Tasty Heart Healthy Cinnamon Waffles (No Cardboard Allowed)

Don’t you just love a delicious Belgium waffle for breakfast? Rich, crispy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside, then slathered with butter, maple syrup and,  if you are feeling special, some whipped cream and fruit? Dusted with powered sugar, of course. Oh, and a side of salty applewood bacon on the side. Yeah, I like that too.

These are not those waffles. But they are still delicious.

Let’s be realistic. We can’t eat like that every day. It’s horrible for our heart and waistline. It doesn’t mean we can’t have waffles every day, nor must we resort to those cardboard frozen “waffles” that so many of us grew up on. We can still have delicious waffles that are good for us and not have to spend much time making them.

I personally have eggs almost every day for breakfast. I love a good scrambled egg and a piece of toast. It fills me up and keeps me going. My dear hubby likes eggs, but he doesn’t love them. Using a King Arthur Flour recipe as a base, I made this heart healthy and filling waffle to keep him going. This makes me an Awesome Wife, don’t you think?

It make 3 to 6 waffles depending on the size of your waffle iron. We throw these babies in the freezer and then just put them in the microwave for about 30 to 45 seconds. If you have a toaster oven, that would work better. Ours started on fire a few years ago (no damage done) and we decided not to replace it! But I digress…

Serious Stuff: These are full of flax seed, oats, and a good bit of cinnamon. Flax and oats are known to be heart healthy. Cinnamon is an anti-inflammatory which is good for your heart and your aches and pains!  (Please note, I am not a dietician. I just read a lot.) And the whole wheat fiber will help keep you full , as well as provide a nice nutty taste. I switched out the granulated sugar for honey because I think it tastes better and I use grape seed oil because I think it also tastes better.  I’ve never tried adding nuts but I think that would be a great addition, just make sure you chop them well. And there’s always bacon….

I had a couple of curious little noses while I was photographing the waffles. This table was just their height, so of course they though it was their breakfast!

Cinnamon Wheat Waffles

Adapted slightly from KAF

One year ago: Lavender Cookies

Yield: 3 to 6 Waffles, depending on your waffle iron

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 10 minutes or less to prepare batter; time to cook waffles will depend on your iron

Special Equipment: Waffle Iron*

*Note: We’re on our third waffle iron. The first one was super cheap, with melting plastic and kinda flimsy, but we had it for about 6 years because we loved the waffles it made! Unfortunately, they no longer make this model. We bought another one a couple years ago that just died for no apparent reason right in the middle of our waffle making. So we used the rest of the batter for pancakes. They were good but dense. Now we are on our third iron and it makes smaller waffles but still quite tasty. I don’t want to recommend a specific waffle iron because everyone has different needs and price points. I’d recommend going to Amazon and just checking out all the reviews and different irons to find one that works for you! Many great ones are fairly inexpensive and small.

Ingredients

• 6.5 oz (1 1/2 cups) white wheat or whole wheat flour
• 3 oz (1 cup) rolled oats
• 1 oz (1/4 cup) ground flax seed
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 oz  (about 2 TB) honey
• 2 oz (about 1/4 cup) oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 12 oz (1 1/2 cups) milk

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron according to the instruction manual.

2. In a large bowl, mix together your dry ingredients: flour, oats, flax seed, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together your wet ingredients: honey (helps to warm slightly), oil, vanilla, egg, and milk. As you can see, there is very little sugar in this recipe. We like it that way but if you like yours sweeter, feel free to up the honey. Or just add more maple syrup to the finished product.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until barely combined. Lumps are just fine here. This is a thick batter and it will not spread much in your iron so you may want to use more than what you are accustomed to for the first one. Cook according your waffle iron manual. If you are freezing, let cool and then put into a freezer bag. Reheat to your liking.

Enjoy!

Rigatoni Bolognese

Rigatoni? Whoa, wait, what?! I thought this was a baking blog.

As much I’d like to live on bread and cookies, my body disagrees. I love to cook and it’s good to mix things up a bit, don’t you agree? One of my latest obsessions is The Chew.  Any food lover should watch this show. It’s hilarious, every recipe I’ve tried has been wonderful, and the pointers are great. No, ABC is not paying me to review this show (but I’d be open to discussions. Hint, hint).

