the birthday gift card that paid for this little experiment! It covered 12 glass jars, that HUGE box of canning salt and vinegar. Looks like I need to do some more pickling!

Girls' Cabin Weekend

Last weekend, I headed north to a cabin on a lake with about 12 girls for the weekend. Perfect excuse to do some baking!

In charge of breakfast treats, I made blueberry muffins, biscotti and banana bread. All things that I have done before - so I know they'll work. But - in order to change it up a bit I decided to try a few new techniques that I found.

Blueberry Muffins I used my favorite recipe from the American Test Kitchen book. However, I used some of Joy the Baker's tips from her Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins. I browned the butter and used the topping from Joy's recipe. The topping just makes the muffins look so much better - and it's just flour, butter, and sugar. So easy! I used a pastry cutter instead of my fingers to mash up the topping ingredients. To make it travel worthy - I baked the muffins 95% of the way at home, then popped them in the oven at 250 for 30 minutes right before serving. This browned them up a bit more, took away the tackiness from traveling airtight, and let me serve them warm without a mess in the kitchen.

For the biscotti, I followed another favorite recipe and used dried cherries, toasted whole almonds and chopped white chocolate for the 'add-ins'. I formed the logs more narrow than I usually do - and was sure to chill the dough logs before baking to help them hold their shape (just like cookies.) I love this recipe - the addition of butter keeps them soft enough to eat without dunking into coffee first. Nice when sharing with a crowd - it eliminates the need to post a warning to avoid broken teeth!

The banana bread got rave reviews! I stirred in 1/2 cup each of toasted coconut and walnuts (instead of chocolate chips) and topped the bread with melted bittersweet chocolate. The add-ins really boosted the texture and helped differentiate it from the blueberry muffin texture.

A nice way to have 'variety' with cookie-like biscotti, perfectly sweet blueberry muffins and nutty banana bread with coconut and chocolate.

Breakfast Treats for a Crowd

I felt like I won the lottery when H. asked for home baked goods for a morning meeting with his non-profit board. It's been a few weeks of no work place - meaning no team of office workers ready to eat my baking. I can't eat it all myself!

I decided to make two different items that could then be paired with fruit and coffee as desired.

Blueberry Ginger Bundt Cake
Banana Bread (and muffins) covered with bittersweet chocolate frosting

Farmers Market Find: Rhubarb (+Cherry Cobbler)

Rhubarb is one of the few colorful items at the Minnesota Farmers' Market in June. Everyone has had Strawberry Rhubarb - but have you tried the sour/tart combination of Sour Cherry and Rhubarb? This is a must for any summer BBQ.

Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

Filling
2 lbs Rhubarb cut into 1/2" pieces
3 24oz jars Morello cherries (trader joe's -best!)
1.5-2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 1/2 cups reserved cherry juice
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp almond extract

Biscuit Topping (from The New Best Recipe)
10 oz (2 cups) flour
2.5 oz (6 TBSP) sugar
1/2 tsp bkg pwd
1/2 tsp bkg soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 TBSP cold butter cut into 1/2" cubes
1 cup buttermilk
2 TBSP raw sugar for sprinkling

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 425 F
* Prep Filling. Cut rhubarb, drain cherries (reserve juice). Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt together in dutch oven (or other large pot). Stir in wine and reserved cherry juice to dissolve. Add cherries and rhubarb. Let sit - to macerate - for at least 15 minutes.
While fruit is macerating - bake biscuits.
* Biscuits: in a food processer, blend dry ingredients. Add cold butter and pulse about 10 times until dough is in pea size balls. Transfer dough to a medium bowl and stir in buttermilk. Using a 1 3/4" scoop - create 12 dough balls on parchmet lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake until lightly browned on top and bottom (about 15 minutes.) Do not over bake - they are going back in the oven shortly. Leave oven on.
* Cook fruit. Stir fruit and liquid mixture over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Let simmer and thicken (1-5 minutes depending on how much liquid was released from rhubarb.) Cook this until it is the thickness of pie filling (or desired thickness). You can cook down the liquid - or dissolve more cornstarch in a bit of water over heat until thick to add to the mixture.
* 15 Minutes before serving: Pour hot fruit mixture into serving/baking dish. Place biscuits on top of fruit. Cook cobbler at 425 until fruit is bubbling and biscuits are deep golden brown (about 10 minutes if filling started hot, longer if you let filling rest). Serve warm.

