Posts from the ‘Quick Breads,Muffins’ Category

Jul 28

Bake Together-Chocolate Shortcake With Cognac Infused Apricots

Chocolate Shortcake With Apricots

Every month I look forward to Bake Together with Abby Dodge, I was especially excited about this months challenge. I adore strawberry shortcake and Abby decided to give this American classic a twist by making a chocolate shortcake, our challenge was to make it our own, keeping the basic premise of the challenge of course,but we are able to make changes, adding our own creative spin. I made the shortcake as directed by Abby but baked it as one sheet, slightly thinner than Abby’s. After it cooled I cut rounds with my biscuit cutter. It’s the same basic idea but slightly different execution. Instead of Strawberries I used some beautiful apricots which I macerated in sugar and cognac. The whipped cream is lightly sweetened and flavored with cognac also. Chocolate and apricots are delicious together and the cognac rounds it all out beautifully. Thanks Abby for another great month of baking with you!

Apricots:

1 lb apricots cleaned and sliced (don’t peel)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbs good cognac

Place the sliced apricots in a bowl add the sugar and cognac and gently stir to combine. Cover and let sit for an hour or more.

Whipped Cream:

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tbs super fine sugar

1 tsp cognac

Whip in a cold bowl with cold beaters until it’s thick and the desired consistency,

Double Chocolate- Strawberry Shortcakes
Makes 8 servings

For the Shortcakes
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled
3/4 cup buttermilk, chilled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups (7 7/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup (4 5/8 ounces) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (1 ounce) unsweetened, natural cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup (3 ounces) chopped chocolate or chips
2 tablespoons sanding sugar (turbando, demerara), optional

To make the shortcakes:
1. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 400°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a nonstick liner.

2. Cut the butter in half lengthwise, cut each half lengthwise again, and then cut each strip into 8 pieces. Pile the butter onto a plate and slide it into the freezer until ready to use. Measure the buttermilk in a 1-cup Pyrex measure and add the vanilla. Using a fork, whisk until blended and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

3. Put the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a food processor and pulse until well blended. Add the cold butter pieces and, using short pulses, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal with small pieces of butter (about pea-sized) still visible, about 1 minute. Scrape the mixture into a large bowl and add chopped chocolate.

4. Pour the buttermilk and vanilla over the flour mixture and, using a rubber spatula, stir and fold until it forms a shaggy, moist dough with some floury bits remaining. Scrape the dough and any remaining floury bits onto the counter and knead a few times until the dough is evenly moist and holds together well.

5. Gently press the dough into a thick 8 x 4 -inch rectangle. Using a large sharp knife, trim the edges to make a neat rectangle and cut into 8 equal squares. Arrange the biscuits on the prepared cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle the tops with the sanding sugar, if using. Bake until puffed and spring back when the tops are gently pressed, 16 to 18 minutes. Move the sheet to a cooling rack and let the biscuits sit until they’re cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature

Place bottom half of shortcake on serving dish, spoon on apricots. Put top half on top of fruit. Spoon on the whipped cream, drizzle with some of the syrup from the apricots and enjoy.

May 7

22 Comments

Bake Together:Date And Orange Cornmeal Buttermilk Muffins With Cardamom Streusel Topping

Bake together with Abby Dodge this month is Cornmeal buttermilk muffins. I just want to say that I love participating in this, it is a wonderful way to be creative and as always I have a lot of fun. I used Abby’s basic recipe for Cornmeal Buttermilk muffins (original recipe found by clicking on Abby Dodge above) and added my own touch. My latest obsession is with Medjool dates, the are so soft and creamy and sweet I find myself snacking on them several times a day. Dates and orange and cardamom go together really well so I thought I would incorporate all those wonderful ingredients into these muffins. The muffins contain orange zest and dates and I made a streusel topping flavored with cardamom. NOTE: I also decreased the sugar to 1/4 cup because the dates are so sweet and I made a dozen mini muffins rather than 6 large ones.