This recipe is from Michael Symon. We’ve already made this dish three times because we love it so much! Perfect Sunday dinner. It takes about 30 minutes to prep but then it just simmers quietly in the background for two hours, getting all delicious and scrumptious. You’ll have a bowl and be full but still want more. The ingredients are simple but the flavors are complex. It’s equally as tasty the next day.Which is good because this makes around 8 servings.

We don’t eat much meat. I probably buy some form of meat two or three times a month. When we do, we splurge for the good stuff. I used grass fed beef here even though it was twice as expensive than the “non-grass fed” beef. No pink slime either. I don’t care how safe the beef industry and government says it is; I do not want ammonia sprayed on my meat. Doesn’t it make you wonder why the “meat” products are so unsafe that ammonia needs to be used in the first place?

That’s my rant for the day. Moving back to the recipe… I modified it a bit to “meat” (ha, I kill me) our needs. I added half the pasta and meat (because really, two pounds of beef and two pounds of pasta? I do not have a pan that big), but left all the vegetables the same and added some tomato sauce.

Thank you, Michael Symon for this delicious dish. I just made it and can’t wait to have it again!

The bread in the picture is one of my favorite recipes from King Arthur Flour: Sourdough Baguettes. It’s relatively quick, very easy, and another great reason to have a sourdough starter in your refrigerator. I’ll blog about it soon.

I hope all of you enjoy it just as much. And, if you do watch The Chew, what has your favorite recipe been? I’d love to hear about it!

One year ago: Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Adapted from Michael Symon

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 30 minutes hands on; 2 1/2 hours total.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 pound Ground Beef
• 1 Onion (rough dice)
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 2 Carrots (rough dice)
• 2 ribs of Celery (rough dice)
• 1 28-ounce can Whole Plum Tomatoes (I used diced)
• 1 15-ounce can Tomato Sauce
• 1 cup Dry Red Wine (the rest of the bottle will be for you)
• 1  Bay Leaf
• 6 sprigs Fresh Oregano (chopped)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup Flat Leaf Italian Parsley (torn)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan (grated)
• 1 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
• 1 pound Rigatoni (I buy pasta that is made with durum wheat flour and nothing else; check your ingredients!)

Procedure

1. Heat a large pan with the olive oil. Make sure your pan is really hot here otherwise you’ll be waiting all day for your meat to brown, or worse…it will just be gray meat! Gray meat does not equal flavor. Once your pan is hot, add the meat with a pinch of salt and brown.

2. While your meat is browning put your onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Try not to puree, but it won’t be the end of the world. I did that accidentally and it still tasted fantastic.

3. When your meat is brown, deglaze with the wine. You may not need it all. Then add your veggie mix and cook for about three minutes. Add your tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaf, and oregano. If you used whole tomatoes, break them up as you stir. Bring to a simmer and taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.

4. Simmer, slightly covered, for about two hours. When the sauce is done, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a hefty pinch of salt to the water then add your pasta. Stir and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes.

5. Add the pasta to the sauce; be sure to save some pasta water in case you need some. If the sauce is too thick, add the water until the desired consistency.

6. Remove from heat. Add the butter, parmesan, and parsley. Drizzle each serving with some extra olive oil.

7. Tear off a piece of crusty bread, pour a glass of wine, and enjoy that rigatoni.

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Muffins

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lisa! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

I’m having a love hate relationship with these muffins. My favorite muffin forever has been blueberry. So of course, I decided to make blueberry muffins for this challenge, but work towards developing my own. I started with this recipe from King Arthur Flour. I modified it quite a bit before actually making the original recipe. Not always the best idea, but well, I was in a hurry. At first I hated them and almost threw them all in the garbage. After sitting, however, I liked them again.

I think the issue is that these are slightly healthier muffins. Not a health food, but healthier than say, a Starbucks muffin. There isn’t much fat, not much sugar, and flax for that I-feel-less-guilty-when-eating-these. I’m trying to add more flax to our baked goods, since it has so many health benefits, particularly all those Omega-3s. But when eating a muffin, most of the time we expect it to be sweet. These aren’t overly sweet, so once I got past that, I really liked them. My taste buds just needed a moment to adjust. I didn’t particularly care for the whole flax seeds, but the flax meal was not noticeable.

All that being said, these are a work in progress. But for now, they are a decent muffin, quite good with coffee. I used Meyer lemons since they are in season but traditional lemons will work fine. I’m posting two recipes: one with the healthier additions (which is the one I made) and the less healthier muffin for those days when you just need a muffin.

