Baking

Maple Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

January 23, 2011

I recently went to a new farmer’s market, Somerville Winter Market, and I picked up a bottle of pure maple syrup from Vermont. I just needed something to do with it, besides pancakes and waffles. Luck would have it that I came across a contest that required maple syrup to be incorporated into the recipe.

I bugged Price endlessly about what I should make… something sweet? something savory? make a bread? cake? dinner entree? sandwich? what????? I feel I went a little safe with the oatmeal cookie but it just works so well. A little drizzle of maple syrup works perfectly over a bowl of steaming hot oatmeal. So I went with the “keep-it-simple-stupid” approach when I decided to make a cookie.

These cookies are soft, chewy and studded with crunchy walnuts. The maple flavor is pronounced without being ‘Hey I’m a Maple Cookie!’. The taste reminds me of fall days. It is the perfect kind of cookie to enjoy with a glass of milk or cup of tea.

Maple Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

yields 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teapoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pure maple syrup
4 cups quick cooking coats
1 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Process

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at at time, until combined. Add vanilla extract and maple syrup to butter mixture.
Mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Once the flour is incorporated, add the walnuts and oats and gently mix until combined.
Spoon 1 1/2 inch rounds on to baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes prior to removing from sheet (otherwise they will crumble), let cool on a rack.

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Baker’s Dream: King Arthur’s Store And Cafe

January 3, 2011

I knew we had to make a stop at the King Arthur Baker’s Store and Cafe once I realized that we were going to pass it on our way to Montreal. This is a baker’s dream. I had been hoping to take a class there this year but I didn’t get my act together, but this has gotten me even more committed at this point. I talked Price into making a stop here be telling him we would get breakfast there.

The store itself is gorgeous with intricate wood structure that comes together at a spiral stair in the center. But the best part is that it is packed full fantastic flours, measuring cups, aprons, bowls, mixes, and much, much more. King Arthur Flour has a variety of flours and mixes, including Gluten Free mixes, that make great savory and sweet products.

I really could have spent so much time and money here. I ended up getting a package of Raspberry Jammy Bits, English Muffin Mix, English Muffin Rings, and Eggnog Cookie Mix. I’m really looking forward to making english muffins soon.

The other part of the place is a cafe that has breakfast and lunch items. There were a lot of options for turnovers, cinnamon buns, croissants, and muffins for breakfast. Some of the lunch items included sandwiches on their freshly made bread. You can even finish off your lunch with a cupcake.

Price and I had breakfast there that did not disappoint. The pastries were a sweet start to our vacation.

Oh yeah, the king and I are best buds. *fist bump!!!*

Apple Cupcakes with an Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting

November 17, 2010

From the first time I flipped open my October 2010 issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray, I knew I would be making the apple cupcakes in there. I love fall because of apples. Apple pie, apple donuts, apple cider, candied apples, caramel apples, apple and cheddar omlets… the list goes on. so when I saw apple cupcake I knew I would be trying these out.

The cupcakes sounded great as they were described in the magazine, but I decided to give them my own twist. I had spent the day prior to making the cupcakes canning various things, including apple butter. I loved spending the day in the kitchen, esp surrounded by the sweet smells of fruit cooking down into jam and butter. Our whole place smelled like an intense apple pie for the whole day while the apple butter was cooking down. Once it was complete I canned some and left some for us to use immediately. And by use immediately, I mean eat right out of a bowl. Since one can only do that for so long I decided that I would need to eat it on toast for some ‘real’ substance and add into some recipes. Which resulted in the development of the apple butter buttercream frosting.

The cupcakes are really easy to make. I loved it since I did not need to make the mixer dirty for that. Just use 1 whisk for the cupcakes and you are all set. The recipe called for peeling the apples, but I did not think that was necessary, so I just grated them as is, and ended up with great results. Laziness can pay off.

I wanted my cupcakes to stay really moist so I slightly under baked my cupcakes by a minute or so. I tested the cupcakes with a toothpick and it came out pretty clean so I stopped it at that point. (You will note the toothpick in one of the cupcakes… Price was marking his because he felt that one looked the best. I couldn’t help but laugh at him.)

I typically store cupcakes in the refrigerator or in a cool place because of the milk in the buttercream. However, this frosting does not have milk in it so you don’t have to rush them into the big chill. That is one thing I really like about this frosting since I really dislike harden butter cream frosting. That being said, don’t leave them by your warm stove or you will have a frosting disaster on your hands.

Apple Cupcakes with an Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting

-makes 24 cupcakes-

Ingredients

Cupcake

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 baking apples (about 2 pounds), shredded

Apple Butter Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
5+ cups of powered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 – 1/2 cup of apple butter

Process

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cupcake pans with liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla extract.
Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. Add in the shredded apples.
Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and until almost full.
Bake for 25- 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack.
Prepare the frosting by: Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar in batches, mix completely. Add in the vanilla and apple butter and mix completely. Add more powdered sugar until reached desired consistency.