For the muffins:
3/4 cup (3 3/8 ounces) all purpose flour
1/3 cup (1 1/3 ounces) finely ground yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped medjool dates pitted

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

Streusel Topping

3 tbs flour

2 tbs light brown sugar packed

2 tbs granulated sugar

1/4 tsp cardamom

2 tbs soft butter

Position an oven rack in the center of the oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 6 regular-sized muffin cups with paper or foil liners or to make mini muffins 12 liners in 12 cup muffin tin.

Mix the soft butter, flour, sugars and cardamom and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk until well blended. Measure the buttermilk using a 2 cup glass measure, pour buttermilk into blender and add the chopped dates , pulse a few times so that the dates are broken up but still are in small pieces, add back to 2 cup measuring cup. Add the egg, oil, and orange zest and mix with a table fork until well blended. Pour the liquid over the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold (no stirring) until just blended.

Portion the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups (1/4 cup of batter per cup will be about three-quarters of the way full a little less for mini muffins). Crumble the streusel topping on each muffin. Bake until the tops are pale golden brown and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes for larger muffins because mine were smaller it took 15 minutes to bake. Move to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins from the pan and set them on a wire rack. Serve immediately or cool completely and stow in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. I like them best when they are served warm so please reheat before serving.

Mar 17

7 Comments

Happy St. Paddy’s Day – Corned Beef,Colcannon and Irish Brown Soda Bread

In honor of St. Patrick and the beautiful country of Ireland on today’s menu is Irish fare. Corned Beef, Colcannon and Irish Brown Soda Bread. I made the corned beef as I do every year, bring to a boil on the stove top with onion and spices and then braise in the oven for about 4 hours, next year I am going to make Suzanne Goins genius recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage that is on Food52. The Colcannon is a recipe from Whole Foods, you can’t get more simple or delicious in my opinion, boil the potatoes, saute some onion and cabbage and mash it all together I made two very minor changes I caramelized the onions before adding the cabbage and instead of milk I added melted butter and creme fraiche. Here is, Whole Foods Colcannon recipe The Brown Bread is from food52, its a recipe Merrill Stubbs posted, it’s a family recipe her Mother always made and is absolutely delicious, Irish Brown Bread slathered with Irish butter. I am looking forward to having Creative Culinary’s authentic Irish Coffee Recipe

Irish Coffee,Brown Bread with Butter and Caramelized Pear Jam

Mar 11

12 Comments

Bake Together-Goat Cheese, Pepper, Lemon Sables

Goat Cheese, Lemon,Pepper Sables

Abby Dodge’s Bake together this month is Sables,we used her spicy Parmesan sable as the base recipe and I tweaked it a bit to accommodate the ingredients that I used. Because I used goats cheese which is more moist than parmesan I decreased both the butter and liquid and instead of using water I used cold freshly squeezed lemon juice. The pepper is a 5 pepper blend, pink, white, black, green and central american allspice which I crushed using a mortar and pestle. The addition of lemon zest as well as lemon juice gives these sables a tangy flavor and the goat cheese and pepper give a bit of a bite. I served with some soft goat cheese with red pepper jam and tomato jam. Delicious! Here is the link to Bake Together with Abby Dodge.

6 oz flour- 1 1/3 cups

2 oz crumbled goat cheese

1 tsp salt

1 tsp mixed whole 5 pepper blend crushed with mortar and pestle

zest of 1 lemon

7 tbs cold unsalted butter

2 tbs cold lemon juice

Weigh or measure the flour, crush the peppercorns and add to the food processor along with the salt and lemon zest, pulse a few times. Add the goat cheese and butter and pulse until it resembles crumbs, add the lemon juice and pulse 2 or 3 more times. Dump the moist crumbs onto the unfloured counter and gather into a pile. With the heel of you hand, push and gently smear the crumbs away from you until they start to come together in a cohesive dough. Two or three ‘smears’ should do the trick. Using a bench scraper, gather the dough together and turn it about 45 degrees and give it one or two more smears. Gather the dough together and shape the dough into a 7 1/4-inch long and 2 1/4 -inch wide rectangle using the bench scraper to make the sides nice and straight. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours, or up to 2 days.