Cherry Cream Cheese Weekend Muffins

My step sister was in town from Denver - and wanted to stop by on Saturday morning. She hasn't seen our place yet and it would be great to have coffee and chat. So -what goes well with coffee on a Saturday morning? Muffins of course.

Muffin Batter

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour (oatmeal could be used here too)

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup cold butter

1 egg

3/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 32 oz. jar morello cherries drained

Cream Cheese Filling

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Beat the egg, sour cream buttermilk and extract until smooth; add cherries to wet ingredients, stir into dry ingredients just until moistened (batter will be thick). Combine flour and sugar in a small bowl; cut in butter until crumbly.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, egg, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Fill papered muffin cups half full with batter. Divide cream cheese filling evenly between muffin cups. Cover with remaining batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 22 to 25 (30-35 for jumbo) minutes or until muffins test done. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Makes 14 regular sized muffins, or 7 jumbo.

Optional pwd sugar frosting: stir 1/4 cup softened butter, 2 TBSP milk, and 2 cups pwd sugar until smooth. Spread on top of cooled muffins.

Oatmeal Cherry Cookies - a new twist on a classic

Spring cleaning. I thought about it. I somehow rationalized using ingredients in the cabinet for some cookies as a reasonable substitute. Nevermind the fact that in my grocery trip today - many more items were added to the cabinet than what I was able to use. That doesn't count.

Any way you dice it - these cookies are tasty. And - they are very different from any other cookie that i've had. Please note: cardamom is not a taste for everyone. I thought it was - until H. likened the taste to soap coating his mouth. Oh, well. That means more cookies for the work crowd!

Oatmeal Cherry Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1.5 TBSP Brandy (or 1.5 tsp vanilla)

2 cups AP flour

1 tsp baking pwd

1 tsp cardamom (or cinnamon)

1/2 tsp salt (skip if you used salted butter)

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup cherries

1 cup chocolate chunks

* Heat oven to 350

* Cream sugar

and butter

* add eggs, one at a time and Brandy

* In seperate bowl, stir together flour, bkg pwd, cardamom and salt

* Add flour to butter mixture and mix until well c

ombined

* Fold in oats, cherries and chocolate

* Using a small scoop, scoop dough unto parchment lined c

ookie sheets

* Chill prepared cookie sheets until very firm (freeze for 5 minutes or fridge for 10).

* Bake chilled dough balls for 10-12 minutes. Rotate sheet half-way through baking. Pull out of

oven when cookies begin to brown. Slide parchment off of cookie sheets to help stop the baking.

Home Alone = Mac & Cheese and Scones

I'm home alone! H. is on an alumni/business trip until Saturday. That means - Kraft macaroni and cheese. That means BRAVO. That means wine. That means baking from the cookbook that I have on loan from a very thoughtful person at work.

First of all - mac and cheese. I can't remember the last time when I made this from the box. Not organic - and not

 homemade (GASP). It was my 9 minute dinner so I could get to baking, a bit of blogging, and knitting while watching TV. 

Before getting the kitchen scale out - I actually started the dishwasher. Something about me - I'm a secret PIGPEN. As soon as H. is out - dishes and clothes stay where they are dropped. So, the fact that I cleaned on the first of 2 solo evenings is a sign of change - or that I was thinking about writing about my night and didn't want it to be a messy memory.

This is a perfect solo night for me. Now - i'm off to finish off some wine and other fun things that I haven't decided yet. What would you do if you didn't have to worry about all the other people in your life for one night?

For my baking adventure, I chose a recipe for Lemon Blueberry Scones for this fine evening based on several factors. First - it will be great for bringing into work tomorrow. Second - it's easy: fast and I already have lemons and blueberries. Third - it's super fast and will leave time to hang out!

