Banana and Orange Muffins

Last month, I entered the Taste & Create food blog event which pairs two food bloggers who must each make a recipe from the other's site. Unfortunately, my partner didn't follow through so it was a little disappointing and not nearly as exciting as I'd hoped. Regardless, I was able to look through all of the other pairs and see many interesting dishes.

I decided to chalk my experience up as a one-time issue and give it another go for April. This month I am paired with Karolcia of Poland who writes For the Body and Soul. She had many tempting dishes to choose from and I decided to make these Banana and Orange Muffins.


Karolcia adapted this recipe from a cookbook early one morning while her husband slept. She wanted to surprise him with a sweet breakfast, something that she didn't necessarily like but knew he would enjoy. How sweet of her to do this (and at 6am!).

You'll find the complete recipe from Karolcia's site, noted above. The recipe is easy to make and uses only a few basic ingredients. Not only did it allow me to use up a couple aging bananas, but I was able to use the last few fresh oranges of the season. I feel guilty that the orange tree still has fruit on it but is already blossoming.



The recipe is provided in metric measurements so I converted the measures. I know I made a mistake on the flour ... as I was measuring I became distracted by my dog and lost count of how many ounces I had added to the bowl. I tried my best to err on the side of having enough flour -- it looked about right :-)

The muffins are super moist and loaded with banana and orange flavor. I added a sprinkle of sliced almonds to half of the muffins for an extra little crunch. I also used a smaller size muffin tin, so my muffins are on the small side (just means I get to eat more of them!).

Although I enjoyed the muffins, I regret not making the Mushroom and Sauerkraut Pierogi. I debated and debated, then realized I was running out of time for the event. Ultimately, I didn't have the pierogi ingredients on hand but I promise to try those in the future!

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Rich and gooey maple-nut bars

Our Easter weekend came and went without a single bunny or chocolate egg. It's the one holiday that we don't get into very much, other than to enjoy a big dinner. This year we were out and about over the weekend and stuffed ourselves each day. I'm embarrassed to admit that I created Easter dinner out of leftovers.

To feel as though I had accomplished something in the kitchen this weekend, I decided to make a sweet treat to start off a new work week, a rich and gooey bar cookie.


I've been craving bar cookies for a few weeks now and haven't done anything about it. Well, there were the Payday treat bars from last week ... well, they don't count since I turned most of them into candy bars. I searched around on the web for awhile and wasn't finding anything of interest. Since I wanted to use condensed milk, I went directly to the source. I found this recipe for Chocolate Maple Nut Bars on the Eagle Brand site.

The recipe is quick and simple. You make a shortbread crust and bake, then layer chocolate chips and a maple-flavored nut/condensed milk mixture. Bake again and that's it! It's not rocket science and is a fairly common recipe. Mostly, I am pleased it required maple flavoring which I bought many months ago with the intent of making my take on Starbuck's maple oat scones. Clearly, that hasn't happened yet.



The bars baked beautifully and smelled wonderful. We were watching the movie, No Reservations, so I was distracted and actually allowed the bars to cool without any forced cooling in the freezer. The movie is predictable and fine for a rental. The bars were similarly predictable and good for a quick bake job. I expected more of a maple flavor but the chocolate and other business seem to disguise it a bit.

I dressed the bars up with a few cherries and took one to Joe in the office. He gobbled it down without much fanfare, so I'll assume he enjoyed it. They are pretty rich and gooey, so be prepared to drink a glass of water with each one.

In the week ahead, I should warn you about something -- I have a new food crush. StumbleUpon finally paid off when I stumbled across a British cook who I simply adore. I've been watching her series online every since and ordered her cookbook from the UK (i.e. not carried in the US). Stay tuned ...

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Chocolate-marbled banana bread

We all seem to have that one renegade banana sitting on the counter turning a spotted brown color. Why is it that no one can commit to eating the last one? I peel the overripe bananas and drop them into a baggy, then drop into the freezer. Just pull them out when you need them. I've found that they unthaw within a few minutes and are ready for action at a moments notice.

Kevin from Closet Cooking posted the other day a chocolate chip and sour cream banana bread recipe and it started my banana bread craving. It reminded me that on my counter was a browning banana just waiting for some attention. While thumbing through some older cookbooks yesterday, I came across a chocolate-marbled banana bread. It seemed as though the universe was trying to tell me that I should get to work on making some bread! I've never made banana bread with chocolate but love the classic combination of chocolate and bananas.

The recipe is a somewhat healthier version, so this will be perfect for folks cutting their calories. The bread turned out very moist and super delicious. I didn't realize just how much I would enjoy the chocolate swirl, it's addictive.



Chocolate-Marbled Banana Bread
from The Best of Cooking Light 5

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute (or 2 eggs)
1/3 plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Measure the flour by spooning into the measuring cups. Place flour, salt, and baking soda into a bowl and stir to combine.

