OK, so we thought that making bread pudding with eggnog was the best idea ever. Then I thought, ooh, we should make it with challah bread! That is also a great idea, but both those ideas were superseded when we added a meringue topping to the challah eggnog bread pudding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yow.
1 loaf challah bread, cubed
6 egg yolks
eggnog (mmm, about 32 ounces?)
meringue (look in the recipe for explanation)
Put the cubed challah bread in a 9 x 13 baking pan and put in the oven set at 250 until it's a bit dried out. Whisk the egg yolks with the eggnog (add some sugar if you want it sweeter, and maybe some vanilla if you like), and pour over the bread in the pan. Using your hands, squish the bread down into the liquid, pressing it until it flattens a little. Pop it back in the oven with a cover for about 30-45 minutes.
While it bakes, set out to make the toffee meringue cookies (previous recipe), but accidentally get some egg yolk into the whites. Then decide that it will probably be fine and all that information about how egg whites won't beat to stiff peaks if there is even a tiny bit of yolk in them is a bunch of hooey. Follow the recipe exactly, and start getting a little worried when the whites aren't quite beating to stiff peaks. Add the sugar and vanilla anyway. Watch as the egg whites dissolve back into almost a liquid form.
Walk away and think about this for a minute (or keep reading this and discover a world of wonder!).
Realize that maybe you should go ahead and pour the meringuey stuff over the bread pudding (which is almost completely set at this point) and see what happens. Leave the lid off and let it bake for awhile longer.
After you put the kids to bed and remember that you left the bread pudding in the oven, go back and find out that the meringue has puffed up into a beautiful brown wonder! Call in the older kids and show them. Hear the accolades, take a bow, and try the bread pudding, which ends up tasting like the world's best french toast.
But you have to let it cool and put it in the fridge for the morning, because everyone it too full to eat it now.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Puffed rice cookies.
My wicke't awesome elderly friend Scott keeps telling me about these cookies, that they are really good, and good for you ("...except for the sugar, of course..."). I haven't made them yet, but I did get to have one at his house last year, and it was yummy. We will be making them this week...
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups puffed rice
How to:
Mix the flour and baking powder together in a little bowl. Melt the butter & set aside to cool. In another, bigger bowl, beat the sugar, vanilla, and eggs super well. Add the butter & stir some more. Add the flour mix and stir it up. Stir in the puffed rice, then drop by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet & bake for about 8-9 minutes at 375. Then yummy crunch and munch them all up!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Toffee meringue cookies.
Yes. Toffee, meringue. Yes. So good. Cookies. Yum.
We got the recipe from the All Recipes website, but changed it a little. Of course. Like how we made a trillion cookies, so tripled the recipe, and stuff.
We got the recipe from the All Recipes website, but changed it a little. Of course. Like how we made a trillion cookies, so tripled the recipe, and stuff.
The stuff:
6 egg whites (separating eggs is really easy-- save the yolks for making custard or maybe bread pudding!)
1 1/2 cup sugar (we used organic Florida Crystals)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 TB vanilla extract
1 cup Heath Bar crunchy bits from a bag
The how:
Preheat the oven to 250 & cover your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Parchment paper rawks. I love parchment paper, and even forgive it for always trying to roll itself back up.
In your stand mixer (because you have a stand mixer if you like to cook, and if you don't, go steal one) beat the egg whites up until they yell "Uncle!" at which point they will be stiff and dry. We yelled at them some first, because you're s'posed to yell at someone yer beating up, according to William. Toss the cream of tartar in while you're beating them, it will humiliate them even more.
Now turn the mixer to low and slowly start adding the sugar, and at some point in the midst of this, also the vanilla extract. Then beat the hell out of the mixture some more until it is poofy and glossy. Sprinkle the Heath Bar crunchies on top, and fold them in.
Use two spoons to scoop and plop-- the second spoon will be useful to get that sticky stuff off the first one and shape them into little lumpy things. You can get fancy if you like, but I prefer free form meringues. Because they are easier and look less pretentious. Pretentious looking cookies never taste as good. Plus sometimes they even taste kind of like some florally soap or something.
Anyway, each one should be somewhere between the size of an acorn and the size of a ping pong ball. Too small and they will be dry and crumbly, too big and they will be too gooey and fall apart.
Put them in the oven and cook them for about 30-60 minutes. Yah, it's variable. Just keep checking them, and if they feel dry and are starting to get a little brown, they are prolly done. If you take them out too soon, that Heath Bar crunchy stuff will still be melty in the middle and they will fall apart. If you wait too long, they could be unbearably dry. Take them off the pan and cool them on a rack.