Lemon Blueberry Flax Muffins

Yield: 12 to 15 muffins

Time: Less than one hour including bake time

Difficulty: Very Easy

One Year Ago: Leaning Tower of Red Velvet

Modified from King Arthur Flour

• 2 Cups AP Flour
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1/4 cup flax seeds (optional)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 TB butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 TB lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
• zest of 2 lemons
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup ricotta (or 3/4 cup milk)
• 1 1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
• Sanding (coarse) sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a muffin pan with papers or grease.

2. Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, flax, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. Cream together the butter, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition. Add the ricotta, mix until just combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix untilalmostcombined. The key to tender muffins is to not over mix!

5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the blueberries. Continue folding gently if needed until all flour is mixed in.

6. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full, sprinkle with sugar,  and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out mostly clean. Let cool completely – they taste better after sitting for a while.

Lemon Blueberry Less Healthy Version

• 2 Cups AP Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 TB butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 TB lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
• zest of 2 lemons
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup ricotta (or 3/4 cup milk)
• 1 1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
• Sanding (coarse) sugar for sprinkling

Follow the same instructions as above.

Enjoy with coffee!

 

 

 

Mini King Cakes

Today is Mardi Gras. A splurge day before you must behave until Easter. Or something like that.

Mardi Gras has a rich history, particularly in New Orleans. I have been to New Orleans, pre-Katrina, but I was there during the off season and it was still crazy. Did you know that Mardi Gras originated in Mobile, AL? I’d always assumed New Orleans!

I’d never had a King Cake before, but essentially it is brioche (the “cake”) and gold, green, and purple sprinkles. Williams-Sonoma did a fun blog post on King Cakes describing the sugars as “…purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power.” Those are some seriously loaded sugars.  Newer versions of King Cake include various fillings, such as cream cheese and praline. And in true Alabama fashion, their version of the King Cake is deep fried. I would expect nothing less.

I’m sure you’ve heard of hiding a prize inside the King Cake. In past years it would be jewels (the wealthy), beans (the poor), almonds, and in most recent years…a plastic baby. The plastic baby really creeps me out for some reason. I mean, it’s a piece of plastic in your cake! I just find that odd, so I omitted that part. Forgive me. But the main point of the prize is that whoever gets the prize is in charge of bringing the King Cake next year. I don’t mind making them again. They were easy and very tasty.

I found my recipe from King Arthur Flour but you could really use any brioche recipe, add some lemon and nutmeg, glaze it, sprinkle some sugars and voila! King Cakes! This brioche recipe is a little bit “cak-i-er” and less “bread-i-er” than other brioche and it was fast and easy to make. Less than four hours including bake and rising time! Can’t beat that.

If you don’t have gold, green, and purple sugars, make your own. Just add a little food coloring to your sugar. Easy. I had gel food colors so I put a dab on a toothpick, spritzed with water, and added to the sugar. It doesn’t take much at all.

Yield: 10 to 12 mini King Cakes

Time: about 4 hours, including baking and rising

Difficulty: Easy

One Year Ago: Chocolate Souffle

Recipe from King Arthur Flour

Dough

• 1/2 cup (8 TB) butter, melted
• 3/4 cup lukewarm milk
• 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk, white reserved
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup dry milk
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp grated lemon rind
• 3 1/2 cups AP Flour
• 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Icing

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla or lemon extract (I used Fiori di Sicilia, but careful – a little goes a long way)
• 1 TB + ½ to 1 tsp milk, enough to make a thick but pourable glaze

Topping

• yellow, purple, and green sparkling sugars

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients for dough into mixer. Mix with dough hook for 5 minutes on speed 1 until dough comes together. Increase to speed 3 until dough forms a smooth ball. You may need to sprinkle more flour into the dough. I had to add about an extra 1/2 cup because the dough was just too soft. It should be soft and slightly sticky, but still have some shape. If it is just a sloppy mess, you will have a hard time with it. Sprinkle one teaspoon at a time and let mix completely before adding more. This step may take 15 minutes total.

2. Let dough rise, covered, for about one hour in a warm place, like your oven with the light on (but oven turned off!). See before and after rising:

3. Scale into 12 equal pieces (I did 10 since I only have 10 brioche pans). Shape into rolls. This will be very easy to do since the dough is easy to work with. Place into greased muffin tins or brioche pans.