Place sugar and butter into a large mixing bowl and mix to combine, about 1 minute. Add egg, yogurt, and banana. Mix to blend, then add flour mixture. Blend until moist and fully combined.

Melt chocolate chips in a microwave or over low heat until just melted. Allow to cool slightly. Add 1 cup of the batter to the chocolate and stir until blended.

Grease a bread pan and alternate layers of chocolate and plain batter. Using a knife, run it through the batter to create the swirl.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the bread tests done. Mine took 1 hour and 5 minutes.

I made two slight substitutions in the recipe. Although I had yogurt on hand, I did not have plain yogurt. I opted for a black cherry yogurt and it worked fine. The flavor did not carry through into the final product. Also, I used real eggs instead of egg substitute.

I'm in heaven. The bread is moist and rich. It's hard not to eat slice after slice. Actually, I'm trying to resist eating a piece right now, waiting instead until my coffee is done brewing. What a wonderful way to start off the week :-)

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Ciabatta catastrophe - how do you measure up?

Don't let the photo fool you, the bread turned out rather disgusting, both in taste and texture. I guess I'm on a ciabatta roller coaster having great success recently, now followed by a ciabatta disaster.

I enjoyed the ciabatta bread made in less than 5 hours and figured the full-length version must taste EVEN better. I thumbed through my recipe books and looked online, settling for a recipe from Epicurious. The recipe required a 'sponge' to be made the night before. I whipped the sponge together in a matter of minutes and let it set until the next day, about 18 hours later. On the following day, I carefully measured the ingredients and heated liquids to exactly how they were listed. The dough was much stiffer than with the 5-hour ciabatta but I assumed this must be what 'real' ciabatta dough is like.

It wasn't until the loaves were baking that I had my first inkling something was wrong. The loaves looked 'too smooth' and not as rustic. I patiently let them cool before cutting into the first loaf only to discover a typical bread texture.



There weren't any holes and the texture wasn't chewy at all. And to add insult to injury, it didn't even taste good - just bland. Such a disappointment. I'm not sure what I could have done wrong to make the bread such a flop. The yeast didn't seem bad either, so I chalked this one up to a 'bad day'.

Then today, I received a comment on the 5-hour ciabatta post and it got me to thinking. The recipe I used for the 5-hour ciabatta had been written using weight measurements and I weighed everything accordingly on a kitchen scale. Kate mentioned that she tried making the recipe without a scale and using varying amounts of flour from 2 to 4 cups. She wondered how many cups are equivalent to 17.6 ounces called for in the recipe.

It's interesting how weight vs. volume measurements can throw off a recipe. With weight, a pound is a pound. With volume measurement, how you measure ingredients can greatly impact the recipe. I decided to test this out for myself in trying to answer her question on how many cups are in 17.6 ounces.

I started by using a spoon to shake the flour onto my scale. I measured the 17.6 ounces of flour, then spooned the flour into my measuring cups. Using this method, 17.6 ounces of flour was equivalent to about 3.5 cups of flour.

I decided to now try the reverse. I normally dip my measuring cup into the flour bag, then level off the cup. I used this method to scoop out 3.5 cups of flour, then weighed on the kitchen scale. The 3.5 cups of flour measured this way ended up weighing 22.5 ounces, a difference of 4.9 ounces! Pretty significant.

This could explain the issue I had over the weekend with my ciabatta bread, since I did scoop versus using a spoon to fill my measuring cup (which I believe is how you're supposed to do it). I guess I'm destined to be a rule breaker.

So, the big question is -- how does everyone else measure their flour? Do you spoon it into your measuring cup or do you scoop it out of the bag/container with your measuring cup?

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My Blond Ambition cookies

Today I decided to make these blond cookies based on the old style chewy molasses cookies. It started with my curiousity for sweetened condensed milk and how it could be utilized in other ways (i.e. I've seen SO many dulce de leche things lately that I'm no longer curious about making it). I figured it could replace other thick syrupy things like molasses. Since I love chewy molasses cookies, I decided to create a cookie based on these and thus My Blond Ambition was created!

Why Blond Ambition? I am a child of the 80's and listened to Madonna until my ears nearly bled. Maddona's Blond Ambition tour occurred in 1990, my senior year of high school. As I made these blond cookies all I could think about was Madonna and her music, so that became my preferred name for these spicy little cookies :-)


I started with a recipe for chewy molasses cookies and switched it to use entirely white sugar and increased to 2 eggs. I decreased the butter a bit and replaced molasses with sweetened condensed milk. I opted to use a spice blend more indicative of a gingersnap and threw in some cardamom and cayenne for kicks!

The dough came out pale as desired, and with a simple swipe of dough to my lips it seemed to have the right spice combination. Gingery flavor, followed by the other spices with just a hint of warmth at the end. This should be a new Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor!