Now, while you are making these, you might see your muffin tin, the one for tiny muffins? And you might think, "Hey, I'll bet that would work perfectly for meringues! Just the right size and shape, and so much easier to dollop into..."
Don't. It doesn't work.
And then you will have 24 perfect meringues you can't get out of the tins, and you will have to let your son and husband scrape them out with a spoon. And then they will complain about feeling sick from too much sugar. But then they go back and do it again.
Store the meringues you don't eat right away in a sealed jar in your pantry. Not open, and not in the fridge. These little suckers suck up humidity like a mofo.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Spaghetti squash!! Yay!
Max hates fall because fall = squash. However, Max doesn't hate fall as much as he thinks, because not only did we get him liking pumpkin ("...except those chunks of pumpkin..."), but last night he loved the spaghetti squash I made.
Get this stuff:
1 spaghetti squash
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups cooked chickpeas
grated mozzarella
crumbled feta
Make it like this:
Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Put it cut part down in a big baking dish with about 1-2 cups water. Bake at 350 until it is tender when you stick it with a knife.
Drain the water out of the pan (be careful! it's wicked hot!) and turn the squash over face up. Using a fork, scrape the squash halves until all the strands are loose-- if it's cooked well enough, it should come loose all the way down to the rind (skin? husk?). This part is really fun and makes everyone happy.
Pour spaghetti sauce over both halves, add half the chickpeas to each side, and stir it up to mix the sauce, chickpeas and squash. Sprinkle both halves with feta and mozzarella, and stick it back in the oven until it is all hot and the top is yummy and brown. Take it out, scoop some out, and eat it! Eat it with a delicious salad and garlic bread! Then breathe garlic breath on each other!
Get this stuff:
1 spaghetti squash
1 jar spaghetti sauce
2 cups cooked chickpeas
grated mozzarella
crumbled feta
Make it like this:
Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Put it cut part down in a big baking dish with about 1-2 cups water. Bake at 350 until it is tender when you stick it with a knife.
Drain the water out of the pan (be careful! it's wicked hot!) and turn the squash over face up. Using a fork, scrape the squash halves until all the strands are loose-- if it's cooked well enough, it should come loose all the way down to the rind (skin? husk?). This part is really fun and makes everyone happy.
Pour spaghetti sauce over both halves, add half the chickpeas to each side, and stir it up to mix the sauce, chickpeas and squash. Sprinkle both halves with feta and mozzarella, and stick it back in the oven until it is all hot and the top is yummy and brown. Take it out, scoop some out, and eat it! Eat it with a delicious salad and garlic bread! Then breathe garlic breath on each other!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Potato pumpkin soup.
I am so awesome. Max "hates" pumpkin, unless it is baked into a pie (or maybe some kind of sweet bread). Yet I made a soup tonight that he says tastes delicious!
Stuff:
6 small yellow potatoes
1 smallish pie pumpkin
1 yellow onion
1 can coconut milk
spices/herbs:
salt & black pepper
dried cilantro
dried basil
garam masala
allspice
star aniseed powder
smidgen chipotle powder
smidgen sriracha sauce
Do it like this:
Gut & peel the poor defenseless pumpkin (throw the seeds outside for a lucky squirrel to find). Chop it into small cubes. Wash the potatoes & chop into small cubes. Dice that onion up coarsely. Set about 1 cup of the pumpkin aside.
Put the rest of the pumpkin, the potatoes, and the onion into a crock pot, and add about 2 cups of water. Turn it on high and leave it alone until everything is almost completely cooked (I think it took about 2 hours?), then add the can of coconut milk & stir well. In a frying pan, saute the remaining pumpkin in a little oil, along with some salt and garam masala powder. Get it nice and brown and a bit soft.
Add the salt/pepper, herbs & spices to the crock pot-- to taste. I mean it. Just stir and taste until you think it tastes good. Go easy on the chipotle, or the soup will end up tasting only of smoky hot. Mash everything up coarsely while it's in the crock pot, then add the sauteed pumpkin and stir. It should be super thick and lumpy.
Max thinks we should have pureed it, but thick soups like that always remind me of baby food and are a little boring, in my opinion.
OK, so as delicious as this is, Max had an incredibly good idea-- serve it in bread bowls & sprinkle Fontina cheese on top. That kid is so smart. We're going to do just that tomorrow for dinner. You know what I love about the crock pot? I put the insert into the fridge, and then put it back in the heaty part when I want to get dinner ready. I already made dinner for tomorrow night!!
