Thanksgiving

David and I celebrate our first Thanksgiving with both families together. We had a total of eleven people including ourselves. Oh my, was it a lot of work. My mom brought two pies and David's mother brother 4 dishes and I was still cooking all afternoon. I made a turkey, ham, and a few sides dishes plus two pies. Below is my pecan pie. I cheated and used Pillsbury roll out pie crust. No time to make my own. David's friends were suppose to bring pies but they didn't so I scrambled that afternoon. This pecan pie recipe is by far the best I've made and so simple too. Not that I am a pecan pie expert or anything but the last one I made from Dorie Greenspan's From My Home to Yours didn't go over so well. This recipe is from the back of the Karo Dark Corn Syrup bottle.

The turkey noodle soup is what I did with leftover turkey. Very easy, make stock with turkey bones, add some diced celery, carrots, onions, egg noodles, season with thyme, salt, and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce heat, add the cooked turkey and simmer.

The cranberry bars are a modification of a strawberry streusel bar recipe from BHG. I used leftover cranberry sauce in place of the strawberry jam. I omitted the icing. The bars were quite good. I thought 4 cups of flour was an awful lot but they turned out just fine. Next time I will use less crumb mixture for the base and use more for the topping. The 2 cups the recipe specifies is not enough. You end up with a thick base and little streusel on top. Still tasty though and are nice with coffee for breakfast.

Cupcakes

I've been on a cupcake craze as of late especially any cupcake that goes well with cream cheese frosting. I started with pumpkin cupcakes, recipe from King Arthur Flour's website then ventured into banana walnut cupcakes, red velvet (actually cake recipe but did well as a cupcake) again from King Arthur Flour's website then gingersnap cupcakes from Baking Bites. I forgot to take a pic of the gingersnap cupcakes but will definitely be making them again as they were wonderful. Will post a pic next time. The banana walnut cupcakes are from Greg Patent's Baking Across America cookbook. This was my first attempt and red velvet cupcakes and they were delicious. Recipe is very simple to follow and has a nice mild chocolaty taste. I only used half the amount of red food coloring as I only had a 2 oz bottle. 4 ozs is an awful lot of food coloring. The cupcakes came out just fine with 2 oz of food coloring.

Catching Up

David and I bought a house in late September and since then my baking has slowed down significantly. Home ownership is ALOT of work. I have baked some since we've moved but just not as much. I haven't had a lot of time to post either. My goal for the new year is to stay up to day on my blog. I was doing well for awhile and then fell by the way side when we moved. I am going to post pictures some of the goodies I've made the past couple of months. I am doing my Christmas baking this Sunday and will definitely post the recipes. Will be baking some favorites mint brownies, lemon bars, snickerdoodles, and chocolate fudge. New for this year are chewy chocolate cookies with red and green white chocolate morsels, oatmeal cookies with cranberries and walnuts, soft gingerbread cutout cookies, and peanut butter fudge. If I have more time, I may bake one or two other items. David and I are headed in different directions for Christmas so I am making a nice dinner for us. On the menu is rosemary leg of lamb (leg of lamb), mash potatoes and gravy, green beans, and dinner rolls.

S'more Bars

I've tried two different s'more bars recipes. Still trying to search for a recipe that was similar to the s'more bars that I had eaten during my high school tennis years. I have a recipe that I printed from the Hershey's website in 1997. 1997!!! I never actually got around to making these. The recipe is no longer available on their website, however you can find it through About.com Southern Food. If look for a s'mores bar recipe on the Hershey's website you'll find a recipe for S'more Cookie Bars. This recipe uses much more flour and marshmallow creme. It is define more like a cookie. The combination of the marshmallow creme and milk chocolate was too sweet for my taste. The 1997 version of the S'more Bars taste much more like real smores. The recipe has less flour and a little more butter which gives the graham crackers a nice crunch, plus it calls for miniature marshmallows. The milk chocolate is still a little too sweet for me. Next time, I am going to try Hershey's special dark. For the graham crackers, I used a rolling pin to crush them which worked well. You get a nice mix or crumbs with tiny pieces of graham crackers. I used 3 giant milk chocolate bars rather than 8 individual bars which worked just fine.

