Breakfast on the go has been a priority lately and these muffins from How to Bake Everything have been a delightful addition to eat or take along on the road. I was surprised they included cooked oatmeal in them, and as a result, the oatmeal taste was not overwhelming in the muffins, but a nice note in the background.
Since our little one arrived, I haven’t been posting many recipes, although I have been cooking and baking during this time. Some have been standard comfort foods, but I’ll also start posting a backlog of recipes I’ve made over the last 8 weeks. I’m starting with our celebration food for Festivus. My husband and his friends and family are Seinfeld fans and while we don’t formally gather for the airing of grievances, we do often wish one another happy festivus. My husband has been amazing with our little one and has been really helpful as I’ve been finalizing homemade Christmas presents for our nieces and nephews — more on that to come. I wanted to help celebrate Festivus and thought this might be the year to try baking a babka. Yeasted breads have not been my forte, but this recipe from Mark Bittman’s How to Bake Everything was a great recipe to make. The instructions were easy to follow. It suggested making the recipe in a food processor, but when I did that with a different recipe a couple weeks ago, it really annoyed our little one’s ears. This was easily mixed together in the stand mixer. I’ll likely make this again next year for Festivus (and hopefully the accompanying episode of Seinfeld will be on air during one of the risings like it was this year), and may even try a chocolate babka as well!
We came together for Christmas with the family and the request for what I could bring was chocolate muffins. I looked for a few different recipes and thought these s’mores muffins would fit the bill. It’s a little bit of a joke because I don’t really like marshmallows, and so here I am making something that have marshmallows as a focus. The recipe came from How to Bake Everything and I used marshmallow bits for the streusel instead of cutting up a bunch of mini-marshmallows.
S’mores Muffins
⅓ c neutral oil (like grapeseed or corn), plus more for greasing (optional)
1½ c flour
½ c Dutch-process cocoa powder
¾ c sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
1 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c chopped dark chocolate
1/4 c crushed graham crackers
1/2 c mini marshmallows
Streusel
4 Tbsp (½ stick) butter, melted
¼ c sugar
⅓ c chopped marshmallows
⅓ c crushed graham crackers
Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with a little oil or line it with paper or foil muffin cups. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Beat together the eggs, milk, vanilla, and oil in a medium bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just enough to combine everything. Gently fold the chocolate chunks, graham crackers, and marshmallows into the batter. Distribute the batter among the muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Mix the streusel topping and sprinkle over the top of the muffins. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin, comes out clean. Cool the pan on a rack for 5 minutes before removing the muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature or cover tightly and keep at room temperature for a couple days.
I have glazed cakes before, but when I was looking to make a strongly vanilla-flavored cake for a colleague, the idea of a cake soak from How to Bake Everything sounded like an extra layer of enhancing the flavor. I am posting a photograph of the glazed cake as it was cooling and my next post will show the finished cake, but I think this did add a nice extra vanilla flavor without going overboard!
Vanilla Cake Soak
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
½ vanilla bean or 1½ tablespoons vanilla extract
Put ½ cup water, the sugar, and the butter in a small saucepan. If you’re using a vanilla bean, split it in half lengthwise and use a small knife to scrape the seeds into the butter mixture; add the pod. Cook at a slow bubble, whisking frequently, until the sugar is dissolved and the liquid is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. If you’re using vanilla extract, add it now. Let cool to room temperature, then remove and discard the pod. Leave the cake in the pan (or return it if it was out cooling); pour the soak over the cake and let it sit for at least an hour. You can also poke holes in the cake with a fork before pouring in the soak. Alternatively, brush the soak over cake layers before frosting and stacking. (If you’re not using it immediately, put the soak in a jar and refrigerate for a day or two; bring to room temperature before using.)
Although I’m taking a gluten break for a little bit here, I woke up one Sunday morning and decided to make some scones for some colleagues who really took on some extra work this summer, so I made the pumpkin sunflower seed scones I recently shared and these chocolate oat scones from How to Bake Everything. I have not make many forms of scone before and have been a little intimidated, but these were really quick and easy to mix together. And the chocolate flavor was great — without being too intense for the morning time (in the opinions of those who ate them).