Stuff:
6 small yellow potatoes
1 smallish pie pumpkin
1 yellow onion
1 can coconut milk
spices/herbs:
salt & black pepper
dried cilantro
dried basil
garam masala
allspice
star aniseed powder
smidgen chipotle powder
smidgen sriracha sauce
Do it like this:
Gut & peel the poor defenseless pumpkin (throw the seeds outside for a lucky squirrel to find). Chop it into small cubes. Wash the potatoes & chop into small cubes. Dice that onion up coarsely. Set about 1 cup of the pumpkin aside.
Put the rest of the pumpkin, the potatoes, and the onion into a crock pot, and add about 2 cups of water. Turn it on high and leave it alone until everything is almost completely cooked (I think it took about 2 hours?), then add the can of coconut milk & stir well. In a frying pan, saute the remaining pumpkin in a little oil, along with some salt and garam masala powder. Get it nice and brown and a bit soft.
Add the salt/pepper, herbs & spices to the crock pot-- to taste. I mean it. Just stir and taste until you think it tastes good. Go easy on the chipotle, or the soup will end up tasting only of smoky hot. Mash everything up coarsely while it's in the crock pot, then add the sauteed pumpkin and stir. It should be super thick and lumpy.
Max thinks we should have pureed it, but thick soups like that always remind me of baby food and are a little boring, in my opinion.
OK, so as delicious as this is, Max had an incredibly good idea-- serve it in bread bowls & sprinkle Fontina cheese on top. That kid is so smart. We're going to do just that tomorrow for dinner. You know what I love about the crock pot? I put the insert into the fridge, and then put it back in the heaty part when I want to get dinner ready. I already made dinner for tomorrow night!!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Candied yam pie.
We had lots of leftover candied yams, so turned them into a pie.
What you need:
Leftover candied yams (ours have brown sugar, ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, allspice, the kitchen sink) that still have some bits of marshmallow on top.
Ginger snaps, butter, brown sugar
3 eggs
Marshmallows
How you do it:
Turn the oven on to 350. Crunch up the ginger snaps (NOT IN YOUR MOUTH), mix them up with some butter and brown sugar (I'm sorry, I just don't measure-- maybe one day?). Mix it all up really well. Spray a pie dish with that awesome pan spray stuff, then press the ginger snappy stuff into the bottom and up the sides, pressing in really well. Put the dish into the oven, then turn it OFF. Leave the crust in there while you make the filling.
Whisk those three eggs up super well, then whisk in the yams, plus add some more brown sugar (and spices if you want it more spicy yum). Pour into the pie crust, smooth it out, and bake for awhile at 350. I say awhile, because my oven is a bitch and sometimes is super hot and cooks things really fast. It might be 30 minutes, it might be 45? I forgot to look at the clock too. I would suggest that you look at a recipe for yam or pumpkin pie...
Anyway, when the edges are cooked, and the middle is almost cooked, cover the entire thing in marshmallows. Don't put them too close to the edge, or you will be peeling marshmallow off your oven for awhile (ahem). They will slide as they heat up... Let the pie bake just long enough for the marshmallows to puff up and start to brown a tiny bit. Not melt and slide off your pie (ahem).
Cool that pie on a rack until you don't get boiling sugar burns from the marshmallows, but do eat it warm. It's really good warm. It is also good at room temperature. It was all gone before we could put it in the refrigerator, so I don't know what it tastes like cold. Prolly really good.
What you need:
Leftover candied yams (ours have brown sugar, ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, allspice, the kitchen sink) that still have some bits of marshmallow on top.
Ginger snaps, butter, brown sugar
3 eggs
Marshmallows
How you do it:
Turn the oven on to 350. Crunch up the ginger snaps (NOT IN YOUR MOUTH), mix them up with some butter and brown sugar (I'm sorry, I just don't measure-- maybe one day?). Mix it all up really well. Spray a pie dish with that awesome pan spray stuff, then press the ginger snappy stuff into the bottom and up the sides, pressing in really well. Put the dish into the oven, then turn it OFF. Leave the crust in there while you make the filling.
Whisk those three eggs up super well, then whisk in the yams, plus add some more brown sugar (and spices if you want it more spicy yum). Pour into the pie crust, smooth it out, and bake for awhile at 350. I say awhile, because my oven is a bitch and sometimes is super hot and cooks things really fast. It might be 30 minutes, it might be 45? I forgot to look at the clock too. I would suggest that you look at a recipe for yam or pumpkin pie...