S'more Bars

3/4 C butter, softened

2/3 C granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 C graham cracker crumbs, crushed

1/2 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

8 Hershey's milk chocolate bars

3 1/2 C miniature marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. In a larger bowl, beat the butter. Add the sugar; beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs, flour, and salt. Set aside 2 1/2 C of graham cracker crumb mixture. Press remaining into baking pan. Place candy bars on top, side by side, breaking to fit if necessary on top of the mixture. Sprinkle marshmallows evenly over chocolate bars. Crumble reserved graham cracker crumb mixture on top of the marshmallows. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Cool completely.

Summer Berry Crumble Bars

Feeling baking deprived, I also made Summer Berry Crumble Bars from the King Arthur Flour's Cookie Companion this morning. David likes them for breakfast...easy to pack for work. Over the 4th of July, my mom and I went to the Raleigh Farmer's Market and came back with a couple quarts of blueberries. They were terrific, nicely plump and sweet. I've been hooked on the blueberries since then. I love the crunchiness of the crust and topping. Who doesn't like streusel topping? I think blackberries or even an apple filling would be yummy. The recipe calls for sunflower seeds but but didn't have any on hand. I am not sure I would add the sunflower seeds even if I had some. Not so sure about the combination of the blueberries with sunflower seeds. The recipe also includes a glaze but skip this also. I think the glaze would make the bars too sweet for my taste and take away from the streusel topping. A warning, do not store them on the counter top or they will get soft. Keep them in the fridge.

Summer Berry Crumble Bars

Crust and Topping

2 C unbleached all-purpose flour

1 C brown sugar

1 1/2 C rolled oats

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon or 1/4 tsp ground cardamon

1 C unsalted butter cut into chunks

3/4 C sunflower seeds (optional)

Filling

3 C fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw)

1/4 C light brown sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/2 tsp cinnamon or 1/4 tsp ground cardamon

3 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

Glaze

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 to 3 tsp water

1 C confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease 9 x 13-inch pan

Crust and topping: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Using a mixer or pastry blender, cut int eh butter until the mixture is crumbly. Transfer 2 C of crumbs to a bowl and combine with sunflower seeds if using them. Pat the remaining crumbs into the pan. Bake the crust for 15 minutes and remove from the oven.

Filling: While the crust is baking. In a large bowl, mix the berries with the brown sugar, lemon juice, zest, melted butter, cinnamon, and flour. Distribute the filling over the bake crust.

Sprinkle the reserved crumbs mixture over the filling and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the filling is bubbly and crumbs have browned.

Glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the glaze ingredients. Drizzle the glaze over the bars while they are still warm. Cool completely before cutting.

King Arthur Flour's Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

It has been a busy month at work so I haven't had a lot of time to bake or felt like baking much on the weekends. I had to travel three weeks in row.....Providence (lovely city), Virginia Beach, and South Plainfield, NJ. My trips are typically short, fly or drive in the night before, work the next day and leave for home. These are the worse because you never get time to adjust. No travel in the near term, yeah!!

I love the Levain chocolate chip cookies but finally decided it was time to make the King Arthur Flour's Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from The King Arthur Flour's Cookie Companion. These have the vinegar and corn syrup. I understand the corn syrup which adds a nice chewiness to the cookies but vinegar?? The vinegar actually works as a leavener to give the cookie a little lift. The recipe says to lightly grease the cookie sheet which is a no, no if you want your cookie not to spread. Nope, the cookies did not spread at all so the vinegar does the trick after all. The cookies have a nice chewiness with loads of chocolate (3 whooping cups of chocolate chips) which I think also helps the cookie hold its shape. The cookies are not too sweet either which is a plus. I like the fact that this is a one bowl recipe since you don't have to mix the dry ingredients separately.

So, this is my current order of favorite recipes: Levain, King Arthur's, Mrs. Fields, and Dorie Greenspan.

The Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

3/4 C softened unsalted butter

2/3 C dark brown sugar

2/3 C granulated sugar

2 tbsp light corn syrup

1 tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar

2 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 1/4 C unbleached all-purpose flour

3 C semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper/

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, corn syrup, and vinegar, then beat in the eggs. Beat in the vanilla, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips. Drop by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheet. Bake the cookies or 10 minutes, until they're just set; the centers may still look underdone. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a baking rack.

* I baked the cookies at 350F for ~12 minutes with my Chicago Metallic baking sheet.