4. Let rise for another hour (but not in your oven this time) covered loosely with a towel. While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 350F.

5. After rising, combine the reserved egg with  about a tablespoon of water, mix thoroughly, and brush on the cakes. Bake the cakes for 35 to 45 minutes, tenting if they brown too fast. Check the temperature about the 30 minute mark. It should read at least 180F  when they are ready.

6. To make the glaze, just combine all the glaze ingredients together, adding more milk if needed. After the cakes have cooled, dip in the glaze and sprinkle with sugars. Eat!

Check out more bread recipes at Wild Yeast.

Baby It’s Cold Outside – Focaccia & Soup

Happy New Year! It’s been cold here the past few days, down in the 20s at night. And since I’ve been in warm environments for the past eight years that is darn cold to me. But I was born and raised in the frigid state of North Dakota, so people are shocked to find that I’m from there and actually get cold (and also because I’ve lost all traces of my Northern accent. Seen the movie Fargo? Yup, that’s how they talk).  In my defense, I was not a very good North Dakota girl. Up there people will start leaving their coats at home when the temperatures rise, yes rise, to the 30s. I was still bundled up. People start wearing shorts when the temperatures hit 50, meanwhile I was still wearing my warmest sweaters. So I was never very good at being a North Dakotan.

And now when I’m cold the first thing I do is make some hot soup. And you can’t have soup without bread right? As part of my New Years goals I want to blog about bread more. It’s easier than you think and can easily be worked into a busy schedule. I know lots of people are starting their “eat healthy” New Years Resolutions, many which will die in a matter of weeks, and may be cutting out bread entirely. I long ago quit trying to lose weight by cutting out the things I love. I love bread and I love desserts so any diet not involving those will fail. So instead I eat some every day. But not a lot, just normal serving sizes (with the holiday period excluded, of course; all willpower is out the door). It works for me and I hope it can work for you too.

Focaccia is a great bread for beginners because there is no shaping involved. Unfortunately it is not a bread that you can just leave alone for hours; it does require a minute (literally) of your attention every 30 minutes for about 2 hours. But total hands on is about 45 minutes. Basically you just have to be home.

This recipe is from Ciril Hitz: Baking Artisan Bread. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to make bread. Lots of pictures and very clear step by step instructions. And it comes with a DVD with videos on shaping, which is also quite helpful for a new bread bakers.

Focaccia is a very versatile bread. You can keep it simple and just sprinkle with salt & pepper. You can do what I did and put caramelized onions and cheese on it. You can use it to make a sandwich or just dip it in olive oil. And no one can resist the light and airy texture, so perfect for dipping in soup.

A couple of tips on bread making: a scale is not necessary but will give you better results. And it is much easier. All of my bread recipes use instant yeast, which is different from the active dry yeast found in grocery stores. Instant yeast requires no proofing. You just throw it in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and away you go. I find it much more convenient and cheaper. You can find it at Sam’s Club or at King Arthur Flour. That 16 oz bag lasts me a year stored in the freezer, so you can see how much more affordable it is compared to active dry. And really, who wants to sit around waiting for yeast to proof?

And the most important tip yet: use good flour. You know I use King Arthur. In the summer I can get a local flour at the farmers market which also works great. Stay away from store brands and anything bleached. Also, bread flour will give you the best results but if you can’t find bread flour AP will work, just expect it to be less chewy.

Enough chit chatting, let’s make some bread!

Focaccia by Ciril Hitz

Yield: One half sheet pan of delicious bread

Time: Less than one hour total hands on/20 hours including rising time

Difficulty: Medium

Starter (Poolish, which is equal parts water and flour to make for a very wet starter)

• 330 g (11.6 oz) (2 1/2 cups) Bread flour
• 330 g (11.6 oz) (1 1/2 cups) Water, room temp
• Pinch of Instant Yeast

The day before make your starter by putting all ingredients in a medium bowl and stirring until you have a sloppy dough. It will be very wet and look like this:

Cover and let rest overnight for about 16 hours. After resting it will look like this, all bubbly and ready to use:

When your poolish is ready, gather the remaining ingredients:

• 613 g (1 lb + 5.6 oz) (4 1/2 cups + 2 TB) Bread Flour*
• 405 g (14.3 oz) (1 3/4 cups) Water at 104F**
• 2.6 g (0.09 oz) (7/8 tsp) Instant Yeast
• 18 g (0.6 oz) (3 1/2 tsp) Sea Salt
• All of the Poolish

*I used 413 grams of Bread Flour and 200 grams of KAF Italian Style Flour, which has a very low protein content. I wanted the chewiness of the bread flour, but also wanted an light bread. I’m guessing you aren’t like me though and don’t have five six seven different kinds of flour in your pantry, so if you want to mix it up use both bread flour and AP flour.