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment. Using a thin, sharp knife, cut the logs into 1/4-inch slices and arrange about 1 inch apart (they don’t spread much at all) on the prepared sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time, until nutty brown around the edges, 16 to 18 minutes. If you like, sprinkle the crackers with a little kosher salt just as the baking sheets come out of the oven. Serve slightly warm or room temperature.

Mar 10

Breakfast-Banana Waffles

Banana Waffles with Hot Buttered Syrup

I shunned my usual shake this morning for some hot home made waffles. I was thinking of making banana bread today, had two banana’s that are on their way to becoming very very ripe, but instead I decided to make banana waffles. I used my go to recipe for waffles from an old Betty Crocker recipe book but really tweaked it. I used all purpose flour, stone ground whole wheat flour and cake flour, buttermilk, brown sugar and banana. I usually separate the eggs, whip the whites and fold them in, instead I beat the whole eggs with the electric mixer which produced a less fluffy waffle but still very good. If you want a higher rise and lighter texture just beat the whites separately and fold in. The syrup is Grade B maple syrup, butter and Lyles Golden Syrup. Just using maple syrup is great but I love Lyles and like to mix it with my maple syrup, add butter and heat.

Makes: 12 waffles

1 cup cake flour

1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 ripe banana mashed

Maple syrup

Lyles Golden syrup (optional)

Butter (I used 2 tbs)

Heat waffle iron according to manufacturers directions.

Add flours, baking soda and powder, sugar and salt to mixing bowl and whisk to combine. In another bowl beat eggs with electric mixer until thick and foamy. Add the rest of the ingredients and fold in.

When waffle iron is heated add some batter, use as much as directions say to use for your waffle maker. While waffle is cooking, preheat oven to 200 degrees. In saucepan add the maple syrup, Lyles syrup and butter and heat gently, simmer until waffles are ready, I am not giving amounts you decide how much of each you want to use and certainly you can omit the Lyles Syrup. Have baking sheet ready, lined with parchment, when waffles are done remove to sheet pan and keep warm in the oven, do this until all the batter is used. If its more waffles than you need freeze them and use another day.

Feb 26

8 Comments

Lemon Ricotta Blueberry Muffins

These muffins are tender and moist, flavored with lemon and chock full of blueberries. The batter has both whole milk ricotta and whole milk buttermilk. I love the combination of lemon and blueberries and the ricotta and buttermilk give these muffins a slight tang that is delicious. I also used some cake flour to give them a more tender crumb. The muffins are only slightly sweet and to add a little more sweetness, after you remove them from the oven brush with some melted butter and dust with granulated sugar. When you just have to have a muffin I hope you will give these a try, they are simple to make, and you can whip them up in a flash. They also freeze beautifully. NOTE: If you use lowfat buttermilk and part skim ricotta increase butter to 6 tbs +4 tbs vegetable oil, and if you use lowfat buttermilk with whole milk ricotta just increase the butter to 6 tbs+ the 2 tbs vegetable oil.

Ingredients:

4 tbs melted butter

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour +2 tsp for blueberries

1/2 cup cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk (whole milk buttermilk if you can find it)

1/2 cup whole milk ricotta

2 large eggs at room temperature lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries frozen (use fresh when in season)

1 1/2 tbs lemon zest

2 tbs butter melted (to brush on top of muffins)

2 tbs granulated sugar (to dust tops of muffins)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin

Melt butter and add the oil, sift flour,baking powder, baking soda,salt and sugar into large mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients and lemon zest and stir only to mix, it may be a bit lumpy but thats ok. Sprinkle the blueberries with the flour and toss, add to the batter and gently stir. Place into lined muffin tin and bake at 350 degrees. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tops are lightly browned. Let muffins sit for 10 minutes in pan, then place on rack to cool, brush top of the muffin with melted butter and dust with granulated sugar. Makes 12 muffins