Polenta Almond Lemon Cake

February 22, 2010

Polenta Almond Lemon Cake- A rich, delicious cake that has light refreshing lemon flavor. The almond and polenta give it an interesting flavor and texture.

Post Originally from 2/22/10, Pictures updated 3/6/19

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

I love when I make a cake for a special occasion.

Of course, making a cake on a random Tuesday is enjoyable, but making a cake for something special doubles my excitement. Do you ever feel the same way?

…

the best of both worlds…Donut Muffins!

February 18, 2010

I’m addicted to a show called The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network. I sit on the sofa with my iphone and my yelp app and bookmark the places to eventually go to. One of the latest episodes was featuring Snacks and while several featured places interested me I fell for the donut muffin. I don’t think Price would go for a trip to Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg, CA just for a muffin. So what’s one to do…. google, google, google and then bake.

I didn’t find a recipe I exactly loved for a donut muffin so I made mine own. One of the things I wanted to emphasize was vanilla so I used the vanilla sugar and vanilla extract I made. I now need to make more vanilla sugar but it was worth it. I think they had a great texture like a cake donut but were sweeter like a muffin- hell, being rolled in cinnamon and sugar will make anything sweet.

I made a mix of regular and mini muffins for this batch. I perfer the mini muffins because they are a great size and I don’t feel as horrible if I have mini compared to a regular one! Plus they are so cute little. The recipe makes about 60 mini muffins. If you make mini muffins you will need to use more butter and cinnamon/sugar at the end because you will have more muffins (and more surface area) to cover.

I should have taken a picture of it ripped open but I was too busy baking and stuffing Pricer full of them. Then I shared some with Emily and froze the rest. The whole point of explaining this is that the inside was beautifully dotted with vanilla. ahh bliss

Donut Muffins

3 cups of self rising flour

1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup vanilla sugar*

⅔ cups shortening

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Sugar Coating**

1 1/2 cups of vanilla sugar

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 stick of unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tins.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, and pumpkin pie spice, set aside. Measure the milk and add in the vanilla extract to the measuring cup, set aside.

Cream together the vanilla sugar and shortening together until light and creamy. (be in awe of the vanilla goodness)

One at a time, add the eggs until incorporated.

Alternating with the flour, add the 1/3 of the combined milk and vanilla to the mixture, blend until well incorporated.

Let the batter sit for 15 minutes before dividing it among the tins for baking.

Bake until the tops are golden brown and a tooth pick is clean upon it’s removal. The regular sized muffins will take 20-22 minutes and the mini muffins for 12-15 minutes.

While the muffins are baking melt a stick of butter in a skillet on low. Combine the vanilla sugar and cinnamon together on a plate.

Once the muffins are done and cooled to the touch, quickly roll the muffin in butter coating all sides. Roll the muffin in the sugar mixture.

*Make vanilla sugar by putting sliced and scraped vanilla beans into an air tight container of sugar. The longer is sits the better. I suggest making batches of this and always having it on hang because it is great to add to whipped cream, oatmeal, and other baking recipes. You can even make your own vanilla extract!*

** If you make mini muffins you will need more butter and cinnamon/sugar because of the increased quantity of muffins.

Peanut Butter Cookies

February 12, 2010

My friend Emily asked me what I use for a peanut butter cookie recipe since she wants to try a bacon peanut butter cookie. I think this is genius but what really makes it great is that she has never purchased bacon in her 23 years. Never purchased or cooked meat in fact. She is not a vegetarian but pretty close, except that I have brought her over to the dark side. She tried a big mac after boozy bowling for my 24th birthday. Pretty funny once she spotted a McDonald’s and announced that she wanted a Big Mac so Price had to drive around the block while we ran in. Needless to say Em felt like garbage later.

So back to the peanut butter cookies….. this simple question of “what recipe do you like?” prompted me to yank out several cook books to see what possibilities I had to try compared to my usual recipe. Whenever I have made peanut butter cookies I have used My First Baking Book. My mom got it for me when I was 6 and I have used this book several times even though it is a “kid’s cook book”. To be quite honest I find it hard to believe that kids will be using puff pastry or making eclairs. What 6 year old makes Pate Choux??

This seems to be an easy and pretty standard peanut butter cookies recipe. While going through my cook books I noticed this was pretty close to a few others that I had. I made an addition to it by adding my homemade vanilla extract. I just think that everything should have vanilla extract. Additionally, I made some without chocolate chips and some with.

I’m not a fan of peanut butter cookies. I had 1 with the chocolate chips and it was good. Good texture, good flavor but I really don’t like pb cookies and without a sweet tooth I have had not made it my mission to try to perfect the cookie. Maybe I can work on that now. Either way, Price enjoyed them last night. I brought them into work to see what other’s have to say. Hopefully they will enjoy these and trying different recipes until they have picked the best.