Lemon Blueberry Scones

from Baking Illustrated

10 oz (2 cups) unbleached AP flour

2 TBSP baking pwd

3 TBSP bkg sugar

1/2 tsp salt

5 TBSP butter: cold cut into 1/4" cubes

1/2 cup blueberries 

1 tsp lemon zest

1 cup heavy cream

* preheat oven to 425

* using the food processor - mix the dry 

ingredients

* process in the butter and lemon zest

* Stir in heavy cream just until dough forms

* Stir in blueberries

* Shape into circle or flat log and cut into triangles

* Bake for 8-12 minutes

Breakfast Reigns

Breakfast for a crowd takes planning, proper timing and a flexible sleep schedule.  Wednesday morning was a large group monthly meeting hosted by my 7 person team. Having the baking bug, I volunteered to bake everything needed for this breakfast and everyone else could just pitch in for the ingredients. I get to bake and everyone else just has to show up - it's a win-win!

The Plan: make everything "mini"

This will encourage people to actually eat MORE than they would if everything was normal size. I don't want to bring food home or 

have leftovers to throw away. Make things mini - and people will eat 2 or 3 or 5 instead of just 1. 

Menu: Cinnamon Rolls, Blueberry Muffins, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, Biscotti (see last post), and fruit salad (made by another 'doer' 

co-worker.) Click on the links above for the recipe.

The Timing:

Weekend: read recipes, write shopping list and go shopping

Monday evening: bake biscotti

Tuesday: run after work, shower, start baking.

7pm: make double batch cinnamon roll dough (recipe posted is a 

double), let raise for 1.5 hours

7:45: make blueberry muffins (makes alot - 

3 pans!)

9:00: make banana chocolate chip muffins 

(2 batches)

9:30: punch down roll dough, cut into 1/4 portions, make filling, roll - cut - 

space out 

in jelly roll pan

10:30: finish filling, rolling, and cutting buns - put filled pans into fridge

10:45: make cream cheese 

filling - put into fridge, 

pack up plates 

- silverware - oohh, placecards - I can use those for labeling the goods!

11:00: go to bed - try to sleep. I hope I don't miss my early alarm.

3:30am: pull buns out of fridge onto the counter to come up to room temp. Go back to sleep. I love baking. 

6:30am: put still-cool buns into cold oven, turn on to 350. Buns RISE during the prehe

ating - it worked! I LOVE BAKING.

7:10: Condo smells GREAT. Timer has not gone off, but it smells too good... SH**

7:11: pull out rolls, throw away the edges that got burned on the bottom. Quick - remove from

 pans to help stop the cooking. Smear with frosting to help keep buns soft. Place in gift boxes lined with parchment (easier to throw away at work than a rubbermaid).

7:35: throw hair up, make-up on - late for work!

8:35: People are eating. Did you actually make this? This is the best breakfast we have ever had. THANK YOU.

Biscotti: Chocolate, Cherry, Almond, Oh My!

I feel like I make biscotti all the time. So - I would have thought that I had it figured out by now! Not quite the case. I always like to doctor up the recipe with the ingredients I have onhand - and it usually works out quite nicely. Todays lesson: adding jarred cherries is NOT the same as throwing in a handful of dried cherries! Seems so simple - but, well - I have a knack for finding out these things the hard way. Let's start with the basic biscotti recipe (from America's Best Recipe)

Biscotti

10 oz flour * 1 tsp baking pwd * 1/2 tsp salt
Whisk together in a small bowl

7 oz sugar * 1/2 stick of butter (softened but cool) Cream together in the stand mixer until smooth

2 eggs
add one at a time to the sugar/butter mixture

1 tsp vanilla * 1/4 tsp almond extract

stir into liquid mixture

* Fold in dry ingredients

* Fold in any "extras" {I used: 3/4 cup whole toasted almonds, 1 jar of trader joe's morello cherries (drained), and 1/2 small bag of nestle chocolate chunks}

Create 2 narrow 'logs' on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake: 350 for 30-35 minutes (until starting to crack on top)

Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 325. Slice logs into your cookies and put back on cookie sheet.

Bake cookies until brown and more crisp - about 10 -13 minutes. Flip cookies (or rotate if you put cookies upright) halfway through 2nd baking.

Cool completely before storing in airtight container.