Double Peanut Butter Joy Cookies

Taking a break from chocolate chip cookies. I made another batch of the Levain cookies when my parents were here last weekend. This recipe is from one of those Favorite Brand Name Recipes cookbook that you find at the checkout aisle at the grocery store. "Butter Flavor Crisco American Cookie Celebration" is devoted to cookies made with Butter Flavor Crisco, Hershey's chips, Quaker Oats, and Jif Peanut Butter. I bought this cookbook for a whooping $0.25 at the Goodwill back in 1998. The cookies are fairly standard peanut butter cookies but with peanut butter chips and shortening rather than butter. They have a nice chewy texture because of the shortening and certainly doesn't spread. You can flatten these cookies but I chose not too. My taste tend towards the chewy rather than crispy cookies. Next time I am going to reduce the amount of peanut butter chips. The recipe calls for 2 cups of peanut butter chips. Too much, by the end I had more chips than batter left. I am going to try 1 1/2 cups of chips next time. As always, used my Chicago Metallic cookie sheet which meant I had to reduce the temperature to 325 F. I baked them for 10 minutes.

Double Peanut Butter Joy

1 C granulated sugar

1 C packed brown sugar (used light brown)

1 C Jif Creamy peanut butter

1/2 C Butter Flavor Crisco

2 eggs

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 C Reese's Peanut Butter Chips

Preheat oven to 350F. At medium speed, beat the sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter and Crisco in a large bowl until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Shift the flour, soda, and salt. Add gradually to the creamed mixture. Mix until just blended. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls. Place two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten and make crisscrosses with a fork if desired. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are set and tops are moist. Cool on baking sheet for 8 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Mrs. Field's Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Not sure if it was the weather, very storming out again, but I was in the mood to bake. Could be too that I was reading about Mrs. Field's recipes online today. I have a number of Mrs. Field's cookie recipes that I photocopied from her cookbook, Mrs. Field's Cookie Book way back when in high school. King Arthur's Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie was next on my list to try but afterall it is 9:00 pm on a Wednesday night. So, I opted to try Mrs. Field's recipe as it is super easy. For 2 1/2 cups of flour she only uses 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Another major difference is that the cookies are baked at 300F for 22-24 minutes. We are not talking jumbo cookies either. I used my trustworthy Chicago Metallic baking pan, however didn't lower the temperature to 275F. That just seems too low. Rather, I reduced the baking time to 17 minutes. The recipe also has a high ratio of brown sugar to white granulated sugar. Kind of reminds me of a blondie. I didn't have salted butter so I just increased the salt to 1 tsp. They don't spread that much. I used my cookie scooper so they were small. Kind of like a minature verison of the Levain cookies. Certainly not flat like the Dorie Greenspan recipe (disappointed with these the next day, definitely not as good the next day). Actually, they taste very similar to the Levain cookies. Slight crispy edge with a nice chewy middle. For now, the recipe ranking is as follows: Levain, Mrs. Field's, Dorie Greenspan.

Mrs. Field's Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 C dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 C white sugar
1 C salted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300F. In medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In large bowl, with an electric mixer, blend the sugars at medium speed. Add the butter adn mix to form a grainy paste. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour mixture on low speed until just mixed. Do not overmix. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Baking for 22-24 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

Dorie Greenspan's Chocolate Chip Cookie

Continuing on with my chocolate chip cookie recipe experiment, I made "My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies" from Dorie Greenspans Baking From My Home to Yours. The recipe only uses 2 cups of flour and higher ratio of granulated sugar to brown sugar. Thus, the cookie is definitely not your chunky type. I omitted the nuts which made them even less chunky. They are crisp on the edges with slightly soft chewy centers. I baked the first couple of batches at 350F for ~12 minutes, rotating mid-way through. Directions says to bake at 375F, but I used a heavy Chicago Metallic cookie sheet which recommends that you lower the baking temperature by 25F. The last couple of batches I baked at 325F for ~13-14 minutes. I liked the later batches better, not so brown around the edges. Not that the crisp edges aren't tasty but I prefer a more chewy cookie. Of the two recipes that I've tried, I like the Levain copycats. Next recipe on the list to try is the Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. The recipe has vinegar which should be interesting.

