Lazy Sunday Baking

So I finally went real grocery shopping today, like bought enough food that I could make real meals for a whole week.  It was almost refreshing instead of knowing I’d have to piece-meal together some dinners!  The store had a sale on blueberries too so I figured I’d make some granola and for breakfast I could add some blueberries and yogurt for some deliciousness!

Little did I know that the store would fail me on having raw almonds and rolled oats in the bulk bins…I was then angry.  So I came home with some blueberries and I don’t really like them on their own.  I decided to turn them into muffins!

Several years ago my mom gave me a recipe she found for muffins and I loved it.  It was from a random source about how to cook without recipes.  I lost it amongst all my junk for a while and haven’t really made muffins since because I felt like I needed that same recipe, so today I decided to take another look.  Lo and behold, tucked between a million old Bon Apetit magazines, I found it! 

I think the real reason I like this recipe is because it taught me how to make muffins with big tops.  Like the kind you get in a bakery that you can peel off and then eat the stump and save the top for last like it’s a treat.  The trick is to basically overfill the muffin tins.  Like sort of overfill to a point that you’d worry about muffin batter making a mess of your oven.  But it’s worth it!

I made slight alterations: yogurt instead of sour cream and 1% milk instead of whole, mostly because that’s what I keep in the house on a regular basis.  Either way, I do not think these are diet muffins.  They’re the kind you feel good about eating b/c they’re called muffins, therefor it’s a breakfast food.  But really it’s a cupcake minus the frosting and acceptable to eat in the morning.

Remember: Muffins do not like to be overmixed!  The batter should be sort of light and airy almost as you scoop it. 

Best eaten day of; always good reheated in a toaster oven.  And most muffins freeze well and then you can reheat as needed. 

Blueberry and Ginger muffins

3 ½ cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. table salt
1 1/3 Cup granulated sugar
10 Tb. Butter – melted and slightly cooled
1 C milk
1 C full fat yogurt
2 Large eggs
1 egg yolk

1C blueberries
2 Tbs. Crystallized ginger, finely chopped. 

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare muffin tins with liners or spray with non-stick spray.  I’d spray them anyway b/c with the big tops it spreads onto the pan and even with liners it will make them easier to remove.

Mix the flour (reserve a couple tablespoons), baking powder, soda, and salt.  In another bowl mix the sugar, butter, milk, yogurt, eggs, and yolk until well combined.  Combine the ginger, blueberries and reserved flour mixture. (I read somewhere that coating mix-ins with flour prevents them from all sinking to the bottom.)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Mix or fold until somewhat combined.  There should still be a noticeable amount of flour.  Add the blueberries and ginger to the bowl and fold in until just mixed.  It may still be lumpy or still have some flour streaks.

Spoon into the muffin tin with the batter mounding above the top of the tin ½ in to ¾ in above the tin.  Bake about 30-35 min until golden and the muffins spring back to the touch.

 

Them's some full muffin tins!

 

Cool about 10 min on a rack, and then take the muffins out of the tin to finish cooling on the rack.  You may need to run a thin knife underneath the tops to dislodge from the pan, sometimes it sticks a bit. 

The final product

I realized I like this recipe mostly b/c it taught me how to have bakery style big ol’ muffins.  Any muffin recipe will probably work the same way if you overfill the tin, but these taste pretty darn good anyway.

The recipe is designed so you can add whatever fruit/flavorings/nuts you want with the basic batter being the same. I wouldn’t exceed one or two cups total of additions like berries, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.  You can also flavor with cinnamon, dried ginger, vanilla, citrus zest or coconut. 

I’m pretty satisfied with my day of shopping, cleaning, and baking.  It’s always awesome to make something you can share with your family and friends and sneak a few away so they’re there for you in the morning when you’ve run out of other easy breakfast things. 

Have a fantastic week!

Cinnamon Rolls

My program at work was having our own holiday brunch on a Saturday morning to celebrate the season and when I mentioned cinnamon rolls as a possibility everyone immediately said 'yes that is what you are bringing.' I had never actually made homemade yeast cinnamon rolls before so perhaps it was a bit risky but whatever. I used this recipe:
Cinnamon Rolls on the Food Network

I followed this down to the letter since I had never made these before. I got up at 7 in the morning to start since they have to rise. Twice.

This was the dough after it rose the first time. It didn't seem as large as I thought it should be, but when I punched it down there was a lot of air in it.

These are what they looked like after rolling an cutting. Apparently I could work on uniformity...

This was post baking, pre glazing.

The finished product was amazingly delicious.  I couldn't believe how simple they were, even if it did take forever.  I have since learned, however, that yeast can be a triflin' hoe. I attempted yeast rolls on Christmas Eve that were like hockey pucks. Tasty, but dense as hell.