Chocolate Oat Scones
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c oatmeal
1/3 c Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 Tbsp baking pwoder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c plus 2 Tbsp sugar
5 Tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces
3/4 c dark chocolate, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2-3/4 c cream or milk, plus more for brushing
Heat the oven to 450°F. Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and ⅓ cup of the sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture, breaking it into tiny pieces with your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Fold in the chopped chocolate. Beat the vanilla with the egg; add the egg to the flour mixture along with just enough cream to form a slightly sticky dough. If the dough is very sticky, add a tiny bit of flour; the dough should still stick a little to your hands. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead once or twice, then press it into a ¾-inch-thick circle; cut across the diameter into 8 or 10 wedges. Brush the top of each scone with a bit of cream, sprinkle with a little of the remaining sugar, and transfer one by one to an ungreased baking sheet with a spatula. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, until the scones are set but still a bit soft in the middle. Transfer to a rack to cool a bit and serve right away if possible.
The cranberry cake I posted about a couple of days ago had the instructions: serve with a warm butter sauce. I had never made a warm butter sauce before and looked up a recipe, when I found this one from How to Bake Everything and was happy to have it to serve with the cake. I’m not always a fan of incorporating booze into a cake or cooking, and while often that taste can cook out of the recipe, in this case it didn’t do that — it did, however, add a nice complement to the rest of the flavors.
Orange Butter Sauce
2 sticks butter
¾ cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
¾ cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup orange-flavored liqueur, like Grand Marnier
Combine the butter, sugar, orange zest, and orange juice in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until the butter is melted and the mixture is golden and starts to thicken and caramelize. Remove the pan from the heat, add the liqueur, and then return it to the heat. Continue to whisk the sauce until it’s reduced and syrupy, about 10 minutes.
After several failed attempts at sourdough bread, I decided to try this no-knead bread and see if I could be more successful. I explored a number of different recipes and landed on the recipe from How to Bake Everything. The recipe takes almost a full 24 hours to complete, but it appeared to turn out exactly how I hoped it would. One of my colleagues had a new baby at home, and I dropped this loaf off at their house with a meal (especially in the event that the other food I dropped off would not be of interest to the 4-year-old in the house!)
No-Knead Bread
4 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed
Scant ½ teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
Cornmeal, semolina, or wheat bran for dusting
Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add 2 cups water (it should be about 70°F) and stir until blended. You’ll have a shaggy, sticky dough; add a little more water if it seems dry. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about 18 hours at room temperature (a couple of hours less if your kitchen is warmer; a couple more if it’s cool). The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.
Lightly flour a work surface, transfer the dough to it, and fold it once or twice; it will be soft but not terribly sticky once dusted with flour. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for about 15 minutes.
Using just enough additional flour to keep the dough from sticking, gently and quickly shape the dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton (not terry cloth) kitchen towel with cornmeal, semolina, or wheat bran (or use a silicone baking mat); put the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel (or plastic wrap) and let rise for about 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will be more than doubled in size and won’t spring back readily when poked with your finger.
At least a half-hour before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 450°F. Put a 3- to 4-quart covered pot (with the cover)— it may be cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic—in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. (See illustration: Slide your hand under the towel and just turn the dough over into the pot; it’s messy, and it probably won’t fall in artfully, but it will straighten out as it bakes.) Cover with the lid and bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned; the bread’s internal temperature should be 200°F or more. (If at any point the dough starts to smell scorched, lower the heat a bit.) Remove the bread with a spatula or tongs and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
We have had a series of snow days and ice storms throughout the past month. It seems like every Friday and Saturday I’m waking up with impending ice storms and snow. So, I looked at this time-intensive, but a relatively easy recipe from How to Bake Everything and decided one Saturday morning would be the perfect time to make it. During one of the raise times, I took the dog out and then cleaned the driveway. Another time, I did chores around the house. Minus the fact that I think I have some bad yeast, they turned out tasty. I refrigerated the leftovers and then would heat them up as we wanted to eat them throughout the week.