*** My mistake: I folded the wet cherries into the flour before adding to the liquid. These little suckers took up all of my flour. I added more flour - and a little baking pwd - but these still were softer than I was hoping. I think I'll stick with the dry additions - or toss the cherries in their own flour and add at the end.
They still turned out pretty well. These will be mighty tasty at the work breakfast tomorrow!

Fresh Blueberries!

For all of you localvores out there - I'm sorry. I couldn't help it - blueberries are here and are not $10 per pint! I was excited to see them at my favorite Lund's grocery and bought a few pints. So, not only did I make some scones to bring into work, I also brought in a few just to snack on. They really were perfect too - not tart, but sweet and almost crisp to the bite.

Enjoy! These are so fast to whip up - and very quick to bake - all in about 30 minutes to fresh warm treats!

note: I used leftover whipped cream for my heavy cream - and reduced the sugar to 1 tbsp. I added a little whole milk to the whipped cream and stirred until almost liquid - it seemed to work. tasted great!

Lemon Blueberry Scones

2 cups (10 oz) unbleached all-purp flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

3 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter (1/4" cubes)

1 tsp (or more) grated lemon peel

6 oz (small container) blueberries

1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 

place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in bowl of food processer with metal blade. Process a few times (or whisk). Add butter and lemon peel and process until butter is broken up (about 12 1 second pulses). Transfer mixture to another bowl and gently stir in blueberries. Stir in heavy cream with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together in a rough ball. 

Turn out onto large piece of parchment and knead until it comes together a bit more (sticky/rough ball). Shape into circle or rectangle (see top photo) and cut into wedges. Transfer wedges to parchment lined cookie sheet. Can refridgerate up to 2 hours if dough is too sticky.

Brush tops with heavy cream. Bake until scone tops are light brown 12-15 minutes.

Serve warm.

If you are storing overnight to bring to work - do not store in airtight container. The scones are still releasing heat and moisture - and all will turn mushy if you seal it tight overnight. They are OK left on the countertop or in the container without sealing.

Chocolate-Cherry-Almond Biscotti

Once again, I am looking through the cabinets to see what I can bake tonight. I love bringing biscotti into work as it gives an excuse to eat cookies in the morning. Dried cherries, a small amount of dark chocolate chips, a small amount of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and almonds. I have to admit that I rummaged through a snack mix to get a few more almonds. It's not something that I would recommend, but in this case the almonds were raw and mixed with dried blueberries - so I think they will do the trick. This is my second Monday in a new job, and the second Monday that I have brought cookies in - I think I might be setting a dangerous protocol that will require cookie baking every Sunday night. Sounds fun!

 Biscotti with cherries, chocolate and almonds

adapted from The New Best Recipe

2 cups (10

 oz) flour

1 tsp baki

ng powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 TBSP butter (softened)

1 cup (7 oz) sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

3/4 cup almonds: toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup chocolate chips

egg white for egg wash

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, then mix in extracts. 

3. Stir in cooled almonds, cherries, and chocolate chips.

4. Fold in flour mixture until just mixed.

5. With floured hands, shape dough into 2 long 'logs' that are 2" wide by 13" long.

6. Smooth sides and brush with egg wash.

7. Bake for 35 minutes, until top begins to brown.

8. Pull logs out of oven. Let cool for 10 minutes. Turn down oven to 325 degrees.

9. Using a serrated life, cut each log into cookies 3/8 inch thick - on the bias.

10. Place cookies back on sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Bake until crisp and golden on each side (about 15 minutes)

Biscotti can be stored in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Bananas and Cardamon

Had three overripe bananas, a brand new jar of cardamon, and a few chocolate chips. Good thing i had an egg hanging out in the fridge - didn't even need a run to the grocery store downstairs. Biscotti smells great - can even smell it through my stuffed nose.  Can't wait until this cold is gone and i can smell, taste and hear like a healthy person!

note: these came out much softer than normal biscotti due to the banana content even with increased baking times. The banana flavor comes through - next time i think i'll stick to just cardamon and get the cookie to harden up.

Banana Cardamon Biscotti

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking pwd

1/4 tsp salt

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla

1tsp cardamon

1 egg

1 Tbsp oil

handful of chocolate chips