Anyway, when the edges are cooked, and the middle is almost cooked, cover the entire thing in marshmallows. Don't put them too close to the edge, or you will be peeling marshmallow off your oven for awhile (ahem). They will slide as they heat up... Let the pie bake just long enough for the marshmallows to puff up and start to brown a tiny bit. Not melt and slide off your pie (ahem).
Cool that pie on a rack until you don't get boiling sugar burns from the marshmallows, but do eat it warm. It's really good warm. It is also good at room temperature. It was all gone before we could put it in the refrigerator, so I don't know what it tastes like cold. Prolly really good.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Buffet Day.
We don't celebrate Thanksgiving. But I don't like the kids to miss out on a feast day... So every year we celebrate Happy Buffet Day!
This year, I had to make a blow by blow list to help my poor befuddled brain work. And Dora totally kicked butt in the kitchen slicing, dicing, mashing, mixing and generally saving my weeny ass. This isn't really instructions for anyone else to follow, but I think it's funny that I had to write out every step.
This year, I had to make a blow by blow list to help my poor befuddled brain work. And Dora totally kicked butt in the kitchen slicing, dicing, mashing, mixing and generally saving my weeny ass. This isn't really instructions for anyone else to follow, but I think it's funny that I had to write out every step.
BUFFET DAY 2010:
DICE A TOTAL OF 5 ONIONS
roast wheat gluten 45 minutes
dice & saute onion, garlic, & spices
mix with wheat gluten in bowl
add broth & oil
form into roast, put in pan, cover & bake
mashed cheesy tatoes 1 hour
dice & boil potatoes & onions
drain, mash with garlic, cheese, etc.
stuffing 45 minutes
toast bread & cube
dice & saute onions & celery
toss in with bread & broth
put in pan & bake w/butter on top
candied yams
put yams into baking pan & mash up with spices
sugar & marshmallows on top & bake
shahi tofu w/rice 45 minutes (while foods roasts)
dice & saute onion
drain & saute tofu w/onion
add cashews & raisins
add sauce & simmer
microwave rice 10 minutes while shahi cooks (we had cooked rice in the fridge already)
cranberry sauce w/apples & oranges 45 minutes
chop apples & oranges, plus some orange zest
add to pot w/cranberries, spices, sugar & water & boil
broc & cheese 10 minutes
microwave & put in bowl (YES! I bought frozen cheesy broccoli! Yay!)
gravy 10 minutes (while broc cooks)
melt butter in pan, add broth, whisk in starch & spices until thick
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Really good stuff...
Verbatim from my notebook:
"Really good stuff:
saute thick sliced onions & potatoes until browned-- sprinkle w/kosher salt-- pour water over & cook 'til soft-- add thick sliced portabellos-- sprinkle w/chopped parsley, a little hot sauce & lemon juice-- add a little honey-- stir in cooked quorn tenders & simmer"
And another one:
"cut cucumbers in big chunks, sprinkle w/kosher salt, dill weed & sushi vinegar"
Apparently I was on a dill kick for awhile.
"Really good stuff:
saute thick sliced onions & potatoes until browned-- sprinkle w/kosher salt-- pour water over & cook 'til soft-- add thick sliced portabellos-- sprinkle w/chopped parsley, a little hot sauce & lemon juice-- add a little honey-- stir in cooked quorn tenders & simmer"
And another one:
"cut cucumbers in big chunks, sprinkle w/kosher salt, dill weed & sushi vinegar"
Apparently I was on a dill kick for awhile.
Tangy green beans.
Simmer a bag of frozen french cut green beans until bright green and just cooked. Drain, then add 4 TB mayonaisse, 2 TB of lemon juice, 1 TB horseradish and about a teaspoon of dill weed. The amounts are approximate, because my notebook just has the ingredients listed. I don't measure stuff. Maybe I should so I can recreate recipes better...
Tatoes smashed and bashed.
Anyway which way you make mashed potatoes is going to be great, but this mish mash I made one night was uber awesome.
You need:
potatoes
onions
cottage cheese
butter
lemon juice
milk
dill weed
nutmeg
salt
You need to decide how much of everything you need, based on how many mountains of potato deliciousness you want.
Dice potatoes and onions and boil until tender. Drain, add all ingredients (milk last) and mash the heck out of it. Adjust the amount of ingredients to your mouth.
You need:
potatoes
onions
cottage cheese
butter
lemon juice
milk
dill weed
nutmeg
salt
You need to decide how much of everything you need, based on how many mountains of potato deliciousness you want.
