lemon poppy seed muffins

A couple of weeks ago I bought some Heartstone clay glazed muffin bakers and today I put them to the test.  I followed one of the recipes from the booklet that came with the bakers.  My husband like how they turned out - I thought the bottoms were a bit too spongey.

Dutch oven bread

my "new" Dutch cast iron oven

Lately I've been numerous posts and recipes for making bread in a cast iron Dutch oven but I didn't have one and wasn't willing to fork over the $$$ just to try making bread in one.  A few days ago I came across this one in a thrift store so of course I bought it.  I'm not sure who makes it , it only says "Made in France" but it looks to be pretty heavy duty (and it is blue - double bonus).

For my first bread attempt I followed the recipe for
Easy Peasy Rustic Bread on the Peanut butter & dill pickles blog.  I am very happy with how this turned out and it truly was super easy :)

oatmeal cookies #2

Today I made some revised oatmeal cookies, and this time they were not only edible but actually even pretty good  :)



spicy oatmeal cookies (recipe based on the one on the box of Kroger's old-fashioned oats)

1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup agave syrup
1 egg
1/2 teas vanilla
1/2 teas grated fresh ginger
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teas cinnamon
1/4 teas nutmeg
1/4 teas cardamon
1/2 teas baking soda
1/2 teas salt
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup nuts, chopped
1/3 cup raisins

Mix oil and sugars together and beat in egg, grated ginger and vanilla.  In small bowl mix together cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon, baking soda and salt. Add spice mix to flour, blend thoroughly and stir into sugar mix.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.

oatmeal cookies

Tonight I made some spicy oatmeal cookies.  Not the best cookies ever - I think that the problem was the that I substituted "regular" sugar with "coconut" sugar.  The last time I substituted in coconut sugar I also didn't care for the results but it was a new recipe so I wasn't sure if the sugar was the problem.  I will give it one more try (it was pretty expensive) before I toss it.

gingerbread (vegan)

gingerbread  (slightly modified from the recipe in "Sweet and Natural" by Meredith McCarty - I made some changes to use what I had on hand).  This was my first time making this recipe - it is definitely a keeper :)

1 cup   white whole wheat flour
1 cup   hard red spring wheat flour
1 T   baking powder
1 1/4 t   powdered ginger
1/2 t   each cinnamon and nutmeg
1/4 t  cardamon
1/8 t   each cloves, allspice and mace
1/2 t  sea salt
1 T   peeled and grated fresh ginger
1/3 cup   canola oil
1/2 cup   pure maple syrup
1/4 cup    blackstrap molasses
zest of 1/2 lemon
2/3 cup  soy milk
1 t    vanilla
3   large dried dates, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Oil an 8-inch square baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients.  In a medium bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together, reserving dates.  Whisk wet ingredients into dry and transfer batter to pan.  Sprinkle dates over the surface and gently smooth them in with a rubber spatula.
3.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and color is quite golden, 35 to 40 minutes.  Allow cake to cool completely before serving, at least 2 hours.

peanut butter cookies

peanut butter cookies

1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder

• Cream together butter, peanut butter, agave syrup and egg.
• Fold in flour and baking powder.
• Place batter into refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Roll batter into 1" balls and place on baking sheet.    Pressing down lightly flatten each ball with a fork, forming a criss-cross pattern.
• Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.

zucchini honey yogurt bread

A couple of small loaves of Zucchini Honey Yogurt Bread that I made following the recipe in 125 Best Quick Bread Recipes.  I followed the recipe as written except I baked the bread in 2 3"x6" loaf pans for 40 minutes instead of 1 9"x5" pan for 70 minutes.  Yum, this is the best use for those overgrown Zucchinis :)

whole wheat bread

My husband & I are back from our 20th wedding anniversary trip.  We took the train to Chicago and spent 3 days being total tourists.  Our itinerary included  the Field Museum, The Skydeck (in what is formerly known as the Sears Tower), the John Hancock Observatory, the Art Institute, the Shedd Aquarium, Navy Pier and  an architectural sight seeing boat tour along the Chicago River.