My Blond Ambition (aka, blond ginger cookies?)
2 1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar (plus 1/3 cup to roll cookies)
1 4 oz. stick of butter, softened
2 eggs
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/8 tsp. cayenne

Cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and condensed milk - mix until combined Add remaining ingredients, mixing until fully combined. The dough will be soft.

Use a spoon (or fingers!) to drop ~2 tablespoons of dough into the reserved 1/3 cup sugar. The dough is soft and sticky, so toss it with your fingers to coat in sugar. Once it is coated, you can handle it better. Roll between your two palms to form a ball, then place onto a greased or silpat lined baking sheet. Leave 2-3 inches between the balls.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. I slightly underbake them so they are more tender and chewy. Once they flatten and the centers puff up, I take them out -- at about 10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Makes about 2 dozen.

The cookies will flatten as they cool, but should remain soft and slightly chewy. The sugar creates a nice crinkly-crackly finish. They taste great -- sweet and spicy. Next time, I might add in a bit more butter to make them thinner. I'm not sure if adding another egg would help to make them chewier (?). Having said this, they're really good just the way they are! I think the spice blend works well and likely wouldn't change it at all.

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Ciabatta bread in less than 5 hours

I've been craving bread lately, nice thick slabs of chewy and crusty bread, good old European style bread. I've looked through my books and nothing sparked my interest. By dumb luck, I happened across a recipe last night for a quick to make version of ciabatta. I love the texture of this bread and knew it could be fit into my schedule for today.

The recipe comes from a bread forum that I haven't read before, but the photos looked fantastic. The only confusing part of the recipe was the type of yeast involved, since the recipe didn't specify. Other recipes on the site utilized mostly instant yeast and based on how the ingredients were combined (yeast mixed with flour, not proofed), it seemed as though the recipe was using instant yeast. I wasn't able to locate instant yeast at my store so opted to use active dry yeast.

I checked several reliable references who stated instant yeast and active yeast could be interchanged measure for measure, however typically active yeast needed to be proofed first. I worried and pondered for awhile. When I finally looked at my yeast package it stated that it could be used without proofing as long as the water temperature was increased. Perfect! Oddly, the original recipe didn't many anything about water temperature.

The recipe measurements were in grams, so I converted to ounces and weighed everything accordingly. I've included both the original measurements and my conversions:

Ciabatta bread
500g bread flour (17.6 ounces)
475g water (2 cups @ 120 degrees)
2 tsp. yeast (active dry)
15g salt (.5 ounces)

The ciabatta dough is noted as being extremely sticky and gooey due to its high water content. I followed the directions as stated, with the exception of using water warmed to 120 degrees. All of the ingredients are dumped into a mixing bowl and roughly combined, then allowed to rest for 10 minutes. After the resting period, turn on the mixer and beat for 10-30 minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides and bottom of the bowl. This took about 10 minutes using a medium speed on my mixer. Since the dough was so moist, I used the paddle attachment on my mixer instead of the dough hook. I don't think a dough hook will work due to the softness of the dough.

Pour (yes, pour) the ciabatta dough into a greased bowl. The dough is the consistency of stringy pudding, pardon the expression but it's kind of 'snot-like' and unlike any other dough I've worked with. Don't add more flour, just go along with it.

I preheated my oven to 200 degrees and then turned it off. This creates a warm environment for the dough to rise. Place the covered bowl in a warm place (i.e. my warm oven) to triple in size, about 2.5 hours. I covered the bowl with a greased piece of tin foil.

After tripling in size, use a spatula to scrape the dough from the bowl onto a heavily floured surface. Cut into 2 or 3 pieces, spray with grease and dust with flour, and allow to sit for 45 minutes. When I removed the dough from the bowl, I tried not to punch it down too much but just let it fall onto the work surface, then cut in half and separated the two pieces. I gently rubbed with a bit of olive oil before dusting with flour.



Preheat your oven to 500 degrees while the dough is resting. Place 1/2 cup or so of flour onto a half sheet pan so that it has a thick coating of flour. After the dough is done resting, pick up one piece of the dough and in a single motion turn it upside down on the sheet pan while also stretching it to about 10" in length. Even though the dough rested on a heavily floured surface, it still stuck. I didn't have a dough scraper, so used a big cleaver to scrape the dough off the work surface and turned it upside down on the baking sheet.

The dough will look as though you've damaged it -- fear not. Just don't fuss with it. Repeat with the other piece of dough. Turning the dough upside down will help to redistribute the bubbles inside the dough. You want to be gentle with the dough so you don't knock all the bubbles out of it.

Place the baking sheet onto the center rack of your 500 degree oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 205 degrees. I've never used a thermometer on bread before, but did so. Mine took the full 20 minutes.