**If you are making this bread in the summer time in a warm kitchen lower the temperature to about 80 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer, first, get one, and until then just use your finger. If it feels hot, it probably is and will kill your yeast. Better to go with cooler water than warmer water. It will just take your bread longer to rise.

Place all ingredients into your mixing bowl. (Since this is such a wet dough, it’s really hard to do by hand. You can though, just use a wooden spoon to stir or a dough whisk.) Using a dough hook, turn the mixer speed to low and mix for six minutes, stopping every two minutes to scrape the bowl. If you don’t scrape the bowl you will have blobs of flour that didn’t get mixed.

After it is done mixing it will look like this:

There’s really no structure yet at all since it is a wet dough. We’ll fix that though with multiple stretch and folds. I tried to take a picture of myself doing stretch of folds which was nothing short of disastrous, and instead found this video of Ciril Hitz doing a stretch and fold, as well as explaining the purpose.

Stretch and Fold

He’s using baguette dough which is much stronger than focaccia, but it serves the same purpose. The first stretch and fold you do will be quite difficult so don’t fret. Just do the best you can and know that the dough will get stronger.

So after mixing, scrape all the dough into a bowl (or I suppose you could just leave it in the mixing bowl) for rising and do a stretch and fold. Since this is a sticky, wet dough, it helps to dampen your hands with a bit of water first. It will look like this:

Then set your timer for 30 minutes. Do another stretch and fold. It won’t rise much and will look like this:

You can see it is starting to bubble. Set your timer for another 30 minutes and then perform another stretch and fold. It will then look like this:

You should notice the dough getting stronger and easier to stretch at this point. Set your timer for another 30 minutes and then the final stretch and fold for a total of four including the first one right out of the mixing bowl.

More bubbles! Set your timer again for 30 minutes for the final resting before transferring to a pan. Look at all those bubbles! And you can see it pretty much doubled in size. That may not always be the case though. The signs that your bread is ready: dough should be noticeably stronger than when you first finished mixing.

At this point, prepare a half sheet pan with parchment and olive oil. Alternately, you can use round cake pans. Ten inch work best and you’ll have to divide the dough in half.

Dump all the dough onto your prepared pan:

Now we are going to gently stretch the dough so it fills the pan. Put some olive oil on your hands and “…spread your fingers apart like a pianist” (Ciril Hitz) and gentle stretch the dough by dimpling with it with your fingers. It will not stretch all the way the first time and will look like this:

At this point, preheat your oven to 450F. Set your timer for 10 minutes. If you are going to add toppings, add them on the second stretch, with the exception of cheese. The cheese is added during baking to prevent it from burning. I added onions but well, forgot to add them at this point. But you won’t do that, right? Right. This is what it looks like after the second stretch:

You can see it is almost filling up the pan now! Set your timer for another 10 minutes, then come back for the final stretch. It should now fill up the pan and look like this:

Looking yummy, huh? Let rest for another 15 minutes before baking. Then bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until golden. If you are adding cheese, add after about 20 minutes of baking.

The final product:

Delicious, huh? It really is as good as it looks. Try to let it cool for 30 minutes before slicing. That will be hard though!

For the soup, I used this recipe for a guide: Tomato Soup but am out of celery and carrots. Sheesh, guess I need to head to the store!

I hope you enjoyed making focaccia. The possibilities are endless with this bread. Enjoy!

Check out Yeast Spotting for more bread tips and recipes!

Day 13 of Baker’s Dozen: Easy Panettone

We did it. We made it to the last day of the Baker’s Dozen. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I know many organizations are off from work today, getting a head start on the holiday weekend. I hope you are all finished with your shopping and baking and can now sit back and enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones.