Today I made a  whole grain artisan free-form loaf following the instructions in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  I am happy with how it tasted, however I tried to bake it on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking oil and it stuck to the sheet.  Next time I will bake it either on parchment paper or try adding some cornmeal to the cookie sheet before placing the loaf.

banana bread

I had some over-ripe bananas that needed using up so I made banana bread for my project today.

whole wheat banana bread

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cups  wheat gluten
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup agave
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 ripe bananas)
1 tsp vinegar
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1/4 tsp cardamom
cooking spray


1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.  In a separate medium bowl blend all wet ingredients.  In a large bowl add dry ingredients alternately with liquids, beginning and ending with a dry (this helps to make the bread less “heavy”).  
3. Spray mini 12-loaf pan with cooking spray and spoon batter into pans with an ice cream scoop.  
4. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown and pick inserted in center of loaves comes out clean. Do not over bake! Alternately use one 9” x 5” loaf pan and bake 50-60 min.

banana lemon mini loafs

This is a variation of my usual banana bread recipe.  In addition to adding lemon, I switched to natural sweeteners.  This would work fine with 1 cup regular sugar instead of the brown rice & agave syrups.  Below is the recipe with today's modifications.


On a side note, I have some family obligations over the next few days and probably won't post again until Tuesday or Wednesday.




banana lemon mini loafs

2 cups while whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 brown rice syrup
1/4 cup agave syrup
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 ripe bananas)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/4 tsp cardamom
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.  In a separate medium bowl blend all wet ingredients.  In a large bowl add dry ingredients alternately with liquids, beginning and ending with a dry (this helps to make the bread less “heavy”).  Spray mini 12-loaf pan with cooking spray and spoon batter into pans with an ice cream scoop.  Bake 17 minutes or until golden brown and pick inserted in center of loaves comes out clean. Do not over bake! Alternately use one 9” x 5” loaf pan and bake 50-60 min.

slow cooker corn bread

Made some bread in my slow cooker, well I use the term bread because that is what the recipe called it.  I would say it was more like a very moist, almost pudding even, cake.  I let it cook for over 3 hours before the cake tester came out clean, the recipe put the cooking time at 2 1/4 hours.  It tasted okay but I doubt if I'll be making it again.

English muffin crackers

Made some English muffin "crackers".  I was planning on making bread but the dough didn't rise very much so I decided to just roll them out like crackers.  Gotta say, I love how they turned out.  Homemade crackers that taste like English muffins, yum.  Even better with a little strawberry jam :)

English muffin crackers

1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water (120-130 F)
2 1/4 cups gluten-free bread flour (what I used  was similar to Bob's Red Mill all purpose but with some yeast in it)
1/2 cup warm milk (120-130 F)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornmeal

Combine flour, sugar and salt in stand mixer bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Attach bowl and dough hook to mixer. Operate on "stir" until ingredients are combined, about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl. Turn to Speed 2 and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.   Place in lightly greased bowl.  Cover; let rise in a warm area 2 hours.  Punch down if it has risen.
Preheat oven to 350 F.  Divide dough in half and roll out 1/2 at a time between 2 sheets of parchment paper.  The thinner it is the more "cracker" like it will be.  When it is nearly all rolled out sprinkle with cornmeal and finish rolling.  Transfer to a greased jelly roll pan, sprinkle with a little more cornmeal and score if desired.  Repeat with other half.  Bake for about 8 minutes.  Cool completely.

mini lemon loaves with lemon glaze

glazed and ready to be consumed

fresh out of the oven

These little lemon loaves are gluten & dairy free but they don't taste like it.  They are easily the best gluten free baked good I've made so far.



mini lemon loaves with lemon glaze


1 1/2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp guar gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest (zest from 1 lemon)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup brown sugar (loosely packed)
1 Tbsp fluffy okara (if you have it - its not essential, I think)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup soy milk

glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice


1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and after it reaches temp add empty cast-iron baking pan to heat
2.  In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, guar gum, salt and zest.
3.  In a separate medium bowl mix together oil, sugar, okara, milk and eggs.
4.  In yet another bowl (large), stir together dry ingredients alternately with wet, starting and ending with dry.   After each new addition stir until just combined.
5.  Remove pre-heated pan from oven and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Spoon batter into pan.  Return to oven and bake for 16 minutes or until cake tester inserted in center of loaf comes out clean (should only need to test 1).
6.  To make glaze mix powdered sugar with lemon juice.  Spoon over slightly cooled loaves.