Italiano Birthday Tiramisu

So one of my bestest friends, Annie, and her wonderful fiance, Joe, have birthdays three days apart. Every year Joe tends to get eclipsed, so this time I vowed to make it special for him.  We were out at a random bluegrass bar that we had stumbled into in the historic district (naturally), and I asked him what he wanted me to make for his birthday. 
Everyone in the group gets this option and I have made everything from Giada's magic bars, to carrot cake cupcakes to chocolate chess pie.  Joe looked at me and said, "I don't know, those M&M cookies?"  Our friend Elliot immediately yelled, "What?! No! Joe! That's such a waste! She will make you anything you want! And she'd bake the hell out of those cookies but come on! Aim higher!" The response was, "Ok. Tiramisu."
Well, I've never made tiramisu before, but I love it and I loved the challenge.  My BFF Katie was also out with us and she volunteered her mom's recipe, which turns out was passed on from our other good friend's mom. This was what I started from:

*  20-25  ladyfinger cookies (Italian style found at Italian Deli’s)

      (amount depends of  size of trifle bowl or 9x13 pan)

** 2-3 cups strong coffee (I use decaf)

1 cup sugar

1 16 oz container Marscapone cheese

1 8 oz container whipped cream cheese

*** 4 egg beaters (one carton)

½ pt. heavy cream

**** Kahlua, 2 tbsp added to coffee (optional

2 tbsp10 X (confectioner’s) sugar

 Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl.  Add cheeses and beat until smooth.  Set aside. Whip heavy cream, adding 10 X sugar a little at a time.  Fold whipped cream into cheese mixture.

Dip one side of ladyfingers into coffee.  Place layer of ladyfingers, coffee side down, on the bottom of a trifle bowl and then stand them along the sides.  Alternate layers of cheese mixture and dipped lady fingers.  Shake cocoa powder, if desired on top of each layer of cheese mixture.  Top layer should be cheese mixture, decorate with shaved chocolate or cocoa powder.

  (Jean L’s modifications  2/2009)

 *  40 Italian ladyfingers were needed to make a double layer in a 9X 13 Pyrex pan

**  Brewed 3 - 8 oz cups of regular coffee using twice the amount of regular coffee than  would normally be used

 ***  Substitute  4 large eggs for the egg beaters,  then…

 Beat 4 eggs with the 1 cup sugar in the top of a double boiler over boiling water.

Cook and beat continually until tripled in volume, light in color and fluffy.  Then follow the recipe as written.

 ****  Used 3 tablespoons of Kahlua

 

I decided I trusted Mrs. L's modifications, and I made a few more of my own.

 

I found Ladyfingers at Trader Joes and bought two packs (about 48).  I was making the tiramisu in a trifle dish and had no clue how many it would take to layer, and it turns out we used every last one.  I bought a tall coffee with a double shot of espresso from Starbucks to soak them in.  (I did not put any Kahlua in mine.)  I also discovered marscapone is hella expensive, but totally worth it.

 

Katie dipped all the Ladyfingers and we set them on a cooling rack while I was mixing together the filling.  I don't have a real double boiler so I boiled water in a big pot and beat my eggs in a deep skillet while holding it on top.  Not the most graceful thing ever and it took a while and some manpower, but it worked! When I felt they were appropriately light and fluffy I added the cheeses and set it aside.  

Next came whip cream, which I can't lie, I have had problems with in the past. I had put my standing mixer bowl and beaters in the freezer to get super cold.  I started her up whipping and adding the powdered sugar and almost gave up when all of a sudden it got stiff and creamy and perfect.

 

Folded that in with the cheese mixture and we were ready to layer!  Katie did a beautiful job lining the trifle dish and we just filled it right up. 

 

 

I dusted the top with cocoa and voila!

It really was a beautiful looking dish. Joe was very pleased with his Italian birthday treat and I learned I can make a classy, super yummy dessert with no issues!

 

TaDa! Isn't she glorious?

 

Such Slackers!

Not sure what happened to us over the last three months, but apparently we were not keeping everyone posted on our kitchen adventures.  I certainly didn't stop cooking, so I have no excuse!
Alas, it is time to get it together! I have recently been given a glorious purple Kitchen Aide that has instantly stolen my heart. Her name is Gladys, so don't be surprised to see her referenced in future posts. I have a few things to catch up on from December, and then it's onward through 2013!

Thursday Night Salad...and Banana Bread

I decided I wanted something tasty for dinner tonight.  Apparently I go for the basics when it comes to craving a yummy dinner so we had steak, baked potatoes, and salad.  The salad though was super yummy and is something my dad makes and I wanted to try on my own. 

It’s pretty easy, it’s just a few ingredients. 

Arugula Mushroom Salad

Thinly sliced mushrooms

Lemon
Dijon Mustard
Olive oil
Salt
Arugula
Shaved Parmesan 

Combine the juice of a lemon and about a teaspoon of Dijon.  Slowly drizzle in olive oil and add salt to taste.