Dice potatoes and onions and boil until tender. Drain, add all ingredients (milk last) and mash the heck out of it. Adjust the amount of ingredients to your mouth.
Veggie meatloafing...
[If you want to eat some meat, just make this with animal instead of veggie stuff.]
Ingredienties:
1 package Gimme Lean veg. burger paste stuff
1/2 onion, diced small
2 TB butter
2 pieces dry toast, broken into little pieces
1 TB chili paste
salt
cumin
fenugreek
coriander seeds
oil
Crush up the spices in yer mortar. Saute onions in the butter. When the onions are soft, add the spices, salt and chili paste, along with a few tablespoons of water. Stir until it cooks down a bit. Add the veg. burger to the pan and thoroughly mix everything together. Add the dry toast pieces and mix again. Form into a loaf, put in a pan and coat with oil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. If it starts looking dry, add a little water to the pan and baste. Add a little more oil to the top too, if you like.
This is pretty delicious with mashed tatoes and green beans.
Ingredienties:
1 package Gimme Lean veg. burger paste stuff
1/2 onion, diced small
2 TB butter
2 pieces dry toast, broken into little pieces
1 TB chili paste
salt
cumin
fenugreek
coriander seeds
oil
Crush up the spices in yer mortar. Saute onions in the butter. When the onions are soft, add the spices, salt and chili paste, along with a few tablespoons of water. Stir until it cooks down a bit. Add the veg. burger to the pan and thoroughly mix everything together. Add the dry toast pieces and mix again. Form into a loaf, put in a pan and coat with oil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. If it starts looking dry, add a little water to the pan and baste. Add a little more oil to the top too, if you like.
This is pretty delicious with mashed tatoes and green beans.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Whole wheat bread with stuff. Yummy stuff.
Ian and I made bread last week, and it was so much fun! At one point I looked into the oven, and said to myself, "I'm so excited about this!" One loaf was cinnamon raisin, and the other was our attempt to recreate an incredible bread we had recently. Our attempt wasn't the same, but it was still very good.
This is the first time I've made bread in a mixer, and my god, it was so much easier. Though not as physically satisfying as doing all of the mixing and kneading by hand.
Ingredients:
3 c. water
1/3 c. oil (we used walnut oil- lots of omega 3 & 6 and SO DELICIOUS)
1/3 c. honey
2 TB yeast
1 TB salt
1 TB vital wheat gluten
6-8 c. white whole wheat flour (we use King Arthur brand-- it's the lighter whole wheat flour, made from white wheat berries instead of red wheat berries)
Cinnamon raisin bread stuff:
2 TB butter
1 c. brown sugar
3 TB cinnamon
1 c. raisins soaked in warm water until plump, then drained
Cranberry pepper bread stuff:
1 c. dried cranberries
1 TB caraway seeds
1 TB fresh ground black pepper
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 tsp. ground sage
In your stand mixer, using a paddle attachment, mix the water, oil, honey, yeast and salt on low speed until thoroughly mixed.
Slowly start adding the flour and wheat gluten. Keep adding flour until the dough lifts from the bottom of the bowl and clears the sides. Stop adding flour. No, just stop. It should be sticky, don't worry.
Now knead in the mixer on the lowest speed for 8 minutes or so.
Oil your hands and put the dough on a clean counter with a little flour sprinkled on. Shape it into a ball, tucking the ends under well. Oil a large bowl, put the dough ball in smooth side down, then roll it over so the entire ball is covered in oil. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set in a warm place to rise for about an hour.
In two separate bowls, mix the cinnamon raisin stuff and the cranberry pepper bread stuff, then set aside (like duh, what else will you do with it? balance it on your head?).
At some point, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
After it has risen, put the dough on the counter again, punch it down, and divide into two sections. Flatten each section into a square.
For the cinnamon bread, spread the square with butter, then spread out the rest of the stuff and smoosh it into the dough as best you can. Starting from the farthest edge, start to roll the square towards you, smooshing it down a little as you go. When you've rolled it all up, pinch the edges and ends together really well.
For the cranberry bread, spread the cranberry spice stuff all over the square and smoosh it in as well as you can, trying to get the cranberries into the dough as much as possible. Roll it up just like the other one, pinching it all closed really well.
Put both loaves seam sides down on a large baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Put the pan in the oven, toss about a cup of water onto the bottom of the oven and quickly shut the door. (The water makes steam which helps the bread to rise.) Bake for about 30 minutes, give or take. If the bread is nicely risen, browning, and sounds kind of hollow when you thump on it, it's probably done. I can usually tell when things are done because they smell done, but I don't know how to explain that to you.