My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 sticks (8 oz) softened unsalted butter
1 C sugar
2/3 C light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate, chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks
1 C finely chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
With a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter for ~1 min until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for 2 mins. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat for one minute after each egg. Reduce mixer speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Spoon slightly round tablespoons of dough spaced 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheets. Bake one cook sheet at a time for ~10-12 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Rotate the sheet midway through. Let the cookies rest for one minute then transfer to a cooling rack.

One Heck of a Big Cookie

I've been craving chocolate chip cookies since this past weekend. My parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew came out to visit this weekend. We made the obligatory trek to DC to see monuments and museums. We also watched the Rolling Thunder parade through the city which was really cool. The Rolling Thunder come to town ever Memorial Day Weekend. The choices for inexpensive places to eat is limited near the Mall. However, the Ronald Reagan Building has a nice food court. After my lunch of lamb kabobs I shared a jumbo chocolate chip cookie with my sister. While the cookie was good, I thought my homemade cookies were better. I am on a chocolate cookie experiment. I usually rely on the Nestle Toll House recipe but thought I should try some others. My first recipe experiment is from the Vanilla Sugar blog via Slashfood. This is a recipe for the Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookie. Three cups of flour which is quite a lot for cookie recipe that only uses 2 cups of butter, and 1 1/2 cups of sugars. The cookie was great though, a slighly dense with a nice chewiness. I thought it might be too dense because of the high amount of flour but not at all. I used an ice cream scope and made 17 cookies. I chilled the dough between bakes. I baked the first batch at 375F for 8 mins then lowered the heat and baked them at 325F for additional 10 minutes. I baked the others at 325F for 18 minutes which turned out just fine.

Seven Layer Bars aka Magic Bars

David's going on a trip so I wanted to send some goodies with him. Since the trip was on short notice (today and he's leaving tomorrow), I decided to make something easy. I had all the ingredients on hand and he has never had seven layer bars before. These bring back good memories of high school tennis meets. My high school tennis team was not great by any means but we did know how to have fun. For a lot of meets, we use to bring baked goodies...caramel brownies, Special K bars, seven layer bars. Seven layer bars are super easy to make. The most involved task is grinding the graham crackers, otherwise it's one, two, three....

Seven Layer Bars
Preheat oven to 350 F
1) Melt 1/2 C butter or margerine in 9 x 13 inch pan in the oven.
2) Add 1 1/2 C crushed graham cracks
3) Sprinkle 1 C (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips over graham crackers
4) Sprinkle 1 C shredded coconut over chocolate chips
5) Sprinkel 1 C (6 oz) butterscotch chips over chocolate chips
6) Dribble 14 oz can of condensed milk to cover the pan
7) Sprinkle 1 C chopped nuts on top
Bake 25 mins.

Pita Bread

Ok, so it's been awhile since I've made pita bread and it shows. I forgot that thinness is important or they don't puff. My first batch were whole wheat pita's from the King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking cookbook (gift from David from my B-day), only two puffed. Determined to get this right I went to a recipe from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads that I've made in the past. No such luck. Only one puffed nicely and the other semi-puffed. At least I captured pictures of the two that puffed nicely. It's hard to tell from the picture, the one in the oven is the whole wheat pita.



Whole Wheat Pita Bread
1 3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 C unbleached bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 C lukewarm water
2 tbsp olive oil

Combine all of the ingredients, and mix and knead them together—by hand, mixer, or bread machine—to make a smooth dough. This will take about 8 minutes by hand, 5 minutes in an electric mixer, or use the dough setting on your bread machine. Cover the dough, and allow it to rise till it’s doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes. Place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven. Or line a baking sheet with parchment (or grease it lightly). Preheat the oven to 450°F. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into eight pieces, shaping each piece into a rough ball. Let the balls rest for 10 minutes, covered, while your oven comes up to temperature. Lightly spray a rolling mat, or clean work surface, with non-stick vegetable oil spray. Use a rolling pin to roll one ball of dough into a 6" circle that’s slightly less than 1/4" thick. Repeat with another ball of dough. Place the pitas on the hot pizza stone, or place them on the prepared baking sheet, and put the baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake the pitas for 4 to 5 minutes, till they puff up. Turn them over, and bake for another minute or two; total baking time should be about 6 minutes (about 7 minutes, if you’re baking on a pan rather than a stone). Remove them from the oven, stack them on a kitchen towel, and fold the towel up over them; this will keep them from becoming crisp as they cool. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.