I removed the bread and it looked amazing. This is where my patience falters and I become anxious to dive into what I've made. I let the ciabatta set for 15 minutes before slicing the first piece. The bread was crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. As you can see, it had the incredible bubbles throughout the dough. The texture is chewy, just the way it should be. I am in love.



The flavor is lightly yeasty and the texture is so chewy. I've read that due to the quick nature of this bread that it won't be as flavorful as one requiring a sponge created overnight. I think it's great, but will have to try a full-length version of this bread. I can hardly wait to make a panini out of it but will save that until tomorrow. I've already eaten too many slices and need to slow down for today. It wouldn't be good to eat 2 loaves of bread in one day ... or would it? :-)

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Orange marmie muffins with cardamom pine nut streusel

The star ingredient for these muffins is my very own 'marmie' (orange marmalade). The muffins are light and sweet with ribbons of orange peel running throughout. They are topped with a pine nut and cardamom spiced streusel which adds a crunchy texture. I'm in love with this creation, especially since it puts my many jars of marmalade to good use.


I've been thinking about this recipe for a few days, determined to find a use for my marmalade. I toyed with the idea of using it as a center for the muffin but was concerned whether it would just melt away. I considered combining it with cream cheese to create and a creamy orange center. At the end, I decided to stir the marmalade into the batter and create a strong orange flavor in the muffins with bits of sweet orange peel scattered throughout.



The pine nut streusel came to me as I was trying to figure out how to jazz these muffins up a bit more. Orange muffins sound great, but not all that exciting on their own. I recently made an orange icing for an orange cake, but decided it would be repetitive if I went down the icing path. Streusel came to mind and then I remembered there were pine nuts in my pantry.

Usually, cinnamon is my spice of choice in baked goods. I reached for the jar and then realized I hadn't used my newly purchased cardamom. The mix of orange with pine nuts and cardamom intrigued me. The three flavors seemed as though they would blend nicely together, so I gave it a shot. I was not disappointed with the end result. Cardamom has a fresh pine-like flavor, or at least I think so :-) You get a hint of it mixed with the toasty rich taste of the pine nuts. Both the spice and nuts mixed perfectly with the orange muffins.



Heaven. Simply, wonderful. The aroma coming from the oven was overpowering and I knew I was on to something magically good. The muffins rose up beautifully and the streusel (heavily sugar based) created a sweet crust on top. I considered going with a more flour-based streusel to make it more like shortbread crumbles. I might try this next time, but enjoyed the crispy coating this streusel created.

After the muffins cooled (and I had eaten one), I took the photos. As I finished cleaning up, the realization hit me that I had so many muffins (and, I still had a polenta cake on the counter). To make matters worse, I recently froze an entire orange cake since there was no way we could eat it. Seriously, I'm baking way more than two people can consume and I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Fortunately, my Foodsaver came to the rescue and I sealed a few muffins for freezing. There's a limit to how much our freezer can hold though, so this method won't last for long.



For now, the majority of muffins are frozen. I will make them again and play with the recipe some more, but overall it's pretty solid and good as-is.

I base most of my muffin recipes off from my great-grandmother's recipe and find that it never fails. Below you find the details for making these muffins, if you try them let me know!

Orange marmie muffins
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla

Cardamom pine nut streusel
1/2 cup pine nuts, half of them chopped finely
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
2 tablespoons butter, softened

When making muffins, I don't follow alot of procedure. Muffin batter is pretty forgiving and I'm not one to fuss around. Add the dry muffin ingredients to a mixing bowl, add wet ingredients, and stir to combine. Simple! Pour into a greased muffin tin, filling each muffin cup 2/3 full.

For the streusel, use a fork (or your fingers) to mush the ingredients together. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon over the top of each muffin.

Bake the muffins in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins test done. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the muffin pan. Makes 12 muffins.

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Sweet polenta cake with caramelized apples & almonds

I am a horrible sucker for cheap cookbooks -- they lure me in with their big colorful photos and promise of a few good recipes. The books are not written by any particular expert, merely 'edited by' a staffer with a passing interest in food.

The books are strategically placed into the bargain bins. And, I realize they are mass-produced for placement into such areas for those culinary minds looking for a few cheap thrills. Yet, I can't resist. I purchased the The Complete Book of Baking from such a bin several years ago, the temptation being the sweet polenta cake. It's been on my to-do list for some time and now I am able to mark it off.



The cake intrigued me mostly due to the use of polenta to make a cake. The batter contains almond flavoring and lemon zest along with a few currants, then it's topped with fresh apples and sliced almonds. To ensure it is rich, the batter is drizzled with melted butter and sugar before being placed into the oven -- how could I not resist making this?

The result is a moist yet dense cake boasting a light lemony-almond flavor. I'll admit, the currants do nothing for this other than to create specs in the cake. They are lost and useless. The top is interesting, slightly caramelized apples with a crunchy sugar crust adds a nice sweet texture. The cake itself has a large and firm crumb, a stronger texture than typical cakes. I enjoyed the change of pace and found it rustic, like something a friend's grandmother would make at a holiday dinner.