When they're done, take them out of the oven and put both loaves on cooling racks. In theory, you should let the bread cool for almost an hour before cutting in. In reality, you should wait about 10 minutes, then burn your fingers cutting it so you can eat it hot with butter.
When we make these again, we will only do one flavor, so everything can be mixed in with the dough, because it was hard to get the yummy things pressed into the dough well enough. I might increase the yummy stuff ratio, too. More cranberries, spices, etc.
I would tell you how long this bread keeps, but with six toast eaters in the house, it lasted... oh... about 1 1/2 days.
This is the first time I've made bread in a mixer, and my god, it was so much easier. Though not as physically satisfying as doing all of the mixing and kneading by hand.
Ingredients:
3 c. water
1/3 c. oil (we used walnut oil- lots of omega 3 & 6 and SO DELICIOUS)
1/3 c. honey
2 TB yeast
1 TB salt
1 TB vital wheat gluten
6-8 c. white whole wheat flour (we use King Arthur brand-- it's the lighter whole wheat flour, made from white wheat berries instead of red wheat berries)
Cinnamon raisin bread stuff:
2 TB butter
1 c. brown sugar
3 TB cinnamon
1 c. raisins soaked in warm water until plump, then drained
Cranberry pepper bread stuff:
1 c. dried cranberries
1 TB caraway seeds
1 TB fresh ground black pepper
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
1 tsp. ground sage
In your stand mixer, using a paddle attachment, mix the water, oil, honey, yeast and salt on low speed until thoroughly mixed.
Slowly start adding the flour and wheat gluten. Keep adding flour until the dough lifts from the bottom of the bowl and clears the sides. Stop adding flour. No, just stop. It should be sticky, don't worry.
Now knead in the mixer on the lowest speed for 8 minutes or so.
Oil your hands and put the dough on a clean counter with a little flour sprinkled on. Shape it into a ball, tucking the ends under well. Oil a large bowl, put the dough ball in smooth side down, then roll it over so the entire ball is covered in oil. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set in a warm place to rise for about an hour.
In two separate bowls, mix the cinnamon raisin stuff and the cranberry pepper bread stuff, then set aside (like duh, what else will you do with it? balance it on your head?).
At some point, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
After it has risen, put the dough on the counter again, punch it down, and divide into two sections. Flatten each section into a square.
For the cinnamon bread, spread the square with butter, then spread out the rest of the stuff and smoosh it into the dough as best you can. Starting from the farthest edge, start to roll the square towards you, smooshing it down a little as you go. When you've rolled it all up, pinch the edges and ends together really well.
For the cranberry bread, spread the cranberry spice stuff all over the square and smoosh it in as well as you can, trying to get the cranberries into the dough as much as possible. Roll it up just like the other one, pinching it all closed really well.
Put both loaves seam sides down on a large baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Put the pan in the oven, toss about a cup of water onto the bottom of the oven and quickly shut the door. (The water makes steam which helps the bread to rise.) Bake for about 30 minutes, give or take. If the bread is nicely risen, browning, and sounds kind of hollow when you thump on it, it's probably done. I can usually tell when things are done because they smell done, but I don't know how to explain that to you.
When they're done, take them out of the oven and put both loaves on cooling racks. In theory, you should let the bread cool for almost an hour before cutting in. In reality, you should wait about 10 minutes, then burn your fingers cutting it so you can eat it hot with butter.
When we make these again, we will only do one flavor, so everything can be mixed in with the dough, because it was hard to get the yummy things pressed into the dough well enough. I might increase the yummy stuff ratio, too. More cranberries, spices, etc.
I would tell you how long this bread keeps, but with six toast eaters in the house, it lasted... oh... about 1 1/2 days.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Best f-in muffins ever... pumpkin cranberry...
We made pumpkin cranberry muffins today, and they might be the best muffins I've ever made. Sometimes my muffins don't rise well, or they aren't cooked enough, or something that makes them less than the best. Somehow, everything came together today-- maybe it's because I'm getting manic. That helps my cooking sometimes.
The original recipe was from Allrecipes.com but we changed bits. Like we doubled it and made a BILLION DELICIOUS MUFFINS! Also some other stuff...
4 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. salt
Sift all of those powder dry things together into a big bowl and make a well in the center (you know, dig around in the middle and make a nice indentation).