Pita Bread
2 1/2 C bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1 C lukewarm water

In a large mixing bowl, measure 1 C flour and stir in the dry ingredients. Add the oil and water. Beat vigorously with a spoon for 2-3 mins. Stir in balance of flour 1/2 C at a time. The dough should be a rough, shaggy mass that will cling to the sides of the bowl. If the dough is moist, add a small amount of additional flour. Turn the dough onto a slightly flour surface and knead for 6 mins.

Preheat the oven to 500 F. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape into a ball. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and allow to rest for 20 mins. \

Flatten the dough into a round disk. finish with a rolling pin and roll them into 6 inch diameter and 3/16 inch thick. Place each piece of dough on a 7 inch square of aluminum foil. Carefully place 2 to 3 breads on the oven shelf. Bake for 8 mins, or until puffed. Remove breads from the oven and wrap in a large piece of foil. Repeat with remaining disks.

Blonde Brownies

I was craving something sweet but not chocolate. In the past few weeks, all I've had for sweets has been chocolate ranging from thin mints, samoas to brownies and more brownies. Wanting to make something easy, I went for blonde brownies. I have tried severely recipes and finally stumbled on a winner from the King Arthur Flour website. The original recipe is actually entitled "Crazy Blonde Brownies" but I made them a little simpler with just white chocolate chips. The combination of chocolate chips, butterscotch, cinnamon, caramel, macadamia, or chips of your choice along with diced pecans or walnuts seem like too much for me. The white chocolate chips compliments the brownies nicely. For the brown sugar, since the recipe didn't specify light or dark, I used a combination of 1 cup each since I have ample light and brown sugar on hand. No, I did not use organic white whole wheat flour, just 1 3/4 cup of unbleached all purpose flour.

Blonde Brownies
1/2 cup butter or vegetable shortening
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch pan and preheat your oven to 350°F. Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the brown sugar, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat, pour the butter-sugar mixture into a medium-sized bowl, and allow it to cool to lukewarm. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract and salt. Whisk the flours and baking powder together, then add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture, stirring to combine. Finally, fold in the chips and nuts. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan, and bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes, until they're light brown on the edges and top.

Apple Butter Crumb Coffee Cake

Yippee!! I am on spring break. Finally some time to do some baking. I am only taking one class this semester but work has been incredibly busy. As of late, I've been on a big coffee cake kick. It's the strudel. I can't get enough of the stuff. Right before Christmas, scored a bunch of new cake baking books - The Cake Book by Tish Boyle, Great Cakes and Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins, and More by Carol Walter. As soon as I saw the butter crumb coffee cake recipe from Great Coffee Cakes, I knew I had to make this. Lots and lots of strudel. I added a grated granny smith apple for something extra. I think the coffee cake would be good as is but the grated apple adds a nice flavor. I don't have a 10 inch springfoam so ended up using a 9 inch stead. It came out just fine. I had to add an extra 25 mins to the baking time though. I absolutely love the streusel. I made it with the pecans which compliments the granny smith apple nicely. Next time, I may try the crumb cake with cinnamon chips.

Butter Crumb Coffee Cake
1 large recipe Carole's Favorite Streusel
2 C. all purpose flour
3/4 C. sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C. unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg
2/3 C. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Large Streusl
2/3 C. unsalted butter
1 1/2 C. all purpose flour
3/4 C. sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
scant 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C. finely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Streusel: Place the butter in a 3 quart heavy bottomed saucepan for and heat until almost melted, remove from heat and cool to tepid. Whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nuts. Add to the butter and stir with fork until blended and mixture begins to form crumbs. Gently squeeze the mixture with your hand to form large lumps, then break them apart with your fingertips. Set aside.

Coffee Cake: Heat oven to 350 F. Generously butter a 10-springform pan (or 9 inch springform pan), line the bottom with baking parchment then butter the parchment. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and work with fingertips until fine crumbs are formed. In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the liquid. Gradually push the crumbs into the liquid, beat for about 1 minute or until batter is smooth. Spread the batter into prepared pan. Take a handful of the streusel crumbs and sprinkle on batter. Repeat until all streusel has been used. Press lightly into batter. Set pan on 12 in square of aluminum foil in the oven. Bake 40-45 min for 10 inch pan or 60-65 minutes for 9 inch pan. Cool on wire rack before serving.