Sweet polenta cake
3/4 cup flour
1/2 polenta (or cornmeal)
1 tsp baking powder
zest from 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup currants soaked in hot water for 20 mins and drained
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 apples peeled, thinly sliced
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 9" springform pan. In a bowl, add the flour, polenta, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat eggs and 1/2 cup sugar, then add milk and almond extract. Combine currants and 4 tablespoons butter. Slowly add the dry ingredients. When blended, pour into prepared pan.

Arrange apples in concentric circles on top of the batter. Sprinkle with slivered almonds. In a saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Pour over the apples, then sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup sugar.

Bake until the cake is puffed and golden, about 45 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes, then remove from the springform pan.

Although it was gone before these pics were taken, I created a topping from: 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 tsp almond extract. A dollop of this mixture adds a nice sweet-tang.



I used polenta that had a slightly larger texture than cornmeal, which came through loud and clear. You can see the bits of polenta and the texture is defiently firmer. I kind of like it tough because it does stand out as something different.



Next time, I would likely remove the currants. I might try doing something different with the apples or possibly another fruit. The apples were tender but kind of blah -- they didn't stand up to the dominate flavors of lemon and almond. Once again, they were ok but kind of useless. Don't get me wrong, the cake is quite good :-)

I need to see what's next in this book. It's a generic baking book but all of the recipes have a very international flair to them, but the book isn't marketed in this way. There's Guiness Cake, or maybe Lekach, a Jewish honey cake. Hmmm, I need to give this some though ... and, I also need to give some thought to the MeMe I received. Yikes ... what info shall I divulge about myself?

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Not a single nook or cranny!

Do you know what these delightful dough pillows are supposed to be? They are an early morning attempt at making my very own english muffins. I felt inspired after seeing Foodbeam's beautiful muffins, but I didn't have all the ingredients on hand to make her recipe. So, I found a random recipe from the web and I ended up with not so surprising random results.

I'm going to chalk this one up to a bad recipe. The reviews of it were spotty but I decided to give it a go anyway (arrogant to think that I wouldn't have any problems using the recipe). The dough is easy enough to make, and I followed instructions carefully regarding the temperature of water and milk, assuming that previous bakers had somehow overlooked these delicate matters.

I did make them a wee bit smaller than normal sized muffins, but I used a glass as a cutter and that's the size it happened to be. While they fried in the pan, I had high hopes but became increasingly concerned that they seemed to retain their pillowy shape and didn't take on the expected flattish signature look of an english muffin.



As I put on the second batch to cook, I picked up a fork and cracked into one as though looking for a pearl in an oyster. My once happy face put on an immediate frown when I couldn't find a single nook, not even a cranny!



The muffin center was a soft but bread-like consistency. I slapped on some butter and found it still tasty, but not the english muffin I had hoped to create. I have learned my lesson about being anxious to make something without first having the right ingredients to make the right recipe. As punishment I will eat my cranny-less muffins and reflect on my impatience.

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Moist and rich orange cake with orange icing

My favorite use of oranges so far -- a rich and moist orange cake drizzled with a sweet orange icing. It was the perfect end to our dinner party last night.

The cake is something I've been thinking about all week. I've never had an orange cake before and have been fantasizing about what it would taste like. I adapted it from the leftover candy cake recipe I made recently. The cake had a wonderful texture and I figured I could flavor it with orange to send it through the roof.

Mission accomplished!


As most of my cooking goes, it started with a hand scribbled post-it note. I slapped the notes on a shelf above my workspace. The recipe is simple and makes a thick, creamy batter. You can bake it in a tube pan or in two small cake pans, as I did.

Orange cake
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons fresh orange zest

Orange icing
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. zest
2-3 tablespoons orange juice

Preheat oven to 350, prepare pans by greasing them and dusting with flour.

For the cake, begin by creaming together the sugar and butter. Slowly add the sour cream, eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients, mix until smooth. Add orange juice and zest, mix to combine. Place into prepared pans. If baking in 1 pan, bake for about 1 hour or until cake tests done. If baking in 2 pans, bake for about 30-35 minutes or until cakes test done. I made it as 2 cakes so I could send one home with our dinner guests.





The cake is a refreshing burst of freshness, especially during these winter months when it's so dark and dreary outside. The cake also makes for a perfectly good breakfast :-) .... I just had a piece with coffee ... so good!

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The only shortbread recipe you'll ever need ...

When I made shortbread recently, I thought I might have finally found a good recipe. It was buttery and crisp, much better than any recipe I had tried previously. My new friend Geggie mentioned I might want to try her grandfather's recipe, and noted he did come from Scotland. Hmmmm, it didn't take me long to realize I should try out her family recipe.