Gluten-Free Crackers

Continuing with my gluten-free experiments, today I made some gluten free crackers based on "Andrea's Gluten-Free Crackers" recipe on the Valley Natural Foods site.  The only change I made was I didn't use 1/2 cup sesame seeds (mainly because I didn't have that much).  I think they would be better with more sesame seeds as is in the recipe - next time I'll make sure I have enough before I make these.  Even without the sesame seeds they were still pretty good.

gluten & dairy free mini banana breads

I've been making dairy free banana bread for awhile (I'm extremely lactose intolerant).  Thought I would try making it gluten free as well.  They turned out pretty well - maybe a little grainy.  Next time I might try reducing the brown rice flour to 1/4 cup and increasing the all-purpose gluten free flour to 1 1/2 cups.  Here is the recipe as I made it tonight:

gluten & dairy free mini banana breads



1 cup gluten free all-purpose baking flour (Red Mill)
1 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp guar gum
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 ripe bananas)
1/3 cup almond milk (or soy milk)
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp cardamom
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 325°.

2. Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.  In a separate medium bowl blend all wet ingredients.  In a large bowl add dry ingredients alternately with liquids, beginning and ending with a dry (this helps to make the bread less “heavy”).  Spray mini 12-loaf pan with cooking spray and spoon batter into pans with an ice cream scoop.  Bake 17 minutes or until golden brown and pick inserted in center of loaves comes out clean. Do not over bake! Alternately use one 9” x 5” loaf pan and bake 50-60 min.

mini birthday doughnuts (baked)

 Today is my husband's birthday.  Yesterday I bought a mini doughnut pan from Marshall's. This morning he got mini birthday doughnuts.  Well, sort of doughnuts - I overfilled the pan a bit.  Turned upside down they looked more like doughnuts.  I modified a recipe I found at allrecipes.com, my modified recipe is below.  They were definitely fluffy, a bit too fluffy so I modified it some more.   The new (and improved) modified recipe is under the first one.  They didn't look much different (I still filled them too much - I think next time I'll aim for 1/2 full and maybe I'll get it right) but they did have a nicer, denser, texture.

Modified fluffy cake doughnut recipe (makes 12 mini-doughnuts)
Ingredients
1 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup  and 1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons almond milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease a doughnut pan.
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl mix milk, egg, vanilla and oil. Add milk mix to flour mix and beat together until well blended.
Fill each doughnut cup approximately 3/4 full. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
To make glaze, blend confectioners' sugar, hot water and almond extract in a small bowl. Dip doughnuts in the glaze when serving.



New and Improved Modified fluffy cake doughnut recipe (makes 12 mini-doughnuts plus 1 to 2 larger ones, I used mini bundt pans to make the larger ones)

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup  and 1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup almond milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 teaspoons canola oil

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease a doughnut pan.
In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl mix milk, egg, vanilla and oil. Add milk mix to flour mix and beat together until well blended.
Fill each doughnut cup approximately 3/4 full. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until doughnuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
To make glaze, blend confectioners' sugar, hot water and almond extract in a small bowl. Dip doughnuts in the glaze when serving.

Pita bread with hummus

Pita bread hot out of the oven with freshly made hummus - yum :)

To make the pita bread I followed a recipe I found on about.com.  I think this is a recipe worth trying again. The finished bread was tasty although my dough was too sticky to roll out well.