Cinnamon Date Pecan Swirl Bread

Since I came back from my trip, I haven't been baking much. I think I was still exhausted from the holiday baking and just sick of sweets and chocolate. Any baking I have done has been breakfast foods. Some bluberry scones and white chocolate cherry scones for my sister and nephew when they came to visit one weekend in January and loaf of cinnamon swirl bread with dates and pecans.

I came back from Vietnam with kilos and kilos of candy and some dried fruit. Why the dried fruit? They were all natural and tasted so much better than the packaged dried fruits you get in the states. And oh so cheap which was a bonus. The original recipe for the cinnamon swirl bread is from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. I modified it ever so slighly by adding chopped dates and pecans. I have never made any breads with dates since they are not my favorite but I was quite happy with this loaf. The dates added a nice moistness to the bread and tasted great with the pecans. I pretty much love anything with strudel so this bread is a winner. I used potato flakes rather than potato flour which works just fine. I usually have to add a couple of tablespoons of water to the 1 C. the recipe calls for.

Cinnamon Date Pecan Swirl Bread

Dough
3 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 C. potato flour or 1/3 c. potato flakes
1/4 C. nonfat dried milk
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tbsp. sugar
2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
4 tbsp. butter
1 C. water

Filling
1/4 C. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C. dates
2 tsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
Egg wash, made form1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp. water

Topping
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 C. unbleached all-purpose flour

Dough: In a large bowl, combine all the dough ingredients, mixing until the dough begins to come away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for ~10 minutes until the dough is smooth and satiny. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hrs.

Filling: Pulse filling ingredients except the egg wash in a food processor.

Topping: In small bowl or mini food processor, combine all the ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Don't over process if you use a food processor or you end up wiht a lumpy mass.

When the dough is ready, roll the dough into a 16 x 8 inch rectangle on a lightly oiled work surface. Brush the dough with some of the egg wash (save rest for later) and pat the filling gently onto the dough. The original recipe says to roll the dough starting from the short edge into a log, pinch the side seams and ends close. I split the rectangle into 3 parts and roll them into small logs and form a braided loaf. Place the log in a slightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan (I used 9 x 5 inch loaf pan). Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap adn allow to rise at room temperature for 1 hr or until it's crowned about 1 inch over the rim of the pan. Preheat the oven to 350 F during the last few mintues of rising time. When the dough has risen, brush the top of the loaf with some of the egg wash and gently press on the topping. Bake for about 45 minutes. For the 9 x 5 inch pan, I baked the loaf for 40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes than remove the loaf from the pan. Best eaten warm.

Vietnam

I am currently in Vietnam on holiday. What an amazing country. The cities are modernized yet the country is still very rural. I've been here for a little over a week. I started my holiday in Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City (most people, including natives still refer to the city as Saigon. Fansinating city crowded with millions of people and their mopeds. My first two days were primary spent recouping from jetlag and shopping and trying the local fare with my mom. Lots of exotic fruits. Most of the dishes I've eaten, pho, bun bo hue, chow mein, stir fries are dishes I've eaten in the states. But, they taste that much better here. Most people buy fresh vegetables, meats, noodles daily for their noon and evening meals. After a couple of days in Saigon, we trekked off on a 5 day tour to the middle of the country. We started in Da Nang then headed off to a small town, Hoi An, just south of Da Nang and finished our trip in Hue. We visited a number of historic sites including the Imperial Citadel of the Nguyen Dynasty in Hue, temples, mosoleum, and a cemetry. The food in the middle regions of Vietnam didn't impress me that much but I guess that's partly because I am use to Southern Vietnamese food. That's it for now. I'll post pictures and post more when I get back.

Holiday Baking

I am behind in posting as usually. Life was quite hectic this past December. I did not finish my last final until December 19th! I managed to do a couple of days worth of holiday baking in time before heading down to NC to spend the Christmas with the family. I wasn’t planning on going hog wild baking this year but ended up baking quite a bit just not as many different kinds of baked goods. Day 1 of baking, I made lemon bars, mint brownies, a modified version of the Nestle Toll House Chocolate chip cookie using Nestlé’s holiday morsels. Day 1 of baking was for my co-workers. Day 2 of baking for the family, I made two loaves of pumpkin bread, more lemon bars, fudge, a different version of mint brownies, and more the modified Toll House cookies. On Day 3 I wrapped up my holiday baking with a pumpkin pie for the family. The recipes for the lemon bars and mint brownies are below.