I don't want to oversell the results, but this is why some people go to Heaven. I am forever in debt to Geggie.

My day started with a trip to the dentist for an annual teeth cleaning. Somehow I managed to tweak my back in the dentist chair and returned home to slowly lose the ability to turn my torso or neck without twinges of pain. I had laid out the butter to reach room temperature before I left the house, and I wasn't about to let any spinal issues come between me and baking. I was determined that the show must go on.

To add one more challenge, my printer doesn't like to cooperate with my work computer, so I had to scribble the recipe down on a post-it note. Fortunately, I hadn't lost the ability to write (that's how my handwriting normally looks). I love recipes that can fit on such a small square of paper! Maybe I should write a post-it note cookbook, filled with only those recipes that can fit on a 3"x3" square of paper :-)

Please go to Geggie's site for full instructions and recipe, this was just my shorthand way of getting down the ingredients. I'm not sure why there are two humps on the right hand side of the note, I assume they were there already and do not pertain to the recipe. It's not intended to be any sort of profane or crude rendering.


Since this recipe makes a large batch of cookies, start with a large mixing bowl. I didn't do this and I made a mess (shhh, don't tell Joe). The corn starch is the key to this recipe (I think) -- I haven't ever seen this before. I think it helps to give the lightness to the shortbread. It's powdery so begin stirring gently or else you'll be wearing most of it. (seriously, I made a big mess)

I quickly bypassed a spoon and dove into the ingredients with my hands. Just begin squishing and squishing the butter until it combines with the dry ingredients. Make sure to get any flour hiding at the bottom of your bowl. When you feel the ingredients are well integrated, then place the crumbly mix onto a baking sheet. I used a half-sheet pan and it fit perfectly.

Use your hands to push the dough into place. I found it hard to get an even surface so I busted out a small rolling pin to run over the top. Hopefully, Geggie isn't cringing by this. As she notes, use a fork to prick holes all over the top. I assume this is to help release any steam from within the dough as it bakes.

I baked as noted but mine took a bit over an hour. Likely, this was due to me peeking at them with the oven door open. I'm not patient. And, the smell is so amazing that you can't help but to peek at what's going on. When they came out of the oven I dusted with granulated sugar. I only waited about 5 minutes before trying to cut them and it seemed to work perfectly.

As the knife slid effortlessly through the shortbread it made the most joyous sound, you could hear the crisp layers of shortbread snapping under the weight of the knife. I tried to remain steady and calm but that wave of 'oh, my god this is gonna be good' kept wafting over me. Due to this, some of my lines aren't too straight but that just gives it more character.



My past experiences with some recipes is that the dough doesn't seem crispy or done all the way through. You'll have crispy edges and top, but the center is less than desirable. Not the case here. Look at the next picture and see how the golden brown color extends all the way through from top to bottom. These little guys are crisp and tender, buttery and rich.



I don't know what else to say. I'm in love. I don't know how I'm going to pace myself on eating these. I'm very bad with self-control when it comes to things like this. A big thanks to Geggie for sharing her recipe with all of us -- she is my hero. Try this recipe -- you won't be disappointed.

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Are you looking at my buns?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Another Valentine's Day is upon us -- I didn't really know what to do this year for Joe. I made him a card and decided to replicate one of his favorite Chinese baked goods for breakfast on Valentine's morning. I'm bummed that they won't be fresh, since they take way too long to make in the morning. I'm making them the night before and will have to hide them well.


If you've never been to a Chinese bakery, you are missing out. The buns are so tender and lightly sweet, not gobs of icing like American baked goods. I'm planning to make the Chinese Cocktail Bun, also known as Gai Mei Bao.

Cocktail buns are a light yeast dough filled with a coconut/butter/egg mixture that is so buttery good. The buns are given a honey glaze, a few sesame seeds, and a few crunchy sugar stripes. Traditionally, they received the name cocktail as they contained a filling made from day-old buns mushed up and mixed with flavorings, or a 'cocktail' of ingredients. Hmmmm, sounds tasty.

We are lucky to have a few Asian shopping centers nearby and one in particular has my favorite Chinese bakery. We usually get the cocktail buns and a few egg tarts. I am pretty surprised to see how easy these buns are to make. I'm not gonna lie, they take plenty of time as there are two rising cycles, each taking 1-2 hours. But overall, it's pretty straightforward. You can find the various recipes I used from the following sites:

Dough
Filling
Topping (the stripes across the top)


The buns are comprised of several components: the dough, the filling, and the topping. The dough came together quickly and I let it raise for 1.5 hours. Next time, I might let it go a bit longer. Although the dough is exactly the right flavor, it wasn't quite as light as I'd hoped it would be. Maybe I didn't let it rise long enough (?). I noticed some recipes said to let raise for up to 4 hours (eeek!).