Red Pepper Hummus
ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas (15oz), drained and rinsed
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (juice from 1 lemon)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 tablespoons water (plus more if needed)

directions:

In a food processor combine beans, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil and water.  Process until creamy and well mixed.  Blend in the red peppers and garlic.  Add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency.

vegan banana muffins

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Boston to see my little sister & her family so I thought I would make them some vegan muffins.  I used a recipe (Leslie's Awesomeness Muffins) from the book 'The 100 Best Vegan baking Recipes' by Kris Holechek.  I pretty much followed the recipe, I did use cranraisens instead of dates but other wise I think I stuck to the written recipe (unusual for me ).
Just tried a sample.  Um, maybe I shouldn't be posting that I made them muffins.   They might be disappointed if they read that they're getting muffins and none actually make it all the way there :)  These really are pretty awesome - definitely worth making again.

As an aside - since I will be out of town until next week I may or may not be able to post while I'm gone.

whole wheat sandwich bread for mixers

To make this bread  I adapted the "sandwich bread for mixers" recipe found at cbsop.com.  While I do like whole wheat bread that is not why I made the adjustment.  I substituted some of the white flour for whole wheat because I only had 2 cups of white flour left and I didn't feel like running to the store for more.  Even my husband, who does NOT like whole wheat bread, liked how this turned out.

the recipe (with my modifications), the original recipe can be found at cbsop.com:

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread for Stand Mixers

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 1/2 (only add the 1/2 if the dough is too sticky) cups hard red winter wheat flour (whole wheat)

1 tsp salt

2-1/4 tsp. (1 packet) active dry yeast

16 oz. very warm water

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

3-1/2 Tbsp. honey

Method:

Place all dry ingredients, including yeast, into the bowl of your stand mixer.  In a separate container, add warm water, oil and honey. (tip – add the oil first and then use the same spoon to measure out the honey.  This prevents the honey from sticking to the spoon.) Stir liquids well to combine.

Place dough hook attachment on mixer and set on low speed for 15 seconds to combine all dry ingredients. Turn off mixer, add the liquid and set to low speed again, this time for about a minute and a half, or until all ingredients have combined.  The dough should cling to the hook but still be on the sticky side.  Turn off mixer and allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Set Mixer to second speed and run for three minutes.  Remove the dough hook and turn dough onto a floured surface.  Knead 3 or 4 times to remove any air pockets..

Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap and a kitchen towel.  Let dough proof in a warm, draft free area for 1 hour.  At the end of the hour, punch down dough, turn dough onto a floured surface and knead another few times.  Form dough into loaves and place into 2 loaf pans.

Cover with a kitchen towel and allow the loaves to rise for approximately 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Drizzle the top of loaves with olive oil and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes the turn the heat down to 350 and bake an additional 25 - 30 minutes or until crust is a light golden brown.  Remove from loaf pans and allow to cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting.  Its hard to do it but it really is best to wait the 30 minutes (not that I know from experience or anything...).

pretzels

Made some pretzels tonight.  Well, more like pretzel rolls.  They tasted good but they weren't really very pretzely.  I did some online searching after these were finished - looks like most recipes call for either boiling or a baking soda wash after shaping and then baking.  Maybe that was what they needed.


Pretzel recipe
(modified from a recipe I found in "Cooking in Colour: 700 recipes for every occasion" edited by Norma MacMillan and Wendy James)


1/2 teaspoon sugar
7/8 cups lukewarm water
2 teaspoons dried yeast
2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoon coarse salt

  Dissolve sugar in water and sprinkle yeast on top.  Leave in warm place until frothy (about 5 minutes).
  Sift flour and salt into a bowl and stir in poppy seeds, yeast mixture, oil and one egg.  Mix to soft dough.  Leave to rise until doubled in size.
  Knead until smooth on a lightly floured surface.  Break into 8 equal pieces.  Roll each until about 10" long and shape into a loose knot (i.e. pretzel shape).  Arrange pretzels on a greased baking tray.  Leave to prove until doubled in size.
  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Beat remaining egg and brush over pretzels.  Sprinkle with coarse salt and bake for about 10 minutes till crisp and golden.  Cool on wire rack.