This is the easy version of Panettone, which is an Italian fruitcake. You will see it in stores generally in the blue boxes. I’ve never bought one of those. I worry how dry and old they may be. And the whole preservative thing (obviously it has something in it if it is shelf stable for months!) Which is probably one of the big reasons it is commonly turned into French Toast (which will be my Sunday morning brunch. Can’t wait). But the traditional way to make panettone is a very long and tedious process. And really, who has time for long and tedious this month? Not me.

After all the baking I’ve done this month, I needed the easy version.  King Arthur Flour has the easy version and it was delicious. You’ll notice that there’s a hole in my panettone. Traditional panettone is baked high with no hole, which makes for a more difficult baking process.Remember, we need easy right now.

I followed their recipe almost exactly, except that I let my biga rise for almost 24 hours  and then I tossed my dried fruit in a little rum for about 30 minutes before adding it to the dough. And that’s it.  They did such a great job with the instructions that I’m just going to give you the link. You can still make it in time for Christmas Brunch and you won’t regret it. After all your hard work this month, you deserve a treat, don’t you think? Now you can have your cake and eat it too.

King Arthur Flour American Style Panettone

Be sure to read the tips right below the ingredient list.

Warmest wishes to you and yours! Happy Holidays!

Day 12 of Baker’s Dozen: Cranberry Brioche Coffee Cake

Surely you are all done with your holiday shopping, right? Yesterday, maybe not, but today, definitely, right? No? Well, there are quite a few stores that still guarantee holiday delivery. One happens to be my favorite baking store, Sur La Table (hint hint). Not only do they have an amazing baking supply, like these great paper baking pans, but they also have a fantastic selection of adorable foodie ornaments, which I plan on shopping for at After Christmas Sales (another favorite!).

And those paper baking pans would be perfect for today’s recipe, Cranberry Brioche Coffee Cake, which would make an amazing gift and earn you a few BFFs. Who wouldn’t love a beautiful coffee cake for a gift? Bonus: I used the Sugared Cranberries in addition to dried cranberries. Yum. And just another reason to love brioche, as if we needed another reason, right?

This recipe is one that can be very easily adapted to suit your needs. Don’t like cranberries? No problem, just add any fruit that you like. Want to make several smaller cakes? Easy.  You don’t even need to use this brioche recipe. There are a ton to chose from (just a quick google search brought up Epicurious, Food Network) or maybe you have your own that you like.

And the great thing about brioche is the dough freezes very well until you are ready for it. Maybe you want this coffee cake for Sunday morning. You could make the dough today, freeze it, take it out Saturday to thaw, and have this coffee cake in time for brunch with very little work. Or, even better, you could make it Saturday because it tastes better the next day.

This recipe came from the most recent issue of King Arthur Flour’s Baking Sheet, which I received as a housewarming gift from a dear friend (many thanks!!). However, I made a few adjustments, and I used my trusted brioche recipe and not theirs, although I’m sure it’s great and would work just fine. Enjoy!

Cranberry Brioche Coffee Cake

Adapted from King Arthur Flour’s The Baking Sheet, Holiday 2011

Yield: 1 8 inch coffee cake

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

Prep time: About 45 minutes hands on, 12+ hours for resting dough, 35 minutes for baking

Ingredients

• 500 g (17 oz, or 1/2 batch of KAF brioche recipe) of brioche
• 1 cup of dried fruit or Sugared Cranberries
• 1/4 cup brandy, rum, or orange juice
• 6 TB (3 oz) heavy cream
• 2 TB sugar

Procedure

1. Soak the dried fruit in the alcohol or juice overnight, or microwave for 30 seconds. Note: the alcohol does not cook off completely and still has a distinct flavor. If you don’t like this, I recommend using half alcohol and half juice, or all juice. Drain before using.

2. Make the brioche recipe of your choice and have ready before rising (this does not refer to the freezing and overnight chilling if your recipe calls for that). Scale out about 500 g (17 oz) and press into a buttered 8 inch pan. I used a spring form pan but any pan will work. If you want to make mini coffee cakes, just scale out enough dough for the mini pans. If you want a bigger cake, use more brioche.

3. Let rise until puffy, preferably in a warm spot like your oven (turned off!). It took a good hour for mine because the dough was still cold and my house is chilly. If your recipe doesn’t call for any chilling, this may not take as long. Preheat oven to 400F (but take the dough out before preheating if you were proofing it in the oven).