Easy to make, the coconut filling is good but isn't quite the right consistency. It's a little crumbly and mostly coconut. I might add another egg yolk and a bit more butter and sugar, and reduce the coconut by a 1/4 cup.

The buns are known for having the 'stripes' of crunchy sugar topping but the dough/filling recipes I used didn't mention this topping. I used a third recipe for this piece only. The recipe from the site is formatted incorrectly, so some measurements display funny characters instead of the measurements. I had to guess on the amount of butter and only used 1 oz. I think it should have been 1.5 oz. Normally, the stripes seep into the dough but mine didn't change shape which leads me to believe there needed to be more butter.

Otherwise, everything came out perfectly. When they start baking, the yeasty sweet smell is intoxicating. They baked for nearly 18 minutes before I took them out of the oven. I glazed with honey wash immediately and topped with toasted sesame seeds.



Updates
Joe had to get up early this morning for work, so we exchanged cards and gifts last night before going to bed. It was nearly midnight, so technically Valentine's Day. He was surprised by the buns and liked them (even though they weren't as light and airy as the bakery). I was disappointed that the buns dried out quickly. I put them into a container right after they cooled, but 5 hours later when Joe came home the dough was firm and a bit dry.

The pea soup from the other day is nearly gone. Like any soup, it tasted better every day that it sat in the fridge. It becomes thicker, but you can always thin it out with a bit of water.

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Traditional shortbread cookies

Hindsight is an amazing thing -- your past mistakes and fits of stupidity are so easy to see in retrospect. I received an amazing gift while in college from my best friend's sister, Tita. Tita works in the publishing industry and knowing how much I enjoyed cooking she sent me The Professional Pastry Chef (3rd Edition). The book clocks in at over 1,000 pages and is widely known as the pastry chef bible. Although I appreciated the book, I was too young and immature to fully understand what I had in my possession. I'm not even sure if I ever mailed the thank you card I intended to send.

I pulled the book from my shelf the other day. The well-traveled book moved with me from Michigan to Texas, and finally to California where I now reside. The book is in pristine condition and kept company by my ever-growing cookbook library. The pages are thin on my fingertips, written in an easy to understand way yet somehow stark and reminiscent of a college textbook. I scanned the chapters and found everything covered, from breads to cookies and cakes. I immediately fell in love with breadth of information and guidance given in the book. Why had I not done this sooner?

I spent several hours going through the book, but one simple recipe stuck out as the first to try, 'traditional shortbread'. To say I love shortbread is an understatement, and I've tried so many times before to make the buttery little devils and each time with only moderate success. I planned my weekend shopping around the ingredients and set to work this morning on making the shortbread.

And, as you can see from the pics, they turned out beautifully ...



Traditional Shortbread
adapted from The Professional Pastry Chef (3rd Edition)

10 oz. soft, unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 oz. powdered sugar
6 oz. bread flour
3 oz. rice flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Note: I've cut the original recipe in half as it makes a large quantity. Measurements are provided in weight for greater level of accuracy in making these cookies. I used all-purpose flour in place of bread flour, but did use rice flour.

Add butter, vanilla, and sugar to a mixing bowl and mix until creamy. It will resemble the most buttery buttercream frosting you've ever seen :-)

Slowly add the bread flour, rice flour, and salt. Once the dough forms, wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator until firm.

The recipe suggests rolling the dough into a 8x6" rectangle and placing onto a pan lined with baking paper. Once baked and while still warm, you can cut into strips and cool completely before removing from the pan. I opted to cut into individual cookies before placing onto the pan. Each cookie measured approximately 3" by 1", with a quarter inch thickness. I baked mine at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. I suggest watching them closely as I didn't, and some became darker than desired.

These shortbread and the best I've made yet. The cookies are firm yet give way to a tender structure, buttery and melt-in-your-mouth good. I've already consumed more than I should, and I need to lock the rest away in a tin. The house is distinctly scented with a rich browned-butter smell. I'm sure the neighbors are salivating and wondering what wonderful confection is cooling on my counters.

So as I gaze fondly on my 'new' book with shortbread crumbs still on my shirt, I feel badly that I didn't properly thank Tita. I'll take this opportunity now to let her know, that after these 10+ years, I dearly appreciate this book and will cherish it always -- "Thank you, Tita!"

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Cherry clafouti, a delicious custard cake

Slightly sweet and dense, cherry clafouti satisfied my sweet tooth this weekend. Clafouti is a french dessert with a custard-like base and fruit, most commonly cherries. The cake batter itself reminds me of crepes or pancakes, somewhat neutral in flavor.

I hadn't made it in a long time and decided to whip it up using a package of frozen cherries. Although the end result was 'ok', clafouti is so much better when using fresh cherries. Lesson learned. Granted, the fact that I used frozen cherries didn't stop me from devouring it quickly.