4 eggs
3 c. sugar
3 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. oil (we used walnut oil- yum!)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix all of that in another bowl, super well. If you have an eight year old that likes to whisk eggs, have him whisk for a super long time to make them as light as possible, then add everything else and mix some more.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and carefully stir-- never over stir muffin batter, it should just be lumpy without big dry spots. Then fold in:
2 c. chopped fresh cranberries (we macerated them with sugar in the fridge overnight)
1 c. chopped walnuts
Use cooking spray to grease your muffin tins-- it is so much easier than butter... Sheesh, really. Our recipe made two pans of tiny muffins (24 per pan) plus we had a little left over that we cooked in a bread pan. We filled the cups completely, kind of mounded up. That way, if they didn't rise much, we wouldn't have dinky little flat muffins.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10-20 minutes. Our oven is sometimes super hot, so it's hard to say how fast they might cook in your oven. If they seem to be done, stick a toothpick or sharp knife-- if it comes out clean, they're done!
Take them out of the pan right away and cool them on a rack. They are delicious hot, warm, cooler, and cold. Pretty much any temperature.
The original recipe was from Allrecipes.com but we changed bits. Like we doubled it and made a BILLION DELICIOUS MUFFINS! Also some other stuff...
4 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. powdered ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. salt
Sift all of those powder dry things together into a big bowl and make a well in the center (you know, dig around in the middle and make a nice indentation).
4 eggs
3 c. sugar
3 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. oil (we used walnut oil- yum!)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix all of that in another bowl, super well. If you have an eight year old that likes to whisk eggs, have him whisk for a super long time to make them as light as possible, then add everything else and mix some more.
Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry and carefully stir-- never over stir muffin batter, it should just be lumpy without big dry spots. Then fold in:
2 c. chopped fresh cranberries (we macerated them with sugar in the fridge overnight)
1 c. chopped walnuts
Use cooking spray to grease your muffin tins-- it is so much easier than butter... Sheesh, really. Our recipe made two pans of tiny muffins (24 per pan) plus we had a little left over that we cooked in a bread pan. We filled the cups completely, kind of mounded up. That way, if they didn't rise much, we wouldn't have dinky little flat muffins.
Bake at 400 degrees for 10-20 minutes. Our oven is sometimes super hot, so it's hard to say how fast they might cook in your oven. If they seem to be done, stick a toothpick or sharp knife-- if it comes out clean, they're done!
Take them out of the pan right away and cool them on a rack. They are delicious hot, warm, cooler, and cold. Pretty much any temperature.
Best f-in pudding ever.
Make yourself and the people you love happy. How to make chocolate pudding.
In greedy ants:
1/2 cup of sugar (if you use a liquidy sugar like maple syrup, add more starch)
1/4 cup of starch (I use corn starch or rice flour)
3 tablespoons to 1/2 cup cocoa (you can use melted chocolate, but I can't remember what happened when I did it)
1/8 teaspoon of salt
2 3/4 cups milk (I've used cow, soy, rice, and a combination, and they all turned out all right, though COW seems the best)
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 or 2 tablespoons butter (TOTALLY optional-- it makes the pudding taste incredible, but it is already so good, you won't miss the butter) (really)
How you do it:
Whisk the first four ingredients (sugar, starch, cocoa, salt) together in a pot (one with a heavy bottom will keep it from scorching as easily). Make sure there aren't any lumps. Put the pot on medium heat and SLOWLY, SOOOOOO slowly, start to whisk the milk in. If you don't do it slowly, you will end up with dry lumps in your pudding and you will be sad. I usually add about 1/4 cup of the milk first and whisk it really well, then add the rest slowly...
Once all of the milk is thoroughly mixed in, ask someone with nothing better to do, "Hey, do you want to help make pudding?" Then have her whisk the pudding over medium heat for... oh, about an eternity. By the end, this person will not be very happy, but then she will eat the pudding and forget the hate.
Anyway... Yah, so this is the part that takes time and gets annoying, but you HAVE TO whisk the pudding as it heats, and make sure the BOTTOM OF THE PAN is getting scraped constantly or you will have BAD PUDDING. It will be lumpy and burned. Nobody will be happy.
It probably takes under ten minutes to get the pudding thick, but sometimes less and sometimes more. I think it's all relative. (thanks, Albert) When the pudding starts to thicken (you can check by sticking a spoon in, and if it coats the spoon, you're almost done! plus you get to lick the spoon-- but don't stick the licked spoon back in the pot because your salivary enzymes might make the pudding not set right-- no, really), anyWAY, once it starts to thicken, whisk for 1-2 minutes more.
