falling behind...

but still here.

This Friday the plan was to make the coconut lime banana bread recommended by Jamey.
However come Thursday my bananas were just not ripe enough - It has taken me long enough to learn that if I go ahead a make the bread before those bananas are ripe I am ALWAYS disappointed.
I decided to wait a week.
Ha! now you know what I have in store for next week - finally I am ahead again!
Anyway, I decided to take some of the coconut that I had for the banana bread and make some scones mom and I made while she was here.
chocolate - coconut - almond scones. This recipe is also thanks to Joy the Baker and you can take a look here.
Here's the thing, I have always been very anti-chocolate in my breakfast.  Never - ever would you catch me with chocolate chips in my pancakes, muffins, banana bread...you name it - it just never happened. And yet here I am make scones with chocolate chips...and would you believe I love them?  I don't think that I have been converted to chocolate chips in my pancakes, but I think I am beginning to understand a little bit.
Absolutely delicious.  and it makes more scones than my other recipe, which means that here we are on Sunday still enjoying them - grant it a little stale, but nothing a little warming up in the toaster and some butter can't cover up.

my Central New York baby

loves apples. 

as you can see, one apple is just not enough,

 

she will share as long as she gets to hold the apple 

- & it doesn't interrupt her own enjoyment of it

she can hardly stop gnawing away for a picture,

ah, but I guess she comes by 

it honestly!

After a wonderful and inspiring visit with mom this past week I came to last night with a resounding crash.  I was missing having someone to discuss baking ideas with and then the companionship that comes when you have someone working in the kitchen with you.
What in the world was I going to make for Friday morning - there I was searching through my cupboards remembering that it can't be anything that calls for too much baking powder because mom and I used so much last week I hardly had any left...and I was not about to go out and buy some.
I found a can of pumpkin puree. Perfect!
Pumpkin bread it would be. It will be a nice break from all the apples I have been feeding them.
The recipe comes from Martha Stewart - she makes it in loaf pans, I went with the bunt pan (prettier that way).
I am going to do the cheater way and I won't take the time to write it out.  Have a look at the recipe here.

A few thoughts...

• if you like pumpkin pie - you will love this. It is still cake like while somehow also being creamy and dense.  Though, perhaps the denseness of it has to with the fact that I may have slightly undercooked it?
• instead of the plain icing the recipe called for I made a cream cheese icing.  This I highly recommend, it is a bit more decadent/desserty but there is something so wonderful about cream cheese and pumpkin. 
• and on a personal preference - I wouldn't make this recipe again for myself. I tend to like my pumpkin bread to be bread and not so  much like pie. 

I apologize ahead of time - this is going to be a long post...and I am also sorry to say that it will have no pictures of my creations, I was a bit too groggy at 5.30 this morning to remember to grab the camera to take a picture of them just out of the oven.

So, this morning, the guys enjoyed giant cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
I have grown in my cinnamon roll making over the last few years - gathering tips from my sisters, and my mom.
I now have a couple different dough recipes to use depending on what is around in my kitchen, yesterday I made what I call the deluxe version, which involves milk and an egg.

Step 1:
1 package of dry active yeast (2 1/2 tsp)
1/2 cup of warm water
1/2 tsp sugar
dissolve yeast and sugar in the water and set aside,

Step 2:
1 cup scalded milk (cooled)
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
pour the milk over the oil, sugar and salt. stir till combined & sugar is dissolved.  If needed continue to let cool.

Step 3:
1 egg wisked
in a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture, milk mixture and the egg.  gradually add -

5 cups of flour
stir till all the flour is mixed in,  turn the dough out onto a floured surface and place the bowl over the top. Let it rest for 10 min.
After resting, knead dough till smooth and springy (using more flour as necessary - I find it to be a rather sticky dough). return the dough to the bowl, cover and let rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Step 4:
Roll out the dough into a large rectangle - large but not too thin!
Melt 1 stick of butter -  and spread over rectangle, pour excess into baking pan.
* a sweet trick I learned from Naomi:  put the butter in the microwave & almost just barely start to melt it so most of it is still solid just very very soft. It makes less mess that way when spreading onto the dough, and when rolling them up*
Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and brown sugar
and if you like - it's always fun to add raisins/ cranberries (my favorite)/ toasted nuts...

Step 5:
Roll the dough loosely into a giant log (roll up the long end of the dough), with a knife slice the log into about 1 1/2 inch rolls and place them into a 8 1/2 x 11 pan.
Don't squeeze them together - I generally do a 2-1-2-1-2 with the rolls, this gives them room to grow and (I personally think) helps them cook through properly.
I generally have overflow and need to put 3 of the rolls into a pie dish (this will depend on how thick you make the rolls).