4. Once puffy, lightly dimple the dough, but do not deflate it. Pour the cream over the dough (if using a spring form pan then make sure it is sitting on a sheet pan), then the sugar, and then the drained dried fruit. Alternately, you can lightly kneed the fruit into the dough before putting in the pan, and sprinkle a few extra on top. If you are using the sugared cranberries I’d recommend pulsing them in a food processor first.

5. Bake in preheated oven until golden and a thermometer reads 190F in the center. It took about 30 minutes for my cake. The original recipe says 23 minutes, which wasn’t long enough. Let cool completely or ideally overnight before serving. Enjoy with a cup of coffee!

Day 9 of Baker’s Dozen: Sticky Toffee Pudding

A couple months ago I had never heard of sticky toffee pudding. I first learned about this British treat when watching Unique Sweets. I think they called it sticky date pudding and I had trouble finding a decent recipe. Since the holidays kicked into full gear though, it is everywhere. Everywhere! It’s the new thing. And for good reason – it is a tasty and very unique treat. Not overly sweet, fruity, and a great change from all the typical holiday treats!

After searching recipes I finally decided on one from King Arthur since their recipe used figs. Its not terribly different and substituting dates to make it more traditional would be perfectly fine. But I love figs so this was the recipe for me.

You’ll notice that this doesn’t look like American pudding. It’s definitely a cake but called pudding across the pond. Pudding can also be savory, like Yorkshire pudding. Here pudding is more closely associated with pastry cream.

It’s pretty quick to make and easy too. The caramel sauce takes a while but is easy. I spiked both my cake and sauce, because, well, it’s the holidays, and why not? Figs go great with oranges so I added grand marnier to my cake and put a bit of dark rum in the caramel sauce. Have fun this holiday season!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Yield: 6 to 8 individual cakes

Difficulty: Easy

Cake

• 1 cup chopped figs or chopped dried dates
• 1/3  cup + 3 TB boiling water
• 2 TB Grand Marnier or orange juice
• ¼ cup soft butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 2 TB dark molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup cake flour or AP Flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Sauce

• ½ cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt; omit if using salted butter
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp dark rum, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter six ¾-cup silicone baking cups or oven-safe custard cups. Combine the figs and boiling water, and liqueur if using, and set aside.

2. Beat the 1/4 cup butter, brown sugar, salt, and baking powder until fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the molasses and vanilla, then the flour.

3. Purée the figs and water in a food processor or blender. Add the baking soda, and stir into the batter.

4. Pour into the prepared baking cups. Place molds on a baking sheet.

5. Bake the cakes for 18 to 22 minutes, until a cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center. Remove from the oven, and cool in the molds or cups.

6. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Cook the sugar, butter, and salt over medium heat until the mixture is a deep amber color; watch closely to prevent burning. It should take about 10 minutes.

7. Carefully mix in the cream. Cook the mixture until it’s thick enough to coat a spoon. This will take another 5 to 10 minutes. Add the rum, if using.

8. Unmold the cakes and serve with the sauce.

Day 8 of Bakers Dozen: Peppermint Patties

Peppermint patties. People either love them or are indifferent to them. I’m in the latter category but my dear hubby has always loved them. He said he used to get them in his stocking at Christmas time. Mint has never been my favorite treat. I’m not one of those girls who’s favorite ice cream is “Mint Chocolate Chip” (it’s coffee, in case you were wondering) and Thin Mints from Girl Scouts were by far my least favorite (I’ll take a box of Tagalongs, please).

All that changes when something is fresh and homemade. I loved these peppermint patties. My husband loved them. My mom devoured them. And, they were easier to make than I expected. I thought I’d be pulling my hair out, but they weren’t hard at all to make. Time consuming, but not hard. And so worth it. Hubby did most of the chocolate dipping. He did a great job, don’t you think? It’s good to have a partner in crime in the kitchen!

This is my second batch. The first batch tasted great, but turned out less than photogenic. The second time around I froze the patties for several hours. It is much easier to dip if they are ice cold. I also added cocoa butter to make the chocolate mixture thinner which made for easier dipping. If you don’t have cocoa butter, you can try a tiny bit of vegetable oil. Or just skip it, but it will be thick and harder to dip.