Feel free to experiment with the ingredients. Clafouti can be made with many types of fruit, so you're not limited to cherries. I'm sure this would be just as good with peaches or blueberries, maybe even plump red raspberries.

Cherry clafouti
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon brandy
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 pound pitted cherries

Mix the cherries with 1/4 cup of the sugar and set aside. Select a skillet that is at least 1 1/2" deep and grease it.

Mix together the eggs, remaining sugar, vanilla, almond extract, brandy, and milk. Slowly add the flour and mix until smooth.

Arrange half of the cherries on the bottom of the skillet with their juices. Pour batter over the top, then arrange remaining cherries on top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.



When the clafouti comes out of the oven it will be puffed nice and high, and as it cools it will deflate. This is all perfectly normal. It is best served warm with a dollop of freshly whipped cream or even a scoop of ice-cream. There's no wrong way to eat it. Leftovers make for an amazing breakfast the next day!

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Nigella's breakfast bars

Well, just a day after praising Nigella, I'm a bit let down by her Breakfast Bars (p.94, Nigella Express). Granted, she leaves the recipe customizable and I customized just a tad, but they just didn't compare to the texture and taste of the Big Sur Power Bars I made over the weekend.

Nigella's recipe appeared overly simplistic and I wondered briefly if I should adjust it. I decided not to render judgement too early. Aside from using blueberries in place of cranberries, I made the recipe as directed. The result is a somewhat bland, slightly sweet, and tough to chew bar. It's not that it's hard to chew, it's that the oats make it so dense. The lack of flavor was a disappointment too, however she does note that they store well and "they seem to get better and better". I'm not sure how long I should have waited, but it's now been 48 hours since making them and I'm still not impressed.

Maybe I'm just jaded by the power bars made over the weekend. The texture and flavor were spot-on, and in comparison, far superior. If I were to make Nigella's breakfast bars again, I might boost the flavor by adding a bit of vanilla to the condensed milk, as well as a bit of cinnamon or other spice. I think this would improve the flavor significantly. Toasting the nuts and seeds ahead of time might also enhance their flavors.

I'm curious if anyone else has tried to make them -- please share your results. It's possible that I'm just being too picky :-)

Breakfast Bars
1 14 oz. can condensed milk
2 1/2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried cranberries
I cup mixed seeds (pumpkin, sesame, flax)
1 cup unsalted peanuts

Preheat oven to 250 degrees and oil a 9x13 pan. Warm condensed milk in a pan, then pour over dry ingredients. Stir to even coat, then press into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour. After cooling 15 minutes, cut into 16 portions. When I attempted to cut the bars after 15 minutes, they were too soft and it was a bit messy for a bit. You may want to let them cool a bit longer unless you don't mind odd shaped chunks.

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My take on 'Big Sur Power Bars'

I'm still feeling a little under the weather but decided to make Heidi's Big Sur Power Bars to hopefully give myself a boost of much needed energy. We ran errands today and did some light shopping at Whole Foods where I found all the healthy ingredients needed (i.e. brown rice crisp cereal).

Ever since I read Heidi's recipe I've been thinking about how I would customize the power bars. My parents have been visiting since before Christmas and they brought me about 2-3 pounds of hickory nuts from our farm in Michigan (see pic to right -- it's the view from behind our house/barns). I've never ever seen hickory nuts for sale anywhere, but on our farm we have 2 mature trees. The nuts have a maple-like flavor, very distinct and delicious. We used them to make hickory nut pies, hickory nut ice cream .... the list goes on and on.

My parents pick the nuts off the ground in the Fall, then shuck the nuts during the winter while they watch TV. The nut shells are incredible hard to crack and you have to use a small metal tool to pick out the nut meats, so it's with great honor I have so many stashed in my freezer. I replaced the pecans for hickory nuts in the original recipe and paired them with slivered almonds.

Per Heidi's recipe, I mixed the nuts and coconut on a baking sheet. I opted to include 1/4 cup flax seed to the recipe and added the rolled oats to the baking sheet. I figured it couldn't hurt to toast the oats as well.

When it came time to add the cooked syrup to the dry ingredients, I added 1 cup of dried blueberries and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Since I was using cinnamon, I didn't use the espresso powder. The aroma at this point was near intoxicating. I stirred everything together and placed into the greased pan. I toasted 1/3 cup sesame seeds and pressed them firmly into the top. Then, I tried to keep myself busy while they cooled ... I hate being patient :-)

The end result was a very very very yummy power bar, chewy and sweet. I made them in a 9x13 pan, then cut into 36 pieces. I wanted smaller servings so I could take them to my brother's Super Bowl party tomorrow. I decided to go Martha Stewart on the power bars and individually wrapped them in wax paper. I think they make a perfect sweet treat to nibble on during the game. I'll admit, I have no clue who is even playing in the game. I'm going to spend the day eating and watching the TV commercials!

UPDATE (2/5/08):
The