follow up...

So I could hardly believe it this morning when I found a muffin and a half left on the plate. Apparently they liked them.  I am so glad they left one for me! - the muffin was indeed delicious.

I feel rather cheeky that they came out so well considering my out look on them last night.
I wondered if they would know that there is only have a half a cup of sugar and a quarter of a cup of oil? this is the healthiest thing I have made them.
So, I guess to sum up. I love the cranberry muffin at Panera Bread, and I felt like this muffin was just as delicious -  even without the nuts. And probably better for me anyway.
Nice.

Last Thursday I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner all by myself....it's kinda lonely cooking a big meal all by yourself. I was missing the company of my mom and my sisters and my sisters-in-laws. Throwing caution to the wind I called home - we all know that it is dangerous to cook and talk on the phone at the same time, you never know what mistakes will be made!
After being passed around the ladies in the kitchen I was passed (very smart of them) to Mercy who was not yet on duty and who was actually enjoying a bit of breakfast.  She was eating an all time Newton favorite - Cranberry Coffee Cake.  We discussed it - this is kinda how it went:

me: I love that coffee cake, I wish I made it for our breakfast.
Mercy: Yeah, its pretty delicious...but I just wish it had more cream cheese in it you know?  It's just that I love cream cheese so much.
me: Maybe you should talk to Mom about that...maybe the cake could have a cream cheese icing instead of powered sugar.

Anyway, I don't know if you talked to Mom about that cream cheese idea Mercy, but I was inspired by our conversation to make the Cranberry Coffee Cake for the guys tomorrow for breakfast. I considered, for about 5 seconds, how to add more cream cheese for you Mercy but in the end I figured you wouldn't be here to try it so I had just better stick to the recipe.

Cranberry Coffee Cake:
preheat oven at 350 F 
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 cup butter/margerine
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 cups flour
1 1/2 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups of cranberries (sorry, I don't know if these are supposed to be chopped or not...I did a bit of both. hehe. anyone who knows, do fill the rest of us in!)

Cream the sugar, cream cheese and the butter then add the vanilla and eggs.
Mix together the flour, baking powder and the salt then add to the butter mixture.
Once combined add the cranberries and mix until evenly distributed.
Spoon into a greased bundt pan.
Bake for 1 hour, check after 50 min - it's done when a knife comes out clean!

 

A picture of Autumns last burst of color

I think there must be two kinds of cold - one that makes you want to bake and create wonderful things in the kitchen, and the other one makes you want to cuddle under a blanket, read a book and really do nothing.  yesterday was a cuddle up under a blanket and do nothing sort of cold - lets just say I was not terribly productive.

Nathaniel was so kind as to eat left overs from the night before so I didn't have to make dinner but I still needed to make something for the guys.  I was planning on making an cinnamon type roll with an orange flair - a recipe I tore out of a magazine years ago and never got around to making. 
Due to my 'do nothing' state I didn't get around to starting my baking till 6.30 - not enough time to make a yeast dough unless I was planning on staying up till 11, which I was not.  Instead I flipped to a banana bread recipe in my recipe binder...the title on the recipe: Real Simple Banana Bread.
real simple thats what I needed...and it really was really simple. nice - I hardly had to think while putting this together.
So I guess most of you out there already have a really simple go to banana recipe but for those of you who don't tuck this one away it may just come in handy.

1 stick of butter melted
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
3 mashed ripe bananas
*and I added 1/2 tsp of salt and left out the 1/2 cup nuts*

mix in order given
pour into a large greased loaf pan
bake at 350 F for 50 minutes until golden brown
cool on wire rack 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to cool completely

I did over cook mine - we were having issues with our heater, you understand how one can get distracted by heaters right?  See, because it was so cold in our house we turned the heater on in the afternoon - but then it wouldn't shut off so that it was 84 degrees in our house and climbing at 7.30 last night.
I told Nathaniel that this was the only time in my life we would have our home so warm in the winter and I wasn't even being able to enjoy it because I was stressing out as to whether the heater would ever shut off.  Anyway I was a little distracted and the bread over cooked. but here is the thing - it was still delicious, it just needed a little...ok fine, a lot of butter.
Also - I think this recipe is courtesy of Gab, at least it looks like her hand writing...thanks for passing along this great recipe I have been looking for something like this for ages and silly me, I had it all along.

last week I bought some molasses - I have been thinking about gingerbread.
for this morning I made a pan of gingerbread, a Jackson family recipe.
I don't think I realized that gingerbread could be anything but cutout cookies until Nathaniel and I got married.
as it turns out gingerbread is one of Nathaniel's favorites - loves it at breakfast, tea, dessert with a bit of whipped cream...