Right now King Arthur Flour has $3 ground shipping so it is a great time to buy those hard to find items like cocoa butter (which will last for years!), black cocoa, and fiori di Sicilia. And don’t forget the sourdough starter! Merry Christmas to you, right?

Peppermint Patties

adapted from What Megan’s Making

Yield: 3 to 4 dozen

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

Prep time: About 1 hour, plus freezing time.

• 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 TB light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 TB water, plus more for spritzing if needed
• 1/2 tsp pure peppermint extract
• 1 TB shortening (preferably organic!)
• confectioner’s sugar, for kneading and rolling – I used about 2 TB
• 13 ounces 70%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 TB cocoa butter, plus more if needed

1. Mix together the powdered sugar, corn syrup, water, peppermint extract, and shortening in a mixer. It will take a while to come together and will still only be crumbly. If it is very dry where you are, spritz lightly with a little extra water. Once you start seeing large pieces come together, it is ready. You should be able to form a ball and hold its shape.

2. Move mixture to workspace and knead lightly until smooth. You may need to spritz lightly with water. The first time I made these it was more humid out and the dough was easier to work with. It is a little more challenging when it is dry outside. Wrap in plastic and freeze for 15 minutes.

3. Roll dough until 1/8″ (or larger if you like thick patties). Dust with confectioners sugar as needed but try not to go overboard. It will make your dough dry. Return to freezer if dough becomes difficult to work with.

4. Cut into circles. I used a 1 1/2″ cookie cutter. You can use whatever you have. Even a shot glass would work. Place patties on a sheet pan. Re-roll scraps and cut again. Freeze patties for several hours or overnight.

5. When ready for dipping, prepare a double boiler by placing a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering (not boiling!) water. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water!

6. Melt 9 ounces, or about 3/4ths, of your chocolate until smooth. Remove from heat and add remaining chocolate. Stir until smooth. Return to heat and add your cocoa butter. Add more if chocolate is too thick. Turn heat off but keep chocolate over the water to keep warm.

7. Using a fork, dip the peppermint patty quickly into the chocolate, covering completely and then shaking excess off. Use a knife to scrape patty off of fork back onto the sheet pan. Repeat until all patties are complete.

8. Leave at room temperature uncovered until completely set. Once set, you can cover them, but they may get spots so you are best just leaving at room temperature, preferably in a candy bowl where everyone can enjoy!

Day 6 of Baker’s Dozen: Candy Cane Bark.

Candy cane bark is everywhere these days, but, amazingly, I just had it for the first time last year. And of course, I love it. I love chocolate and I love candy canes. And this treat just screams “Happy Holidays!” don’t you think?

I know I’ve posted a lot of stuff that I’ve said is easy, and I promise all are, but this is one of the easier ones amongst the easy treats. You don’t even really need a recipe. Just melt some chocolate, add peppermint, add crushed candy canes and you are done! See, easy!

I accidentally made mine thinner than I had planned. Got a little carried away spreading out the chocolate. But, turns out, I like it better that way! It’s more delicate and more pleasant to eat than a thick chunk. I planned it that way…right…

This makes a pretty small amount, but is easy to double. Adjust the candy cane and peppermint extract to your liking.

 

Candy Cane Bark

Adapted loosely from King Arthur Flour

Yield: A couple of cups, depending on how thin your chocolate is

Difficulty: Easy!

Ingredients

• 6 ounces chocolate, semi-sweet or dark (not chips)
• 4 ounces white chocolate (not chips, preferably)
• 2 to 3 candy canes, broken into pieces
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1. Chop both chocolates separately. Bring a pan of water to a simmer. Set up a double boiler: set a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. Line a half sheet pan with parchment or silpat and set aside.

2. Melt the semi-sweet or dark chocolate first. Spread onto sheet pan making chocolate as thin or thick as you desire. Set into refrigerator for about 5 minutes to help set. Don’t leave the chocolate in the refrigerator or it will make your chocolate spotty.

3. Meanwhile, melt your white chocolate. Add peppermint extract to white chocolate. Once chocolate is mostly set, spread white chocolate over the chocolate. If it isn’t set yet, you may have swirls, but it looks pretty, I think.

4. Spread candy cane over white chocolate before it sets and gently press candy into chocolate.

5. Let set at room temperature until firm. It was rainy when I made this, so it took awhile to set up. Don’t be surprised if it has to sit overnight. Once set, break into pieces and enjoy!