I have no idea on the real measurements here; I just add the ingredients until the dressing tastes the way I like it.  I tend to appreciate it a bit tangier so I used the juice of a whole lemon in dressing that was enough for about 3-4 people.



Marinating Mushrooms

Add the mushrooms to the dressing and let marinate until the mushrooms have absorbed the flavor and are noticeably floppier than they start out.  I marinated about an hour.

Arrange arugula on individual salad plates, top with some mushrooms, shave a bit of parmesan over the top and sprinkle with some pepper.  (Be careful of too much pepper since the arugula has a natural peppery/bold flavor)

This salad makes me pretty happy.  It probably could have been my whole dinner.  The steak wasn’t a bad side dish for it though!

Sorry for the lack of finished product pictures, I was apparently too excited to eat before I remembered to take a pic.

For dessert I made some banana bread.  Not your regular old banana bread but the kind that has chocolate chips and crystallized ginger.  I mostly made this because I had taken out some bananas from the freezer a couple days ago and never ended up making anything.  I didn’t want them to go to waste so I found a way to also utilize leftover crystallized ginger I had from the holiday baking season. 

By the way – once bananas reach the stage where they’re good for baking, you can freeze them.  I never knew this until the last year or so.  When you’re ready to bake something, take the bananas out of the freezer and thaw.  They’re pretty gross looking and slimy, but if you can overcome this they slip right out of the peel and mush easily into whatever batter you’re trying to make.

This recipe came from one of my favorite places a blog called Orangette.  I made it pretty exact, omitting the optional nuts.  It seemed like that would be one too many add-ins for some reason. 

Banana bread with Crystallized ginger and chocolate chips

1 cup granulated sugar
1 Large Egg
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
3 ripe medium-size bananas
3 Tbs milk
2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
Small chunks of candied ginger, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350.  Prepare a loaf pan using non-stick spray.  (Use plenty, I’ll show you in a minute why)

Cream together the sugar, egg, and butter.  In a separate bowl combine the mashed bananas and milk.  In a third bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and soda.  Alternately add the dry ingredients and the banana mixture to the sugar/butter mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.  Add chocolate chips and ginger.  Pour into pan and bake approx 1 hour. (I ended up baking about 1 hr and 10 min)

Cool for a bit on a wire rack and then flip the bread out of the pan and continue cooling.

Notes: I used about 2-3 tablespoons of finely chopped candied ginger.  It was a pretty mild ginger taste.  In the future I’m thinking of adding some ginger powder so it’s more of an even ginger flavor throughout.  I wouldn’t want to add too much candied ginger or it would seem like too many chewy bits for being in bread. 

This bread was pretty awesome.  It was a nice change from regular old banana bread and you can never go wrong adding chocolate chips to something!  I really like the mild ginger flavor, it’s definitely not overwhelming.

Back to that non-stick spray:  I have few baking mishaps but for some reason my bread didn’t want to come out of the pan!  Some minor repairs and a quick flip, nobody would notice my fail.  Hopefully.  At least it tastes good!

Happy baking!  And salad making!

Catching Up For the Last Couple Months

I’ve been a huge slacker when it comes to blogging.  I don’t think I’m good at it.  Sometimes things like hanging out with friends, family, holidays, and of course just being lazy in general get in the way.  I have been cooking though!

Thanksgiving was the same ol’ same ol’ turkey dinner.  But my bro, sis-in-law, and I bucked up a little and made a nice dinner for the parents’ 35^th anniversary.  Pancetta wrapped scallops over greens, broiled lamb chops over Swiss chard with a balsamic reduction and three cheese potatoes, and an upside down pear-ginger-molasses cake.  Delish!



Pretty Cake!  Tastes good too...



 

 

 

 

Christmas Eve is perhaps the best meal of the year.  We make a smorgasbord of food and wander around grazing until we can’t eat or drink any more.  Usually followed by a few more drinks and a traditional late night viewing of Elf and the Muppets Christmas Carol! 



Proof that Dad ate pigs in a blanket

This year the kids took over to try new things.  The brother made some delicious crab cakes.  We had fondue, tamales, olives, hummus, ham, green bean salad, pigs in a blanket, homemade smoked salmon…I’m sure there was more. 

 

 

 

 

Fancy cocktail time!

At some point we decided to try my sis-in-law’s new Ina Garten cookbook and made a fancy cocktail.   I think it was a sidecar…someone will have to refresh my memory.  Regardless it was pretty amazing with a sugar rim and a few dried cherries to garnish.



 

 

 

 

 

Overall it was a fantastic holiday season with the family.  It was fun to try new recipes and hopefully our new tradition will be to continue to mix it up a bit.  Sometimes the same ol’ same ol’ just gets boring and you have to shake things up!   

Enjoy the New Year!

 

p.s. sorry for the weird formatting - I'm still getting used to the new computer.