Everyone can use a good gingerbread recipe - especially with Christmas around the corner (Ahhh! Christmas is coming!).  Please, please, please make this recipe at some point in the next two months and especially eat it with freshly whipped cream and a cup of coffee.

mix together:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

in a different bowl mix together
1/2 cup of melted butter
1/2 cup of boiling water
1/2 cup of molasses
1 egg

mix all the ingredients together until smooth
pour into a 8-9 inch cake pan
bake at 325 F for 35 minutes

I ate a piece while skyping with Gab this morning - I restrained myself from exclaiming out loud just how delicious it was because I didn't want her to be sad not to have a piece of her own.
I definitely do not make this recipe enough.


I don't make it nearly often enough.
 

coconut banana bread

our yummy bread from last Friday morning.
Nathaniel called it Caribbean banana bread.
he loved it - Florence had a little nibble of my piece, she was wild about it. She would have eaten my entire piece if I had let her get her little hands on it.  Thanks for the suggestion Jamey!

(the picture is from the myrecipes.com)

when the days get really cold this winter I will whip up a batch of this bread and pretend we are far away in the Virgin Islands.
For those of you interested check out the recipe here.

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.

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.

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.

hmm - so you probably thought I forgot - go on, admit it!

Tonight I am trying a recipe from Everyday Foods, a coffee cake muffin.
Something I love to eat but have never actually made. I think it is because I have a love-hate relationship with streusel toppings.  I love to eat them, I hate that every time I make it something seems to go wrong with it.


You can find all the details here on the Martha Stewart web page.





For the muffins- 

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream (I used yogurt instead)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs

For the streusel-

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chilled butter

Directions
preheat oven at 350          butter muffin tins - this should make 12 muffins

1. mix streusel together (I used the food processor) and set aside for later
2. mix wet ingredients adding eggs last one at a time
3. add the dry ingredients
4. fill muffin cups half way with batter, put a spoonful of streusel into each cup then fill the cups with the remaining batter.  cover the tops of the muffins with streusel.
5. bake for 25-30 min.

So I just pulled them out of the oven.  the streusel disappeared - stink! - I did however cut one in half for a taste. pretty yummy, but they did not look like the picture.

friday morning treats

At 9pm last Thursday I was sweetly reminded that, well - it was Thursday night, & the next morning was Friday when Nathaniel had prayer at 6am with the guys.

I am so thankful that these men faithfully get together every week to pray - it is such a blessing and an encouragement to me to see them make prayer together a priority in their lives.

Wanting to show them how thankful I am - I try to make some sort of nice breakfast treat to eat with their tea & coffee...you know, bless them in return.

More often then not, Thursday sneaks up on me as it did last week and I end up scrambling to whip something up.

When mom was here in July we chatted -

there are men who come bright and early to their house to pray with Papi.  We laughed together as she shared about the time she and Papi overslept while the guys waited patiently out in their cars - yes those mornings happen at our house too, waking with a start hearing a knock at the door!
We also talked about how we can encourage our guys to continue on in this worthy pursuit. 

I'm thinking about this -
one idea I have is to strive to get to bed at a decent hour on Thursday nights so it is not so hard to get up in the morning.  And, I realize if I really want to continue bake something nice for them to eat in the morning I Cannot be remembering it is Thursday at 9 o'clock at night.  The way it goes now, we never get to bed before 11.

To help me be diligent in this area of my life I am going to start sharing with you guys what I am planning on making for Friday morning.
And as I go along if you have any yummy recipes that are a hit in your house do let me know - I would love to give the recipe a go!