Step 6:
You can now do one of two things
- cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator to bake later, I have stored them this way for up to two days no problem.  I take them out of the fridge 30 min - 1 hour before I want to bake them.
- bake them right away and of course, enjoy!

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes

and finally make an icing to go over the rolls out of confectioners sugar and milk - or I like to use half&half.

I did get these made in a timely fashion yesterday, I just didn't manage to get it written down.
I found this recipe in a cookbook I borrowed from the library, The Sono Baking Company Cookbook by John Barricelli.
This is about the third time I have borrowed it - I love the pictures and the recipes, but I have never actually made anything from it.  Today was the day!

I chose a recipe that would work with all the apples I have lying around my kitchen.

Apple Handpies:
2 Tbs unsalted butter
2 Tbs granulated sugar (I used brown sugar...)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
2 Granny Smith (or cooking apples) cored & sliced
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 (14 oz) sheet of puff pastry
1 large egg beaten, for egg wash
1-2 Tbs coarse sugar, for finishing 

• Preheat the oven at 425 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (not necessary but terribly convenient for clean-up).
• In a saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt over medium-low heat, stir to melt the butter. Add the apple slices and the lemon juice. Cook, stirring often, until the apples are tender. Use a potato masher or fork to mash 1/4 of the apples to create a chunky sauce to help bind the rest of the apple slices. Set aside to cool
• Roll out the puff pastry to about 1/8 of an inch thickness.  (these can be cut to whatever size and shape you fancy...for my purposes, I cut squares so I could have triangle handpies).  Cut into desired shape, brush around half of the rim of each square with egg wash then spoon in a generous amount of the apple mixture into the center of each.  Fold the un-egg washed side over the filling and press the edges together with your fingers to seal.  Place them on the prepared baking sheet, brush all over with egg wash.  Sprinkle with sugar and cut slits into the pies to let the steam out. 
• Bake, rotating the baking sheet about half way through, until the pastries are golden brown - about 15 minutes.

I was delighted with how they came out. Next time I may try a different filling...pears? berries of some kind? anyway definitely a keeper.

Florence and I walk to the Library on a regular basis.
(I sometimes feel like I am live in sweet luxury because I have a library, a coffee shop and a second hand shop three blocks from my house.) 
When we went yesterday we looked through the tables covered with leftover books from the book sale this past weekend.
Florence found a book about all things red - nice colour my little girl!
I found Bill Cosby, Himself on VHS for .50 cents.
Nice!
we don't own a VHS player, but...seriously how much fun would it be to watch.
I totally bought it.
Now I just need to find someone who has a VHS player and claim one of Nathaniel's free nights so we can watch it together.
 

doing double duty

My sister-in-law, Kate, is coming over this morning for coffee. I decided to make the all time classic Newton scone that can do double duty for coffee this morning and for the guys tomorrow morning. 


I made the lemon poppy seed version.  While making them I was remembering how I would make these when living at 10 Montague with Aunt Gillian.  It took a few tries before I was able to figure out the correct conversion for butter - in England butter comes in blocks of 250 gms. I would borrow the poppy seeds from Aunt Gillian's spice shelf.  If I could manage, especially while they were fresh from the oven, I would bring 2 or 3 down to share with Aunt Gillian to have with her coffee, or tea depending on the time of day.
 She would always exclaim over them - then generously spread butter on the halves, which she said was the best way to eat a scone even if it did give her indigestion.

Newton's lemon poppy seed scone:
2 cups flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup butter (8 Tbs)
3/4 cup of butter milk/plain yoghurt/soured milk
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 Tbs poppy seeds

• mix dry ingredients, poppy seeds and lemon zest
• cut in butter - using pastry cutter or food processor
• mix in the butter milk, if using a food processor (which I have been using) dump flour butter mixture onto the counter or into a bowl and fold in the buttermilk. 
• gently knead the dough 3-4 times then pat into a round about 3/4 inch thick
• cut 6-8 pie slices and place on a rimmed cookie sheet
• bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes 

for the icing -
2 cups powdered sugar - give or take a little for the right consistency
1-2 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp milk
1 tsp light corn syrup *optional* I sometimes like to use it to help harden the icing a tiny little bit

• mix all ingredients with a wisk
• ice the tops of scones (or entire thing if you desire) after the scones have cooled  

These keep for about two days if you put them in an airtight container, but are best eaten as soon as possible.

and if you are feeling indulgent, you might try your with a thick

spread of butter as recommended by Aunt Gillian.