Cinnamon Rolls
3½ cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons cold butter, plus 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) softened butter, plus more for greasing
2 eggs
¾ cup whole milk, or more as needed, lukewarm
2 tablespoons cinnamon
Put the flour, yeast, salt, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the cold butter in a food processor. Pulse the machine a few times until the butter is evenly distributed but not completely incorporated. Add the eggs and pulse a few more times. With the machine running, slowly add the milk through the feed tube. Process for about 30 seconds, adding more milk if necessary, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture forms a ball and is sticky to the touch. If the mixture becomes too sticky, add flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and process for 5 to 10 seconds after each addition.
Grease a large bowl with softened butter. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it 5 or 6 times. Shape the dough into a smooth ball. Put the dough in the prepared bowl, turn it over once to coat all over with butter, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until the dough doubles in size, 1 to 2 hours. Punch the dough down to deflate it and then form it into a ball. Put the ball on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle with a little flour, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest about 20 minutes.
Thoroughly grease the bottom and sides of a 13 × 9-inch baking pan. Combine the cinnamon and remaining ¾ cup sugar in a small bowl. On a lightly floured surface, roll or press the dough into a rectangle about the size of the baking pan, spread the softened butter all over its surface, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top. Roll the dough lengthwise into a log and pinch the seam closed, then gently cut it into 15 slices. Arrange each slice, cut side up, in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest until the dough has doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 350°F. Uncover the pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown. Let the cinnamon rolls cool for a few minutes, then invert them onto another pan or platter. Smear them all over with glaze if you like and serve.
One night while out for dinner, my fiance mentioned he’d like to learn to cook something. This sounded fun, and I’m always game for those adventures, so I asked what he wanted to cook, to which he replied, “Pecan pie.” I don’t especially like pecan pie. I’ve never made it before, but I’m game to try new recipes and thrilled about him being excited to bake something, so I looked up some recipes and found this one from How to Bake Everything which would allow the opportunity to incorporate a number of different skill sets — melting, stirring, using the food processor, etc. So, we waited a week or so until we had something to celebrate, and then it was time to make a pie. So, on a random Wednesday night, we melted some chocolate, toasted some pecans, and set to make out a pecan pie. I think it turned out fairly well, minus the fact that everything was a smidge overdone. The crust was fully baked instead of partially baked when we filled it. The pecans went from toasting to slightly burnt in a quick minute. But, it puffed up like it should during baking and fell like it should when it cooled, and I wanted to take a photo of him holding up his first pie like I have of me holding up my first microwave cake when I was in elementary school. Instead, I have a photo of the pie and sent it home to my family to delight in this accomplishment.
Chocolate Pecan Pie
1 pie crust
2 c pecans
2 oz dark chocolate
3 Tbsp butter
5 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
pinch of salt
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Partially bake the crust. Meanwhile, toast the pecans in a dry skillet, shaking and stirring, for about 5 minutes or until the pecans are hot. Cool the pecans and coarsely chop. Melt 2 ounces of dark chocolate with 3 tablespoons butter until smooth. Let cool while you start the filling while the crust is in the oven. In a medium saucepan, beat the eggs well until foamy. Combine the cooled chocolate mix with the eggs. Beat in the sugars, salt, and melted butter. Warm this mixture over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until hot to the touch; do not boil. When the crust is done, turn the oven up to 375 degrees. Stir in the vanilla and the pecans. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet. Pour the filling into the still-hot crust and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the mixture shakes like Jell-O but is still quite moist. Cool on a rack and serve warm or at room temperature.
Before we get into the holiday season, I have a number of cookie and bar recipes I put together last year and haven’t yet posted about. This seems like a good opportunity to start clearing through some of these recipes. So, in the weeks ahead you’ll see a few recipes that I baked last December. This chocolate-pretzel bar recipe came from How to Bake Everything.
Chocolate-Pretzel Bars
2 sticks butter, softened, plus more for greasing
2 c chopped dark chocolate (about 8 oz)
2 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c pretzels, coarsely chopped
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13×9 inch baking pan or line it with parchment paper and grease the parchment.
Melt 1 cup of the chocolate. While it cools, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Cream together the butter and sugars; add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition until well-blended. Mix in the melted chocolate and the vanilla, then add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Fold in the pretzels and remaining 1 cup chopped chocolate.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, using a spatula to spread it into an even layer if necessary. Bake for about 35 minutes, until barely set in the middle. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before cutting.
I will make crafts and cook better 