Take the pot off the heat and whisk in the vanilla (and butter if you want). Spoon it into dishes and either eat it right then or put it in the fridge to get cold. Or both. It kind of depends on how many people are eating it-- this recipe makes a reasonable amount for the six of us, or makes an I-died-and-went-to-heaven amount for two.
And for god's sake, PLEASE don't forget to scrape the pot out with a spoon and eat what's left!!
My friend uses this recipe (with a little more starch and/or cooking) for a pie recipe.
Once I made this and layered it with homemade whipped cream, crushed Andes Candies, and crushed candy canes.... oh, and I added a little mint extract to the whipped cream. Yah. It was sickeningly good.
If you want to make something other than chocolate pudding, omit the cocoa powder and use the flavoring you like, though you might need to increase the starch a little. We made it vanilla flavored once, and it was awesome!
1/2 cup of sugar (if you use a liquidy sugar like maple syrup, add more starch)
1/4 cup of starch (I use corn starch or rice flour)
3 tablespoons to 1/2 cup cocoa (you can use melted chocolate, but I can't remember what happened when I did it)
1/8 teaspoon of salt
2 3/4 cups milk (I've used cow, soy, rice, and a combination, and they all turned out all right, though COW seems the best)
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 or 2 tablespoons butter (TOTALLY optional-- it makes the pudding taste incredible, but it is already so good, you won't miss the butter) (really)
How you do it:
Whisk the first four ingredients (sugar, starch, cocoa, salt) together in a pot (one with a heavy bottom will keep it from scorching as easily). Make sure there aren't any lumps. Put the pot on medium heat and SLOWLY, SOOOOOO slowly, start to whisk the milk in. If you don't do it slowly, you will end up with dry lumps in your pudding and you will be sad. I usually add about 1/4 cup of the milk first and whisk it really well, then add the rest slowly...
Once all of the milk is thoroughly mixed in, ask someone with nothing better to do, "Hey, do you want to help make pudding?" Then have her whisk the pudding over medium heat for... oh, about an eternity. By the end, this person will not be very happy, but then she will eat the pudding and forget the hate.
Anyway... Yah, so this is the part that takes time and gets annoying, but you HAVE TO whisk the pudding as it heats, and make sure the BOTTOM OF THE PAN is getting scraped constantly or you will have BAD PUDDING. It will be lumpy and burned. Nobody will be happy.
It probably takes under ten minutes to get the pudding thick, but sometimes less and sometimes more. I think it's all relative. (thanks, Albert) When the pudding starts to thicken (you can check by sticking a spoon in, and if it coats the spoon, you're almost done! plus you get to lick the spoon-- but don't stick the licked spoon back in the pot because your salivary enzymes might make the pudding not set right-- no, really), anyWAY, once it starts to thicken, whisk for 1-2 minutes more.
Take the pot off the heat and whisk in the vanilla (and butter if you want). Spoon it into dishes and either eat it right then or put it in the fridge to get cold. Or both. It kind of depends on how many people are eating it-- this recipe makes a reasonable amount for the six of us, or makes an I-died-and-went-to-heaven amount for two.
And for god's sake, PLEASE don't forget to scrape the pot out with a spoon and eat what's left!!
My friend uses this recipe (with a little more starch and/or cooking) for a pie recipe.
Once I made this and layered it with homemade whipped cream, crushed Andes Candies, and crushed candy canes.... oh, and I added a little mint extract to the whipped cream. Yah. It was sickeningly good.
If you want to make something other than chocolate pudding, omit the cocoa powder and use the flavoring you like, though you might need to increase the starch a little. We made it vanilla flavored once, and it was awesome!
Foods we at.
Did you know that if you write "foods we eat" all together, it looks like "foodsweat"? Which is really kind of gross. But the food we eat is not gross, it is totally awesome and yummy. I know there are like five trillion food blogs, but I want to share recipes we love with people we love. Nummy num num! (That was the name my youngest child came up with.)
EDIT:
OK, this is embarrassing. This was supposed to be "foods we EAT" and I accidentally wrote "at" instead. Which made me think that it read as "foodsweat" which is really gross and not even accurate. I had medication. Everything is wrong. Even that! I wrote, or meant to write, "I hate medication" and wrote the wrong thing. Now I don't know what else I have written wrong. Damn it.
EDIT:
OK, this is embarrassing. This was supposed to be "foods we EAT" and I accidentally wrote "at" instead. Which made me think that it read as "foodsweat" which is really gross and not even accurate. I had medication. Everything is wrong. Even that! I wrote, or meant to write, "I hate medication" and wrote the wrong thing. Now I don't know what else I have written wrong. Damn it.
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