The lemon bars were a huge hit with my co-workers and dad (he is not a chocolate fan). This recipe is one that I clipped from the Washington Post’s annual Holiday cookie feature in their Wednesday food section. The lemon bars are sweet but not overly sweet with just the right amount of lemon tartness. The Post says the recipe was adapted from Cookies Unlimited” by Nick Malgieri. I have his A Baker’s Tour cookbook but not this cookie book. I need to add this one to my list of books to buy. For Day 1, I used bottled lemon juice. For Day 2, I used freshly squeezed lemon juice. The juice from two lemons is more than enough to equate to 6 tablespoons. Parchment paper sprayed with butter flavored cooking spray works like a charm. I used a handheld mixer instead of my Kitchen Aid, just shear laziness on my part. I sprinkled the confectioner’s sugar before cutting them into squares.

Ultimate Lemon Squares
8 oz softened unsalted butter plus some for the baking dish
½ C. confectioner’s sugar plus some for finishing
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C. flour
4 large eggs
2 C sugar
1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
6 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Set an oven rack on the middle level. Lightly grease a 9 X 13 inch pan lined with oversized buttered parchment paper or aluminum foil.
In a stand mixer on medium speed, beat the butter. Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and beat until light, ~1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and beat in the flour. Pat the dough evenly in the baking dish. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and baked through.
Meanwhile, whisk the eggs just enough to break them up in a large bowl. Without over mixing, add the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. As soon as the crust is baked, pour the lemon topping over the crust and return the baking dish to the oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the topping is set and firm. Transfer the baking dish to a rack to cool completely. Lift the parchment paper to a cutting board, work surface, etc to cut the squares. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar just before serving.


The mint brownies I made for Day 1 baking is just a brownie recipe from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion jazzed up with some Guittard mint chips that I bought from The World Market. The thick brownies were nice and fudgy. I only use 1 cup of mint chips as I did not want overly minty brownies. One cup was just fine. I bought some peppermint extract which I am going to throw into the recipe next time. When you stir the flour into the melted chocolate/butter mixture, it looks awful. No worries, when you add the mixture to the egg mixture, it comes out beautifully. I really wanted to lick the bowl after the spread the batter into the baking pan.

Brownies
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
12 tbsp unsalted butter
5 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
2 ½ C. sugar
1/3 C. light corn syrup
1 1/3 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
Optional add-ins: 1 ½ C. chopped walnuts or pecans, 1 ½ C. mini marshmallows, 1 C. melted caramel, 1 C. chocolate chips (my mint chips here)

Preheat the oven to 375F and grease a 9x13 inch pan. In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat. Set aside to cool slightly
In a large bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla, salt, sugar, and corn syrup until light and fluffy. Takes a few minutes.
Stir the flour into the melted chocolate/butter mixture. Fold the mixture into the egg mixture, stirring to combine. Stir in optional add-ins.
Spread the battered into the greased pan. Bake for 35 minutes. Top should be crisp and toothpick inserted into the brownies should be coated with chocolate.


For Day 2 brownies, I used the same brownie base with a nice layer of minty green frosting followed by a chocolate layer. I’ve made these brownies before years and years ago in high school but unfortunately lost my recipe. This is the original recipe for the mint frosting and chocolate topping. I had to double the recipe since recipe is for a 9 x 9 inch pan of brownies. I used 3 drops of food coloring to get the nice minty green color. I found the mint frosting and chocolate topping recipe from http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/printrecipe?id=40783 via Google.

Mint Frosting
¼ C. softened butter
2 ½ C. confectioner’s sugar
1 ½ to 3 tbsp of milk
½ tsp peppermint extract
Green food coloring
Chocolate Topping
¾ C. semisweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp butter

Cream the butter and confectioner’s sugar. Add the milk 1 tbsp at a time, beating until it is smooth and spreadable. Beat in peppermint extract and food coloring. After the brownies have cooled completely, spread the mint green frosting over the brownies, chill for 1 hr.
Melt the chocolate chips and butter in the microwave until the chocolate melts. About 1 ½ minute on high in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Spread the chocolate over the frosted brownies. Chill for 45 minutes before serving.